RE: offtopic: Infrastructure Solutions architect - any good ?
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:54:06 -0600
Message-ID: <89FD2C8D7D551D4598EF20C7E42FEB4506998533_at_earthquake.ICAT.COM>
Speaking of "Just buy IBM"...thought this article might be of interest to some on this list.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/interviews/showArticle.jh tml?articleID=224600222
-joe
From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Matthew Zito
Sent: Friday, July 16, 2010 2:43 PM
To: andrew.kerber_at_gmail.com; Ram Raman
Cc: ian_at_slac.stanford.edu; Oracle-L Freelists
Subject: RE: offtopic: Infrastructure Solutions architect - any good ?
I used to do this for my first web company I worked for. It varies firm to firm, but my job was to make sure that the infrastructure we were purchasing was "aligned" properly. That doesn't mean everything is best-of-breed, but nor does it mean, "Just buy IBM" - instead for any new application or initiative, we looked at what was the best and most cost-effective way of accomplishing our goal.
So, for example, when we were looking at redoing our database infrastructure, my preference was that we shift from using Solaris to using Linux - the reasoning being that we were a largely Linux shop, with hundreds of Linux web and app servers, and having all of our database servers on Solaris made us have to maintain a whole second operating system just for that one tier. However, and this is back in 2001, at that time, after some evaluation and discussions with Oracle and our server vendors, we/I (it wasn't a unilateral decision on my part) decided that Oracle on Linux was not yet production-ready, and the migration path and risk factors of Linux outweighed the operational benefits we'd get from running Linux.
I also ran things like datacenter migrations, evaluated hardware and software, RFPs for new hardware, things like that. I also had somewhat of a "sniff test" role on developer requirements. If a developer claimed they needed a 10 server farm for a particular application they were designing, instead of running it as an additional service on one of our clusters, they had to justify it to me and my team. Etc. etc.
I'd like to think I was good at what I did, but I am sure that to some of the DBA and developer team, I was an annoying bottleneck/gatekeeper, and created extra work for them. But my responsibility was making sure that the infrastructure we were buying made sense, and that over the long-term, it would be maintainable.
Matt
Ps- and from a schooling perspective, I went to NYU for acting, so it is possible for non-technically schooled people to be technical. J
From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Andrew Kerber
Sent: Friday, July 16, 2010 4:11 PM
To: Ram Raman
Cc: ian_at_slac.stanford.edu; Oracle-L Freelists
Subject: Re: offtopic: Infrastructure Solutions architect - any good ?
I am sure they do exist...
On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 1:49 PM, Ram Raman <veeeraman_at_gmail.com> wrote:
I have seen technically good MBAs too.
On Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 11:17 AM, Andrew Kerber <andrew.kerber_at_gmail.com> wrote:
Here is your problem ...'with an MBA'. Not exactly helpful for someone in a technical job..
On Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 11:10 AM, Ram K <lambu999_at_gmail.com> wrote:
We had an architect with an MBA from a top school who overrode most of us in the DBA/admin teams and made the decision to choose 32 bit Windows for running oracle RAC for an application that was to support thousands of users.
On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 1:50 PM, MacGregor, Ian A. <ian_at_slac.stanford.edu> wrote:
The architect is involved in putting together what machines are needed for a project, what OS they should run, what application server should be used, and what database management system He is mainly a collector if information. However if the OS team wants to run LINUX and the database team wants to run Solaris, he would make the decision on which way to go.
The architect has too look at all the projects and design a cost-effective strategy for them all. He is usually not i the chain of command, but has the power to make decisions as discussed above.
On Jul 14, 2010, at 11:11 AM, <Laimutis.Nedzinskas_at_seb.lt> wrote:
> I ment a job title. where does this this guy stand in a command chain
and
> what good does he produce. Architect sounds like a person who knows a
lot
> but nothing in particular.
>
>
>
> Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
>
> --
> http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l
>
>
-- http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l -- Thanks, Ram. -- Andrew W. Kerber 'If at first you dont succeed, dont take up skydiving.' -- Andrew W. Kerber 'If at first you dont succeed, dont take up skydiving.' -- http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-lReceived on Fri Jul 16 2010 - 15:54:06 CDT