Oracle's Exadata Means Changes for DBAs

IDG News Service — Oracle's Exadata database machine can deliver the performance improvements the vendor claims, but also demands that IT shops and database administrators undergo a shift in thinking as well as attain new skills, a number of experts said this week at the OpenWorld conference in San Francisco.

Oracle intends Exadata to be the new reality for its customers, with it serving as a consolidation point for large numbers of disparate servers and data stores.

For decades, IT shops have been dealing with database implementations through "somewhat segregated" jobs, with server technicians, networking experts and database administrators playing individual roles, said Andy Flower, managing director of Right Triangle Consulting, during a session at the show.

But Exadata's tight integration between those components presents a challenge to the status quo. "You have to have a role that manages the whole thing," he said. "The technology makes it as such that you have to administer them in constant."

There aren't "clear answers, but there are indications" as to which type of employee is best suited to oversee an Exadata installation, he said. "People with DBA experience are more likely to put their head around the whole problem space, because they've been dealing with data rather than dealing with machines."

Arup Nanda, principal global database architect at Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, has willingly embraced his new role.

Nanda now refers to himself as a "DMA," or database machine administrator," he said during a session that explored Exadata's architecture in great detail.

Similar sentiments were expressed during another session by Vinod Haval, vice president and database product manager at Bank of America.

The bank is running two critical applications on Exadata, Haval said. Overall, the project has been "a tremendous success from the performance perspective," and will also provide great savings on storage thanks to Exadata's advanced compression capabilities, he said.

But Oracle "was walking with us hand-in-hand through the process," he added. "We had to make sure we had the right skills internally."

If one were to break down the skill set of a solid Exadata administrator, it would constitute 60 percent database expertise, 20 percent with storage and another 20 percent or so with Linux and UNIX, Haval said.

Remote database administration provider Pythian Group has been aggressively moving into the Exadata business. The Ottawa, Ontario, company was recognized by Oracle this week for its work implementing and managing an Exadata system for online marketing company LinkShare.

Enterprise IT shops that decide against hiring specialists like Pythian to help them with Exadata can be successful if the right elements are in place, said Paul Vallee, founder and executive chairman, in an interview.

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