In the spirit of lists that seek to define habits practised by effective individual – I decided to list a generalised list for DBAs.

These are based on obseravations I’ve made of some excellent DBAs I’ve met over the years. The intention is to abstract some patterns – to encompass the constantly changing database management environment.

1) Write down everything - Every solution you work on, document how you solved the problem and the lesson learnt. If it’s a repeatable task – delegate it or outsource.

2) Read all the product documentation – again and again. Every version that comes out has a set of documentation. There are a phenomenal amount of problems in forums that could quickly be solved by reading the product documentation.

3) Systems SLAs - define clearly the expectations of every aspect of the database server you are managing. For example, a failed SQL Server agent job that collects performance snapshot is not as a high priority as an unplanned database downtime.

4) Capacity planning expert - Strive to understand future requirements and build in to the database management process

5) Performance Tuning – Take the time to develop a systems based approach to performance tuning. Master the application stack – for example, SAN > Network > OS > SQL Server > Application. It is not enough just to know about SQL Server.

6) Communication - Verbal and written skills must be excellent. As the DBA you are often communicating with technical staff and management.

7) Task orientation – Reuse of components can create a standardised platform. For example, in implementing Database Mail – you do not need to be an expert on SMTP, or have to develop a custom module.

Republished from http://www.sqlserver-dba.com.