Summary
Databases are pretty much the most important thing that we will need to work with as system administrators. Whether we run the database ourselves, or only administer the operating system on which they run, they will require more of our attention and will cause us more stress than pretty much anything else that we will do. Our skills and expertise will matter most when working with databases and it is here that the greatest range of our skills will likely be tested.
Wherever we have databases running or in use we need to evaluate how the data is stored on disk, how we can ensure consistency, and how that consistent data can be moved to a backup location whether tape, online, or other. This is probably the single most important task that we will do in system administration, Linux or otherwise.
Our best practices around databases really focus on data protection. We would love to talk about how we should choose the right database type for the job that we will be performing...