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Re: So, What is a 'Production DBA'?

From: Thomas Day <tday6_at_csc.com>
Date: Thu, 30 May 2002 08:35:31 -0800
Message-ID: <F001.0046FBB0.20020530083531@fatcity.com>

I guess it's that old Russian proverb "To a hammer, all the world looks like a nail." Developers have experience as hammers and everything revolves around the code. As an ex-developer, now DBA, I know that sometimes you need a screwdriver (or a Harvey Wall Banger).

                                                                                           
                    Jay Wade                                                               
                    <fish_dba            To:     Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L      
                    @hotmail.com>        <ORACLE-L_at_fatcity.com>                            
                    Sent by: root        cc:                                               
                                         Subject:     Re: So, What is a 'Production DBA'?  
                                                                                           
                    05/30/2002                                                             
                    11:08 AM                                                               
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I feel that it is hard to draw the lines between Application and Production DBA's. For example where would you place the DBA that "maintains" SAP? Without the application knowledge he/she/it wouldn't get very far. Also I have been wondering something and this thread seems a good place to ask. Is
there a historical feud between DBA's and Developers? Coming from a consulting/software house I find some of the comments funny but can't believe that there is that quantity of bad developers. Most of the DBA's we
deal with have come up through the ranks and started as developers.

>From: "Ron Rogers" <RROGERS_at_galottery.org>
>Reply-To: ORACLE-L_at_fatcity.com
>To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L <ORACLE-L_at_fatcity.com>
>Subject: Re: So, What is a 'Production DBA'?
>Date: Thu, 30 May 2002 04:48:29 -0800
>
>Rachel,
> I agree with your short list of the areas of responsibilities but I
>would change the word "application" to "development". An application
>DBA, from the people I have talked to, is quite busy performing the
>upgrades and patches that accompany the Oracle Applications. The
>applications database generally has many, many tables, triggers and
>constraints and is constantly the target for upgrades and patches from
>Oracle. It is a time consuming task as the majority of the different
>applications (financial, HR, Purchase Order, etc) have "hooks" into each
>different package and are so intertwined that any small fix in one
>involves patches for the others. There are only a few user defined
>tables as each package has their own named tables that are partially
>shared between packages. There is very little if any work you can do on
>the application code because it is so intertwined and customized when it
>is installed. Any upgrades require that the "customization" be reworked
>to make it fit into the new version of the application package.
> It takes a longer time to install than a standard database, on the
>magnitude of days, and requires a dedicated and investigative mind set
>to maintain.
>
>To the list you created I would add:
>Help desk call recipient,
>network support,
>client support,
>software and hardware evaluation,
>"whipping" post,
>IT team member (possibly team leader),
>self driven,
>office coffee maker,
>consumer of various liquids.
>
>Ron
>ROR mª¿ªm
>
> >>> wisernet100_at_yahoo.com 05/29/02 04:50PM >>>
>that's not a bad definition :)
>
>seriously, everyone will have their own definition, mine is:
>
>production dba -- responsible for all databases that are considered
>"production". this includes but is not limited to:
>
>backups
>recovery testing
>contingency testing
>production performance tuning (should mostly be database tuning as SQL
>really should be tuned at the development stage, with information
>passed back from the production DBA)
>documentation of all procedures
>space management on production systems, including capacity planning
>and
>projection of growth
>change management
>monitoring external data loads into production database
>health checks on production database
>
>application dba -- responsible for all databases in which developers
>have access. responsibilities:
>
>SQL tuning (not SQL coding!)
>database design, in conjunction with the developers
>any and all changes to the application schema
>working with the production DBA to ensure production performance (see
>SQL tuning!)
>backups (these might be weekly offline backups, as development is
>usually less critical but then again maybe not)
>as deadlines creep closer, the "weekends off" may not be
>
>this is just the "short" list
>
>I've usually been both the production and application dba where I've
>worked.
>
>Rachel
>
>
>--- Peter Barnett <regdba_at_yahoo.com> wrote:
> > We are having this debate. What is a 'Production
> > DBA'? Right now all of the DBAs do some of
> > everything. In an effort to focus more DBA time on
> > infrastructure, damagement is floating the idea of
> > Production and Applications DBAs. The DBA group has
> > loosely translated this into the group that is always
> > on-call and the group that gets their weekends off.
> >
> > I would appreciate some input from those of you who
> > are Production DBAs.
> >
> >
> >
> > =====
> > Pete Barnett
> > Lead Database Administrator
> > The Regence Group
> > pnbarne_at_regence.com
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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> > Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup
> > http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com
> > --
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> > Author: Peter Barnett
> > INET: regdba_at_yahoo.com
> >
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>__________________________________________________
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>Author: Rachel Carmichael
> INET: wisernet100_at_yahoo.com
>
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> INET: RROGERS_at_galottery.org
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Author: Jay Wade
  INET: fish_dba_at_hotmail.com

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-- 
Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com
-- 
Author: Thomas Day
  INET: tday6_at_csc.com

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Received on Thu May 30 2002 - 11:35:31 CDT

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