Database administrator
The person who designs, looks after and tunes the databases, on the mainframe usually DB2 for z/OS.
Also written DBA, DB2 DBA, system DBA, application DBA
A database administrator, or DBA, looks after the databases. On the mainframe that usually means DB2 for z/OS, and at some sites IMS too.
The work is often split between two kinds of DBA. A system DBA looks after DB2 itself: installing and upgrading it, setting up subsystems and data sharing, buffer pools, logs and security. An application DBA works with development teams: designing tables and indexes, making changes to them, reviewing SQL and access paths with EXPLAIN, and setting up the utilities that keep the data in good shape.
Both share the most important duty: making sure data can always be recovered. That means regular image copies, working logs, tested recovery plans and fast action when something goes wrong.
Developers work with DBAs constantly. A DBA will ask how a program accesses a table, suggest an index, or ask why a job holds locks for so long. Being able to explain your SQL clearly, and read an EXPLAIN result, makes that partnership much easier.
Where can I learn this hands-on?
Right here, at ZedBank. You take a junior job at a simulated bank and learn each part of the work by doing it, with Zed beside you. There's nothing to install.
Start at ZedBankRelated
- DB2 for z/OSIBM's relational database on the mainframe, where a great deal of the world's banking and insurance data is stored.
- DB2 utilitiesThe batch programs that load, back up, reorganise and check DB2 for z/OS data, run as jobs outside normal SQL.
- EXPLAINThe DB2 feature that shows how DB2 has chosen to run a query, such as which indexes it will use.
- Buffer poolAn area of memory where DB2 keeps recently used pages of data and indexes, so it does not have to read them from disk each time.
- System programmerThe person who installs, configures, tunes and upgrades the operating system and its subsystems.
- DB2 data sharingA way of running several DB2 subsystems on different systems of a sysplex so that they all share the same databases.