Comments on: What should a DBA do?

By: Xaprb

Xaprb — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 16:33:33 +0000

Snoopy — I have no idea. You shouldn’t be. Write me at baron at this domain if you continue to have trouble and want to help me dig into it.

By: Snoopy

Snoopy — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 14:10:28 +0000

Why am I being forced to leave a comment before reading the post?

By: Inbal

Inbal — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 14:12:14 +0000

There is a proactive tuning tool for SQL Server – Qure Optimizer (http://www.dbsophic.com/qure-optimizer.html). Qure Optimizer implements workload tuning which is a proactive approach to tuning the entire database workload. By tuning the entire workload, and not just fire-fighting a single query at a time, DBAs can free themselves to work on more strategic, educational projects etc. (people have said it well above). For a two minute video explaining workload tuning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz-hAiR5IMs

Disclaimer: I am a DBSophic employee

By: Gavin Towey

Gavin Towey — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 23:04:21 +0000

I would add the following:

6. Writing tools and automation — this is a large part of my job right now; It’s not just taking day-to-day tasks off your plate by automating them, it’s also writing libraries and interfaces that other teams can use to get information and use the databases as well.

7. Security security security — a DBA must care about security of their data, because it’s often neglected. Make sure all sensitive fields are encrypted, and that the keys are handled in a sensible manner. Setting access level to databases, managing users, etc.

8. Enabling developers — it’s not just production, but development environments that often need a lot of attention.

9. On-Call — and the one we all dread the most.

By: Jonathan Levin

Jonathan Levin — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 19:03:57 +0000

Hi Baron,

I like what you have written, but it feels like the first option should be:

“Besides constantly improving the performance, response time and stability of the DB servers, your DBA should…”