Re: Im stuck in a black hole!

"Nuno Souto" <nsouto_at_optushome.com.au.nospam> wrote in message news:3ceb5fa7$0$15143$afc38c87_at_news.optusnet.com.au...
> DBAs should most definitely NOT design databases. That has been a common
> and global problem of RDBMSs since they started. Database Design is a
> SEPARATE discipline from administration of databases. Unfortunately,
> there are still too many people in responsible positions in this industry
> who don't even have a CLUE as to what the difference is.
>

Nuno,

I entirely agree with sentences 3 and 4. However, I'm not so sure about sentence 1.
Some DBAs are skilled in both disciplines, and are lucky enough to be involved in design decisions from the outset. Others (irrespective of skillset) are not invited to be involved in the design or development stages, but are merely expected to provide the instance and tablespaces, and look after availability, space usage, backups, recovery and so forth. That's fine insofar as it goes, but when performance fails to live up to expectations, the DBA suddenly becomes the focus of attention. Users: "Why is perfomance so lousy?"
DBA: "Because the SQL stinks, and the design stinks. What has that got to do with me?"
Users: "But you're the DBA; surely it's your responsibility; can't you fix it?"
You know and I know that we can now tune the database for all we're worth, and maybe even effect 100% improvements, but better design and SQL could achieve 5000% improvements.
Unfortunately, by that time, it's usually too late.

Regards,
Paul Received on Sat May 25 2002 - 13:24:06 CDT