Re: Is a DBA a systems person or an apps person??

The answer to your question is both. The DBA is a half breed. He/she live half their live with the applications and the other half with the system people. We are the bridge between the two worlds. Some companies have gone as far as to create a phyiscal DBA and a logical DBA to split the two functions up. But most companies have DBAs that do both. In any case I have always had complete system privilege and system passwords as a DBA. But then again the Sys Admins have always worked for the DBAs where I have been. I find that to be the natual order of things. In my case as the DBA I've also been the backup Sys Admin and the Sys Admin is my backup DBA. So I give him/her all the passwords to my database as well. You guys have spent to much time building up walls instead of working together and trusting one another. Remember it's not a security violation if it's policy. My question for you is are you ready to train the Sys Admins in some of the DBA tasks and give them your passwords.

my two cents

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Paul Collins
DBA
DATASTORM Technologies