Data is inevitably the lifeblood of every business today, and there are multiple ways than ever before to gather, store and extract business value from it. The new approaches for data management offer a host of advantages to DBAs responsible for managing diverse environments. However, at the same time, these specialists need to face a number of key challenges while working with new technologies and multiple databases.

The role of the DBA today 

The DBA’s role today is very complex, and it involves data management both on the premises and the cloud. There are a large variety of data management systems for the professional to take care of, and they do not only involve traditional databases like MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server, and others. There are NoSQL systems and new open-source technologies to take care of, and this poses a host of challenges to professionals specializing in modern database management today. 

How can DBAs cope with these challenges?

The following are some major tips to help DBAs cope with the challenges of managing multiple database systems as follows- 

1. They should have a common set of objectives, SLAs, and metrics across all of the databases that should be ideally based on the applications’ response time and not only on their uptime. 

2. Document a set of consistent processes to ensure the security and integrity of the processes for data backup and restore. They should look into data encryption both at rest and while in transit, detect anomalies and register security events in the future in logs. These are just a few of the tasks they should do to manage the challenges of supervising many databases. 

3. Create a strategy or a roadmap with guidelines when it comes to moving data to the cloud or not. This needs to be created to reduce costs on workloads. This can be achieved by moving databases to a licensed version that is more affordable or move them to alternatives that are open source in nature. 

4. Ensure that the team of DBAs are more focused on spending their time proactively on the database over wasting time on troubleshooting the system. When database administrators focus on proactive database monitoring, they are able to save a substantial amount of costs for the organization. 

Changes in the IT and database estate environments 

Experts from the esteemed company in the field of database consulting, management, and administration RemoteDBA.com says the world today witnesses several corporate acquisitions and mergers. Every organization is dependant more on software. DBAs are now supporting more than one database for a business. This is why the subject of managing them effectively is all the more important for the modern era. 

The need for more software automation for modern-day database management 

Research and survey have revealed that application teams and DBAs manage more databases than they did in the past. This is why automation and having quality thought processes for the future are the need of the hour for them to be successful in optimizing the organization’s systems. 

In the past, it was crucial to make sure that the system’s functioning as the primary task of the DBA. However, today, they need to support a host of platforms than never before, and this is why companies are banking on software heavily for executing their daily tasks. These tasks range from the sales team of a department using CRM applications to buyers using eCommerce sites. The trend embraced in the past is no longer the accepted norm to function with multiple database systems. DBAs have to become more proactive to stop problems. This is why faster application response times should be focused on more than the mere management of the above databases. 

Take, for instance, the cases of Google as well as Facebook. They have indeed set the bat when it comes to an acceptable time for a response on an application. Today, if the application fails to respond to the end-user, it is an issue. If an application is slow or does not work, it will severely impact the business. 

It is not enough to have the database simply running and up today. The database needs to work fast. If you examine the database, it is the heart of an application. This means that if DBAs manage the SQL Server, MySQL and Oracle, they should agree with the business management about the focus of this effort and the acceptable response time. They should aim for this response time to have fewer problems and thought as to what should be done proactively. 

Avoid investing in costly hardware upgrades 

There is another advantage of being proactive, which is to shift the DBA’s role to manage the uptime for the system performance. Companies are going forward with many hardware investments when it comes to storage, server hardware, and virtualization. They are planning to move from disks to the more convenient modes of flash storage to boost performance. This entails a lot of costs. Performance is indeed critical, and the system is the focal element that impacts database performance. 

When it comes to conversations of hardware investments, the DBA must be a part of it. The professional should be focused on removing the need for investments in hardware like for example. The need to make a database run faster with flash storage might not be urgent for the company.

In case the above consideration does come to mind, the DBA team first has to ascertain whether there are bottlenecks in the storage unit or not when it comes to reading and writing from all the parts of the application and the disk. After determining the above, should they proceed to inform the management of whether or not flash storage is the need of the hour for boosting system performance? 

Therefore, when it comes to the DBA’s role in managing multiple databases, the above should be considered. Every step should be evaluated so that the business goals of the organization are met successfully. 

Author’s Bio:Walter Moore is a blogger and digital marketing expert. He is quite experienced in the field of web marketing as well as website designing. He has been working as a database administrator in the IT industry RemoteDBA. His research has helped thousands of users and brands with marketing campaigns too