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TOUGH QUESTIONS TO

ASK YOUR REMOTE

DBA PROVIDER

It’s necessary to ask tough questions related to three key

areas as part of database management and monitoring.

The remote DBA provider’s answers will be a strong indicator

of the quality of service you can expect to receive.

You can use this information as a high-level checklist to create

a strong short list of providers.

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Introduction

When most people think about strategic information, they don’t normally associate the underlying

database technology with anytime-availability of the data that they need (e.g., SLAs, configuration,

best practices, administration, scalability). End-users and C-levels alike expect their business

intelligence to be quickly accessible without having to worry—now more than ever. So, how do you

help to ensure 24x7 access to your company’s data, as part of your plan for high availability of an

ever-growing volume of data?

A trusted resource who knows your operations inside and out when database changes are

required

A senior-level, dedicated DBA team to call, no matter what time it is, when something goes

wrong

In order to source the above resources, it’s necessary to ask some pretty tough questions related to

three key areas, as outlined below. The remote DBA provider’s answers will be a strong indicator of

the quality of service you can expect to receive. You can use this information as a high-level

checklist, of sorts.

1. Dedicated, Senior Experts

You need on-demand access to proven remote DBA experts to balance strategic initiatives and

ongoing database challenges. Will the provider:

Provide a dedicated team of remote DBA experts who are assigned to your organization?

Disclose the average number of years’ of DBA experience of all team members?

Offer the assigned team and back-up resources on a fixed-fee basis?

2. Custom SLAs, Extended Availability, and Elasticity of Services

Similar to managed services, you need direct, anytime-access to skilled DBA resources to manage

your database environments—whether it’s to troubleshoot an issue or to accommodate off-hours

testing. And those needs vary by industry, region, and many other factors, which makes customizable

SLAs crucial. Database services should scale up or down as you need them—from off-hours

monitoring to strategic senior-level DBA services.

For example, a retail company might require on-demand, 24x7 support during holiday peak months.

A public accounting firm might need intensive support January through April, through tax season.

Alternatively, a manufacturer might need extra support during the implementation of an inventory

tracking database during production hours to help ensure accuracy. In other words, your provider

should be available when your lights are on or your needs spike. Ask your remote DBA provider to

define:

Standard service levels

Options for custom service levels

Severity levels by incident type

Lights-on and lights-off support hours, along with response times

Escalation procedures

Back-up and recovery service levels

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3. Well-Defined Roles, Practices, and Procedures

Designing a detailed scope of work (SOW), process flows, best practices, daily maintenance, and

agreed-upon procedures based on your database challenges is imperative. Your remote DBA

provider should thoroughly describe the following areas as part of planning your assessment and

support.

Lifecycle Management

Technical Assessment

Will the remote DBA provider perform a comprehensive audit of your environment? This audit will

include the assessment and documentation of:

System architecture

Database software configurations and release levels

Maintenance operations

Proposed remediation plan (for best practices tuning and/or enhancements)

Space Management

Will your remote DBA provider manage any space issues specific to your requirements? This will

include the following:

Tables

Indexes

Logs

Freespace

System Updates and New Installations

Will your provider address the following:

Installations

Security patches

Software updates

o Patch

o Version upgrades

Data Management (Backup and Recovery)

Will your provider assist in backing up and recovering your database in accordance with defined

SLAs, as discussed above. This includes:

Database backups

o Simple

o Bulk logging

o Full

Complete recovery

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Incomplete recovery

o Point-in-time

o Transaction-based

Monitoring and Performance Management

Your provider should create a comprehensive monitoring and performance management plan, as

well as identify and manage performance tuning opportunities, including, but not limited to:

Long-running application requests

Tuning memory usage

Tuning database data storage

Lock contention

Sorting

Validating table structures, as necessary

Identity top database resource consumers

Database options, including business intelligence and other technologies

Configuration Management

Your provider should maintain and administer all database administration aspects of your

environment including:

Security maintenance

User ID and role maintenance

Data file maintenance

Log file maintenance

Integrity checks

Statistics maintenance

Index maintenance

Table maintenance

Stored procedure maintenance

Scheduled job maintenance

Database Administration Services

Support Management – Troubleshooting

Your provider should assist in advanced troubleshooting, working closely with you to identify and

resolve any system issues. The provider should also help to coordinate communication of problems

and incidents to your database software vendor. This could include the following activities:

Problem and incident management

Root cause analysis (RCA) documentation

Proactive bug alerts

Problem analysis support

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Project Services

Your provider should operate with an elastic support model in order to assist with project work for

specialized needs, large or small, which are typically impossible to predict. From server consolidation

to distributed databases, and everything in between, behind-the-scenes support as your Big Data

approach evolves will help position you as the business intelligence hero for your organization. After

all, your organization’s specific definition of Big Data depends on:

The current capacity of your environment

The size of the data sets that need to be managed

The real business applications of the data and how they relate to the goals of your

organization, e.g., strategic decision making, revenue-driving initiatives

Expectations of heavy consumers of information

There is a lot to consider when it comes to your new data management strategies and

maintenance. Right-sourcing ensures you are prepared to help manage growing database demands,

have access to the right Big Data technology (when needed), and equipped to head-off unexpected

challenges.

ManageForce On-Demand DBA Services

We're here to help. With deep business and technical expertise, sound financials, and strong

business ethics, our database services leverage deep experience in supporting the world’s most

demanding database needs to develop leading Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, and MySQL support

services.

Our database services can scale up or down as you need them. ManageForce helps organizations

worldwide, including Fortune 500, public sector, and SMBs, to plan, implement, monitor, and

manage their databases via a cost-effective, proven global delivery model. Our experience and

expertise as a leading database administration organization can help you achieve measurable

results—and maximum performance—from your database.

Databases: Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, IBM DB2, MySQL, and Hadoop

Platforms: AS400/iSeries, Windows, UNIX, and Linux

Services: Monitoring, production support, reporting and BI, cloud computing, and Big Data

Have questions? We’re ready to help! Contact us:

Phone: 1-877-351-4491

E-mail: info@manageforce.com

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