Not that long ago, DBAs were the gateway to all things database related for enterprises. With the advent of the cloud, automation and DevOps, the DBAs role and responsibilities are rapidly evolving. In this presentation delivered at Postgres Vision 2018, Ken Rugg, Chief Product & Strategy Officer at EDB, explored the 10 most significant ways the role of the DBA has changed and what new, higher value skills a DBA will need be ready for epic change.

1. THE CHANGING ROLE OF THE DATABASE
ADMINISTRATOR IN THE CLOUD
Ken Rugg, Chief Product & Strategy Officer, EnterpriseDB
June 2018

2. CLASSIC DEFINITION:
DATABASE ADMINISTRATOR (DBA)
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Upgrading, patching, managing DBMS
Migrating
Backup/recovery
Security
Storage/capacity planning
Monitoring/improving performance
Assisting developers
Troubleshooting

3. DATABASE WORLD IS CHANGING
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PAST
“The Corporate Standard”
Company data centers
Waterfall
IT provisioning
Develop –then- operate
Manual tasks
Routine tasks
Database expert
PRESENT
Many new databases
The cloud
Agile
Self-service provisioning
DevOps
Automation
Hard problems
Data Expert

4. Employment projected to grow 11 percent from 2016 to 2026
WHAT HASN’T CHANGED:
DBAs ARE STILL IN HIGH DEMAND
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Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics
WHAT THIS MEANS
Scramble for talent
Especially with cloud and virtualization skills
Without DBAs companies risk losing competitive advantage

5. THE CHANGING ROLE OF THE DBA
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6. FROM DATABASE ADMIN
TO DATA STRATEGIST
6
Automation ends mundane and repetitive tasks
Adding new servers by clicking a few buttons
Frees up time for strategic efforts
More focus on the data and applications
Understanding data sources and value to organization
Develop new skills in areas such as data science and machine learning

7. FROM HARDWARE TWEAKER
TO MASTER OF CLOUD
TECHNOLOGIES
CONTAINERSCLOUDS

8. FROM SCHEMA INDEXER
TO MASTER MODELER
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DBAs historically specialized by RDBMS
Now need to know/recommend different platforms
Also still need deep DB knowledge
And understand DB as part of a full stack

9. FROM SERVER JOCKEY
TO UTILITY PROVIDER
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DBs now viewed as a utility
Flip a switch and get it now
Burstable capacity
Less time to plan

10. FROM LICENSE GATEKEEPER
TO BUDGET OWNER
10
Most cloud services are provided by a third-party vendor
Need to understand services
How to optimize cost vs. performance including infrastructure
Architecting to meet requirements and budget

11. PUBLIC
FROM SITE ADMIN TO
PLATFORM BROKER
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DBs becoming platform agnostic
Support on premises or public cloud
Many deployment and service level
options
Collaborate with teams supporting
the cloud/full application stack
Managed
Cloud
Infrastructure
On Premises
DBaaS
platform
Self-managed
DBMS
Licenses
Managed On
Premises
DB
Self-Managed
Cloud
Compute
Fully
Managed
DBaaS PRIVATE

12. FROM QUERY OPTIMIZER
TO PERFORMANCE PRO
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Less time updating/troubleshooting servers
More time optimizing data architecture
Monitoring of infrastructure and database performance holistically
Advanced data modeling, query tuning and Indexing strategies to improve performance

13. FROM ACCOUNT ADMIN
TO SECURITY EXPERT
13
Cloud vendors provide secure infrastructure
But must ensure that all systems are using that infrastructure
properly, especially the database
Protecting sensitive information across highly-distributed
infrastructures can be a challenge
DBA needs to understand possible threat sources
Compliance with corporate, industry, and governmental
regulations add new responsibilities on DBA

14. FROM OPS SUPPORT TO
DevOps COLLABORATOR
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Increasing focus on continuous deployment and delivery
DBAs take on tasks once reserved for developers and
work closely with DevOps teams
More moving out of centralized IT and into the line-of-
business/applications teams
While continuing as data steward and trusted adviser

15. AND STILL NEED
TO KEEP IT RUNNING
1515
NOW HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE CLOUD FOR:
Service providers apply fix packs and upgrade DBMS versions
Backup and recovery in the cloud is fully automated
DBA still needs awareness and understanding of the potential impact
Scalability
Fault tolerance
Replication

16. DATABASE PLATFORM AS A SERVICE
(dbPaaS) CAN HELP
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Self-service provisioning
Automation of routine tasks
“Infinite” capacity
Multi-cloud/hybrid deployment
Tradeoff control and options for agility

17. OPTIONS FOR RUNNING EDB POSTGRES ON AWS
All the control you need…
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EDB Ark
on AWS
EDB
Postgres
on EC2
Managed
DBaaS on
AWS
Managed Databases
• Live DBA assistance
• Optimization and tuning
• DB design and architecture
Managed Infrastructure
• Self-service provisioning
• Automatic failover
• 24x7 automated monitoring
Self Managed
• DIY provisioning
• Oracle compatible
• Access to Postgres expertise

18. EDB AND YOU
READY FOR THE CLOUD?
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Portability
Oracle
Compatible
Enterprise-Grade
Control
Self-Service
Experience
Multi-Model