Re: Becoming ORACLE DBA

Mark A wrote:

> I didn't say someone can be an Oracle DBA without any knowledge of the OS.
> But if you are an Oracle DBA on Windows, you don't need UNIX experience,
> much less 3 years working as a UNIX admin. The original statement may have
> been predicated on the assumption that Windows is not an appropriate
> platform for Oracle, and any sane person would eventually migrate it to
> another platform. If that is true, the that should have been stated instead
> of claiming that Oracle for Windows DBA's need UNIX experience.

Then let me clarify my intent.

Even if I had a Windows shop with Oracle installed on Windows. Which I think almost everyone would acknowledge is a bad idea ... I would still hire the person with UNIX skills first.

There is value in having someone with serious skills on a serious operating system.

A good UNIX SA can learn Windows in a week or two. A good Windows SA may be incapable of learning vi.

> Every place I have worked as a DBA, there is a separate group of UNIX
> admins, and DBA's don't have root access. If I ever tried to mess with the
> kernal, I would get fired. Obviously, if there is no UNIX admin, and the DBA
> is expected to fill that role also, then that person needs to also be a UNIX
> admin.

That is changing. More and more Oracle DBAs are expected to be competent administering database servers, application servers, and other technologies.

> Clearly, one needs a decent knowledge of the OS where Oracle is installed to
> be a DBA on that platform. But I really question whether one needs to work 3
> years as UNIX admin before hand. That is a bit of exaggeration.

Not an exaggeration at all if you paid attention to the context of the answer. I didn't say it was required to do the job. I said it was required before I'd consider hiring them.

> There is one aspect of working as a DBA that has not been mentioned and is
> often more important. That is as a database designer. The physical database
> design has a huge impact on the success of a project and the ability to come
> up with a flexible, but well-performing database design is one of the most
> important aspects of a DBA. This requires a knowledge of the business,
> application development, and the ability to work well with development
> teams. Poor database designs are the number one reason that application
> development projects fail.

And in almost all Oracle shops is not done by the DBA assuming the acronym stands for "DataBase Administrator" as opposed to "DataBase Architect."

> But the truth is that some DBA's also function as UNIX admins (and many
> don't), many DBA's do database design (and some don't), so it depends a lot
> on the specific job. Many companies have more than one DBA and it is rare to
> find one person who does everything extremely well.
>
> In my opinion, UNIX admins are a dime a dozen, but a good database designer
> is priceless.

In my opinion your opinion is of little value. Mediocre technical skills do not belong in an IT shop. Any weakness, anywhere in the stack, can spell disaster.

-- 
Daniel A. Morgan
http://www.psoug.org
damorgan_at_x.washington.edu
(replace x with u to respond)