RE: Non Oracle knowledge to be a good Oracle DBA/expert
- From: "Richard J. Goulet" <rgoulet@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <Brandon.Allen@xxxxxxxxxxx>, <oralrnr@xxxxxxxxx>, <oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2007 12:57:06 -0400
Well I'll put in my 2 cents here. To be a good DBA you need to think of
the bigger picture wherever you are. If all your going to do is look
inward at the database then you'll quickly find yourself replaced by a
button. You need to find ways to exploit the data your the care taker
of to further the business your in. That means making use of the
technology in the database as well as the data. Past life that I can
talk about we used the technology of the database to allow a PeopleSoft
panel to query a non PeopleSoft database that held shop floor testing
data. With that we no longer shipped units that were not properly
tested or had been mislabeled. Small task for me, much bigger impact on
the companies bottom line and customer satisfaction.
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Kanbay <http://www.kanbay.com/>
Richard J. Goulet, Senior Oracle DBA
45 Bartlett ST | Marlborough, MA 01752 USA
Tel: 508.573.1978 | Fax: 508.229.2019 | Cell: 508.742.5795
rgoulet@xxxxxxxxxx <mailto:rgoulet@xxxxxxxxxx>
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________________________________
From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Allen, Brandon
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2007 12:20 PM
To: oralrnr@xxxxxxxxx; oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: Non Oracle knowledge to be a good Oracle DBA/expert
Not a guru, but I think one of the most important things for a DBA to
know is how to learn - quickly, and just as important for long term
success is to have a natural desire or drive to learn. Databases and
all the interrelated technologies change so fast that you have to be
willing and able to constantly learn, and to be happy with life as a
DBA, you have to enjoy that challenge. By knowing how to learn, I mean
being able to quickly identify what it is you need to know, where to go
to get the necessary knowledge, how to quickly sort through all the BS
to zero in on the key concepts that you need, and then how to apply the
knowledge to your specific situation. There certainly isn't any fixed
set of topics that a DBA needs to know. The label "DBA" describes many
different roles in real life and in my particular position, knowing C
doesn't really do me any good because I never look at C code. Rather
than knowing any specific language, it is more important to understand
the concepts of coding and then you can take that skill and pick up the
specifics of any language as needed. Obviously you need to be
comfortable with the SQL syntax and at least familiar with the
procedural code for the RDBMS you are working on. You just have to be
as intimate as you can with all the pieces of whatever environment you
find yourself responsible for. It is a huge plus to have as much
understanding as you can of the operating system and all applications
running against your databases, as well as anything else running on the
same server. Even an understanding of the hardware and network you are
running on can be very helpful. A good understanding of the business
you are supporting is always useful too. I think you really have to be
a jack of all trades and master of at least one in order to be a really
good DBA.
Regarding where to start - there are many paths to enlightenment :-) so
just take your pick. Some start as application admins (like me), some
as sys (OS) admins, some as developers - all tend to end up with
different strengths and weaknesses but I don't think one is inherently
better than the others, just different. Whichever path you pick, just
try to pick up as much of the others as you can along the way.
Regards,
Brandon
________________________________
From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Orlando L
Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 9:14 PM
To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Non Oracle knowledge to be a good Oracle DBA/expert
Gurus,
We all hear about Oracle books and manuals that we should read. What
about non Oracle things we need to know to be a DBA? For eg couple of
days ago David Litchfield posted a link to an Oracle paper on log buffer
internals. The paper had lots of C code in it. Do I have to learn C to
become a good DBA? What is the best place to start?
Orlando.
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