NYCPHP Meetup

[Gary Mort]

On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 8:57 AM, Justin Dearing <zippy1981 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Gary,
>
> A cross specialized dba will not be out of a job with mongo, but a sql
> admin will.
>

A database is a database...they all have similarities, and the SQL part is
the least important part of being a DBA.

Understanding about tuning, memory, file access, client configuration,
backups, restores, backup strategies[do you want a specific point in time,
do you need rolling logs], redudant strategies, etc.

All of this is irrelevant to the underlying system, whether it is a file
server, a DB2 database, or a MongoDB.


Granted, I started this thread complaining that I want nice GUI tools to
manage and explore my data...but that is my own sheer laziness since I am
primarily a developer and not a DBA.

If I was a DBA, I'd want a great command line api and I'd tend to script my
own tools rather than relying on canned crud.  At least that is what every
DBA....and every SysAdmin outside of Windows admins do that I know of...[for
some reason...Windows Admins don't have this tendency...  wheras I would
always throw perl on any windows box I was fiddling with and script stuff
rather than count on a GUI tool.


I dunno... I really read that comment as an ongoing of the Admin vs
Programmer war......  a senseless war that destroys business productivity,
in my opinion.


Oh, and yes, I agree that at some level one needs a dedicated DBA..... the
whole thing is it's not really based on the complexity of the systems, but
rather it is a business decision.  When you can afford it, you should have a
half time DBA who can be on call at other times.  Sure, we can all think of
at what technical level a business should hire a DBA......but the truth is
the world runs on money - so unless that DBA is working for free, the
decision is more likely to be based on how much money is coming into the
business rather than how complex the system is.
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