Updated July 6, 2023
Introduction to Database administrator skills
The database environment is successfully managed and maintained by a database administrator who has all the information related to the database and the maintenance details of the same along with the storage capability of the database. The database is designed and implemented by a database administrator who works for the efficiency of the database and its support to all the people who work in database-related activities. The storage is calculated and space is allotted for different activities involving the database management and storage of data which keeps the administrator busy in managing the database always. Administrator uses several tools to manage their database efficiently. In this topic, we are going to learn about Database administrator skills.
Skills of Database administrator
- Authorizations of all types are given by DBA to the people so that they can access the databases. Various authentications like reader, writer, and viewer is given based on the roles so that the data is not manipulated in an unwanted manner. User profiles must be created and several authorizations should be assigned to each user so that it will be easy to track the usage of the database and the modifications done to the data in the database. Security is the main concern while giving authentication to the developers and others as unauthorized people should not investigate the data in the database. This is very important in a database management system as the data should be consistent and should not face any changes from previous forms of data. Tight control of the data can be established by DBA.
- Centralized databases are used in most cases and the control of this centralized database should be handled perfectly by DBA. This helps them to manage the data and provide certain standards to people who access the data. This centralization is important as data is made available to more than one application at a time without any latency in any of the applications or the database. Hence, it is always required to monitor the data involved in the process and the security of the same. When current information is stored in the database, it is necessary to update the same always and test the complexity to make it available whenever needed.
- For all the data being stored in the database, it is very important to have a backup of the same and if possible, more than one backup. It will take up the storage space but it is not easy to recover lost data. DBA should take care of the data backup and the storage space required for the backup data. This backup will help people to check the details if the data is accidentally deleted at any point of time.
- DBA does not care for the data present in the database. They are capable to take care of the presence of data in the database and recovering the same incase the data is missing from the database. DBA should look into the procedures to update the database for mandatory maintenance and do the necessary update to the database so that the work is not stopped at any point of time. DBA can make the database complex or simple but whatever the queries they run in the database, it should not affect the actual content in the database.
- In addition to designing databases, DBA should also be able to design Database servers based on the organization’s requirements. Deployment of the servers and monitoring and managing the same servers should be done by DBA as it is an integral part along with database management. This data should be distributed among various accounts and applications and hence data distribution is another skill that a DBA should possess.
- It is necessary for DBA to learn any one of the query languages to manage and query the data present in the database. This will save DBA from all the manual work involved relating to the table. It can be either SQL Server, Oracle or MS SQL or any other query language based on the organization they work for. Also, dataflow diagrams, normalization, entity relationships, data maps are a few other database related activities that a DBA should be aware of.
- The database, server, and the related applications should be upgraded and maintained always so that the data is not corrupted. Network requirements should be noted and made available to the database so that it is available whenever needed and it does not create any maintenance time. Technical support should be available for anyone who asks for database support at any point in time. The work of DBA is 24 X 7 where they are always ready to work on the database whenever the need arises. Database license also should be checked in between so that there will not be any license issues or agreement withdrawal while working with the database and its servers.
- Report creation is another skill to be acquired by DBA as the reports must be professional and should be given to clients when they ask for the same. These are customized reports where the details are to be added based on the customer’s needs. There will be some reports to be created based on the application frontend which describes the number of databases and servers involved in the same project along with the number of tables. These reports are pre-formatted that it will not require much effort to create the same.
- Several tools will be associated with the database which should be familiar to the DBA. They should know the details of the tools, both automated and manual, and should work with those tools to make database administration easier for all. In some cases, data migration from native database to cloud instances happen, and DBA should be aware of the steps involved in this process.
The work of Database Administrator is not easy as they are always responsible for the database and the storage space plus security involved with the same. Also, they must make sure that the database is always up and running as many applications will be dependent on the database for their data retrieval and processing in the system.
Recommended Articles
This is a guide to Database administrator skills. Here we discuss the skills of Database administrator and Working in detail. You may also have a look at the following articles to learn more –
