Re: Tips for new DBA ?

From: Craig Sivils <csivils_at_blkbox.com>
Date: 1995/10/24
Message-ID: <DGyMLM.25H_at_twisto.eng.hou.compaq.com>#1/1


The best DBA's I've ever known were 3 things.

  1. Smart
  2. Organized
  3. Lazy. (don't be insulted, I'll explain all 3 in a bit)

A DBA is quite often a job of logistics and politics, in order to meet the demands of this job you have to work smart. I can't give you clear cut on politics, it varries greatly job to job. But, on the logistics side, it is critical that the DB tasks get done consistantly and with a minimum amount of effort. This helps the politics side in that you 1. have more time, and 2. Don't screw up to give your opposition extra ammo.

Now, to address the 3 attributes I listed.

Smart:
 You have to know the internals. The job of DBA has been getting more and more complicated with every version. In version 5 it didn't take a genius to be a DBA in v6, it got harder, in v7 Experts stand out. Don't beleive the trend will reverse itself in v8. You have to keep up with the technology and learn from others efforts. Asking on the net is a good sign you are doing this.

Organized:
This is critical, the sheer number of tasks, and the amount of trivia to track makes this one of the DBA's most important skills. A large amount of the time, it is the organization that leads to consistancy.

Lazy:
Although probabbly not the best word, its somewhat accurate. The DBA should try to do things with the minimum amount of effort (in the long run). This combined with Organization should result in you witing scripts to do large amounts of your work. Although its more work the first time, it pays off quickly and results in fewer mistakes in the long run.

Good Luck!
Craig Received on Tue Oct 24 1995 - 00:00:00 CET

Original text of this message