There are a lot of great careers in information technology (IT) these days. The US Bureau of Labor Management predicts years of shortages in many IT career tracks, and one of the most highly paid and respected of IT professions is the database administrator (DBA). This session will teach you all about the professional expectations, roles, and responsibilities of a DBA. We'll show you what they do on a regular basis and how they operate within medium and large IT organizations. You'll learn not only what is most commonly expected of a DBA from a technological standpoint, but what your future boss and your future customers need to be satisfied by your performance. This is the first of several sessions in a series about DBA skills and professionalism. This session is beginners. Video available at http://sqlsentry.tv.

1. WHO WANTS TO BE A DBA?
ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES
Kevin Kline
• Technical Evangelist, SQL Sentry
• SQL Server MVP since 2003
• Twitter, FB, LI: @KEKline
• Blog: http://blogs.sqlsentry.com/kevinkline

2. YOUR CO-HOST
• Richard Douglas
• Sales Engineer at SQL Sentry
• Blogs:
• http://blogs.sqlsentry.com/author/RichardDouglas
• http://SQL.RichardDouglas.co.uk
• Twitter: @SQLRich
• Email: RDouglas@SQLSentry.com
• Slides:
http://www.Slideshare.net/SQLRich

3. Tuning blog, http://www.sqlperformance.com/, and videos, http://sqlsentry.tv.
Five eBooks ($10 in the Kindle bookstore), free at http://sqlsentry.com/ebooks.

4. Book a Demo with me (Richard Douglas) by going to
http://SQLSentry.com/BookRich

5. AGENDA
• Technology Skills
• Interpersonal Issues
oWhy am I here?
oWho do I need to satisfy?
oWhere is the work done?
oWhat’s really expected?
• Summary
• Q&A

6. DBA TECHNOLOGY SKILLS
1. Planning, Installing and configuring
2. Basic hardware understanding
3. Security basics
4. Backup and restore
5. Database maintenance
6. Troubleshooting
7. Basic HA/DR

7. WHY AM I HERE?
• Accidentally or Intentional?
• Involuntarily or Voluntary?
• Great career prospects and better earning potential
than most other IT careers

8. WHO DO I NEED TO SATISFY?
Peers
CustomersBoss

9. WHERE IS THE WORK DONE?
[Sandbox]
Dev
[Test/QA]
[UAT/Staging/Pre-production]
Production

10. WHAT WAS I THINKING?
• Most new/involuntary DBAs are aware of these
responsibilities:
oKeep the database running
oHardware
oDatabase maintenance
oSQL queries and working with Devs
What I’m really
getting into…
What I was
Thinking…

11. • Keeping People Happy
• Ensuring Uptime
• Owning the Platform
• Other duties as assigned
WHAT’S REALLY EXPECTED?

12. KEEPING PEOPLE HAPPY
• Keeping boss happy
oMeetings, TPS Reports
• Keeping users happy
oAnswering their service requests
oTraining
• Liaison between many groups
oSys admin, Network admin, SAN admin, Ops, Microsoft support, Hardware
vendor support, Dev teams, QA teams, Business owners

13. ENSURING UPTIME
• Keeping the database running
• Performance troubleshooting
• Database Maintenance
• HA/DR/BC
oMany technologies to fit your budget
oTrade-offs are usually a choice between cost and latency + manageability

14. OWNING THE PLATFORM
• Security
oDon’t make this an afterthought, especially SQL Injection
• Monitoring
oStop surprising me!
• Planning for the future
oPreparation today saves work tomorrow

15. OTHER DUTIES AS ASSIGNED…
• Licensing is mysterious to most and scary to some.
Don’t forget:
oMulti-instancing
oVirtualization
• Installing, upgrading and configuring SQL Server is
generally easier.
oRemote or unattended installation
oRemember, the defaults suck!

16. SUMMARY

17. QUESTIONS

18. Book a Demo with me (Richard Douglas) by going to
http://SQLSentry.com/BookRich