Remote DBA/Unix Technical Services

The demand for experienced Techical Consultants has placed the cost of hiring such individuals out of the reach of most smaller educational institutions.

The high cost of experienced Technical staff typically forces smaller client sites to bring on contract employees to fill the necessary positions. This has several disadvantages:

• Typically, a contract lasts 3-6 months, and must be renegotiated at the end of each duration.
• If a new contractor is brought on, time is lost on training and getting him/her "up to speed" with the environment.
• The smaller "technology shops" also typically have few tasks/goals than larger firms, and thus again are less attractive for experienced IT professionals which prefer longer duration assignments.

Nyquest DBA & Unix Services was created to allow sites to have access to Senior Level Oracle DBAs and Unix System Administrators at a fraction of the cost.

Under Nyquest Remote Services, clients are assigned a specific Nyquest consultant which allows him/her to become familiar with the environment of the site. However, the DBA / SysAdm's time is allocated to a client on an "as-needed" basis.

Nyquest consultants are also proficient on Windows as well as all Unix/Linux variations that are out in the market.

What is the experience level of Nyquest Consultants?
All Nyquest Consultants are Oracle Certified Professionals (OCP) that have worked a minimum of 20 years using Oracle and Banner® on a variety of platforms. These environments include Oracle 11/12c on Open VMS, UNIX and Windows. Each Nyquest consultant has seen and can handle most technical situations that arise.

Each Nyquest consultant, while being an Oracle/UNIX/Windows expert, also has a specific field of expertise. For example, certain consultants are expert PL/SQL script-writers, others are experts of interfacing the Oracle RDBMS with the Oracle iAS and still others are expert System Administrators that are good at tuning a Unix system to run Oracle.

How do Nyquest Consultants perform tasks??
Typically, each site will have a series of routine tasks to be performed on a periodic basis as well as "one shot" specific tasks that appear from time-to-time. Routine tasks include creating user accounts, monitoring of database usage, and database/system backups. Specific "one shot" tasks include upgrading Oracle versions, full export/import of database, and new Oracle installations.

Typically, routine tasks are defined at the start, and the Nyquest consultant will perform these tasks at the request intervals. These intervals can be very frequent (such as checking to see if new users need to be added to the database daily) or less frequently (such as tuning the database buffer cache every other month). For specific one-time tasks, Nyquest consultant's time is scheduled in advance, upgrades, tuning and other tasks are planned out. The client site will notify the Nyquest consultant of a specific task to be performed, such as an Oracle/OS upgrade, installation, etc. The consultant & the client will then agree on a time in which these tasks are to be performed.

In emergency situations, such as a system/database crash time can be scheduled immediately. The turnaround time in these situations is typically within the hour.

Most tasks for clients are performed REMOTELY, Nyquest Consultants typically will login to the client system either via the Internet or via some dial-in server at the client location. OnSite visits & stays are available, but typically these visits are arranged in advance. During OnSite visits, clients are responsible for all of a Nyquest Consultant's travel expenses.

You only pay for what you use!
Under Nyquest DBA services, you only pay for the time that you use. If you are a small company, and only use 4 hours of a Nyquest Consultant's time each month, then you simply pay for that time. This billing approach eliminates the waste of resources that sometimes occurs when full-time or contract employees are hired.

How is am I billed for services?
Typically, Nyquest DBA contracts with clients last anywhere from six months to three years. At that point, a Nyquest consultant is assigned to the client. Bi-monthly, clients will receive a summary with the number of hours & travel expenses (if any) that will be charged.
 

Will the Nyquest Consultant work with my full-time staff?
Absolutely. Nyquest Consulting believes that information should be shared, not locked-up. We don't believe that Oracle information & skills is some sort of black art that needs to be hoarded. All Nyquest Consultants spend a great deal of time interacting with the existing staff to make sure they have a clear idea of the task at hand. Nyquest also provides OnSite, hand-on Oracle classes that will further help bring to full-time staff up to date on the current technology.

While each client has a principal Nyquest Consultant that they should contact, keep in mind that they are feel to use other consultants if they have more specific needs. For example, if the assigned Nyquest Consultant has a specialty in PL/SQL coding, and the client suddenly finds a need for installing Fusion Middleware, the client is free to contact other Nyquest Consultants for advice or assistance.
 

Is DBA & UNIX Services Right for my site?
Being perfectly honest, DBA & Unix Services is not for everyone. The majority of a Nyquest Consultant's work is done remotely. If you require a consultant to be OnSite at all times, this is probably not the right type of service for you. However, aside from not being physically present at the client site, Nyquest Consultants function identically to onsite DBAs & System Administrators. Nyquest Consultants participate in conference calls with full-time staff, help train junior & entry level personnel and interact daily with others on-site.

If you are interested in finding out more information about Nyquest's Remote Services, please call or Email us!