For the week of July 14th, 2012:

• Changing Roles of the DBA
• Open Availability of Questionable Technical Content
• Big Data (even when you don’t think you have it)
• Overall Systems Security
• Evolving Your IOUG

“IOUG Podcast 14-JUL-2012: DBA Ch-ch-changes / You’ve Got Big Data!”

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In the past 20 years, the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG) has witnessed the evolution of the role of the traditional database administrator from intensive focus and concentration on structural and architectural elements on storage of data, towards the current trend towards expanded responsibilities including being able to guide their organization’s understanding of how data growth will affect their infrastructure and support requirements in the future.

We’ve identified four key areas of changes in the technology landscape that will eventually affect all organizations, especially driving decisions about how to best deploy and acquire technological solutions and where they need to be deployed.

Changing Roles of the DBA

The role of the Database Administrator (DBA) 30 years ago was based upon data systems engineering requirements. The DBA would design and recommend structural configurations and changes necessary to maintain optimal availability and performance. They would design and implement operational monitoring and administration strategies designed to keep the data infrastructure secure and as defect-free as possible.  These elemental job roles haven’t changed since then, and are still as important as ever. What has expanded is the number and volume of systems which are based upon the underlying data technology. And while Development has been able to leverage emerging solution delivery technologies, such as Fusion Middleware and Open Source frameworks, the role of administration and maintenance, and in many instances architecture and design of high-availability structures, has trickled down within organizations to be the responsibility of Systems Administrators and DBAs.  The emergence of Middleware Administrators, Engineered Systems DBAs (EDBAs) and Data Scientist roles is in its infancy, but the business needs continue to progress forward regardless of the lack of definitions to these new roles.  At the IOUG, we are constantly updating, expanding and fine-tuning our core educational offerings to encompass and embrace these evolving knowledge areas, and providing them in preferred delivery channels to get the information to you as soon as it becomes available. Stay tuned for the IOUG’s futurecasts on defining the roles and responsibilities of the enterprise data technology professional of the future.

Open Availability of Questionable Technical Content

A similar evolution has occurred in the way in which technologists and solution providers find the answers to their questions and research their delivery options. Search engines have expanded the resource base used for answering daily challenges and solutions, so that rather than spending hours combing through hard copy vendor literature and 3rd-party books and their indices. With this trend, how does someone judge the quality or accuracy of a solution found by Google’ing it?  While improvements in the indexing and content of My Oracle Support have made daily life much easier than in prior years, Oracle has acknowledged that it isn’t likely to offer a “How to implement Fusion Middleware in 10 easy steps” guide simply because it has a massive array of different customer environments to support, and a one-size-fits-all approach to its own documentation has mandated inclusion of every possible procedural distinction and exception in order to be as complete as possible. The IOUG is constantly improving its availability and access to the vast repository of knowledge articles within its systems, which were all authored by recognized experts in the technology industry and vetted by a community of technology professionals who all contribute towards the accuracy and applicability of each knowledge item. By employing the combined power of a collective of engaged experts to not only author but also review and comment on the content. We increase the validity and reliability of information obtained through organizations, like the IOUG.

Big Data

Big Data is a large rubber stamp term being used for an emerging technology challenge that seems to be misunderstood by many organizations that don’t perceive their immediate environments as having sufficient volume or capacity to be considered “Big Data.” What the IOUG is seeing is that Big Data also includes the ability of the small business or enterprise to tap into the combined total population data sets formerly available to only the largest of businesses.  Product offerings like Google Analytics and Amazon Cloud are based upon huge data sources, and yet are available at affordable costs to even the smallest of individual entrepreneurial ventures. This also means that knowledge of how to leverage, access and analyze this kind of data in a practical and effective manner is part of the Big Data challenge. Future evolution of whatever the next generation of technology means to us is a vital part of IOUG’s mission in delivering clarity for increasingly complex technology areas.

Overall Systems Security

Security is one of our dual-edged love-hate relationships. We rarely want to invest in a home security system until we become aware of regional increases in crime and burglaries. We don’t think much about our credit card information until it is stolen and identity theft has occurred. Security is at the same time, a fascinating topic for many people, who if offered an extra portion of time during our 24 hour day to learn about what it’s all about would gladly learn about it. But more often, data security only increases its importance within an organization when a security issue or breach has been brought to the attention of management by an auditor, or by complaint. Changes in data security regulations required to maintain business licensing have also brought organizational focus on security issues. In both of these cases, security becomes a reactive, rather than proactive process. The vital element of technology planning and strategy loses ground to tactical damage control. We know this style of technology management is the most expensive, just as calling a plumber to fix a broken pipe, and a general contractor to fix the structural damage caused is more expensive than the proactive retro-fitting the plumbing with up-to-date fixtures and piping.

Evolving Your IOUG

As a technology professional, your opinion and input towards your organization’s technology strategy is becoming more critical than ever in the quickly-changing landscape of infrastructure transforming and blending with extrastructure (i.e Cloud Computing). Knowing the pros and cons the different features of distributed systems architecture and when a solution will make sense, and when it becomes ill-advised is the value you can contribute to your organization, as well as your own merit as a technology professional.