Database Administrators

A Day in the Life

As a database administrator, you safeguard an organization’s critical data. When database applications are running smoothly, you may feel almost invisible to co-workers. This morning, however, the human resources manager flags you down outside of your office. She explains in a panicked tone that the employee database has crashed, and her staff is paralyzed until you fix it. You log in to the database back end and see SQL errors indicating massive data corruption. Keeping your expression neutral, you politely see her out and promise to call shortly with an update. You then contact your manager, who is working from home today, with a heads up.

An hour later, you have isolated the problem to gibberish injected into the one of the database tables. It is unlike any string you have seen before, so you consult with the IT security expert. She pokes around and confirms your suspicion that a malicious attack rather than a system failure is the likely culprit. She warns you to prepare to do a full database restore from backups and disappears into her office, affectionately called Fort Knox, to work hacker magic.

Two hours later, you are cleared for a database restore from yesterday’s backup prior to the attack. After locking out all users from the application, you shut it down. You have done nightly backups and regular test restores, so you are confident of success. Nonetheless, a full restore is an exacting process with several critical steps. Afterward, you must check the integrity of the database, its records, and connections to other systems. You verify user access and then ask the HR manager to log in to her application and test common functions.

By the time you break for a hasty sandwich, people are starting to leave. Only the IT team stays to wrap up the day’s events. Around 9 p.m., you and the security expert split a pizza while plugging the security hole that threatened your co-workers now relaxing at home.