WHAT EXACTLY IS A DBA?

WHAT EXACTLY IS A DBA?

The position of Database Administrator -- DBA for short -- means many things to many people. In a small development shop the duties are much broader than in a highly stratified major corporation. Whether a company is doing development or adopting a third part package will also determine the needs of the DBA position. Knowing what is expected of the position and knowing how the position envisioned fits within the company hierarchy is critical. In “ORACLE 8.0 Administration and Management” I list the following as a list of DBA job functions:

1. Installing and upgrading the ORACLE Server and application tools.
2. Allocating system storage and planning future storage requirements for the database.
3. Creating primary database storage structures (tablespaces) once developers have
designed an application.
4. Creating primary database objects (tables, views, indexes) once application
developers have designed an application.
5. Modifying the database structure, as necessary, from information given by application
developers.
6. Enrolling users and maintaining system security.
7. Ensuring compliance with Oracle License agreements.
8. Controlling and monitoring user access to the database.
9. Monitoring and optimizing the performance of the database.
10. Planning for backup and recovery of database information.
11. Maintaining archived data on appropriate storage devices.
12. Backing and restoring the database.
13. Contacting Oracle Corporation for technical support.

So let’s see if we can distill this down into some general categories of knowledge:

* Installation
* Configuration management
* Security
* Monitoring and Tuning
* Backup and Recovery
* Trouble Shooting
* Vendor Interface
So to be a full-charge DBA a candidate must be knowledgeable in all of the above areas.