Featured Article(s)
Tips for using SQL Server 2005 User-Defined Functions
Here are some helpful tips to work with SQL Server 2005 User-Defined Functions.
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Understanding the Hazards that Zap your Hardware Resources!
This webcast will explore the challenges around maintaining optimal performance in a SQL Server environment while keeping downtime to a minimum. Well discuss methodologies you can take and use to administer your environment efficiently, and offer solutions to easily view server resources and anticipate growth. Sponsored by: Quest Software (www.quest.com)
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> Webcast date: 12/11/2008 at 12:00pm Noon Pacific
Don’t forget – Latest SelectViews
Interviews with Paul Stork, Matt Masson – Best practices, lessons learned from the field, pet peeves.
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The DBA Description Challenge
Donald wrote: "I would have to agree with the study – in today’s world – a DBA is not as safe as it once was. As it is easy to automate and therefore easier for service companies to offer to do the job remote and cheaper – a DBA could find his / her job gone.
To keep a job now days, you really need to not only know your own job – make sure you keep your skills updated – document what you do – be able to quickly show that you do know what you are doing when an issue does happen. Plus – be able to quickly show what you do to help prevent problems from happing in the 1st place – a little “dog and pony show” for Management now and then never hurts.
But to really make sure you keep your job – you need to learn other area’s as well. You really need to make sure you learn about your company, the services or products it offers, who are your customers and what do they need – both internal and external. Learn about other groups within IT and outside of IT as well. Be willing to jump in and help out with other projects. In other works- make yourself an employee asset to the company – make sure your knowledge makes you a great value – not just in the DBA area – but to the company in general. It means going outside your “box” but it can help you keep your job – and it allows you to grow as well – and all the new knowledge – can really be a big help in the DBA area as well!"
Bev also wrote in to say: "I think there are really two kinds of DBAs. The operations DBA and the applications DBA and both have a ranking of 1 to 10 and there is some duplication of the skill set for each.
The operations DBA may have a 1 being the entry level SQL create and maintain tasks but the 10 is the DBA that can support an entire enterprise of database servers from installation to patching to maintaining to monitoring to backing up to managing storage to security and performance etc.
The applications DBA may have a 1 for a DBA that understands modeling and can comment on the application database model and create/modify database objects and in this case the 10 could be the Enterprise Data Architect that David describes.
Now to be proficient in a large environment and work a regular 8 hour day (of course DBAs are always on call) with a reasonable number of DBAs your DBAs can not take on all the tasks of the operational and all the tasks of the application DBA.
The ideal organization would have a team of operational DBAs and a team of application DBAs"
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