how does a dba fit in itil process

ITIL/ITSM relation with DBA

Rajib Kundu: Citagus

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Rajib Kundu : Citagus

ITIL – The Big Picture

Responsibilities – No change


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Database SecurityDatabase Change ManagementDatabase Performance

SQL State of Tables Parameters and Sizing

Database Recovery Application Failure Disaster Recovery Database or software failure

Interaction with Development

Incident Management


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“Restore normal service operation as quickly as possible and minimize the adverse impact on business operations, thus ensuring that the best possible levels of service quality and availability are maintained”

A report problem or complaint.

Help desk – Service desk etc.

The DBA – might get a call Reactive, Break-fix Database down, Database

slow, Job failure, Schema Changes, Add users

Service Desk, Call Center, Ticketing System, P1, SEV-1

24x7, Remote Access, VPN

Problem Management


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“Minimize the adverse impact of Incidents and Problems on the business that are caused by errors within the IT infrastructure, and to prevent recurrence of Incidents related to these errors”

Remember my example they find the problems and turn them into errors. Some DBA may be directly involved with this group.

DBA – May interact with consistent problems

Proactive, Root Cause Analysis, Post-Mortem, Trend Analysis

This is separate from Incident Management

Configuration Management


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“Provide accurate information on configurations and their documentation to support all the other Service Management processes”

They own everything and when a change goes in they are responsible for making sure the CMDB reflects the change as well they will have a PIR Post Implementation Review and someone from the DB group should be involved

The DBA will know how and when the DB is accessed and should get this information to this group

How does Server A differ from Server B?

Who has access to Server A? Environmental….UNIX /

Mainframe / Windows……. Which patches have been

applied to this CRM environment?

When does the Support Contract expire?

Who is the Business Owner?

Change Management


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“Ensure that standardized methods and procedures are used for efficient and prompt handling of all Changes, in order to minimize the impact of Change related incidents upon service quality, and consequently to improve the day-to-day operations of the organization”

A change would have been defined an RFC and if it involved a database you should have someone involved in the review of the change.

Change Management is not project management, however it is responsible for this change being done and being done on time.

DBA will be involved if not on the CAB team

Risk Analysis, ROI Analysis Pre-Test Plan Pre-Communication Plan Pre-Signoffs Backup Plan Execution Plan Backout Plan Post-Test Plan Post-Communication Plan Post-Signoffs Documentation Updates Contingency Plan Updates

Release Management


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“Design and implement efficient procedures for the distribution and installation of Changes to I.T. Systems”

Release management makes sure all the players responsible for the change are involved and coordinates with the various departments on release schedules testing etc. Again this is not project management..

DBA will definitely work with this group

Installs Upgrades Patches Database Change

Management Impact Rollback etc

Service Level Management


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“Maintain and improve I.T. Service quality, through a constant cycle of agreeing, monitoring and reporting upon I.T. Service achievements and instigation of actions to eradicate poor service – in line with business or cost justification”

Good old SLA and Operation Level Agreement

Should maintain a service catalog to understand if agreements are being met

Should always be running a Service Improvement Program

How to do things better or cheaper

Today the DBA will be under some SLA agreement but should have a better understanding of priority

Service Level Agreements Operational Level

Agreements Satisfaction Surveys

Financial Management


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“Provide cost-effective stewardship of the I.T. assets and resources used in providing I.T. Services”

Budget / Accounting - what it costs to do business

Everybody spends money these guys track it

Hardware, Software, Personnel, Facilities, Service Contracts

TCO, ROI, Budgeting, Accounting, Charging

Server Consolidation, Standard Edition, Colocation, Linux, Open Source

Capacity Management


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“Ensure that cost-justifiable I.T. capacity always exists and that it is matched to the current and future needs of the business”

What they need now to run the business and what they will need in the future

Measure of workload – how we doing now

Keep track of all resources including employees and IT assets

Performance management lands here. Monitor and tuning.

Should have a Capacity Management Database for analysis

The DBA will be involved in all of theses task and provide data and advice

Monitoring Tuning! Capacity Planning Demand Management

Continuity Management


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“Support the overall Business Continuity Management process by ensuring that the required I.T. technical and service facilities (including computer systems, networks, applications, technical support and Service Desk) can be recovered within required, and agreed, business timescales”

Responsible for understanding the impact of the applications and components of your IT department. You will be involved in the Business Impact Analysis of your databases and there use by applications

Need to know all the assets, the threats and possible vulnerabilities.

DBA will provide plans and criteria

Disaster Recovery Contingency Planning Application Error or fallback Fire, earthquake, flood,

power failure

Availability Management


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“Understand the Availability requirements of the business and plan, measure, monitor and continuously improve the Availability of the I.T. Infrastructure, services and supporting organization to ensure that these requirements are met consistently”

Design for availability – measure MTTR and MTBF and my favorite MTBSI

DBA - what do you need to get where the business wants to go

Availability is Job #1! High Availability, Hardware? Redundancy, RAC SAN, NAS, Active-Passive

Configuration Backups! Backups! Backups!

Test! Test! Test!

Security Management


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“The process of Security Managementis required to establish the necessary logical and physical security measures to ensure (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability) C.I.A. of IT Systems and information.”

Determine confidentiality,

integrity and availability of data Physical security, technical

security and procedural security

DBA – Day to day and compliance standards

Database Access and authorities

Application access and database and change management

Audit access Rules, Regulations and

Compliance

What are the ITIL deliverables / goals of the DBA function?


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Operational management toolsManagement reports and informationException reviews and reportsReview and audit reportsOperational Document LibraryA stable, secure and resilient infrastructureA log or database or all operational events,

alerts and alarmsFail-over and disaster recovery testing scheduleOperational work schedules

Prioritize your time?


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I – Activities that are Important and Urgent e.g. Incident Management

II – Activities that are Important but not Urgent e.g. Configuration Management

III – Activities that are not Important but Urgent

IV – Activities that are not Important and not urgent

DBA ITIL Procedures


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1. Rate each ITSM focus area2. Rate the quality of each deliverable3. Decide what level you want to reach4. Determine how much work is involved5. Determine how much time you need

how does a dba fit in itil process

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