Off topic advice about Database Administration

rubyonrails-talk
1

Can anyone give me advice on which certification is more important in the marketplace--MySQL DBA or Microsoft's DBA? I'd prefer MySQL just because I use that with more with Rails and Microsoft's certification seems to be a complete mess--I can't make heads or tails of which exams they want.

I know this is off topic--but does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thanks,

Ron

2

Can anyone give me advice on which certification is more important in the marketplace--MySQL DBA or Microsoft's DBA? I'd prefer MySQL just because I use that with more with Rails and Microsoft's certification seems to be a complete mess--I can't make heads or tails of which exams they want.

I know this is off topic--but does anyone have any thoughts on this?

MySQL is a craptastic RDBMS to begin with, though it's fine for Rails object persistence needs. MS SQL server is decent, but tied to MS platforms. If you want to get a DBA certificate, go for Oracle or DB2.

On the other hand, and I say this with all due respect, if you can seriously consider a certification as a MySQL DBA you don't know enough about relational databases to be a DBA in the first place.

Thanks, Ron

--Greg

3

Greg,

Thanks for the info...I'm a developer first and foremost. I'm working on a project that will require a large, high performance database. So I want to start learning about database administration and pick up some skills along the way.

Are there some books you would recommend for me to get started? Something that would give me the background necessary to know that My- SQL isn't good?

Thanks,

Ron

4

If you are a developer first and foremost, I would go with PostgreSQL.

Postgres is really a fully featured database. It compares with Oracle or MS SQLServer in it's functionality and speed and really takes the cake for it's accessibility. All the docs are online and free and easy to get to and the community is great and thriving.

Don't get me wrong, Oracle has it's place and I use it as well. It is definitely the king in the DB world. But I found that my postgres knowledge allowed me to pickup oracle very very quickly. SQLServer was a piece of cake after Postgres.

The other nice thing about Postgres is that it is the only real RDBMS that is supported by Rails out of the box. Which makes it really easy to start off with.

To start learning SQL, I would recommend a site that I just went over in one of my blog posts "Know your Fundamentals", you can find the article I refer to here SQL for Web Nerds

Regards

Mikel

5

> Thanks for the info...I'm a developer first and foremost. I'm working > on a project that will require a large, high performance database. So > I want to start learning about database administration and pick up > some skills along the way. > Are there some books you would recommend for me to get started? > Something that would give me the background necessary to know that My- > SQL isn't good?

If you are a developer first and foremost, I would go with PostgreSQL.

[much accurate praise for PostgreSQL]

I will second that PostgreSQL is an excellent database. I don't know of a certification for it, however, and I'm fairly sure that anyone looking for a PostgreSQL DBA will not care about certifications.

To start learning SQL, I would recommend a site that I just went over in one of my blog posts "Know your Fundamentals", you can find the article I refer to here SQL for Web Nerds

Good resource. I'm also fond of the textbook we used in my databases course in college: C. J. Date's "An Introduction to Database Systems" <http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Database-Systems-C-Date/dp/0201385902&gt;

Regards Mikel

--Greg

6

Been watching this thread with interest, being a database person first and foremost.

I'm not from IBM but would strongly recommend DB2 (on Linux) for your database needs. Check out the lack of limitations on the free (as in beer) DB2 Express-C : IBM Db2 – Data Management Software | IBM

I've built a number of (as you describe) large high performance databases using DB2. The DB2 support for Rails is good, and getting better all the time. I gave a presentation on a recent project of mine at IDUG (International DB2 Users Group) in May : you can download this from -

http://scotdb.com/downloads.php 1! As far as getting good performance is concerned, it is critical that you learn about good database design techniques. A number of books on the subject exist and if you want recommendations drop me a line (I'm in a web cafe at the moment, so can't give you titles and ISBNs).

If the design is good, the next thing you want to do is learn how to exploit your DBMS using both SQL and extra functionality. For example, if you are doing a lot of XML handling then in DB2 you'd learn pureXML / XPath / XQuery.

And (waiting for screams from Rails purists) learn when using stored procedures will give you a performance boost !!!

HTH

Phil (teamdba@scotdb.com)