Archive for December, 2008

Enhanced Methods for System Interrogation Yields Efficiency

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

One of the most challenging issues for DBAs typically has little to do with the database directly.  System dependencies such as kernel parameters, user permissions, storage allocation, etc. required for the successful deployment of a database are often not met.  This presents an extremely difficult situation for the DBA as they frequently have little control over these [...]

The DBA as a Power Broker

Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

Managing databases is an intricate endeavor. At a certain point in your career you’ve started writing scripts to accomplish various tasks. Writing the scripts turns out to be the easy part. The difficulty surrounds properly documenting them all, which is why most of this intelligence remains within the confines of the creator limiting its value. By publishing your productivity enhancements and [...]

Database Automation is Demanding

Tuesday, December 9th, 2008

There are a number of Data Center Automation (DCA) players: HP (Opsware) and BMC (BladeLogic) being the most notable. These tools provide significant operating system related content which allow them to create living servers out of bare metal boxes. This is the bread and butter of these offerings and companies can expect to generally satisfy [...]

A Day in the Life of an Oracle RAC DBA

Thursday, December 4th, 2008

This is where the rubber hits the road – the day to day activities of database professionals around the world who are responsible for creating and managing Oracle RAC databases. How do these peoples’ lives differ? What factors indicate how much they’ll get done and to what degree they will enjoy their work? How likely [...]