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DBA services

DBA services in South Africa:
managed, remote and 24/7 database support

RadixTrie provides database administration services to South African organisations from Johannesburg and Stellenbosch: managed DBA services, DBA outsourcing and co-sourcing, 24/7 production support, health checks, performance tuning and migrations for SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL and MySQL/MariaDB. You deal with the senior DBA who does the work.
Founded 2019Randpark Ridge and Stellenbosch24/7 production supportSenior DBAs, no service deskVendor neutral, no licence resale
Updated 16 October 2026
Where we come in

What our DBA services cover.

Database administration is the work that keeps a production database available, fast, recoverable and secure: monitoring, backups and restore testing, patching, performance tuning, capacity planning, security and access control, high availability and disaster recovery, and upgrades. In-house, that is the job of a DBA. From RadixTrie, the same work is delivered by senior engineers under a written scope and agreed response commitments, across SQL Server, Oracle and PostgreSQL, with MySQL and MariaDB taken on request. The focus is simple: prevent issues where possible, resolve them quickly when they occur, and keep your systems operating as expected.
  • Managed DBA services: monitoring, maintenance, patching and on-call support under one fixed monthly fee, from the engineer who knows your estate.
  • DBA outsourcing and co-sourcing: the whole database tier, or senior cover alongside your own DBA or developers, with the split written into the scope.
  • 24/7 production support with agreed response commitments, reported against.
  • Database health checks that end in a prioritised list of what to fix first.
  • Database performance tuning: execution plans, blocking, waits, indexing and configuration reviewed against the real workload.
  • Upgrades, migrations and cloud moves, assessed, tested and rehearsed before cutover.
  • High availability and disaster recovery: failover tested, not just configured.
  • Remote DBA services for teams across South Africa and in other time zones.
  • Database consulting services when you need the decision before the work.

bullet-IconReliability and uptime

We monitor, maintain, and support your databases to reduce the likelihood of failure and ensure continuity when issues arise.

bullet-IconPerformance optimisation

We identify and resolve performance bottlenecks, improving responsiveness and stability across your systems.

bullet-IconProactive maintenance

We manage patching, upgrades, and preventative work to reduce future risk and avoid avoidable incidents.

bullet-IconExpert support

You work directly with experienced database engineers who can diagnose and resolve issues without delay.

Managed DBA

Managed DBA services: what you hand over and what you keep.

A managed DBA service puts the database tier under the ownership of a senior engineer for one fixed monthly fee. The databases stay where they are, on your servers or in your cloud subscription; what changes is who watches them, maintains them and answers when they fail. If something goes wrong, you call the engineer who knows your estate. There is no service desk and no escalation loop between you and the fix.
What you hand over
  • Monitoring and alert response, around the clock
  • Backups verified by restoring them, with the recovery time measured
  • Patching on an agreed cadence, tested before production
  • Index, statistics and configuration maintenance
  • Capacity and growth tracking against real usage
  • Incident response and root-cause work by the engineer who knows the estate
  • Reporting against the response commitments and the preventative work done
What you keep
  • Your data, your application logic and your business decisions
  • The recovery objectives: how long you could be down, how much data you could afford to lose
  • Approval of changes and change windows
  • The schema design and the release process
  • Accountability for compliance with laws such as POPIA, with accurate information from us to act on
Engagement models

DBA outsourcing and co-sourcing models.

MODEL 01

Full outsourcing (managed DBA)

We take ownership of the database tier end to end: monitoring, maintenance, patching, backups, tuning and on-call, under one fixed monthly fee with a written scope. Suits estates without a senior DBA, or where one person is a single point of failure.

MODEL 02

Co-sourcing (senior cover alongside your team)

Your DBA or your developers keep the day to day; we provide senior cover, patching windows, specific projects and the work that never gets done. The split is agreed upfront and written into the scope.

MODEL 03

Project engagements

A health check, an upgrade, a migration or a high availability design, scoped and quoted as a fixed piece of work, with the option of ongoing cover afterwards.

Commercial model

Predictable, fixed monthly pricing.

Fixed monthly model

One predictable fee covers ongoing support and all the work required to maintain and improve your environment. No surprises.
Fixed monthly model

No unexpected costs

Because the scope is agreed upfront, you are never billed for issues that arise or maintenance work that is simply part of the job.
No unexpected costs

Better long-term planning

Consistent costs make it easier to plan and budget. You know exactly what you are getting and what it will cost, month after month.
Better long-term planning
Platforms

SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL and MySQL/MariaDB.

We add value by improving reliability, reducing risk, and giving your business direct access to senior database expertise, with one team across the platforms so you are not coordinating vendors during an incident. If you are still weighing platforms, or want an independent view before committing to one, start with our database consulting services.
Database technology
Database technology
Database technology
Database technology
Database technology

Microsoft SQL Server support

Senior SQL Server engineers keep instances stable and supported. Preventative maintenance is actually done: backups verified by restoring them, integrity checks, index and statistics maintenance, and a patch cadence that is agreed and kept. We also plan and run upgrades and migrations, including estates still running versions that have left Microsoft's extended support.
  • 24/7 support and managed DBA services
  • Performance tuning: execution plans, blocking and wait statistics
  • Availability groups, failover clustering and log shipping, tested
  • Health checks, upgrades and migrations
SQL Server support servicesRead: what good SQL Server support looks like

Oracle Database support

Oracle rewards discipline and punishes drift. We keep licensed estates healthy and compliant: an agreed schedule for Critical Patch Updates, RMAN backups proven by restore tests with a measured recovery time, Data Guard switchovers exercised deliberately rather than attempted first under pressure, and continuous review of wait events and top SQL. We document the edition and design per database, because Standard Edition needs a different playbook to Enterprise Edition.
  • 24/7 support and managed DBA services
  • RMAN backup, recovery and restore testing
  • Data Guard, high availability and disaster recovery
  • Capacity, housekeeping and licence-aware operations
Oracle database support servicesRead: Oracle support done properly

PostgreSQL support

PostgreSQL is free to download and expensive to neglect. We run production Postgres without the guesswork: autovacuum tuned per table where the workload demands it and bloat measured rather than guessed, base backups plus write-ahead log archiving for point-in-time recovery, streaming replication with tested failover, and major-version upgrades planned before community support runs out. The same judgement applies on managed cloud services, where server administration is handled but database decisions remain yours.
  • 24/7 support and managed DBA services
  • Vacuum, bloat and storage growth under control
  • Point-in-time recovery, drilled and measured
  • Query plans, indexing strategy and configuration tuning
PostgreSQL support servicesRead: Postgres in production without the guesswork

MySQL and MariaDB support

MySQL and MariaDB are not the platforms we lead with, but we take the work when it comes to us and resource it deliberately rather than stretching an engineer across a platform they only half know. Most estates are mixed, and the MySQL instance that never made it onto the diagram is still a risk: a health check covers what is actually running, and where a small workload should consolidate onto a platform you already run, we plan and execute that migration.
  • Support on request, resourced deliberately
  • Versions, backups and restores checked first
  • Included in health checks of mixed estates
  • Consolidation migrations planned and run
Read: where small MySQL and MariaDB databases cause big outages
Remote and international

Remote DBA services.

Most DBA work is done through a network connection, which is why our remote DBA services cover organisations in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban as well as teams in the US, UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Access runs through your own VPN, bastion host or jump server with named accounts and multi-factor authentication, and your data stays in your environment.
The service model is the same as on this page: a named senior DBA, 24/7 production cover and one fixed monthly fee, quoted in rand for South African clients and in USD, GBP or EUR elsewhere. For the South African view of how senior cover works across sites and time zones, read remote DBA services in South Africa.
Also covered

Database performance tuning, health checks and migrations.

Performance tuning and health checks

Query, index and configuration tuning to remove bottlenecks and stabilise performance, plus independent health checks covering configuration, capacity, security and resilience. A health check produces a clear picture of where an estate stands and a prioritised list of what to fix first.
  • Execution plans, blocking and wait analysis
  • Indexing strategy and configuration review
  • Capacity and growth assessment
  • Prioritised findings you can act on
What a database health check covers

Migrations and upgrades

Version upgrades, platform migrations and cloud moves with minimal downtime. The technical work is well understood; the risk sits in the preparation. Compatibility assessment, a test environment on the target, query performance compared before and after, and a rehearsed cutover that leaves the original instance intact until the new one has proven itself.
  • Compatibility assessment before anything moves
  • Test environment with production-like data
  • Query performance compared across versions
  • Rehearsed cutover with a real rollback path
Moving SQL Server to Azure: the options compared

Direct access,
no handovers.

Most support models rely on layered structures. Issues move through service desks and escalation paths before reaching the right level of expertise.

"We remove that friction."

Our approach is built around direct access and shared expertise. You engage with experienced engineers who understand your environment, supported by a broader team to ensure continuity and depth when needed.
There are no unnecessary handovers, and no delays caused by process-heavy workflows.
South Africa

Where we work.

Our engineers work from Randpark Ridge in Johannesburg and from LaunchLab at Stellenbosch University. Clients in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban are supported remotely by default, through your own secure access path, with on-site work in Gauteng where it adds value, such as planning workshops and major changes.
New enquiries: Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 17:00 SAST, and booked calls run from 09:00 to 16:30. Production support for clients: 24/7, under agreed response commitments.

Johannesburg office

Unit 5, Randridge Office Park, Ateljee Street, Randpark Ridge, Johannesburg, 2154
  • Call +27 10 143 0304
  • Email expert@radixtrie.com
  • Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 17:00 SAST

Stellenbosch office

LaunchLab, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch
  • Call +27 10 143 0304
  • Email expert@radixtrie.com
  • Monday to Friday, 08:00 to 17:00 SAST

Across South Africa

Remote by default from both offices, with the same named engineer wherever the estate sits.
  • Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban
  • On site in Gauteng where it adds value
  • 24/7 production support for clients
Proof

Work we can show.

RadixTrie has run database estates for South African organisations since 2019, with senior engineers organised by platform: the SQL Server, Oracle and open-source teams are listed by name on our About page, and RadixTrie is listed on the postgresql.org professional services directory. Client names stay confidential unless a client has agreed otherwise, so the case studies are anonymised; each describes a real engagement and the reasoning behind the decisions.
Common questions

DBA services in South Africa: common questions.

  • What are DBA services?

    DBA services are the work that keeps a production database available, fast, recoverable and secure: monitoring, backups and restore testing, patching, performance tuning, capacity planning, security and access control, high availability and disaster recovery, and upgrades. In-house, that is a database administrator's job. As a service, the same work is delivered by RadixTrie's senior engineers under a written scope and agreed response commitments.

  • Managed DBA versus DBA outsourcing: what is the difference?

    Outsourced DBA support describes where the people sit; a managed DBA service describes what you are buying. The distinction that matters is proactive versus reactive: outsourced support that only responds to tickets is break-fix with a different invoice, while a managed service does the preventative work on a schedule and reports on it whether or not anything went wrong that month. Our managed DBA service is delivered by senior engineers in South Africa, so it is both.

  • Do you provide DBA services outside Johannesburg?

    Yes. We work from Randpark Ridge in Johannesburg and from Stellenbosch, and most database work is done remotely through your own secure access path, so organisations in Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban and the rest of South Africa get the same named engineer and the same 24/7 cover. On-site work in Gauteng is arranged where it adds value.

  • How is a managed DBA service priced in South Africa?

    As a fixed monthly fee, scoped after a health check by the number of instances, the platforms and the response commitment you need, with project work such as migrations quoted separately. The scope is written down upfront, so you are not billed for incidents or for maintenance that is simply part of the job. Ask for the scope in writing and check what is excluded before you compare quotes.

  • Can you work alongside our existing DBA?

    Yes. Some clients hand the estate over entirely; others keep an in-house DBA or a development team in charge and use us for senior cover, patching windows, specific projects or the work that never gets done. The split is agreed upfront and written into the scope.

  • Which database platforms do you support?

    Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle and PostgreSQL, on premises, on virtual machines and on managed cloud services such as Azure and AWS RDS, with one team across all three so you are not coordinating vendors during an incident. MySQL and MariaDB work is taken on request and resourced deliberately.

Talk to us

Talk to a senior DBA.

Tell us what you run (platforms, versions, roughly how many instances), what support you have today and what worries you. A senior DBA replies directly, and the first conversation is about understanding your estate, not selling to it.
Prefer email or phone? Write to expert@radixtrie.com or call +27 10 143 0304.
Unit 5, Randridge Office Park, Ateljee Street, Randpark Ridge, Johannesburg, 2154
LaunchLab, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch
Outside South African hours, or if you would rather pick a time: book a 30-minute call with Michele or Joseph and they will come prepared.

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Further reading

More on database support.

Worth a conversation.

If your current support model feels slow, reactive, or overly complex, we can walk through your environment and show how we would approach it.