Re: Oracle Administration Requirements

From: Hans Forbrich <hforbric_at_yahoo.net>
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2004 16:24:35 GMT
Message-ID: <400D559E.284E60A5@yahoo.net>

Jn wrote:
>
> We are considering a new software application which uses the Oracle
> database. Our company has had no prior experience with Oracle - we've
> used Progress on Unix for the past 14 years and Informix on Unix for
> the past 2 years, so we do have RDBMS experience. My question is -
> how does the database administration requirements of Oracle differ
> from that of Progress and/or Informix? I keep reading in other posts
> of the high administration cost of Oracle relative to other databases.
> Can anyone elaborate on that? Will we need someone full time
> serving as the Oracle DBA? I know that we will need staff with Oracle
> database knowledge/skills - my question is - is administering the
> Oracle database / environment a full time activity?
>
> The application will have about 75 users, a production and test
> server/database of approximately 40GB each, running on Windows 2000
> servers.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> jn

Oracle has 'different' administration costs from other databases. In part this comes from having a lot of features and capabilities (many of which you will likely not be using.) I've found that administration is a lot more formal in an Oracle shop than many others, highlighting the actual cost rather than burying it as part of other roles.

I highly recommend O'Reilly's 'Oracle Essentials' book [http://oracle.oreilly.com] to give a high level kick-start on understanding the differences between Oracle and the environments you understand.

A 'normal' Oracle license DOES include the Oracle Enterprise Manager, a GUI front-end to almost all capabilities and functions that can be managed. Used properly, this makes life a lot easier and gives [trained] novices a starting handle.

You should NOT need a FTE for the environment you describe. However, a lot of people/managers/companies do not understand what a DBA might need to do and may underestimate the effort - even for non-Oracle databases. Oracle's documentation has an excellent description of the possible database-related roles (that applies to all databases in varying degrees). The Oracle9i Release 2 version of the doc can be found at

http://otn.oracle.com

>> Documentation [icon at top] 
>> Oracle9i Database Release 2 [link]
>> View Library [link]
>> Browse the list of books [link]
>> Administrator's Guide [link]
>> Chapter 1 (Types of Users section)

A decent, knowledgeable, trained DBA [doing DBA work] should be able to handle 2-4 databases/instances like you describe without effort. An expert may handle many more. Lately management has been expecting a wider variety of skills to be wrapped in the DBA package. Nothing worng with that as long as management acknowledges the additional roles and doesn't just lump it under DBA.

BUT

Whoever becomes your DBA should (MUST) be properly trained. There is a variety of training available, some cheap and some expensive - at the very least I'd compare the courses to the Oracle University curriculum for an 'Oracle Certified Associate for Oracle9i Database'.

Without training, you will end up with constant comparisons to the other environments as well as a lot of "why can't they just ..." grumbling.

HTH
/Hans
mailto:forbrich at telusplanet dot net Received on Tue Jan 20 2004 - 10:24:35 CST