Database Developer vs Database Administrator

-


Hi Geeks, Hope you're all doing good!!

 Have you ever asked someone or yourself to know who is a database developer and database administrator ?
Or
Have you ever been confused as to the difference between a DBA and a SQL Developer?

 Well, then you are not alone. There are number of blurred lines about exactly what is a DBA role, what is a SQL developer role. And thousands of people are still looking for the
exact definitions. In this post, I will try my level best to clear all of your doubts about these two simple yet complicated things. 

 On a lighter note, The database administrator performs the day-to-day task(s) of maintaining the database environment to ensure its availability. Make sure it runs smoothly using database 
tools to monitor, fix and maintain the database software, also the hardware on which it runs. On the other hand, the database developer designs and creates new ways of using a software 
application. The database developer does this by using database objects like stored procedures, tables, views, XML ... etc

 Let's dig it deeper. 

What Does A Database Administrator Do?

Generally speaking, the primary responsibility of a DBA is to install, administer, maintain and manage SQL Server or other databases and the SQL instances they reside on. Often Database Administrators come from a networking/OS/hardware type of background. Also he/she needs basic SQL just to query systems tables and validate data.

Some of the common tasks a Database Administrator will take care of include
  • Install and configure hardware (may be you say that is outside of DBA role. But most DBAs can do hardware).
  • Install and configure database software.
  • Optimize the database configuration.
  • Database performance tuning in conjunction with devs.
  • File Management/monitor.
  • Database security.
  • Backups/restores.
  • Build tables and indexes.
  • Index maintenance.
  • Log shipping, mirroring, High availability, clustering.
  • Setting up and trouble shooting replication.
  • Checking and troubleshooting SQL agent jobs.


What Does A Database Developer Do?

A SQL developer can create, modify and do fix the SQL code. They will often be from a programmer background. Some of the common tasks a SQL Developer will take care of include,
  • Database design and build tables.
  • Write complex queries, procedures, cursors and triggers, etc.
  • Index planning and implementation.
  • Database performance tuning in conjunction with DBA’s.
  • Working with other technology developers and project managers on the database aspects of a project or solution.
  • Fixing bugs in SQL code and trouble shooting.
  • Creating and maintaining packages and reports.
  • Creating and fixing bugs in SSIS packages.
  • Working with Analysis services.
These are the scenarios where a database developer and database administrator will be differentiated in the technlogy market. So every job recruiter will be aware of the roles, not just recruiter even you must know the facts about these roles and responsibilities. 

Wait, Let me read your mind. 
So, a database developer is different from database administrator. Is this it ? Aren't they same not even in a single place ? Your exact question now is .. 

Do They Overlap?

Yes, they do. But very often, the parts of the job will overlap. AS I said before, a database administrator needs basic SQL just to query systems tables and validate data. Also a SQL developer may have a general understanding of many database administrator tasks and vice versa.

A few scenarios where both developer and administrator can do things are,
  • Database design and build tables.
  • Index planning, implementation and maintenance.
  • Database performance tuning.
  • Data load - (If DBA is effectively doing this task, that represents he/she has pretty good development skills).


There are very few all-rounders like Jacques Kallis in Cricket, likewise it is rare to find someone that is really proficient in both areas.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

AlwaysOn Overview

-
Image
OVERVIEW An availability group supports a failover environment for a discrete set of user databases, known as availability databases, that fail over together. An availability group supports a set of primary databases and one to eight sets of corresponding secondary databases. Secondary databases are not backups. Continue to back up your databases and their transaction logs on a regular basis. Each set of availability database is hosted by an availability replica. Two types of availability replicas exist: a single primary replica. which hosts the primary databases, and one to eight secondary replicas, each of which hosts a set of secondary databases and serves as a potential failover targets for the availability group. The primary replica makes the primary databases available for read-write connections from clients. Also, in a process known as data synchronization, which occurs at the database level. The primary replica sends transaction log records of each primary databa...
Read more

Long Running queries

-
How do I find a long running query with process ID, process name , login time, user , start time and duration? Long running queries have been found in the plan cache. These may be ETL, reports, or other queries that should run long. Or it could be that someone is searching for all users whose names are LIKE '%%'. Either way, these queries bear investigating. In some cases, this is the total clock time that the query took to execute and in others this is the total CPU time that the query took to execute. Queries with a high max_elapsed_time just take a lot of time to run – they could be slow single threaded queries. Queries with a high max_worker_time (CPU time) may be highly parallel queries. CODE: SELECT  creation_time         ,last_execution_time         ,total_physical_reads         ,total_logical_reads         ,total_logi...
Read more