I agree that David's definition is probably the core of what makes any DBA exceptional.

Naturally, any good DBA has the core skills in place, and (although we are only looking at hard skills) has the personality and people skills to be eminently approachable by all his/her colleagues.

As the manager of both developers and DBA and coming from a business background, I think there is one vital aspect needed to stand out above the crowd, and that's the willingness and enthusiasm to learn more of the business requirements and become a partner to the developers in delivering the best solution to the customer.

As Ian Massi pointed out in his response to the last editorial, there are many benefits from learning a bit of each others field of expertise. We have found fewer locks and greater efficiencies from teaching a few of the high availability principles to those still learning their trade (and even those who have been around for a few years :D)

The good DBAs run their own systems efficiently, the exceptional ones help the TEAM to perform better.

Ian Butler