Backups: The Illusion of Safety

Something was very, very wrong. Every day, for weeks, the same two emails landed in my inbox: Backup failed. Data corrupted. At first, I ignored them. Big mistake. A corrupted backup is, in many ways, worse than having no backup at all. You think you’re protected—until the moment you actually need it. That’s when false confidence turns into real risk. Time to get this sorted out, once and for all. Continue reading

Souvereignty: When the lights go out!

No matter how meticulously you set up your infrastructure, a power grid failure will take your servers down, unless you have a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) to keep things running. A UPS takes over the power supply, until its battery runs out. But here’s the catch: even the best UPS is pointless if your services don’t restart automatically when power returns. I recently put this to the test while installing a car charger at home. Continue reading

Running a persistent SQL Server in Docker

In IT we always want to work with the latest and greatest, it’s in our DNA to explore new technologies. From time-to-time you get confronted with legacy technologies, robust but boring. One of such things is a piece of software I wrote more than 15 years ago for a friend. It was an application using a SQL Server database that controlled a couple of weighing terminals connected over RS232. Controlling machines is every geek’s dream. Continue reading