<s>
Database	B-General_Concept
administration	I-General_Concept
is	O
the	O
function	O
of	O
managing	O
and	O
maintaining	O
database	B-Application
management	I-Application
systems	I-Application
(	O
DBMS	O
)	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Mainstream	O
DBMS	O
software	O
such	O
as	O
Oracle	B-Application
,	O
IBM	B-Application
Db2	I-Application
and	O
Microsoft	B-Application
SQL	I-Application
Server	I-Application
need	O
ongoing	O
management	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
such	O
,	O
corporations	O
that	O
use	O
DBMS	O
software	O
often	O
hire	O
specialized	O
information	B-General_Concept
technology	I-General_Concept
personnel	O
called	O
database	B-General_Concept
administrators	I-General_Concept
or	O
DBAs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Take	O
care	O
of	O
the	O
Database	B-General_Concept
design	I-General_Concept
and	O
implementation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Database	B-General_Concept
tuning	I-General_Concept
and	O
performance	O
monitoring	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Systems	O
DBAs	O
(	O
also	O
referred	O
to	O
as	O
physical	O
DBAs	O
,	O
operations	O
DBAs	O
or	O
production	O
Support	O
DBAs	O
)	O
:	O
focus	O
on	O
the	O
physical	O
aspects	O
of	O
database	B-General_Concept
administration	I-General_Concept
such	O
as	O
DBMS	O
installation	O
,	O
configuration	O
,	O
patching	O
,	O
upgrades	O
,	O
backups	O
,	O
restores	O
,	O
refreshes	O
,	O
performance	O
optimization	O
,	O
maintenance	O
and	O
disaster	O
recovery	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Development	O
DBAs	O
:	O
focus	O
on	O
the	O
logical	O
and	O
development	O
aspects	O
of	O
database	B-General_Concept
administration	I-General_Concept
such	O
as	O
data	B-Application
model	I-Application
design	O
and	O
maintenance	O
,	O
DDL	O
(	O
data	B-Language
definition	I-Language
language	I-Language
)	O
generation	O
,	O
SQL	B-Language
writing	O
and	O
tuning	O
,	O
coding	O
stored	B-General_Concept
procedures	I-General_Concept
,	O
collaborating	O
with	O
developers	O
to	O
help	O
choose	O
the	O
most	O
appropriate	O
DBMS	O
feature/functionality	O
and	O
other	O
pre-production	O
activities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Application	O
DBAs	O
:	O
usually	O
found	O
in	O
organizations	O
that	O
have	O
purchased	O
3rd	O
party	O
application	B-Application
software	I-Application
such	O
as	O
ERP	O
(	O
enterprise	O
resource	O
planning	O
)	O
and	O
CRM	O
(	O
customer	O
relationship	O
management	O
)	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Examples	O
of	O
such	O
application	B-Application
software	I-Application
includes	O
Oracle	B-Application
Applications	I-Application
,	O
Siebel	O
and	O
PeopleSoft	O
(	O
both	O
now	O
part	O
of	O
Oracle	B-Application
Corp	I-Application
.	I-Application
)	O
and	O
SAP	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Application	O
DBAs	O
straddle	O
the	O
fence	O
between	O
the	O
DBMS	O
and	O
the	O
application	B-Application
software	I-Application
and	O
are	O
responsible	O
for	O
ensuring	O
that	O
the	O
application	O
is	O
fully	O
optimized	O
for	O
the	O
database	O
and	O
vice	O
versa	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
usually	O
manage	O
all	O
the	O
application	B-Architecture
components	I-Architecture
that	O
interact	O
with	O
the	O
database	O
and	O
carry	O
out	O
activities	O
such	O
as	O
application	O
installation	O
and	O
patching	O
,	O
application	O
upgrades	O
,	O
database	O
cloning	O
,	O
building	O
and	O
running	O
data	O
cleanup	O
routines	O
,	O
data	O
load	O
process	B-Operating_System
management	I-Operating_System
,	O
etc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
individuals	O
usually	O
specialize	O
in	O
one	O
type	O
of	O
database	B-General_Concept
administration	I-General_Concept
,	O
in	O
smaller	O
organizations	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
not	O
uncommon	O
to	O
find	O
a	O
single	O
individual	O
or	O
group	O
performing	O
more	O
than	O
one	O
type	O
of	O
database	B-General_Concept
administration	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
degree	O
to	O
which	O
the	O
administration	O
of	O
a	O
database	O
is	O
automated	O
dictates	O
the	O
skills	O
and	O
personnel	O
required	O
to	O
manage	O
databases	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
one	O
end	O
of	O
the	O
spectrum	O
,	O
a	O
system	O
with	O
minimal	O
automation	O
will	O
require	O
significant	O
experienced	O
resources	O
to	O
manage	O
;	O
perhaps	O
5-10	O
databases	B-Application
per	O
DBA	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Database	B-General_Concept
administration	I-General_Concept
work	O
is	O
complex	O
,	O
repetitive	O
,	O
time-consuming	O
and	O
requires	O
significant	O
training	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
databases	B-Application
hold	O
valuable	O
and	O
mission-critical	O
data	O
,	O
companies	O
usually	O
look	O
for	O
candidates	O
with	O
multiple	O
years	O
of	O
experience	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Database	B-General_Concept
administration	I-General_Concept
often	O
requires	O
DBAs	O
to	O
put	O
in	O
work	O
during	O
off-hours	O
(	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
for	O
planned	O
after	O
hours	O
downtime	O
,	O
in	O
the	O
event	O
of	O
a	O
database-related	O
outage	O
or	O
if	O
performance	O
has	O
been	O
severely	O
degraded	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
Microsoft	B-Application
SQL	I-Application
Server	I-Application
comes	O
with	O
SQL	B-Language
Server	O
Management	O
Studio	O
and	O
Oracle	B-Application
has	O
tools	O
such	O
as	O
SQL*Plus	B-Application
and	O
Oracle	B-Application
Enterprise	O
Manager/Grid	O
Control	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
,	O
3rd	O
parties	O
such	O
as	O
BMC	O
,	O
Quest	O
Software	O
,	O
Embarcadero	O
Technologies	O
,	O
patchVantage	O
and	O
SQL	B-Language
Maestro	O
Group	O
offer	O
GUI	O
tools	O
to	O
monitor	O
the	O
DBMS	O
and	O
help	O
DBAs	O
carry	O
out	O
certain	O
functions	O
inside	O
the	O
database	O
more	O
easily	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Another	O
kind	O
of	O
database	O
software	O
exists	O
to	O
manage	O
the	O
provisioning	O
of	O
new	O
databases	B-Application
and	O
the	O
management	O
of	O
existing	O
databases	B-Application
and	O
their	O
related	O
resources	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
human	O
cannot	O
be	O
expected	O
to	O
complete	O
this	O
procedure	O
in	O
the	O
same	O
exact	O
way	O
time	O
after	O
time	O
-	O
exactly	O
the	O
goal	O
when	O
multiple	O
databases	B-Application
exist	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Automated	O
Database	O
operations	O
has	O
grown	O
since	O
2009	O
,	O
following	O
Amazon	B-Application
Web	I-Application
Services	I-Application
introduction	O
of	O
AWS	B-Application
RDS	O
,	O
providing	O
automated	O
and	O
managed	O
database	O
as	O
a	O
service	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	B-Application
Azure	I-Application
launched	O
a	O
similar	O
automated	O
database	O
as	O
a	O
service	O
in	O
2010	O
,	O
with	O
SQL	B-Language
Azure	O
,	O
providing	O
automated	O
backups	O
,	O
with	O
geo-replication	O
and	O
high	O
availability	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
introduction	O
of	O
docker	B-Language
(	O
software	O
)	O
containers	O
has	O
enhanced	O
support	O
for	O
fast	O
delivery	O
of	O
containerized	O
database	B-Application
instances	I-Application
,	O
and	O
both	O
Amazon	B-Application
Web	I-Application
Services	I-Application
and	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Azure	I-Application
have	O
enhanced	O
automated	O
support	O
for	O
containers	O
in	O
their	O
respective	O
services	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Third	O
party	O
support	O
for	O
database	O
container	O
images	O
has	O
grown	O
,	O
including	O
MongoDB	O
,	O
PostgreSQL	B-Application
,	O
MySQL	O
from	O
Oracle	B-Application
,	O
and	O
Microsoft	B-Application
SQL	I-Application
Server	I-Application
from	O
Microsoft	O
,	O
and	O
from	O
independent	O
port	O
's	O
of	O
docker	B-Language
(	O
software	O
)	O
from	O
Windocks	O
Kubernetes	B-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
the	O
Kubernetes	B-General_Concept
Operator	O
pattern	O
by	O
CoreOS	O
,	O
further	O
extended	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
orchestrate	O
database	O
container	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Kubernetes	B-General_Concept
Operators	O
have	O
been	O
used	O
by	O
third	O
parties	O
to	O
enable	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
automate	O
database	B-General_Concept
administration	I-General_Concept
,	O
including	O
deployment	O
of	O
instances	O
of	O
a	O
database	O
,	O
upgrade	O
database	O
versions	O
,	O
or	O
perform	O
backups	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Newer	O
technologies	O
such	O
as	O
Stratavia	O
's	O
Data	O
Palette	O
suite	O
and	O
GridApp	O
Systems	O
Clarity	O
have	O
begun	O
to	O
increase	O
the	O
automation	O
of	O
databases	B-Application
causing	O
the	O
reduction	O
of	O
database	O
related	O
tasks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	O
Director	O
users	O
must	O
log	O
in	O
with	O
their	O
database-specific	O
credentials	O
to	O
view	O
the	O
database	O
,	O
its	O
entities	O
,	O
and	O
its	O
data	O
or	O
to	O
perform	O
database	B-Application
management	I-Application
tasks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Database	B-General_Concept
administrators	I-General_Concept
and	O
application	O
developers	O
can	O
manage	O
databases	B-Application
only	O
if	O
they	O
have	O
appropriate	O
permissions	O
and	O
roles	O
granted	O
to	O
them	O
by	O
the	O
organization	O
administrator	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
several	O
education	O
institutes	O
that	O
offer	O
professional	O
courses	O
,	O
including	O
late-night	O
programs	O
,	O
to	O
allow	O
candidates	O
to	O
learn	O
database	B-General_Concept
administration	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Also	O
,	O
DBMS	O
vendors	O
such	O
as	O
Oracle	B-Application
,	O
Microsoft	O
and	O
IBM	O
offer	O
certification	O
programs	O
to	O
help	O
companies	O
to	O
hire	O
qualified	O
DBA	O
practitioners	O
.	O
</s>
