Re: What so special about PostgreSQL and other RDBMS?

From: Daniel Morgan <damorgan_at_x.washington.edu>
Date: Sun, 16 May 2004 08:02:33 -0700
Message-ID: <1084719755.450820@yasure>

Jim Kennedy wrote:

> "Greg D. Moore (Strider)" <mooregr_deleteth1s_at_greenms.com> wrote in message
> news:ClCpc.192539$M3.152517_at_twister.nyroc.rr.com...
>

>>"Jim Kennedy" <kennedy-downwithspammersfamily_at_attbi.net> wrote in message
>>news:bWupc.6750$gr.523362_at_attbi_s52...
>>
>>>We have a slew of SQL Servers behind a firewall (none are outside it)

>
> and
>

>>we
>>
>>>have to apply the patches monthly.  If we do not then we have what
>>
>>happened
>>
>>>a little over a week ago when the latest worm came out.  We had to apply
>>
>>an
>>
>>>emergency patch in the middle of the day on our production systems that
>>
>>used
>>
>>>Windows.  If we waited the machines would have kept rebooting due to the
>>>worm.  (as they already had 5 times that day).  So don't give me this
>>
>>hooey
>>
>>>that you don't have to patch the servers monthly; we are at the whims of
>>>some teenager in some foreign land. (and sometimes not so foreign)
>>>Jim
>>>
>>>
>>
>>I will give you that hooey.  While in most cases we are quite religious
>>about applying patches, for reasons I can't get into, we could not apply

>
> the
>

>>patches against Slammer for months.  And yet, Slammer had ZERO effect on

>
> us.
>

>>Why?  Because there are other security measures besides patches.  If

>
> someone
>

>>can't reach your SQL Server, then they can't Slammer to it.  If you're
>>getting hit, even behind the firewall, you've suffered from the jelly

>
> donut
>

>>issue and have a bigger issue than applying patches during the middle of

>
> the
>

>>day.
>>
>>
>>

>
>
> You are probably in a small shop then. We have tens of thousands of
> computers on our global network. Bank of America got hit, Siebel's site was
> down for days. Yet look at Sun or Oracle, nary a hiccup. Gee, might be a
> pattern here.... I guess we could do what the CIA and NSA do and make sure
> there isn't a connection to the outside world, the ultimate firewall.
> Jim

Thanks Jim because I think you are absolutely correct. Small shops don't need a lot of things required by larger shops. My customers tend to be in telecommunications, aerospace, government, and many with 7x24x365 web sites. Being off-line is something for which they have a dollar figure calculated and in some cases that dollar figure is very very large. When servers come down, and/or an SLA is not met ... people lose their jobs.

If that is not true in a smaller shop, or in another country, on that I can not comment. But those persons need to at least appreciate the nature of their environment and the fact that their decisions is a good one within their specific context only. There is no context in which having a server that doesn't need to be off-lined is a bad thing.

-- 
Daniel Morgan
http://www.outreach.washington.edu/ext/certificates/oad/oad_crs.asp
http://www.outreach.washington.edu/ext/certificates/aoa/aoa_crs.asp
damorgan_at_x.washington.edu
(replace 'x' with a 'u' to reply)

Received on Sun May 16 2004 - 10:02:33 CDT