From 007421e881da19eddaaab61484a69e7837d23b0d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Christian Grothoff Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2021 16:14:49 +0100 Subject: update exchange/auditor manuals now that we have taler-auditor-sync --- taler-exchange-manual.rst | 36 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---- 1 file changed, 32 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) (limited to 'taler-exchange-manual.rst') diff --git a/taler-exchange-manual.rst b/taler-exchange-manual.rst index 879f9ad2..c1354d39 100644 --- a/taler-exchange-manual.rst +++ b/taler-exchange-manual.rst @@ -902,10 +902,38 @@ of ``taler-exchange-offline``. Diagnostics =========== -This chapter includes various (very unpolished) sections on specific -topics that might be helpful to understand how the exchange operates, -which files should be backed up. The information may also be helpful for -diagnostics. +This chapter includes various sections on specific topics that might be +helpful to understand how the exchange operates. The information may also be +helpful for diagnostics. + +.. _Internal-audit: + +Internal audits +--------------- + +While an exchange should use an external auditor to attest to regulators that +it is operating correctly, an exchange operator can also use the auditor's +logic to perform internal checks. For this, an exchange opeator can generally +follow the auditor guide. However, instead of using ``taler-auditor-sync``, +an internal audit can and likely should be performed either directly against +the production exchange database or against a synchronous copy created using +standard database replication techniques. After all, the exchange operator +runs this for diagnostics and can generally trust its own database to maintain +the database invariants. + +Running the auditor against a the original the production database (without +using ``taler-auditor-sync``) enables the auditing logic to perform a few +additional checks that can detect inconsistencies. These checks are enabled +by passing the **-i** option to the ``taler-auditor`` command. As always, +the resulting report should be read carefully to see if there are any problems +with the setup. + +Reports are generally created incrementally, with ``taler-auditor`` reporting +only incidents and balance changes that were not covered in previous reports. +While it is possible to reset the auditor database and to restart the audit +from the very beginning, this is generally not recommended as this may be too +expensive. + .. _Database-Scheme: -- cgit v1.2.3