Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
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The database administrator (DBA) is the person who is responsible for supervising the database and the use
of the DBMS.
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The DBA formulates and enforces policies about those users who can access the database, the portions of
the database they may access, and in what manner they can access the database.
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The DBA formulates and enforces policies about security, which is the prevention of unauthorized access,
either intentional or accidental, to a database. The DBA uses the DBMS's security features and special secu-
rity programs, if necessary, and monitors database usage to detect potential security violations.
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The DBA creates and implements backup and recovery procedures as part of a disaster recovery plan to pro-
tect an organization's data from physical damage.
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The DBA formulates and enforces policies that govern the management of an archive for data that is no longer
needed in the database but that must be retained for reference purposes or for compliance with federal laws.
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The DBA leads the effort to evaluate and select a new DBMS. The DBA develops a checklist of desirable fea-
tures for a DBMS and evaluates each prospective purchase of a DBMS against this checklist.
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The DBA installs and maintains the DBMS after it has been selected and procured.
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The DBA maintains the data dictionary, establishes naming conventions for its contents, and provides infor-
mation from it to others in the organization.
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The DBA provides database and DBMS training and coordinates and schedules training by outside vendors.
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The DBA verifies all information-level database designs, completes all physical-level database designs, and
creates documentation standards. The DBA also evaluates changes in requirements to determine whether
he or she needs to change the database design and the data in the database.
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The DBA controls the production system, which is accessible only to authorized users. Other than when autho-
rized by the DBA to access the production system in exceptional situations, programmers access a sepa-
rate test system. The DBA migrates tested programs to the production system and makes any required
database changes.
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The DBA tunes the database design to improve performance. Included among the performance tuning
changes the DBA makes are creating and deleting indexes, splitting tables, and denormalizing tables.
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archive
context-sensitive help
data archive
denormalizing
Department of Defense (DOD) 5015.2 Standard
disaster recovery plan
exclusive lock
HIPAA
hot site
intranet
live system
local area network (LAN)
Patriot Act
Presidential Records Act
production system
RAID (redundant array of inexpensive/independent
drives)
sandbox
Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act
SEC Rule 17a-4
shared lock
test system
tuning
UPS (uninterruptible power supply)
warm site
1. What is a DBA? Why is this position necessary?
2. What are the DBA's responsibilities regarding access privileges?
3. What are the DBA's responsibilities regarding security?
