3. SQL Server tools
SQL Server includes a
rich array of graphical user interface (GUI) and command-line tools.
SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
—The main GUI-based management tool used for conducting a broad range
of tasks, such as executing T-SQL scripts, backing up and restoring
databases, and checking logs.
SQL Server Configuration Manager—Enables
the configuration of network protocols, service accounts and startup
status, and various other SQL Server components, including FileStream.
SQL Server Profiler—Used
for a variety of performance and troubleshooting tasks, such as
detecting blocked/deadlocked processes and generating scripts for
creating a server-side SQL trace.
Database Engine Tuning Advisor,
this tool can be used to analyze a captured workload file and recommend
various tuning changes such as the addition of one or more indexes.
One very important tool we haven't mentioned yet is SQL Server Books Online (BOL), shown in figure 2.
BOL is the definitive reference for all aspects of SQL Server and
includes detailed coverage of all SQL Server features, a full command
syntax, tutorials, and a host of other essential resources.
Let's pause for a moment to consider the breadth and
depth of the SQL Server product offering. With features spanning
traditional online transaction processing (OLTP), online analytical
processing (OLAP), data mining, and reporting, there are a wide variety
of IT professionals who specialize in SQL Server.
4. DBA responsibilities
Most
technology-focused IT professionals can be categorized as either
developers or administrators. In contrast, categorizing a DBA is not as
straightforward. In addition to administrative proficiency and product
knowledge, successful DBAs must have a good understanding of both
hardware design and application development. Further, given the number
of organizational units that interface with the database group, good
communication skills are essential. For these reasons, the role of a DBA
is both challenging and diverse (and occasionally rewarding!).
Together with
database components such as stored procedures, the integration of the
CLR inside the database engine has blurred the lines between the
database and the applications that access it. As such, in addition to
what I call the production DBA, the development DBA
is someone who specializes in database design, stored procedure
development, and data migration using tools such as SQL Server
Integration Services (SSIS). In contrast, the production DBA tends to
focus more on day-to-day administration tasks, such as backups,
integrity checks, and index maintenance. In between these two roles are a
large number of common areas, such as index and security design.
Broadly
speaking, the typical responsibilities of this role can be categorized
into four areas, or pillars, as shown in figure 3.
Let's briefly cover each one of these equally important areas:
Security—Securing an organization's systems and data is crucial,
we'll cover a number of areas, including implementing least privilege,
choosing an authentication mode, TCP port security, and SQL Server
2008's TDE and SQL Audit.
Availability—Ensuring
a database is available when required is a fundamental DBA
responsibility, and in this regard, SQL Server 2008 includes a number of
high-availability solutions, including failover clustering, database
mirroring, and transaction log shipping. We'll also examine the importance of service level agreements
in a high-availability plan, and learn how to design redundancy into
server components. Reliability—Unexpected
performance and corruption problems not only disappoint users, but they
also lead to long, chaotic, and reactive working days for a DBA. We'll cover a number of proactive maintenance and
design practices, such as using the SQLIOSIM utility to validate a
storage system, and using Database Console Commands (DBCC) to validate
the integrity of a database. Recoverability—Of
course, should disaster strike, a DBA needs to spring into action with a
plan of attack for restoring a database as quickly as possible.
Ensuring databases are secure, available, reliable, and recoverable
are core DBA responsibilities. |
