The release of Oracle 10g set in motion a change in the way DBA's would approach their jobs in the future. The change does not affect all systems moving to 10g, but it does lay the groundwork for DBA's to evolve into different roles. One of the big phrases associated with Oracle 10g was the 'self-managing database'. Does this mean that DBA's will no longer have a full time job in the workplace? Many feared this to be true by looking at some of the features 10g offered:

• Automatic Memory Management
• Automatic Space Management
• Automatic Workload Repository
• Automatic Database Diagnostics Monitor
• Automatic Segment Space Management
• Automatic UNDO Management (9i)
• Automatic SQL Tuning

That's a lot of 'automatics'. Even Oracle University still markets a class '2 Day DBA'. Could it be that all the years of experience that database administrators have compiled will soon be obsolete? Well, the answer is a resounding no...sort of.

There is no doubt that throughout the releases of Oracle, many of the menial tasks that could take days or weeks to configure followed up by constant monitoring, are now automated. However, with the evolving business environment, new tasks are presented. Furthermore, with each automated feature that Oracle provides, there are probably 2 or 3 new features that DBA's can configure into the application framework. In essence, these changes allow the DBA to become more involved in the strategic planning of business processes in the technological arena. The sign of any great modern company is its ability to adapt and change with the times. The Oracle software package offers many opportunities to leverage your data for business purposes. Experts are needed to take advantage of these opportunities.

The DBA is no longer an unknown person sitting in the back of the server room. A well trained DBA can help software developers design packages and promise service levels never before heard of. Features such as RAC, DataGuard, Oracle Streams, Advanced Security, and Database Vault allow companies to use their data in many new capacities with guaranteed availability and security. All the while your DBA is not sitting back in the IT department calculating extent growth and block space usage. Instead, they are educating developers on designing Virtual Private Database's and Transparent Application Failover in a RAC environment or they are reducing your total cost of ownership by doing away with that fancy SAN and implementing ASM.

On the other hand, it is true that smaller companies can now possibly go without a full time DBA. This leads to a rise in consulting and remote services. Companies that do not have a need for the advanced features of enterprise class Oracle can take advantage of all the automation available. A DBA that managed one small to medium sized database ten years ago on Oracle 7.3.4 can probably handle four or five similar databases on Oracle 10g and above. With the advances in Grid Control, entire enterprises can be monitored and maintained from one tool. Again, this allows for the DBA to evolve and become an integral and almost indispensible resource in today's market. While Oracle is trying to reduce total cost of ownership, they are at the same time giving us the tools to use our data in ways we never thought possible. All of this requires a well-trained, cutting edge Oracle Database Professional.