At 11:51 AM 28/09/2004 +1200, you wrote:

>We are going to have our users do a backup and restore on a regular basis
>so I guess that means we can ignore the need for manual sweeps :)

Please don't take offence -- but this is an insane policy. It's like
burning the house down in order to get rid of cockroaches.

As it is, people are deploying systems with backup facilities that are
fraught with risk, because they depend on users doing the right
thing. They do this because they can, not because they should. We can't
stop users from stuffing up so we should cocoon backup in fail-safe
techniques and procedures. We should ensure that they back up, as a
disaster recovery strategy, as often as they need to -- even if that means
every day. But don't make good database hygiene and backup interdependent,
just because you can.

We should ensure that somebody (preferably a robotic application of some
kind) restores a backup by creating it somewhere safely off-line and
connecting to it.

But a live restore should be reserved for disaster recovery, plus, if it's
desirable, an annual new start with a pristine database.

Don't be afraid of sweeping!! It's there for good housekeeping, so use it!

Helen