In an era of rapid digital transformation, companies that fail to effectively manage and leverage their data assets will find themselves falling behind. Speed, scalability and flexibility are critical tenets of modern data strategies and require technologies and processes that are responsive to the business.
However, when it comes to database management, most DBAs are left struggling with traditional approaches and tools that do not adequately address the ever-growing complexity of modern data environments, which traverse on-premises and cloud deployments nowadays, and evolving business needs.
DBTA held a webinar with Joe McKendrick, research analyst, Unisphere; Saurav Das, product manager, databases, Rubrik; and Shawn McElhinney, database solutions architect, Oracle, at Rubrik, who discussed modern backup tools and techniques available to help DBAs get their time back while delivering rapid access to data and responsive insights to the business.
According to the “Digital Transformation and Cloud Workloads Study,” DBTA, January 2021, the size and complexity of database environments that DBAs are being tasked to manage continues to grow in size with respondents saying it has increased by 50%-100%, McKendrick said.
The top DX projects today involve how data is managed/stored and how data is leveraged for business apps and insights, Das and McElhinney said. To succeed, enterprises need to access and retain more data and to rely on multiple systems.
Data environments need to me more responsive to the business. So do DBAs. DBA time is becoming too valuable for routine, day-to-day tasks.
According to McKendrick, 71% of DBAs believe the amount of time and money spent on database tasks is inhibiting innovation. Achieving resiliency and better performance in backup/restore processes are top challenges.
Traditional on-site solutions are still dominant. Adoption of cloud as a backup and recovery environment is still in its infancy with 25% of respondents actively using the technologies. Sixty-three percent of DBAs expect faster innovation from database automation. However, only 48% indicated progress in backup and recovery.
Das and McElhinney offered the seven steps to DBA empowerment. This includes:
- Standardize on a single platform
- Provide DBAs with control over their data
- Keep DBAs in the driver’s seat with flexible recovery options
- Ensure data reliability
- Extend to cloud
- Know and get value from your data
- Automate everything
The role of the DBA is changing dramatically as common activities are automated. DBAs are morphing into the role of a “Data Guardian” or “Data Architect” likely to be involved with both security and IT/infrastructure.
Qualities of the next generation DBA will include skills such as architecture, design, and automation advocate, Das and McElhinney said.
An archived on-demand replay of this webinar is available here.