Centralized management

Databases that many people use are valuable and must be protected as important business assets. You create a significant problem when you compile a store of valuable data and simultaneously allow many employees to access it. You handle this problem by protecting data while maintaining performance. The database server lets you centralize these tasks.

Databases must be guarded against loss or damage. The hazards are many: failures in software and hardware, and the risks of fire, flood, and other natural disasters. Losing an important database creates a huge potential for damage. The damage could include not only the expense and difficulty of re-creating the lost data, but also the loss of productive time by the database users as well as the loss of business and goodwill while users cannot work. A plan for regular backups helps avoid or mitigate these potential disasters.

A large database that many people use must be maintained and tuned. Someone must monitor its use of system resources, chart its growth, anticipate bottlenecks, and plan for expansion. Users will report problems in the application programs; someone must diagnose these problems and correct them. If rapid response is important, someone must analyze the performance of the system and find the causes of slow responses.