3
INTRODUCTION AND KEY FINDINGS
In the world of IT, perhaps nothing is more exciting than the
introduction of radically new technologies. And the information
management arena may be on the verge of one of those moments.
The past 10 years have been a golden age for generating and
capturing a virtual avalanche of new kinds and quantities of data.
With the growth of cloud computing and associated storage
technologies, social media, low-cost video, and other hot new
technologies, companies have access to an abundance of new
data types.
These developments have led to new ways of thinking about
data. Approaches like those represented by Hadoop and NoSQL
seemingly point the way to a post-structured-data world. And
concepts like data lakes paint a picture of assembling huge
pools of highly varied data that can be accessed and analyzed on
demand. The idea is to get to better data analysis, quicker and
less expensively using much larger datasets to advance everything
from fraud detection to predictive analysis.
The ability to capture, store, retrieve, analyze and save data
in new ways holds the potential to gain new insights and new
ways of doing business. If information is power, to paraphrase
an old adage, more information can lead to more power. Great
information can guide companies to greater business success.
But the attention to the new developments in information
management should not obscure the fact that structured data
in relational databases still provides the foundation for the
information infrastructure in many, if not most, companies, and
will do so in most organizations for the foreseeable future. The
ways in which companies can exploit structured data is far from
exhausted. And database administrators (DBAs) still represent the
front-line personnel for data management in most enterprises.
To understand the current role of the DBA and the way
that role is changing, Dell commissioned Unisphere Research,
a division of Information Today, Inc., to survey database
administrators and others charged with managing corporate data.
The 300 respondents came from a wide range of companies in
terms of size and industry. Nearly two-thirds of the respondents
came from organizations with more than 1,000 employees and
more than a dozen industries were represented. One-quarter of
respondents’ organizations are running more than 500 databases.
Details about the respondent pool can be found in the appendix.
Among the key findings are the following:
n While Hadoop and NoSQL are exciting new technologies,
their use currently is confined primarily to large companies.
The traditional database management system still
provides the foundation for the information management
infrastructure in most organizations. Oracle and Microsoft
SQL Server are the most common platforms to support
mission-critical data.
n Most enterprises believe that more familiar “new”
technologies such as virtualization and cloud computing will
have more impact on their organization over the next several
years than “newer” emerging technologies such as Hadoop.
In fact, Hadoop and NoSQL do not factor into many
companies’ plans over the next few years.
n Information infrastructures are not static. Most companies
run multiple databases and are open to adding new database
platforms if there is a need to do so. The most common
motivating factor for adding a new database management
system is the need to support new analytical applications.
n Most DBAs are responsible for multiple database instances
from multiple vendors.
n Structured data remains the bedrock of the information
infrastructure in most organizations.
n While maintenance and performance are the top
responsibilities for most DBAs, security is becoming an
increasingly important item on their agendas. However,
currently, DBAs spend less time on security issues than they
do on supporting database development.
n The key challenge for DBAs is learning new technologies.
THE REAL WORLD OF THE DATABASE ADMINISTRATOR was produced by Unisphere Research and sponsored by Dell Software. Unisphere Research is the market research unit of
Unisphere Media, a division of Information Today, Inc., publishers of Database Trends and Applications magazine and the 5 Minute Briefing newsletters. To review abstracts of our past
reports, visit www.dbta.com/About_Us#Unisphere. Unisphere Media, 121 Chanlon Road, New Providence, NJ 07974; 908-795-3702.
4
THE DATABASE INFRASTRUCTURE
85% of the respondents are running Microsoft SQL Server and
about 80% use Oracle, the evidence is clear that most companies
support two or more DBMS brands. As Figure 4 shows, by
far, the most important reason companies use more than one
database platform is to support different applications, with the
need to support multiple user groups the second most common
reason. Supporting increased data volume was only the fifth most
important reason for adding a new DBMS platform.
Under the right circumstances, organizations are open to
adding new DBMS platforms. The most common reason given
for adding a new brand is the emergence of a new analytical use
case. But other factors can also motivate a company to add a new
DBMS as well, including the need to improve performance and
flexibility as well as to better manage costs. (See Figure 5).
Several key insights are reflected in these results. First, most
companies run multiple databases and are open to adding new
database platforms if there is a perceived need to do so. The most
common motivational factor to add a new database management
system is to support new analytical applications. This scenario
bodes well for Hadoop if it can deliver on its promise to make
analysis more flexible and less costly. At this moment, however,
the use of Hadoop and NoSQL technology is largely confined to
bigger companies and many companies have no plans to explore
these newer technologies at all.
The Role of the DBA
As the information infrastructure changes due to both the
growth of data under management as well as the introduction
of new technologies, including cloud-based computing, it could
be expected that the role of the DBA, long on the front lines of
data management, would change as well. In this survey, 75% of
respondents’ companies had between 1 and 25 people with the
specific title of DBA, and 15% had more than 25 people with the
title of DBA (although in many companies, people who have other
titles will perform tasks associated with database administration).
As might be expected, most DBAs are responsible for multiple
database instances. As Figure 6 shows, almost half of the DBAs
manage more than 25 database instances each, and almost 10%
manage more than 100 database instances each.
Not surprisingly, the number of database instances for which
each DBA is responsible is growing. (See Figure 7.) The number
of databases for which each DBA is responsible is decreasing at
only 5% of the respondents’ companies.
Not only are DBAs responsible for managing multi
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