A database administrator (DBA) is a person who is responsible for the environmental aspects of a database. The role of a database administrator has changed according to the technology of database management systems (DBMSs) as well as the needs of the owners of the databases. For example, although logical and physical database design are traditionally the duties of a database analyst or database designer, a DBA may be tasked to perform those duties.
Duties
The duties of a database administrator vary and depend on the job description, corporate and Information Technology (IT) policies and the technical features and capabilities of the DBMS being administered. They nearly always include disaster recovery (backups and testing of backups), performance analysis and tuning, data dictionary maintenance, and some database design.
Some of the roles of the DBA 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
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