I was trying to install Pterodactyl, a panel for managing servers for Minecraft, Discord bots, etc, easier. Looking back now, it was stupid of me t...
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I would add "always read the code of the installer if it's not too long", you can sometimes find curious things like "why do they need to download a script from that strange website?"
Last but not least, if you find an installer already compiled into an executable file, don't run it unless you 100% trust the people who created it, or you could end up with viruses and more than just having to restore backups
You mention in your last line what I think needs more reinforcement.
Always have a backup. If your server contains anything of value, creating a regular backup is a must. You don't have to follow the rule of 3-2-1, but regular backups onto your own host machine should definitely be done.
Definitely taught me a valuable lesson.
Don't worry about it. One of my customers admins once told me "You aren't part of the big-boys club until you completely destroy a production environment" :D
Welcome to the club I'd say :)
Haha thanks :D
Yep. One thing I forgot to mention in the post, not only did it wipe my databases, it also corrupted every SQL and MariaDB package I had. Sadly, there is no such thing as an "executable" for this kind of stuff on Linux. We use shell scripts, install the package (not applicable in this case), or we install things manually.
Where's the backup for your databases?
Where's the pre-production environment for testing changes before deploying to production?
I'm no professional. I'm 14. Please don't berate me about these things. I'm going the best I can.
An "official" installer is not guaranteed to not delete data.
Always read the instructions, understand the script, and test first on pre-production environment.
There is no pre-production environment in all cases lol
Docker container, virtual machine, hourly VPS, …