Your live production database just suffered sudden corruption. How will you retrieve the lost data?

In mysql I would do the following step: - Check the error log: Review the MySQL error log to understand the nature and extent of corruption. Look for specific error messages that indicate which tables or databases are affected. - Use tools like "mysqlcheck" or CHECK TABLE statement to evaluate table integrity. Determine which tables are corrupted and the severity of the corruption. - Identify data loss

One of the fist things in database administration is, have a database backup plan in place for this type of things. 1. Regular Backups 2. Database Maintenance 3. Hardware Reliability Continuously monitor the health of hard drives and other hardware components to prevent failures. 4. Power Management 5. Database Configuration Use Transaction Logs: Ensure transaction logging is enabled to allow for rollback of incomplete transactions. 6. Software Updates 7. Data Validation Validate and sanitize all input data to prevent entry of malformed or malicious data that could cause corruption. 8. Redundant Systems 9. Transaction Management 10. Security Measures 11. Monitoring and Alerts 12. Educate and Train Staff

If your production database is corrupted, the first step is to check your backups. Ensure you have a solid backup strategy that includes full, differential, and transaction log backups. Locate the most recent uncorrupted backup and verify it's complete and restorable. If you use an automated backup tool, review the logs to confirm the last successful backup. Having reliable backups is crucial, so always ensure they're up to date and ready for recovery.

Find the latest backup, including full, differential, and transaction log backups, taken before the data corruption occurred.

If you have verified the integrity of your backups, proceed by restoring the most recent backup into a dedicated staging environment. Thoroughly validate the restored data to ensure it functions correctly and meets all operational requirements before deploying it back into the production environment.

In cases where backups are unavailable or insufficient, it may be necessary to utilize specialized database repair tools tailored for such scenarios. It's crucial to exercise caution and execute these repairs in a controlled test environment initially. This approach helps minimize potential risks to your production data and systems. Always prioritize thorough testing and validation before implementing any changes to your live environment.

Your data infra and pipelines should be fully observable. You should have alerts that warn you of potential hardware and software. Spikes or anomalies observed in the metrics should be understood as well and as soon as possible. Give critical servers well above minimum required resources so that anomalies don't bring everything down.