Re: Oracle DBA head count !

On 03/10/06, Siva Valiveru <SValiveru_at_looksmart.net> wrote:
> Does anyone any have any formula /guidelines/reference for a measurement to
> evaluate 'n' number of DBAs needed to support x/y development and production
> databases.
>

It depends on the complexity of the databases, the tasks and the environment around them. I've worked in places with one DBA for over 100 databases and it's been fine, I've also worked in places with 2 DBAs per database and the DBAs have been over stretched.

If most of your systems are well bedded in and virtually all tasks can be automated through scripts and cron jobs then you need less DBAs, if virtually all jobs cannot be automated then you need more DBAs.

Will DBAs have to manage change control themselves or do you have a dedicated change control team to do it?

Can developers handle day-to-day management of the development databases (shutdown, startup, creating users, QA &c) or will that fall to the DBAs?

How sensitive is the business to downtime on the databases, the more sensitive the more DBAs you need.

Is the database just used as a datastore or does it use use a lot of stored procedures?

What options (spatial, partitioning, RAC, ASM &c) are used?

Will the DBAs only have to manage the databases or will they have to manage the systems the databases run on? How heavily are they involved in things like storage management, project management, procurement &c?

Are the system administrator reasonably 'Database Aware' or do they tend to cause more work for the DBAs?

I suppose the simplest answer to the question of how many DBAs you need is (like doctors, fire fighters and police officers) as many as you can afford. Even if 'Business As Usual' doesn't require that many you may need the extra capacity when disaster strikes.

Stephen

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