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Re: Duhvelopers and DB-ehs?

From: Rachel Carmichael <carmichr_at_hotmail.com>
Date: Sat, 01 Sep 2001 03:48:09 -0700
Message-ID: <F001.003801BC.20010901034021@fatcity.com>

okay, I'm in awe here.

>From: "Don Granaman" <granaman_at_home.com>
>Reply-To: ORACLE-L_at_fatcity.com
>To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L <ORACLE-L_at_fatcity.com>
>Subject: Re: Duhvelopers and DB-ehs?
>Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 17:26:24 -0800
>
>RE: Duhvelopers and DB-ehs?OK. I've resisted the temptation so far, but
>(puffing out chest)...
>
>In one job in my distant past, at a turnkey software/systems shop, four
>(initially two) of us used to administer about half a dozen in house Oracle
>servers and remotely administer about 2-3 dozen of our clients' database
>servers. They were scattered all over the US and Canada and we all did
>database and Unix systems administration "part time". About 80% of our
>time was spent in custom software/systems design and development.
>Everybody got Oracle DBA training, but nobody was a full-time DBA or
>systems administrator. (A very novel approach that resulted in very few
>deeply imbedded application performance issues!)
>
>From late 1997 until mid-1999 I administered up to about 45 Oracle
>databases (each was 10-200 GB & OLTP) by myself - including
>design/modeling, code reviews and tuning, physical server configuration
>(sizing systems, creating raw devices, etc.), and production database
>administration. I was the only Oracle DBA in the entire company for my
>first 18 months there! We actually had about 12 distinct Oracle-based
>application systems, most with distinct dev, functional test, performance
>test, and production databases. These were spread over more than 40 Sun
>servers ranging from Ultra 2s to E10Ks. Three of the production systems
>were on Sun PDB cluster and Oracle parallel server. Critical? At least
>four were the core components of the trading systems at one of the world's
>largest online brokerages - serious 24 x forever with (usually) million+
>dollar costs for any downtime.
>
>Actually the number was about 24 databases until Jan 1999. At that time,
>they gave me some help - the guy who was the (only) DBA for the Informix
>system (which was phased out the following Fall) - to retrain as an Oracle
>DBA. Two weeks later I was asked to create 21 new databases on 17 new
>servers - within nine days. I made it with a little under an hour to
>spare. That brought the total up to about 45. By August, the ex-Informix
>DBA was doing Oracle full time and they had hired some more help (all with
>no significant Oracle experience!) - and, of course, added another 20-30
>databases! When I left a couple of months ago (no surprise is it?) we had
>42 production Oracle databases on 35 production servers, with a total of
>over 160 databases on over 120 servers, administered by 6 DBAs. We also
>had over 100 other servers (Web servers, WebLogic servers, Tuxedo servers,
>etc.) that had the Oracle client (including Pro*C)installed - which we also
>maintained.
>
>Of course I was working an average of about 95 hours/week much of that
>time... And sleeping less than half that.
>
>For none of these did I ever have any significant 3rd party tools (BMC
>Patrol, etc.). I did develop a *LOT* of homegrown scripts and automation
>though. [I still prefer, with a very few select exceptions, homegrown tools
>over commercial tools.] The other key was in *ADAMANTLY INSISTING* on
>being able to set things up "right" at the start. Having enough space on
>(at least most) test systems to load (or clone) production-sized databases
>helped also.
>
>This sounds kinda like "When I was a kid, we had to walk five miles to
>school in neck-deep snow - uphill both ways!" doesn't it? Unfortunately,
>its true. I have references and the complete lack of an outside life to
>prove it! Since I left, I've been decompressing and going through social
>rehabilitation ["Hi, my name is Don. I haven't been on a bridge call in
>over two months." (Smattering of applause...)]
>
>-Don Granaman
>[certifiable OraSaurus and shameless braggart]
>
>PS: Most of, and certainly the best of, the DBA's I've ever worked with
>had significant prior experience as developers (not "duhvelopers").
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Weaver, Walt
> To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
> Sent: Friday, August 31, 2001 12:18 PM
> Subject: RE: Duhvelopers and DB-ehs?
>
>
> Yeah, well, in a previous life I was in charge of 27 databases on 9
>servers ALL BY MYSELF. Didn't have anybody working with me, man. Zilch.
>Nada.
>
> And, of course, I'm not going to talk about the nature of the systems
>'cause then it wouldn't sound so impressive....
>
> --Walt Weaver
> Bozeman, Montana
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mohan, Ross [mailto:MohanR_at_stars-smi.com]
> Sent: Friday, August 31, 2001 10:38 AM
> To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
> Subject: RE: Duhvelopers and DB-ehs?
>
>
> We do about the same number with 6 DBAs...
>
> (not that that means sh*t without talking about the nature of the
>systems, of course)



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Author: Rachel Carmichael
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Received on Sat Sep 01 2001 - 05:48:09 CDT

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