The Art of Visibility: Enabling Multi-Platform Database Management

by Sep 16, 2016

Scott Walz of IDERA joined Dr. Robin Bloor and Dez Blanchfield of The Bloor Group on the recent webinar, The Art of Visibility: Enabling Multi-Platform Management. There are many kinds of databases and data stores that have been established in addition to the traditional relational approach. Robin explained that there are some key database dimensions that describe the usability, such as scalability, distributability, and manageability.

Hardware improvements have made it easier to do more parallel processing within a chip and a server. “At the hardware level, performance is accelerating and costs continue to fall,” says Robin Bloor. Data storage has also evolved, from the original networked and relational databases, to Hadoop platforms (which are, strictly speaking, not databases). Data federation makes it possible to share data between disparate databases.

With the explosion of databases over the past decade or so, there are many options for how DBAs can store their corporate data. The total amount of data used by businesses has grown exponentially in recent years, but storage technologies have improved to the point that we can store a lot more information in compact hardware configurations.

Database administration has become a lot like rocket science, according to Dez Blanchfield. “We have long passed the tipping point where even super human database admins can stay ‘old school’,” says Dez. You need tools with performance engines that can do analytics and manage contacts and data effectively.

Relational database systems still include the usual suspects, but some new players have also emerged in this lively market. Then there are the cloud offerings that further complicate the landscape. It is a challenge to learn all of these platforms well enough to do proper database administration. Many DBAs focus on just one or two, and only add more if the business requires it due to acquisitions or corporate strategy changes. DBAs need new tools that can better assist them with viewing, managing, and supporting these diverse platforms.

Scott Walz agrees that today’s DBAs struggle with how to handle so many different database options. “Managing a multi-database environment is a challenge,” says Scott. IDERA DBArtisan is a flexible tool that provides DBAs with the ability to manage cross-platform database environments. It was introduced over 20 years ago, and has evolved over time to incorporate capabilities for automating routine tasks and enabling DBAs to work with many different platforms.

In addition to native support for multiple platforms, the tool includes JDBC and ODBC connections that can be used to access many more. Additional capabilities are available for capacity and space analysis, as well as memory analysis of your database usage. The big advantage is that you can see all of this information for all of these platforms in a single user interface, and you don’t have to learn the differences between separate vendor-specific tools. Having one interface to manage all platforms gives you improved productivity and better visibility.

DBArtisan also makes it easier to update your databases. It works behind the scenes to generate the ALTER scripts and produce the SQL code to make the desired changes in your databases. You can then easily implement these changes in an efficient and timely manner. SQL scripts that are executed often can be saved in a script library.

DBArtisan includes other functions that are very helpful although perhaps not as well known. For example, bookmarks are a handy feature that allow you to save specific locations within a database hierarchy so that you can quickly return to a saved area. Process monitoring includes alerts that can be set when certain thresholds are met, and provides the ability to quickly access the specific area that needs attention.

DBAs are often responsible for demonstrating compliance and responding to audits, and DBArtisan gives you the ability to do both of these, with built-in reporting about database activity, access permissions, and modifications. Whatever regulation or requirement you must meet, having a tool that consolidates all the relevant information makes your job much easier.

Whether you’re managing many instances of a single database platform, or a mix of database platforms, DBArtisan can help you gain better visibility across your entire database environment and manage all of your instances more easily. Learn more about DBArtisan and try it free for 14 days!