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Ingvar
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« on: April 30, 2008, 09:27:25 PM » |
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On the pages about risk and due diligence, one actor is conspicuously missing: Kiva itself. There should be some discussion about the risk that Kiva might fail us.
For example, what happens with our money if Kiva's data center burns down? I see nothing anywhere about replication or backup on a remote site.
EDIT: Let me clarify: What this means is that all information about all accounts would be completely lost. However, if Kiva does have remote replication or backup, the information is not lost.
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« Last Edit: April 30, 2008, 10:26:34 PM by Ingvar »
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reb-mar
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« Reply To This #1 on: April 30, 2008, 09:40:12 PM » |
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The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.
Mohandas Gandhi
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Ingvar
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« Reply To This #2 on: April 30, 2008, 09:51:02 PM » |
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Huh?  That thread is about the Terms of Use. Not applicable to situations like the data center burning down and database replication. Did you mean some other thread? But thanks for the attempt. Incidentally it so happens that I have read that whole thread. It was interesting. |
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Ingvar
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« Reply To This #3 on: April 30, 2008, 10:09:10 PM » |
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Huh? That thread is about the Terms of Use. Not applicable to situations like the data center burning down and database replication. Did you mean some other thread? Maybe I should mention that the above scenario means that all information about all accounts is lost. No record exists any longer about who loaned how much to whom. My few hundred dollars, Claus-Peter's $30,000, Kays several thousand loans, everything would suddenly be gone. Of course the money would still exist. There just wouldn't be any record of who owns it. Thus I hope Kiva does have remote replication or backup. |
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« Last Edit: April 30, 2008, 10:16:26 PM by Ingvar »
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reb-mar
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« Reply To This #4 on: April 30, 2008, 10:17:31 PM » |
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Sorry Ingvar I thought they also discussed risks and due diligence. That would be a great question for you to e-mail Kiva. I'm sure we would all love to know the response. Rebecca  |
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The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.
Mohandas Gandhi
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Ingvar
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« Reply To This #5 on: April 30, 2008, 10:56:25 PM » |
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That would be a great question for you to e-mail Kiva. I'm sure we would all love to know the response.
Maybe. But I hesitate to bother them with everything that comes to my mind. Then I would pester them incessantly! In this case I'm only suggesting that they tell us on their pages what arrangements they have. An addition to an explanatory page. That sounds to me like material for the Suggestion Box. |
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Robert
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« Reply To This #6 on: May 01, 2008, 04:57:47 AM » |
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One of the reasons why I have fixed a limit for my Kiva participation is exactly that risk. I'm particularly afraid of the next Big One. We do know that San Francisco and the Bay Area will be destroyed one day, we just don't know when. Kiva has now grown so large that this issue must be addressed. There are simply too many millions at stake. This back-up site should therefore not be a few miles away (which would be suitable in case of a conventional fire), but outside of California: in the Rocky Mountains or to the east of them. It's not enough to stay off the San Andreas Fault, because nobody knows what will happen around the Hayward Fault or the Rodgers-Creek Fault.
I don't want to seem alarmist, but the issues of EDP contingency must be addressed. The risk is too big. This is what will remain of Kiva: the staff gathering in the open country-side. They must have at least a chance to resume operation after the earthquake.
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« Last Edit: May 01, 2008, 05:35:38 AM by Robert »
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Peter S
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« Reply To This #7 on: May 01, 2008, 05:51:03 AM » |
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Gulp... I was having an untroubled day until I read that post, Robert. Not that it's any great comfort for the residents of Southern California, but it appears that the next Big One on the San Andreas fault is more likely to be around the southern stretch in the Riverside and San Bernardino area. a recent piece from the LA Times: Likelier here: the next Big Oneand a 2006 report from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography/UC San Diego: http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/Releases/?releaseID=736Of course remote data backup is important, and I'd be amazed if the tech guys at Kiva haven't got it well under control. My oldest email account is with an Australian outfit called Fastmail, whose mail servers are in New York, with everything automatically replicated to servers in Norway. P |
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verba volant, littera scripta manet
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Peter S
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« Reply To This #9 on: May 01, 2008, 09:22:14 AM » |
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yes Sam, the images anyway seem to be located on Amazon S3, and have been for quite a while I think. It says on the "corporate partners" page that Kiva's website is hosted by Media Temple, Inc, based in Los Angeles (nearer to the likely epicentre of the next Big One...) http://www.kiva.org/about/supporters#mediatemplePerhaps interesting to note (off topic...) that out of 140,000 domains hosted by Media Temple, Kiva is one of only 20 whose logos are featured on their "our clients" page, alongside brands like Sony, Warner Brothers, Starbucks, Adobe and Adidas. That's some very high-profile company that the Kiva "brand" is mixing with... http://www.mediatemple.net/company/clients/#bios |
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verba volant, littera scripta manet
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