Re: FW: Why there is no controlfile in Informix like Oracle ?

Dirk Moolman wrote: > "Daniel Morgan" <damorgan@x.washington.edu> wrote in message > news:1093731823.325925@yasure... > >>Madison Pruet wrote: >> >> >>>Daniel -- I'm afraid that you're showing circular logic. >> >>Not at all as I hope you will see. >> >> >>>If the backup is encapsulated (rule #1) then the control information > > is > self > >>>contained in the database backup. >> >>Exactly. I can't think of any other way to do it. Can you? >> >> If control information is not able to be >> >>>self contained within the backup, then we are not dealing with a >>>sophisticated system, just an overly-complicated one. >> >>It is if you follow the instructions on how to perform the backup. I >>don't think you can count as a backup something done that contravenes >>the instructions on how to perform a backup. Can you? > > > >>Why should the user have to follow a lot of instructions to back up the >>system? Is Oracle really that complicate to administer. Doesn't > > Oracle > >>believe in self management? > > > > I found this bit interesting. Our company is busy migrating from > Informix to Oracle, and employed a new Oracle DBA. > He told me the same thing - that Oracle never goes down (crashes) like > Informix sometimes does on fatal errors. Apparently Oracle has a > separate "oninit" process that handles errors and crashes, and makes > sure it keeps running. > > Something that would have been nice to have in Informix. > > BUT, I'm still a loyal Informix supporter !! > > > Dirk > > > sending to informix-list Well this ought to shock the .... out of a few of you but your DBA is blowing smoke. Any software I don't care what it is can be brought to its knees: Oracle included. In fact I just did it earlier tonight at a Puget Sound Oracle Users Group meeting. That said ... Oracle does provide the tools to make what I did impossible if someone knows what they're doing and applies them to the database instance. -- Daniel A. Morgan University of Washington damorgan@x.washington.edu (replace 'x' with 'u' to respond)

"Daniel Morgan" <damorgan@x.washington.edu> wrote in message news:1094099837.426152@yasure... > That said ... Oracle does provide the tools to make what I did > impossible if someone knows what they're doing and applies them to > the database instance. I sense i'm going to regret asking this, but wouldn't it be better to provide tools to make doing something stupid impossible if you *don't* know what you're doing ....?

Neil Truby wrote: > "Daniel Morgan" <damorgan@x.washington.edu> wrote : >>That said ... Oracle does provide the tools to make what I did >>impossible if someone knows what they're doing and applies them to >>the database instance. > > I sense i'm going to regret asking this, but wouldn't it be better to > provide tools to make doing something stupid impossible if you *don't* know > what you're doing ....? No. If you try to make something foolproof, you find the fools are far cleverer than you evber dreamed possible, and they invent a new way of abusing your foolproof system -- Jonathan Leffler #include <disclaimer.h> Email: jleffler@earthlink.net, jleffler@us.ibm.com Guardian of DBD::Informix v2003.04 -- http://dbi.perl.org/

Jonathan Leffler wrote: > > No. If you try to make something foolproof, you find the fools are > far cleverer than you evber dreamed possible, and they invent a new > way of abusing your foolproof system > An old quote comes to mind: "There is nothing more dangerous than a resourceful idiot." -- Scott Burns Mirrabooka Systems Tel +61 7 3857 7899 Fax +61 7 3857 1368