Do you know what a DBA, or database administrator, actually does? In practice, as the name suggests; a DBA is a professional who is responsible for managing, maintaining, and securing an organization’s databases, ensuring that they are always available to users and running efficiently.
The role of a DBA is demanding and broad, and few DBAs are proficient in all areas of expertise in this field. It is typical that novice DBAs focus more on routine day-to-day operations, while experienced DBAs struggle with issues such as architecture, high availability, database design, data migrations, and performance optimization.
Accidental DBA
The term “Accidental DBA” is also occasionally heard from a DBA who first started out as a sysadmin, i.e. responsible for IT infrastructure, and then later gained expanded responsibilities to also maintain the database environment. Such DBAs are almost invariably skilled in database architecture, security, data migrations, and high availability (HA/DR) and recovery planning.
Another path to becoming an “Accidental DBA” often comes through database-related programming: The strengths of such DBAs are particularly database design, programming, and performance optimization, or “database throttling” (industry slang).
It is rare for a DBA to have had time to do “everything from hardware to code” and achieve a certain “know it all” status in their long career. In this case, they have usually accumulated over 20 years of industry-specific experience.
Different areas of DBA competence
Software updates and patches: DBAs update and patch database management software such as SQL Server to fix bugs, improve performance, and maintain security. This is often also part of the duties of a Junior DBA.
Backup and Recovery : DBAs create backup strategies to protect data in the event of a system failure or disaster and implement recovery plans to restore data as needed. Configuring process automation, regularly monitoring, and testing with recovery are very essential parts of this whole. Junior DBAs often start in this area, but in demanding, high-availability environments, these tasks should also be left to a “black belt” senior DBA.
Database design and implementation: DBAs design and code database structures that meet business needs, taking into account aspects such as data storage, retrieval, and scalability. Databases can be operational (OLTP) or data warehouse (DW, data mart). Some DBAs specialize in this area only because of its complexity.
Performance Monitoring and Optimization: DBAs monitor database performance and make changes to improve database query performance, reliability, and efficiency. Although this area of expertise may sound like just code optimization, it also includes all levels, from servers and storage systems to networks, virtualization platforms, database configurations, and indexing and statistics. Because the scope of the job is very broad and requires in-depth understanding of many entities, some DBAs only do this area.
Security: Some DBAs are particularly skilled at implementing various security measures to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access or cyber threats, including encryption, access control, and auditing. This alone is a very broad scope, covering internal security audits and security diagnostics, preventive measures, and forensics of actual security threats, along with corrective actions.
Data migrations and integrations: DBAs can help move data between different systems, whether during upgrades, mergers, or transitions to new software platforms or cloud environments. An essential part of data migrations can also be architectural design, if it is necessary to refactor the existing data architecture, for example by clustering, scaling it out, consolidating, or building high-availability solutions for the source data. Capacity design is also an essential part of data migrations: This is usually the most demanding part of a data migration project, and when implemented with high quality, it usually brings the most significant savings to the new data platform.
User Access and Support: DBAs grant users database access and provide support for database-related issues, troubleshoot problems, and ensure that user needs are met.
Compliance and auditing: DBAs can also ensure that databases comply with legal and regulatory requirements (such as GDPR or HIPAA), and conduct regular audits in this regard.
Final words
Did you know that DB Pro Service’s black belt DBAs are experts in all of these areas, and that our DBAs have an average of over 25 years of experience in database management across hundreds of different customer relationships? Our black belt DBAs each master at least two of the above-mentioned competence areas, some even all of them. Have you considered outsourcing a DBA competence instead of hiring your own DBA for this, which is typically not a cost-effective solution? When you purchase consulting for a specific problem, you don’t pay extra and you get the best possible expertise for your specific problem. Please contact us, and let’s talk more!
Jani K. Savolainen
jani.savolainen@dbproservices.fi
0440353637
VP & Chairman
DB Pro Services Oy Also see: What is a Data Analyst? What is a data engineer?
