A DBA is a Database Administrator whose job is to ensure the stability of database-related systems. _** It is worth noting that before DBA positions were available, this role was typically performed by operations engineers. With the large-scale deployment and development of IT systems in various companies and enterprises, database, as the carrier of system data, has been paid more and more attention, and the position of DBA arises at the right moment. In the early days of database development, database software was monopolized by Oracle, SQL Server, DB2 and other commercial relational databases. With the rise of the Internet industry, MySQL, PostgreSQL and other open source databases are slowly catching up. They have higher technical barriers compared with other applications in operation and usage, and database is usually the most important in the whole system, so DBA is usually the highest level in all operation and maintenance positions. The technology is relatively focused and has some depth. Also, salaries are high, which is one of the main reasons most developers switch to DBAs.
What exactly does a traditional DBA job entail? Different companies have different corporate culture, business characteristics, system architecture, technology accumulation, etc., so the job content of DBA is also different. In large companies, DBA is divided into operation and maintenance DBA and development DBA, focusing on database operation and database development respectively. The job of a DBA in a small company is not so distinct, and the overall work is still around database operation and use. As can be seen from the information about the job requirements of DBA on the recruitment website, the job of DBA mainly includes the following contents:
As a branch of basic operation and maintenance work, traditional DBA has tedious daily work with high repeatability and relatively “eating” work experience. This also forces some DBAs to learn operation and maintenance development knowledge and do internal operation and maintenance automation platform, freeing themselves from heavy operation and maintenance work. However, the advent of cloud computing is the real upend to the traditional DBA position. DbaaS has been implemented in major public cloud vendors for a long time. It solves most of the operation and maintenance work of DBAs, and there have been alternative products in fault diagnosis and performance analysis. It can be said that the traditional DBA under the impact of cloud computing, the job crisis has emerged.
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It is reported that in 2019, the number of vacancies for DBA engineers is ** 1,610, down 20% from 2018. In August 2020, the number of vacancies for DBA engineers is 91, down 45% from the same period last year **.
■ Photo credit: Job friends Collection
In addition, DBA salaries have declined to varying degrees. The average salary of DBA engineers in 2020 is **¥17.5K, lower than that in 2019 and 12% lower than that in 2019 **. In this light, the traditional DBA position is in a tough spot. With the advent of cloud era, database software is more intelligent, and technology is updated rapidly, new requirements and challenges are put forward to DBA. Only by meeting the challenges and overcoming the difficulties, can DBA embrace a better tomorrow.
According to the latest public cloud white paper released by The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the global cloud computing market is growing steadily and will reach $246.1 billion by 2021. The PaaS market is growing steadily and the demand for ** database services is growing fast. ** The global PaaS market grew by 28% to $12.8 billion in 2017 and is expected to grow at a cagR of more than 20% in the coming years.
We can see from the data that the era of cloud computing has arrived and will grow steadily in the future. Compared with traditional self-built databases, what are the advantages of the cloud era? What kind of disruptive changes does it bring to the database?
1 Core Functions
Public cloud vendors provide PaaS services for popular databases in the industry, such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB. The product usually covers most of the operation and maintenance process of the database. The daily operation and maintenance work of traditional DBAs can basically be servitized, such as resource creation and recovery, backup and recovery, capacity expansion and reduction, etc., which can cover the whole life cycle of the database. In addition, many cloud service providers will provide mature self-developed databases, or modify the kernel of the open source database to provide more core functions of the database. For example, JD Zhilian CLOUD RDS-mysql modifies the permission related Settings of the open source MySQL to provide users with more refined permission management functions.
2 Performance Improvement
Each cloud vendor will deeply tune the database software based on its own public cloud deployment environment to achieve better performance than the self-built database. This advantage is the main demand of many cloud users. Jingdong Zhilian CLOUD RDS combined with the database of physical machine, network environment, software configuration and other tuning direction, without reducing the core functions at the same time, to maximize the performance of the database, and maintain a leading position in competitive products.
3 Highlights
Each cloud vendor has its own main business, so in some areas, they will bring their own advantages to public cloud products, mainly reflected in some database customized products, to meet the needs of users in certain fixed scenarios. For the same industry users, with a very high attraction.
For example, JINGdong Group has accumulated a lot of experience in retail, logistics and other professional fields. Jingdong Zhilian cloud can provide products in many vertical fields such as smart retail and Internet of Things for users to use directly.
4 Peripheral Functions
Public cloud RDS provides many database-related peripheral functions, such as backup and recovery, monitoring, redundancy, and performance optimization. Compared with the traditional self-built database, the public cloud has a set of sound technical architecture inside and the assistance process among various departments, so the public cloud has more advantages in realizing peripheral functions.
5. Ecological Function
Public cloud provides a variety of types of databases, for example, JD Zhilian cloud provides relational, NOSQL, NewSQL and other database products, in addition to providing independent database backup and recovery, data synchronization subscription, performance analysis and other tools, products cooperate with each other to provide users with a complete set of solutions.
6 safety
All public cloud vendors attach great importance to the security of user data to avoid data leakage and loss. For example, JD Zhilian Cloud RDS has provided SSL transmission, TDE encryption, database firewall, network ACL, audit and other security-related functions to ensure the security of user data.
7 Cost saving
Human cost, for the enterprise to save part of the inefficient operation and maintenance personnel; Time cost: Public cloud can achieve rapid deployment and expansion of RDS service, saving time cost for users; Financial cost: Cloud has inherent flexibility, that is, purchase on demand. It can choose the deployment scale of services according to its own business scenarios, avoiding resource waste and saving financial cost. From the above description, we can see that public cloud has brought too many new functions and innovations in database. Public cloud RDS products can replace most of the daily work of traditional DBAs, bringing an unstoppable and disruptive impact to DBAs. What changes should the core values of a DBA embrace in the face of shocks and changes?
For DBAs, the database work in the cloud environment has changed a lot. It needs to adapt in many ways and adjust the focus of work.
Database reliability, fail-safe, security and other factors are no longer the core of DBA’s work. They have a low threshold and can be easily implemented in public cloud. Database is the manager of data carrier, DBA should jump out of the management and use of library behavior, from a higher perspective. For example, the use and flow of data should be viewed from a global perspective, and the higher value of the back-end should be seen from the perspective of the front-end business. The business should be datalized (the data can be checked and controlled), the data should be businessized, the feedback business should guide the business, and the closed-loop feedback of data should be formed, and the output of the business should be determined by the data. The realization of the core value of DBA is based on the big technical environment, the actual business of the company and personal planning.
1 big technology environment
IT industry knowledge update speed is very fast, today is still looking at the implementation principle of stand-alone database may be tomorrow is the world of distributed database. For example, if you are optimistic about the direction of K8s, you can focus on the study and research of the combination of K8s and database, but also broaden the technology stack, NoSQL, NewSQL, development language, architecture design, data modeling, data algorithms and so on. Only by constantly learning popular technology and following up the technology direction that will be developed and applied in the future, can you make your career cycle longer.
2. Actual business development of the company
Any technology must be combined with the real business to generate real value, so sticking to the company’s business scenario and helping the business develop and realize its core value is the first priority for future DBAs. For example, if the company is a start-up, the DBA needs to focus on increasing the carrying capacity of the system. If the business of the company is stable, THE DBA needs to ensure the reliability of the system and reduce the use cost.
3 Personal Planning
The master leads the door, the practice depends on the individual. Dbas need to learn a lot of knowledge, how to find a suitable point, this depends on their own to make clear and rational personal planning, short-term and long-term goals. Personal planning accounts for the highest proportion of these three factors and is the most critical internal factor. It is best to choose what suits you best. For example, with the continuous improvement of the data application level of the company, the focus of DBA should shift from the basic operation and maintenance work to the role of data business architect.
As with game career progression, there are many paths to DBA progression. Being a DBA is not the end of your career. Overcome challenges and find opportunities for career development. Here are a few possible directions.
There are still many possibilities for DBA career advancement. As long as we look at this problem from a higher height and a global perspective, we will break through our own career bottleneck. ** Height and breadth. ** Early in your career, you need a “primal accumulation period” of rapid growth. Try to reach your technical peak in a particular field. There may be a point at which you can no longer reach higher heights, and be careful to analyze why. If it is non-subjective, accept it. The rest of the technical development, can consider horizontal development, will be to create their own stack of talents. Think globally. * Don’t just think from a technical point of view, especially when you reach a certain level, try to think more from a business point of view, a human point of view, and maybe you will make new discoveries. Thinking in the big picture will help you identify bottlenecks in your development stage and make breakthroughs. Dbas in the cloud era will find more career opportunities as they embrace and adapt to change. DBA is not the end of the career, look at yourself, know yourself, plan yourself, the future will be achieved.
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