> Given that one of the features of the high-end sun hardware they have (and
> an available option on Oracle) is true server clustering/redundancy, why
> didn't they just buy an identical machine and have it running as a hot
> spare? God knows they have the $$.
The Online reporter article states that they have a "massive corruption of
the data system". Sounds like a corrupt database, very much a software
problem. And restoring a corrupt database is one of the more manpower
intensive things one can think of. I guess that putting back last week's
backup is not that much of an option for eBay.
I've heard a database vendor explain that their usual support procedure
for people with a corrupt database is to ask them if they *really really
really* need the part that is corrupt. If not, they nuke the corrupt
part. If the part is *really really really* needed, well, this is why the
support contracts are so expensive.
Throwing redundant hardware at the problem usually gives you two corrupt
databases in stead of one when the shoe drops.
Koen.