Automation AlleyThe race is on between DBMS and tool providers to see who can "self-heal" the database firstThe go-go days of the database tool industry — once known by its bacchanalian bashes at the big annual database user conferences with cameo appearances by the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders and Elvis impersonators — seem a distant memory. Since the relational database explosion in the mid-1980s, this cottage industry has thrived on large pieces of the data management puzzle that DBMS vendors left behind. However, many wonder if its days are numbered. Recently, the DBMS vendors have been introducing "self-healing" features and functions — and generally enlarging their footprints to pull functions once left to the third-party providers into their realm. I communicated recently with Craig Mullins, director of technology planning for BMC Software and popular contributor to database industry publications, conferences, and trade shows. I asked him how he saw the impact of the move toward DBMS self-healing features. Although he has an obvious bias given his position, Mullins has long been highly regarded for his expert, independent voice on data management issues. "What this basically implies is that the DBMS will manage itself," Mullins said. "This is indeed a laudable goal. However, we are so far away from this today that it is impossible to believe that this capability will be there soon. IBM, for example, has announced some interesting autonomous features for DB2. The DB2 optimizer has for a while had 'query rewrite' technology: but does any DB2 DBA out there believe that queries no longer need tuning? If so, I've got a bridge to sell you." "Making changes to database structures, for example, will not be something that the DBMS can always understand, and do," Mullins added. "The DBA will still need to direct this type of work." Database managers are already aided by automation and self-healing technology provided by the tool vendors. "BMC's database tools today are powered by intelligent automation. This means making things more simple in a complex world by creating products with built-in knowledge of the environment to automate difficult, time-consuming, and error-prone maintenance. These tasks will continue to exist regardless of how self-tuning the DBMS becomes," he said. Avoiding the "Perp Walk"Excellence in data infrastructure is essential to delivering the "confidence in the numbers" executives need before taking personal responsibility for corporate financial reports. Reporting demands will likely fuel interest in embedded analytics, which may eventually borrow a page from the autonomic technology going into data management. But as Mullins observed, autonomics won't decrease the role of savvy professionals who may serve as the unsung heroes, standing between the CFO's good reputation and a media disaster now known as the "perp walk." As we brainstormed about the cover for this issue, with its theme of using analytics to improve financial management, "Enron" kept coming up. And so, in our search we came across a classic: a news photo of then-Enron executives (left to right) Sherron Watkins, Jeffrey Skilling, and Jeff McMahon about to testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Feb. 26, 2002. Readers might remember that Watkins played a heroic role in trying to enlighten Enron CEO Ken Lay about the company's true financial posture — but Lay refused this opportunity, and the rest was history. Let it serve as a reminder, "visibility" is also about ethics and responsibility.
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