The primary goal of the database administrator is to make sure that data is available to users. Most OpenEdge-based applications require multiple resources to function properly. This section discusses monitoring those resources.
Running out of resources is the second most likely cause of system failure. (Hardware failure is the most common.) It takes persistence to ensure maximum system availability, and maximizing system availability is the role of the database administrator.
When determining the source of a problem, the first question to ask is, "What has changed?" If you are monitoring your system, you can determine if there is a change in the amount of work (reads, writes, commits) being done, the number of users on the system, or if the system is consuming more resources than usual.
Monitoring resources is extremely important because f you know how fast you are using additional resources, you can determine when you will run out. Monitoring also allows you to plan for growth and avoid potential problems within the database and at the system level. On most systems, disk capacity and database storage areas are the most dynamic areas in terms of growth.
