TECHNOLOGIST OF THE YEAR
Syed Jaffer Hussain DBA
The learning never stops for Oracle RAC expert.
Today’s best DBAs have a dual role: mastering intricate technologies while remaining closely connected to
the needs and processes of the businesses
they serve.
“Being a DBA for Alinma Bank gives me
the immense satisfaction of managing one
of the most complex Oracle RAC [Oracle
Real Application Clusters] environments
in the Middle East region,” says Syed Jaffer
Hussain, Oracle Database support manager
for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia–based Alinma Bank,
an Oracle ACE Director, and winner of the
Oracle Excellence Award for Technologist
of the Year: DBA. “I know our management
appreciates the database team’s ability to
prevent rather than only resolve business-
critical and challenging database and
technology problems.”
Established in 2008, Alinma Bank is a
rapidly growing bank based on the principle
of Islamic law. The bank runs its complete
business solutions on Oracle cluster technologies. “In order to provide uninterrupted
service availability around-the-clock to our
valued customers, we rely on Oracle cluster
technologies,” says Hussain.
On top of these clusters, Alinma has
implemented a sophisticated Oracle RAC 10g
Release 2 environment with four systems
running nearly 200 database instances.
Hussain and his team recently upgraded all
four Oracle RAC environments and databases
to Oracle 11 g Release 2.
“Most of our critical business processes
run on Oracle databases and use Oracle
E-Business Suite solutions, and we are also
in the process of implementing other Oracle-
related solutions,” says Hussain. “Beyond
any doubt, Oracle technology is the integral
part of our organization. We strongly rely on
Oracle technologies for our reputation and
business growth.”
Having mastered a wide range of Oracle
technologies and gained experience putting
them into practice in real-world situations,
Hussain likes to give back to the Oracle
community. He’s continually sharing his
knowledge of Oracle database technology
both as a blogger (at jaffardba.blogspot
.com) and as the coauthor of Oracle 11g R1/R2
Real Application Clusters Essentials (Packt,
May 2011), a book focused on real-world
Oracle RAC scenarios.
In addition, he continues to refine his
expertise by exploring new technologies
and implementation challenges, so he can
deliver more at work and contribute more
to the community. “To be a good DBA, one
needs to be hungry for new skills,” says
Hussain, “and keen to learn, test, and apply
new technologies that could have a big
impact on the organization.”
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