Get Back to Where We Belong
Article Date: 12/95
With apologies to any world famous songwriters, let's take a moment in this issue to consider restoring our environment back to where it was at some previous point. With the fast pace of business today, we're always looking at going forward as quickly as possible. Sometimes, though, we need to go backwards to where we were before the last change occurred.
As the old saying goes, "How do you spell undelete in VOS? R-E-S-T-O-R-E". Even duplexed disks can't save you from the dreaded "delete_file, oops" sequence. Once you delete a file or directory, it is gone from both partners. If you need something back, you have to go back to your archive to return it. We will assume here that you have implemented a backup scheme and that you follow it faithfully. Have you ever checked the coverage of your backup scheme? An interesting exercise is to run your backup procedure and then check the directory tree for files modified since saved, using the same exclusions, etc., that you used for the save. There shouldn't be any files or directories modified since saved. If there are, you've got holes in your backup coverage. Plug them up before you need to restore something that hasn't been saved.
How about registration records? We recently heard from a site where operations was given a list of obsolete user names to delete from the registration database. This is an idea your auditors will praise you for. Unfortunately, one of the names was incorrect. In fact, it was a key name for running many application processes. Production ground to a halt while operations restored the name to the registration database. Now here's the question: what were the registration attributes of the name that was just deleted? Next good idea: file a copy of your user profiles someplace where you can find it when this happens to you.
Access control is another place where changes are not always for the better. Changing a single access term in an ACL or DACL can bring processing to a stop pretty quickly. You may diagnose the problem in a hurry, but can you put it back the way it was? File a copy of your ACLs and DACLs so that you can restore them to their pre-change condition without a lot of trial and error.
Sometimes forward progress isn't all it's cracked up to be. Take time out from going forward to figure out if you can go backwards if you need to.
DATELINE LOS ANGELES -
At the annual STRATAGY conference, a security "Birds of a Feather" group was convened by Peter MacPherson of Maritime Tel & Tel. A number of ideas were exchanged among the folks who attended. Everyone was reminded of the availability of the comp.sys.stratus group and info-stratus mailing list on the Internet to ask questions, share information, and make suggestions (BTW, Richard Shuford does a yeoman job at maintaining that facility). Some suggestions for Stratus were discussed at the BOF, with several users preparing to take them to Stratus.
I promised to mention the event in this space so that our readers would know that there are others out there with an interest in security. Don't be afraid to ask around at STRATAGY; look for BOF and other sessions at STRATAGY meetings; read (and contribute!) to the STRATAGY newsletter; and float your questions, concerns, suggestions, etc., to the rest of the Stratus community.
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