Does the adrenaline rush ever subside when rebooting a DB server.

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Does the adrenaline rush ever subside when rebooting a DB server.

CapnHector

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February 27, 2013 at 2:04 pm

#271012

I work in a small shop as the accidental DBA and for the first time rebooted our production DB server after applying CU 9 to fix some issues we were having. It went fine but until the server booted up and sql started I had that adrenaline rush of what happens if ... Does that ever get better when you have to do something to a Major point of failure (We have a backup server but it would take several hours to get up and running again).
This time every thing went fine and i had proper backups but it was still nerve racking.
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Minaz Amin SSChampion Points: 11052 More actions · Answer 1

Hey CapnHector,

Do agree with you , as a DBA, we all have the same nervous system. Almost each time I will be biting my nails until the server comes up.:w00t:

That is in our nature to rush the adrenaline

"More Green More Oxygen !! Plant a tree today"

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1003857 More actions · Answer 2

CapnHector (2/27/2013)
I work in a small shop as the accidental DBA and for the first time rebooted our production DB server after applying CU 9 to fix some issues we were having. It went fine but until the server booted up and sql started I had that adrenaline rush of what happens if ... Does that ever get better when you have to do something to a Major point of failure (We have a backup server but it would take several hours to get up and running again).
This time every thing went fine and i had proper backups but it was still nerve racking.

It's always a bit of a breath-holding moment but it looks like you took the right steps to keep it from being a poopin'-in-you-pants moment. 😉

Just to be sure, you said you had the "proper bacckups". Does that include the C:Drive and something to recover the registry other than a system "checkpoint"?

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tmeyer1969 31535 Grasshopper Points: 13 More actions · Answer 3

On the plus side, after doing it 1000 times, you just won't care 😉

homebrew01 SSC Guru Points: 55539 More actions · Answer 4

tmeyer1969 31535 (2/28/2013)
On the plus side, after doing it 1000 times, you just won't care 😉

True. We had a PCI requirement to apply patches & reboot 15 servers every month Add to that some had encrypted drives that had to be remounted each time.... got pretty tiresome & annoying.

MyDoggieJessie SSC-Forever Points: 44484 More actions · Answer 5

As long as you're the person who's responsible for the outcome, I don't think it ever goes away.

Recently, in our busiest Production environment, I had to relocate several large (+1TB) DB's to a new SAN. While the process is quite simple (updating the files to point to their new respective locations, taking the DB's offline, physically copying the files to their new homes, then bringing them back online...) the seconds it took for each database to come back online felt like hours! The "what if..." questions that go through your head never stop...

:w00t:

______________________________________________________________________________Never argue with an idiot; Theyll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience

CapnHector SSCoach Points: 16143 More actions · Answer 6

Jeff Moden (2/27/2013)
CapnHector (2/27/2013)
I work in a small shop as the accidental DBA and for the first time rebooted our production DB server after applying CU 9 to fix some issues we were having. It went fine but until the server booted up and sql started I had that adrenaline rush of what happens if ... Does that ever get better when you have to do something to a Major point of failure (We have a backup server but it would take several hours to get up and running again).
This time every thing went fine and i had proper backups but it was still nerve racking.
It's always a bit of a breath-holding moment but it looks like you took the right steps to keep it from being a poopin'-in-you-pants moment. 😉
Just to be sure, you said you had the "proper bacckups". Does that include the C:Drive and something to recover the registry other than a system "checkpoint"?

Proper backups means any thing i needed to bring the backup server online if i needed to or recover from a corrupt system database if it was just the service that failed. (backups of every database and all files for the application not in the DB were on an external drive ready to unhook and hook up to our backup server since the jobs that do that nightly had not run yet).

Also any one who calls a system checkpoint a backup should not be a sysadmin. We do have an image of shortly before we went live of the C: drive but bringing the backup online is quicker than re imaging the drive. Since its been in production the only modification has been CU9.

Thanks to every one else about there experience and I am looking forward to the next time i get that feeling.

For faster help in answering any problems Please read How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help - Jeff Moden[/url] for the best way to ask your question.

For performance Issues see how we like them posted here: How to Post Performance Problems - Gail Shaw[/url]

Need to Split some strings? Jeff Moden's DelimitedSplit8K[/url]
Jeff Moden's Cross tab and Pivots Part 1[/url]
Jeff Moden's Cross tab and Pivots Part 2[/url]

dan-572483 SSCoach Points: 15870 More actions · Answer 7

If you've experienced a production clustered instance getting trashed by a botched Service Pack install, then no.

Jay Beta SSC Veteran Points: 238 More actions · Answer 8

I have found a direct correlation between my experience levels and the amount of anxiety I experience. As long as I feel good about my ability to recover, the anxiety is relatively minor.