The specific tasks of the database administrator vary from company to company, but the role usually includes the following common responsibilities:
Providing predictable system availability — To provide reliable system availability to users, the administrator must understand the state of the system at any given moment, and where it is going in terms of resource utilization, This involves knowing how the system works and having a deeper understanding of the trends in system utilization over time. It also requires a complete understanding of the business, which can only be provided by the management of the company. The database administrator is charged with translating business plans into technology choices.
Providing a resilient system that can recover from disasters — The database administrator must look at potential problems and determine if and how these problems are addressed by the disaster recovery plan. It is important to document items that will not be addressed and those items that will be addressed in the disaster recovery plan. The focus of the plan should be on recovery rather than on the backup process; a backup has no value if you cannot recover it in the event of a disaster.
Providing reliable system performance — Users must know how long a task is going to take so they can plan schedule their tasks accordingly. The application plays a significant role in overall performance, however it is the administrator's job to ensure that tasks take the same amount of time every time they run, by taking advantage of system resources and eliminating bottlenecks.
Performing periodic maintenance — This task might only be performed once a year, but must be considered in a complete administration plan. The small details of each task might change at the time of execution, but the overall process should be laid out in advance.
Providing predictable system availability — To provide reliable system availability to users, the administrator must understand the state of the system at any given moment, and where it is going in terms of resource utilization, This involves knowing how the system works and having a deeper understanding of the trends in system utilization over time. It also requires a complete understanding of the business, which can only be provided by the management of the company. The database administrator is charged with translating business plans into technology choices.
