DBA in cloud environment

The changing role of the database administrator in the “Cloud Era.”

 The changing role of the database administrator in the “Cloud Era.”

Cloud providers take away pain. Failed disk drives are someone else’s problem.  Server provisioning is done with a few clicks in a management portal.  When you use virtualized servers in the cloud your IT staff spends less time running down hardware problems than they once did.  It’s reasonable to wonder if similar benefits arise from moving databases to the cloud. In particular, do you still need a database administrator when your database is in the cloud? 

 The short answer is yes.  A slightly longer answer is yes but your DBA’s responsibilities will likely change.

 Let’s start by reviewing what a database administrator does.  For starters, a DBA is often the first person you talk with about sizing a new database server.  The last thing you want for your new application is a database server that cannot meet demand. DBAs install and configure relational database software. If you have never done this, count yourself among the lucky.  The more functional relation database software become, the more difficult it became to install correctly.  DBAs became well versed in understanding dependencies, debugging installation failures, and determining which packages are really required and which you could live without. 

Source: Toms IT Pro