“GUIs are for look’n, the Command Line is for Doin’” – That is some of the best mentoring advice I have received or could give as a data storage professional, and it is true to this day!
GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces) have really made enterprise-class databases much more accessible, and have made viewing data and corralling vital stats wonderfully pleasant and simple. MySQL Enterprise Monitor and Oracle Enterprise Manager include some excellent, time-saving ‘advisers’ that simply tuning tasks as well. They have come a long way, and their utility is undeniable.
But, as a data storage professional, we are expected to be able to restore and return the system to and operational capacity when things go badly. Usually, this is where we need the skills to ‘pop open the hood’.
Just as a good drummer should be able to do whatever can be done with their hands with their feet, when they are behind their kit - A good DBA will be able to perform any action in the GUI, at the command-line as well. This is critically important because:
- The GUI contains a subset of the CLI capabilities, utilities, and tools
- The GUI is a separate piece of software, often with additional dependencies, that can break, while leaving the database up and available.
Remember, of all the duties a DBA is asked to perform, there is one that we must do correctly and effectively EVERY time - Data Recovery. Data loss is absolutely unacceptable. So, you must honestly ask yourself - If the database goes down, the GUI is unusable, and the data must be recovered, can I do it at the command line? If not, it should be your focus to develop that skill set immediately - Not being able to recover your company’s or client’s data because you couldn’t ‘point n’ click‘ your way through the process, your company can lose a fortune – And it will, most likely, cost you your job!
Oracle Enterprise Manager is a great example. It is extremely useful, but in my experience, extremely delicate. It cannot withstand being cloned or moved to a different server, and it can break with any ungraceful handling of its repository, inside the database. Chances are, if the database is in dire straits, EM will not be there.
Will you be ready?
Brian Fedorko