Database and System Administration

System/Database Administration will vary depending on the job type, company facilities, corporate and (IT) policies and the technical features and capabilities of the DBMS/System being administered. It will nearly always include disaster recovery (backups and testing of backups), performance analysis and tuning, data dictionary maintenance, and some database design.

Some of the functions of the DBA/Administrator may include

  • Installation of new software — It is primarily the job of the DBA
    to install new versions of DBMS software, application software, and other
    software related to DBMS administration. It is important that the DBA or
    other IS staff members test this new software before it is moved into a
    production environment.
  • Configuration of hardware and software with the system administrator —
    In many cases the system software can only be accessed by the system
    administrator. In this case, the DBA must work closely with the system
    administrator to perform software installations, and to configure hardware
    and software so that it functions optimally with the DBMS.
  • Security administration — One of the main duties of the DBA is to
    monitor and administer DBMS security. This involves adding and removing
    users, administering quotas, auditing, and checking for security problems.
  • Data analysis — The DBA will frequently be called on to analyze the
    data stored in the database and to make recommendations relating to
    performance and efficiency of that data storage. This might relate to the
    more effective use of indexes, enabling "Parallel Query"
    execution, or other DBMS specific features.
  • Database design (preliminary) — The DBA is often involved at the
    preliminary database-design stages. Through the involvement of the DBA, many
    problems that might occur can be eliminated. The DBA knows the DBMS and
    system, can point out potential problems, and can help the development team
    with special performance considerations.
  • Data modeling and optimization — By modeling the data, it is
    possible to optimize the system layouts to take the most advantage of the
    I/O subsystem.
  • Responsible for the administration of existing enterprise databases and
    the analysis, design, and creation of new databases.
    • Data modeling, database optimization, understanding and implementation
      of schemas, and the ability to interpret and write complex Structured
      Query Language (SQL) queries
    • Proactively monitor systems for optimum performance and capacity
      constraints
    • Establish standards and best practices for SQL
    • Interact with and coach developers in SQL scripting