The role of a database administrator in a business is one that is parallel to the level of growth of the business and the ultimate aim of the company in terms of its database requirements. This is due to the fact that companies are usually at different stages of growth and their requirements for database management are usually commiserate with this level of growth. For companies with many subsidiaries and a lot of information flow, the Information Technology (IT) department will be clearly defined, with plenty of staff who have specific roles. On the other hand, those companies that are smaller might not have a clearly defined IT department, and the database administrator may find himself or herself playing a multitude of roles that are not particularly restricted to just the management of the company’s database. The primary responsibility of the database administrator is the development of an effective and secure framework for the management of the information, generated by and relating to the company.
A role of a database administrator is the assurance that the company’s servers are always up and running. If there should ever be any kind of problem with the servers, the role of the database administrator is to ensure that there is a competent backup system that will keep the organization functional until the problem with the server has been resolved. Another inclusion in the role of a database administrator is the development of a secure system for the protection of the company’s information from unauthorized access. In order to achieve this, the database administrator must constantly keep himself or herself informed about the latest developments in the IT world, so as to better protect the company’s server from contamination by virus and other forms of malicious spyware and malware.
An inclusion in the role of a database administrator is the recovery of information in the rare case of a system crash. Such a caution must be included in the development of a backup plan and must include specific steps for the safe and effective retrieval of vital information. In big corporations, the database administrator might have to develop a sort of tier system where there are varying levels of access to the database. This might include the assignment of codes and passwords to the different categories of employees so that they can only gain access to the portion of the database that they have been cleared to access.