Technical Brief September 2008
Why use a remote database administrator?
Over the course of the past decade, databases have move from the “nice-to-have” category to the “mission critical” category. Any database system downtime, loss of data or security breaches can cost companies thousands of dollars. Given this, it is crucial that companies proactively monitor and maintain these systems to ensure data integrity, security and availability.
Rather than employing a full-time database administrator, many companies are turning to remote database administrator (DBA) services for a number of reasons. First of all, employing a full-time DBA can be expensive. For a highly skilled DBA, a company can expect to pay at least $80,000 year in salaries and $5,000 a year in training to ensure the DBA has up-to-date knowledge of latest technology. For smaller companies, these costs can be hard to justify. Remote database service providers can offer competitive rates to clients, providing expert database support at a fraction of the cost of a client hiring a full-time DBA.
But beyond the cost of salaries and training, retaining a remote DBA service provides a lot of assurance for a company that a DBA cannot. One of the advantages is that a remote DBA service can constantly monitor all areas of the database and can address conditions that can cause an outage, dramatically decreasing the likelihood of any downtime. Whereas, having a DBA on staff, a company cannot expect the employee to monitor the systems around the clock, nor can it guarantee the employee will be available in the event of an outage or failure. Plus, remote DBA service providers also offer a full-range of services, from 24/7 support to regular maintenance and a variety of reporting.
Other key motivators for using remote DBA services include:
- Frees IT managers to focus on more strategic issues
- Allows systems to be evaluated against industry best practices
- Takes guess work out of budgeting for database administration, as most remote DBA service provides offer a fixed cost
- Helps avoid the risk of losing confidential technology to competitors when a internal DBA leaves the company
- Provides access to state-of-the-art monitoring tools without the cost outlay required to purchase them directly
