Database Administration

The Database Administration Team is responsible for the design, implementation, maintenance and repair of an organization's database hosted at ITC Services.

The role includes the development and design of database strategies, monitoring and improving database performance and capacity, and planning for future expansion requirements. The DBA Team also plans, co-ordinates and implements security measures to safeguard the database.

The duties of a database administrator vary depending on job description, corporate and Information Technology (IT) policies and the technical features and capabilities of the DBMS being administered. They include disaster recovery (backups and testing of backups), performance analysis and tuning, data dictionary maintenance, and database design.

Roles of the DBA include:

  • Installation of new software — It is the job of the DBA to install new versions of DBMS software, application software, and other software related to DBMS administration. It is important that the DBA or other IS staff members test new software before it is moved into a production environment.

  • Configuration of hardware and software with the system administrator — In many cases the system software can only be accessed by the system administrator. In this case, the DBA works closely with the system administrator to perform software installations, and to configure hardware and software so that it functions optimally with the DBMS.

  • Security administration — One of the main duties of the DBA is to monitor and administer DBMS security. This involves adding and removing users, administering quotas, auditing, and checking for security problems.

  • Data analysis — The DBA analyzes data stored in the database and makes recommendations relating to performance and efficiency of that data storage. This includes the effective use of indexes, enabling "Parallel Query" execution, or other DBMS specific features.

  • Database design (preliminary) — The DBA can be involved at the preliminary database-design stages, eliminating many problems that might occur. The DBA knows the DBMS and system, can point out potential problems, and can help the development team with special performance considerations.

  • Data modeling and optimization — By modeling the data, it is possible to optimize the system layouts to take the most advantage of the I/O subsystem.

  • Responsible for the administration of existing enterprise databases and the analysis, design, and creation of new databases.

  • Data modeling, database optimization, understanding and implementation of schemas, and the ability to interpret and write complex Structured Query Language (SQL) queries.

  • Proactively monitor systems for optimum performance and capacity constraints.

  • Establish standards and best practices for SQL.

  • Interact with and coach developers in SQL scripting.

This however does not define the team’s only responsibilities as we also engage in other non-database related work in assisting the Systems Development team in supporting our online applications, troubleshooting issues, project managing departmental solutions and various other on-the-go issues that ITC Services may face.

The team is also able to provide our services to other Government bodies regarding their database requirements, so do not hesitate to contact us for consultation.