Calling widespread bad habits in database administration "deadly" may seem extreme. However, when you consider the critical nature of most data, and just how damaging data loss or corruption can be to a corporation, "deadly" seems pretty dead-on.

Although these habits are distressingly common among DBAs, they are curable with some shrewd management intervention. What follows is a list of the seven habits we consider the deadliest, along with some ideas on how to eliminate them.

Habit #1. THE LEAP OF FAITH: "We have faith in our backup."

Blind faith can be endearing, but not when it comes backing up a database. Backups should be trusted only as far as they have been tested and verified.

Cures:
Have your DBAs verify that the backup is succeeding regularly, preferably using a script that notifies them if there's an issue. Maintain a backup to your backup. DBAs should always use at least two backup methods. A common technique is to use those old-fashioned exports as a backup to the online backups. Resource test recoveries as often as is practical. An early sign that your DBA team is either overworked or not prioritizing correctly is having a quarter go by without a test recovery. Test recoveries confirm that your backup strategy is on track, while allowing your team to practice recovery activities so they can handle them effectively when the time comes.

Habit #2. GREAT EXPECTATIONS: "It will work the way we expect it to. Let's go ahead."

Although not user friendly in the traditional sense, Oracle is very power-user friendly