The Masks We Wear

As today is Halloween, I got to thinking about the masks that we wear.  We use various masks to hide certain things about ourselves.  This is usually from other people.  For example, when on a first date, you probably wear a mask that hides the things that you feel may prevent you from getting a second date.  (Hopefully, you take that mask off at some point prior to marriage.)  When it comes to backups, the mask that we frequently wear is to hide things from ourselves.  We convince ourselves that those daily error messages are acceptable.  "Those are just exceptions and not failures."  "Oh, that's the same file that fails every day."  We ignore the potential issues with this.  If that file the fails every day is a database log file, then you have a serious problem with your backups.  Often, times we hide from these issues because we feel it is too difficult to resolve them with the backup products that we are using.  If this is the case, I strongly recommend an re-evaluation of your backup environment.  This could simply be processes that need to be changed.  It could be software enhancements or changes in the way that your current products are being used.  Or, it could be something more drastic such as a that your current backup vendor is not capable of meeting your needs.  At the root of this, is that you need to come out from behind your mask and deal with your backup issues before you a forced to face down the inadequacies of your system.