RE: WILL YOU GIVE PROGRAMMERS DBA ACCOUNT IF WE SAID YES?

Larry,

And some landlords let their properties deteriorate so badly that they are uninhabitable ;-) Sorry, I couldn't resist since the analogy presented such a sitting duck target. I am *not* taking potshots at DBA's (FWIW, I used to be one), though I have run into a *couple* that might be called "slumlords", just as we have all run into some/many/all developers who are horrible "tenants".

With regards to your comment on getting calls in the middle of the night, I've been involved with a handful of sites where the lead *developer* responsible for an application is the first contact. The thinking there was that if an error occurred, it was probably due to an application issue and the lead developer was better equipped at trouble-shooting the problem (the DBA's were typically overworked and had no time to learn about the individual apps). There was one site, though, were 99.9% of the failures were due to insufficient space issues (the DBA was *very* stingy about allocating space). The only problem was that he never monitored or trended space usage to know when to allocate more (and I kid you not, his response was "Why should I monitor space usage since we will find out when something fails. We will take care of it then". His manager backed him on this. Uggh!). After I received numerous 3:00 AM calls over a few months, all due to insufficient space, the *DBA* became the first contact for any problems. After a while, space problems never cropped up. Imagine that ;-).

I have had the good fortune to work with a number of great DBA's over the years. I am working with some right now. It's a good thing when the barriers are broken down and the development, DBA, and systems staff all work as a team. And the DBA staff does not have to give in to outrageous requests for the groups to get along and work well together. The ones I'm working with right now are pretty tough and tight; but, they are also very responsive and helpful. Everyone's roles are very well defined, everyone understands, and no one complains. A very enjoyable and productive environment.

I've gone one too long. I hope everyone has a good week. Oh yeah, in response to the original question in this thread, no way!

Regards,

Larry G. Elkins
The Elkins Organization Inc.
elkinsl_at_flash.net
214.954.1781

An analogy might be tenant / landlord. Developers "occupy" the database, but the DBA "owns" it. Some tenants will take care of the place and treat it as well as if they owned it; others will do whatever they like for the short haul and if something breaks due to neglect, hey that's the landlord's problem, let him/her come fix it. As if we have a two-second fix for everything.

Larry Holder
Senior Systems Analyst, Oracle Database Administrator The University of Tennessee at Martin Computer Center lholder_at_utm.edu (901) 587-7890 www.utm.edu/~lholder Received on Wed Jul 26 2000 - 19:13:45 CDT