Re: Which Database (MySQL, Oracle, mSQL, Protgress etc.)

Geoff Crawford wrote in message ...
>In article <m2hg5nuboa.fsf_at_lucifer.guardian.no>, Bjorn Borud
 <borud_at_guardian.no> wrote:
>
>>it is not an absolute that the DBA is NOT primarily responsible for
>>application development, of course, but I don't see why you should
>>view this as a sad statement.
>>
>>I cannot possibly imagine how your day looks or what you do for a
>>living so from your point of view it might be natural for the DBA to
>>develop applications.
>
>I do view it as a sad statement, and yes if you know more about
>what my day looks like then perhaps you will understand.

Well, I've worked with Oracle as a DBA and developer for 10 years now on a freelance basis, for many, many clients. I'd say you had it just about perfect when you described the situation as 'sad'.

The big problem I always see ('Why does this [Oracle] system run like a pile of shit...) is that no-one with a DBA's level of knowledge was ever involved in a project, thus the whole design and implementation was wrong from day one. This is true not just for the when the system is running user applications, but backup and recovery strategies, auditing requirements, capacity planning, physical database design, hardware selection, etc., etc., etc.

The crazy thing is, clients normally expect DBA's to perform bloody miracles and turn these systems into supercharged powerhouses just by tweeking a few 'init' parameters. Dream on...

Steve Phelan. Received on Wed Feb 25 1998 - 00:00:00 CST