Last week at the 2008 PASS Community Summit a demonstration during one of the keynotes showed off some future manageability features that are being built into the next version of SQL Server. I haven't seen much information on this from Microsoft, but there are a few blogs (Aaron Bertrand and myself) that talk about the SQL Server fabric and how it will improve manageability.
As a side note, the fabric is designed to group SQL Servers together for manageability, including application deployment. You manage a "fabric" of servers, not individual servers, specifying limits, options, settings, etc. for the group and then letting the fabric deploy things. That's how I've tended to manage in the past, though I've had to actually deploy my "instructions" to each individual server.
As I was walking around after that keynote and later in the week, talking with people, I heard a sentiment that hadn't been expressed in a number of years: the fear of losing your job to automation. This was something that a lot of DBAs talked about in late 1999 at the very first PASS Summit in Chicago. With SQL Server 7 being released at that time and the marketing message that a DBA wasn't needed, there were quite a few people questioning whether they needed a DBA. I even had my boss at the time ask why he was paying me.
As we have seen since then, DBAs are still needed and they provide valuable services to many companies. While I would agree you don't "need" a DBA to run a SQL Server, it will run better, smoother, and likely longer, with a DBA. As we have more insight into the server, more options, more DMVs, and a better optimizer, it's a much, much more complex product. I heard someone mention last week that tuning a server is even more of an art now than ever and I'd tend to agree.
If you're a good DBA, have some strong skills working with T-SQL and administering a SQL Server, I don't think you have to worry about there being jobs available. They will always be there. Your particular company might be a different situation, but I think it will be a long, long time before the system can run itself without a DBA adding a lot of value.
Steve Jones
The Voice of the DBA Podcasts
The podcast feeds are now available at sqlservercentral.mevio.com to get better bandwidth and maybe a little more exposure :). Comments are definitely appreciated and wanted, and you can get feeds from there.
or now on iTunes!
- Windows Media Podcast - 23.5MB WMV
- iPod Video Podcast - 21.9MB MP4
- MP3 Audio Podcast - 4.5MB
Today's podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.
I really appreciate and value feedback on the podcasts. Let us know what you like, don't like, or even send in ideas for the show. If you'd like to comment, post something here. The boss will be sure to read it.
The Voice of the DBA Podcasts
The podcast feeds are now available at sqlservercentral.mevio.com and you can see more great shows there. I've linked the feeds below.
or now on iTunes!
- Windows Media Podcast - MB WMV
- iPod Video Podcast - MB MP4
- MP3 Audio Podcast - MB
Today's podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.
I really appreciate and value feedback on the podcasts. Let us know what you like, don't like, or even send in ideas for the show. If you'd like to comment, post something here. The boss will be sure to read it.