Coping with Database Diversity

Study shows that database administrators are managing more types and versions of databases than ever.

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 Click through for results from a database survey by Embarcadero.

The fact of life for most database administrators is that they are usually managing not only multiple types of databases, but multiple versions of those databases.

A new study of 1,200 IT managers conducted by Embarcadero Technologies finds that while more of them are running Microsoft SQL Server than Oracle databases, the majority spend a lot more of their time working on Oracle databases. That would suggest that while Microsoft SQL Server has successfully proliferated across the enterprise on the back of Windows Server applications, Oracle databases are still the primary production database environment.

As the numbers and types of databases have proliferated, the number of database administrators has held relatively steady. Scott Walz, senior director of product management for database products at Embarcadero, says the survey shows that this changing dynamic is driving increased interest in automation among the ranks of harried database administrators.

Despite all the hype surrounding open source databases, one of the more surprising revelations of the survey is the relatively minor presence of MySQL in enterprise environments.

But as cost pressures continue to mount alongside the volume of data to be managed, Walz said we’re likely to see more diversity in database formats in the enterprise.