There is no typical day for a DBA and there is no typical Database Administration job. A DBA can be a part time administrator while still a full time programmer, a warehouse architect, or someone who spends their days applying patches and troubleshooting issues. In the traditional sense, the DBA is usually viewed as the person who guarantees that data is available 24/7.

The traditional DB2 DBA role has undergone major changes over the past 20 years as DB2 technology has advanced rapidly to provide the DBA with tools and features that eliminate a fair share of the grinding work spent daily on ensuring proper maintenance of the database. A central area, the Control Center, allows the DBA one place to manage databases and database objects, as well as execute SQL, perform warehousing tasks and create stored procedures. Diagnostics and monitoring can be handled through the Configuration Advisor and Health Center.

As cost-based optimization improves in DB2, today’s DBA can be less focused on performance management. The 24/7 “never down” role is becoming more the function of the database and less the role of the administrator. With the rapid introduction of such autonomic features, the DB2 DBA’s responsibility is gradually evolving into a mentoring and advisement role to development teams, where their expertise can be tapped for design and architectural solutions in resolving access issues, whether thru XML, service oriented architecture or messaging.

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