professional database solutions Ltd.
Caring for your SQL Server environment

Testimonials

"Through the many years I have known Tim he has proved to be dependable, knowledgeable and resourceful - a great asset for any Microsoft SQL Server project."  - Ken England, Author of numerous SQL Server books.

Database Administration Services

We can support or supplement your own staff with time and materials or provide you with an on-going managed service with our Instant Database Administrator contract.

The Responsibilities of a Database Administrator

Inform Users - This is a two way process. Let users know what is going well and what is not, they may be able to help. Explain how to contact relevant people. Show how to identify certain problems and what to do. Consider a newsletter where users are geographically distributed. If this is not carried out effectively co-operation will be difficult to generate and despondency will develop.

Monitor Performance - Use Performance monitoring tools to trace historical performance. Consider using alerts to define thresholds and to warn of poor performance situations. Establish benchmarks of ‘normal’ performance, update regularly. If this is ignored it will be difficult to be objective in abnormal situations and to judge an appropriate level of action.

Maintain Access - Make sure client access strategy is documented and understood. Explain how security is established to prevent access by unauthorized individuals. Keep SQL Server owner and system administrator ‘sa’ password secure and limited. Control database owner access. Cater for emergency access (e.g. passwords in a safe). Failure to carry this out effectively can lead to dire consequences including loss of data and ultimately lost business.

Ensure Integrity - Establish regular integrity checks on all databases (system and user). Encourage the use of Primary Keys, Declared Referential Integrity, constraints and other relational or SQL Server features. Establish business consistency checks in EOM routines e.g. ‘all customers should have contact details’. If this is not carried out effectively users will get irritated with poor quality data.  A situation commonly referred to as GIGO -  garbage in, garbage out.

Define Data - Design or identify the designer and owner of databases. Nobody should be making changes without authority. Establish change control techniques so that changes can be undone/rolled back. If necessary design archiving policy to prevent excessive database growth. If this is not carried out effectively the result will be a shorter lifespan of the system and difficulty in realising the full potential of the collected data.