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2014-03-28

Databases-are-pack-mules-neither-cattle-nor-puppies

"Treat your servers like Cattle, not puppies" is  mantra I have heard repeatedly in a former engagement where I was actively involved in deploying a cloud based solution with RightScale across Rackspace, AWS, and Azure.

The idea is that if you have a problem with a particular server, simply kill it, relaunch it with the appropriate rebuild scripts like chef and some other automation, have it reconnect to the load balancer and you are off to the races.


I think there is one significant flaw in this philosophy.

Database servers, or data servers are neither Cattle nor puppies. They are however like Pack Mules.

If you have an issue with some data servers like Cassandra have some built in rebalancing capabilities that allow you to kill one particular instance of a Cassandra ring, bring up a new one, and it will redistribute the loads of data you may have. Traditional database engines like SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, etc... do not have this built in capability.

Backups still need to be done, Restores still need to be tested, bringing up a new relational database server requires a bit of expertise to get it right. There is still plenty of room for automation, scripting, and other capabilities.

That being said, database infrastructure needs to have a trained, competent, database administrator overseeing its care and maintenance.

We have all seen movies where pack mules were carrying supplies of the adventurers. 

As you take a Pack Mule on your adventures or explorations with you, if it breaks its leg, you can get a new pack pule easy enough. However, you have to remove all of the things that the pack mule was carrying to the new pack mule. If you don't have a new pack mule, or can't get one quickly the adventurers themselves have to carry the supplies, the load is redistributed, priorities of what is truly needed to make it through the foreseeable next steps, and plans are made to find the local town to get a new pack mule.

Back in the present database infrastructure is truly the lifeblood of all of our organizations. Trying to "limp" through, or simply "blow away" our servers and rebuilding them is an extreme philosophy. There are laws, regulations, and customer agreements regarding the treatment and protection of data that must be adhered to.

Who is taking care of your pack mules? Will your current pack mule make it over the next hill you have to climb?


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