Hello,

I hear people saying traditional DBA and physical DBA. Can some one tell the difference between different types of DB2 DBA? physical, logical, traditional, system DBA?

Thank you.

In the many organizations i've supported, the term "dba" has no constant/consistent definition. All that you mentioned are needed one way or another (plus more) and different organizations address these in different ways.

Is there some particular position of interest? Do you know the specifics of the position?

I think these concepts are somewhat overlapping. For example, a traditional DBA is a middle-aged guy with a curtain or garibaldi beard, frequently wearing a homemade sweater. He's typically grumpy and mumbling.

A logical DBA is, basically, any DBA; if he or she isn't logical, there's little chance he or she will remain a DBA for long.

A physical DBA is such a DBA that, in addition to being logical, is able to lift a 100 pound storage unit into a rack, to at least 12U level. Surprisingly, very few traditional DBAs are physical, despite the sweater.

I'm not sure what system DBAs are; I guess it's those that are neither logical nor physical.

You've also omitted some pretty common categories, such as cute DBAs, blonde DBAs, straight-out-of-college DBAs, "global resource" DBAs, and some other, more obscure varieties.

<mumble> <mumble> Can't find the "like"button <mumble> <mumble> <grumpy> my 1st hit on google: Database administration and automation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia <\grumpy>

Where do you fit in?

I was looking for it as well.

I'm not a DBA; I'm a consultant, more on a physical side.

a traditional DBA is a middle-aged guy with a curtain or garibaldi beard, frequently wearing a homemade sweater. He's typically grumpy and mumbling.
that is the best description I believe...

Come on guys. Please seriously explain the difference. At least what a traditional DBA does and what a system DBA does? What is the most common type of DBA these days? I also want to know what is a legacy system?

TIA

I never heard these concepts : traditional DBA , system DBA。
DBA is just DBA。

System DBA usually only applies to DB2 for z/OS, and they are usually called DB2 system programmers, and not system DBA's. You need z/OS system programming experience for this, and it is not really a DBA job.

Some DBA's do logical design and work with extensively with application developers, and do things like write stored procedures, triggers, etc, when applicable. Some DBA's only do production support (no design) are typically called physical DBA's. Many DBA's do both, at least to some degree. It often depends on how large the company is and whether there are enough DBA's to have separate groups.

Other than the "middle-aged guy" description, i believe the other answers were attempts to answer your original question.

I suspect the answer Marcus posted is what you want here. Also see next answer.

I'm not sure there is a "most common" any more. I'm only one person and i have worked with organizations that have had only 1 dba "for everything" (i was asked to go there because that person had ended his own life - talk about no turnover, and no one else knew what/how he did the job) to my most recent client (before now) that had 4 dba teams of 10 - 12 dba's each (32 z/OS lpar's and 100 unix servers supporting more than 20 database engines).

Has typically meant older "stuff". Now there are even db2 systems that are considered "legacy". Some consider a system a legacy system if the presentation is not gui. Others have a different opinion.