| Oracle is the acknowledged leader in database technology and a career as an Oracle DBA is definitely lucrative. We wanted to find out from practicing Oracle DBA's what it takes to be
a Oracle DBA, to get a window into a day in their life as a DBA and
have them share their experience, tips, hints and suggestions of being
a successful Oracle DBA. We are fortunate to present accomplished,
successful Oracle database administration professionals who work with
Oracle databases day in and day out. |
Introducing...
David Fitzjarrell - a seasoned Oracle DBA with over 20 years of experience, David specializes in tuning, backup and recovery, replication, installation and configuration of Oracle databases. David is very active in various Oracle forums and groups like Google's Oracle DBA Experts, dbforums, orafaq, mydatabasesupport and many, many more. David has has his own Oracle Tips. His post "
What do Julius Caesar, Jacques Cassini and Pope Gregory XIII have in common? Oracle!" is a must read. He shares his experience in
Oracle Tips.
Doug Burns - an Oracle 9i certified DBA, living across the pond, Doug is an Oracle consultant, DBA, Developer and Trainer. Doug has over 18 years of experience and has worked with Oracle from ver 6 through 11g. Doug is an active contributor to the UK Oracle User Group and has multiple technical papers to his credit. Doug, the trainer has developed and taught lessons in PL/SQL, performance tuning and DBA courses. Doug is a fan of the good old days when Sinclair ZX Spectrum ruled. Visit his Oracle blog.
Srinivas Ramineni - a former DBA in Oracle, Srinivas has also worked as a DBA in companies like Level 3, Citigroup and Cisco. Srinivas, an Oracle Certified Professional, specializes in Fusion Middleware, E-Business, Disaster Recovery and integration of Oracle products with 3rd party vendors. Srinivas is an active contributor to the Oracle community and logs his everyday experience in his blog Daily DBA.
Question: What is a typical day at your job?
David: I start by checking the alert logs and listener logs for the databases and servers I support. After addressing any problems I scan my email for any user requests; these range from creating user accounts, refreshing test databases with current data and tuning problem queries. I then check my monitoring software for any issues which may have occurred since I arrived (space problems, UNDO issues, etc.) In the midst of all of that activity I scan MetaLink for any potential issues which could affect my users, noting the suggested solutions for later reference. And, of course, 'spur of the moment' problems occur, and I address those as I receive them.
Doug: No two days are the same, really.
- Because I'm a contractor, no two sites are the same either.
- Being a Development-focused DBA is very different to being a Production-focused DBA.
- It depends whether I'm working on a specific project or not. For example, I've been working on a Grid Control and Audit Vault implementation recently which filled the days.
In fact, that's probably the hardest part of forging a career as a DBA - deciding what type of DBA you're most suited to and enjoy and finding the jobs that match. Some jobs are simply handling trouble tickets and fixing small problems all day whereas some are very project-orientated and strategic.
Question: What does it take to be a successful Oracle DBA?
David: Patience, understanding, a good knowledge of Oracle and how it functions and the willingness to learn as you go. Continually educating yourself with respect to Oracle is a must, and the ability to find information with little, if any, assistance is a key aspect of being a good DBA.
Doug: Technical knowledge and a commitment to developing that technical knowledge. Whether it's in the official job description or not, DBAs tend to be used as the fountain of all knowledge about the RDBMS so it's important that you are familiar with all aspects or know how to track down the information you don't know. It will also help you when you encounter unexpected problems.
A mature and disciplined approach to work. No DBA likes working alongside a cowboy because they create problems for the entire team. If you can't cope with sharing information and writing documentation, then stay away from my team!
Communication skills. Being a DBA means dealing with a wide range of people including end users, developers, system administrators, managers, Oracle Support people etc. It's simply not an option to be technically sound but unable to handle those relationships. You often need to fight your corner to implement improvements and the ability to persuade others is incredibly useful. You're also likely to need help from System Administrators in the middle of the night and they tend to remember how you've treated them in the past ;-)
Srinivas: Most of today's E-Business and IT applications are entirely web-based and hence the underlying databases have to be highly available 24*7. Responsibility, proactive attitude and emergency preparedness are some of the key characteristics that can make a successful Oracle DBA. IT application developers and the end-user communities rely heavily on the database administrator for their day-to-day database issues, questions and projects. An Oracle DBA should be polite and must treat every one in the organization with courtesy and respect.
Question: Has your job description evolved over time?
David: Most certainly. With Oracle 6 the main thrust was to keep the database running and available, and with minimal tools at my disposal that was a challenge. As Oracle provided more and more functionality in the database for the users and DBAs the job description changed from a strictly server-facing role to that of DBA/user liaison. It is not unusual at this point in my career to address physical database issues (storage, configuration, backup and recovery) and user/vendor requests (application tuning, query tracing, connection troubleshooting).
Doug: As management tools have improved being a DBA can (and should) be a more strategic role than it was - working on solutions to problems in advance of them appearing and rolling those solutions out across the server estate. However, that needs to be balanced against the explosion in the number of databases you're likely to be supporting so, if you're unlucky enough to find yourself that doesn't have a solid technical infrastructure in place, you can find the fire-fighting aspects as great as they ever were.
Srinivas: Yes indeed ! The definition of an Oracle DBA has a much broader scope today. I started with just "database work" in my first job. Today my responsibilities include Oracle systems design and architecture, including Oracle E-Business Suite administration, Oracle Application Server setup and administration, setting up of Continuity of Business systems (Disaster Recovery preparedness), setup and administration of Oracle Fusion Middleware components such as Oracle Portal Server, Identity Management etc. I am also expected to work on hardware specifications and requirements for upgrading existing Oracle installations or setting new ones. Whereas the traditional "Oracle DBA" designation has remained the same, it has a much wider scope and responsibility today.
Question: How do you keep up with new features and changes & advancements in database technology?
David: I keep going back to the supplied documentation from Oracle, as well as investigating features and writing examples to see how and why they work. Writing code and fixing mistakes is a great way to learn if one has the time.
Doug: Personally, I attend user group and vendor conferences. My primary resource, like most DBAs I suspect, is the internet and I find blogs increasingly useful because they deliver bite-sized information without the corporate spin but it's still good to go to a conference and immerse myself in the subject, away from the day to day work demands. Focusing on learning as a separate activity from on-the-job learning is very important to me.
Srinivas: Every major Oracle database release comes with a lot of exciting new features which can be leveraged for simplicity, automation or better database management.
a) I am an avid reader of the bi-monthly Oracle Magazine. The subscription is free and it is available online as well. The magazine covers the latest in Oracle, contains a lot of expert articles with a practical outlook to tackle business problems.
b) I have also subscribed to rss feeds in http://otn.oracle.com so that i get updated whenever there is a new knowledge based article. This a popular site for the Oracle community and most of the technology articles are posted by Oracle ACEs and Oracle ACE Directors who are proven and recognized individuals by Oracle Corporation.
c) I also recommend aspiring DBAs to register in the Official Oracle Forum , thanks to the many experts who generously contribute to this discussion board, virtually any of your database related questions can get answered here.
Question: What is the best feature you like about oracle DB, what needs improvement compared to other databases in the market?
David: I have a difficult time narrowing the field to one feature, as there are many which could be considered a 'best' feature depending upon the task. If I were hard pressed to have an answer I suppose it would be DataGuard, followed by Streams, then RMAN. I cannot think of a feature which is available in other databases which Oracle does not have, which doesn't mean there aren't any, just that I cannot think of what they might be.
Doug: Best features - Locking, concurrency and read consistency model and the instrumentation to help performance analysis (e.g. Active Session History)
Needs improvement - Ease of use and software installations and patch management.
Srinivas: My favorite Oracle database feature is Real Application Clusters (RAC). Using RAC technology, Oracle databases can be setup for high availability and virtually unlimited scalability. I did not get a chance to fully evaluate other databases in the market vis-a-vis the Oracle database. Oracle is the recognized Industry leader as per various results published by market research companies such as IDC and Gartner.
Question: Has any of the Following Macro Trends affected you personally and what's your opinion?
- Outsourcing & Off-shoring
- Virtualization
- Movement from Client-Side to Web-Based
Outsourcing & Offshoring
David: Outsourcing and offshoring can be an acceptable way to reduce administration costs, but care needs to be taken to ensure the quality of the service is acceptable to the organization. I've heard horror stories of unqualified persons holding jobs titled as 'DBA' who have done more harm than good but were hired simply because they held Oracle certifications. I've also heard stories of highly capable offshore DBAs. Cost cannot be the sole motivator for such a move, as deciding to outsource DBA duties simply to reduce overhead can cost more, in the long run, than keeping qualified persons in the job.
Doug: No significant impact, but I remember a time towards the turn of the century when off-shoring was very popular in the UK. That seems to have lessened as people experienced the difference in the quality of service. I'm sure it will put in more of an appearance again soon as these things tend to come in waves!
Srinivas: Oracle DBA is one of the few jobs that had a lesser impact by Outsourcing. A DBA is critical to the success of an IT department requiring a lot of technical understanding, emotional maturity, ability to handle pressure and crisis and one that comes with a lot of responsibility. In fact, all the Dice Reports this year show Oracle database as one of the top technology skills in the market in the USA.
Virtualization
(Note from Author: I wasn't clear by what I meant by Virtualization, was it VMWare type virtualization or was it about virtual DBA (remote DBA). The answers by our experts were on both. Apologize for the confusion, but the answers were apt regardless)
David: I have not supported databases running in virtual environments (such as VMWare) so I cannot offer an opinion.
Doug: No significant impact. I think that virtualisation in the UK Oracle market has yet to take off, but I'm sure it will in future.
Srinivas: If you meant remote service and tele-commuting? Remote Service and Tele-commuting are only for low profile work such as after-hours support etc. Most of the managers prefer Oracle DBAs to work onsite and with direct supervision.
Moving from client-server to web-based
David: It's been a boon to business in terms of customer accessibility, however it's also opened holes in the security model which can be difficult to close. Such a move requires trained, talented and detail-oriented programmers willing to go the extra mile to ensure application security and data security/integrity.
Doug: Significantly more difficulty in analysing performance problems because of connection pooling and the lack of visibility of the middle tier to a DBA. More complexity and more parts to break!
Srinivas: The Oracle DBA is usually less impacted by Client-server to Web-based migrations. Oracle databases can work with both client-server systems and web-based systems.
Question: Your advice to people who are evaluating Oracle DB administration as a career.
David: Learn all you can about Oracle; use the documentation, visit applicable newsgroups and ask about reliable and knowledgeable websites offering information. Three authors routinely publish reliable and usable information:
Steven Feuerstein (PL/SQL)
Thomas Kyte (Oracle database architecture)
Jonathan Lewis (Understanding the optimizer)
One additional author has provided the de facto reference for performance tuning: Cary Millsap
Familiarize yourself with their work and learn all you can from them as that knowledge will serve you well in your career.
Doug: Whilst I love being a DBA and it can be financially rewarding, there's really no point in doing it unless you enjoy database technology, solving problems and dealing with other human beings. There's enough pressure and late nights for it to be a difficult job at times but because I'm essentially doing something I love, it doesn't seem that way. I'm also disappointed when I see more and more DBAs appearing on the scene who appear to have no aptitude for the job, presumably attracted by the financial rewards. So, if you like playing around with databases then being a DBA is fun, if you don't then it's just a job like any other with longer hours and more pressure in some cases, depending on the site.
Srinivas: The IT industry is facing a shortage of quality Oracle DBAs. Oracle database administration is a good career option with long-term benefits. I have been working as an Oracle database administrator since more than 6 years and the experience is very rewarding. It has also given me the confidence to work on architect and build large scale IT systems. I was able to positively impact the experience of the end-user community and positively contribute to various IT departments.
I recommend all aspiring Oracle DBAs to get trained in a class atmosphere. Oracle University offers a lot of online and classroom courses in many countries across the world.
A little Adaptation of the 3 AM ad
"It's 3 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep, but there's a pager and it's ringing. Something is happening on your servers. You will decide who answers that call. Whether it's
someone who already knows the database, knows the transactions.
Someone tested and ready to lead in a dangerous world. It's 3 a.m. and
your children are safe and asleep. Who do you want answering the phone?"
For me, David, Doug or Srinivas would do. I am sure David, Doug and Srinivas, between themselves, must have seen nearly all there is to Oracle databases. Thanks guys for your time and effort in sharing your thoughts and experience with us all.
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