What comprises a SQL Server DBA?

I've always viewed DBA job as maintaining physical schema, adding triggers, maintaining relational integrity, and knowing the right way to do something maintenance wise. i.e. redefining a table and re-importing records for above reasons..

If you know tools like rational or similar, you can help programmers get at data, and add fields, tables, indexes to speed it up, etc.

for reporting purposes I setup access db with all the field names with table names in our ERP system. knowing what all the fields are, and if indexes efficient.. I have to do massive queries and one takes 3 days to complete. I poked around with win-sql to quickly look at indexes and found taking out two tables speeds it up. (then I don't get the data I need and have to add it in a later step :(

I guess measuring performance / tuning db would likely be part of it. knowing how to do various rollbacks, table restores, etc.

all sorts of products have free trials - sybase powerdesigner or poweramc; embarcadero..

and there are numerous dba certifications: db2, oracle, etc.

books24x7.com comes up with 20 books with dba in title, here's the first 10:

(amazon search comes up with 233 and tells you what people who searched for dba bought top 3)

Advanced DBA Certification Guide and Reference for DB2 Universal Database v8 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows

by Dwaine R. Snow and Thomas X. Phan
IBM Press ? 2004 (800 pages)
ISBN:0130463884
Whether you're a long-time DB2 UDB professional or an experienced DBA who's migrated from another database platform, this definitive guide offers coverage of every objective on Exam 704 and will serve as an authoritative reference after you've passed.

DB2 for z/OS Version 8 DBA Certification Guide

by Susan Lawson
IBM Press ? 2005 (688 pages)
ISBN:0131491202
Whether you are administering DB2 UDB V8 in z/OS environments or preparing for DB2 UDB V8 DBA certification, this definitive guide covers every facet of DB2 UDB database administration, including implementation, operation, recovery, security, and more.

PeopleSoft for the Oracle DBA

by David Kurtz
Apress ? 2005 (456 pages)
ISBN:1590594223
For any Oracle DBA charged with the maintenance of a PeopleSoft system, this manual offers a range of techniques including indexing, implementing DDL, managing tablespaces, and fixing low-performing SQL queries.

Oracle9i DBA JumpStart

by Bob Bryla
Sybex ? 2003 (347 pages)
ISBN:0782141897
Get up to speed for Oracle9i Administration Training Courses--Fast!

SQL Server 2000 for the Oracle DBA

by Christopher Kempster
Kempster ? 2003 (361 pages)

This quick reference, written from an Oracle DBA perspective is geared toward Oracle DBAs making the move to SQL Server 2000; this is the ideal book to differentiate between the two.

Portable DBA: SQL Server

by Damir Bersinic and Stephen Giles
McGraw-Hill/Osborne ? 2004 (339 pages)
ISBN:0072230169
This ultimate field guide offers fast access to administrative commands, syntax diagrams, error resolutions, best practices, security, database creation and management, monitoring performance, tuning, and much more.

Oracle9i DBA ReferencePoint Suite

SkillSoft ? 2003

Use this ReferencePoint Suite to learn how to manage, configure and optimize an Oracle 9i Database.

Oracle8i DBA: Architecture and Administration Certification Bible

by Damir Bersinic, Todd Ross and Yury Sabinin
John Wiley & Sons ? 2002 (1167 pages) Archive
ISBN:0764548174
Prepare for Oracle 8i DBA certification, Exam 1Z0-023, with this study guide.

OCP: Oracle9i DBA Fundamentals II Study Guide

by Doug Stuns and Matthew Weishan
Sybex ? 2002 (515 pages)
ISBN:0782140645
Use this comprehensive study guide to prepare for exam 1Z0-032, Oracle9i DBA Fundamentals II.

OCA/OCP: Oracle9i DBA Fundamentals I Study Guide

by Biju Thomas and Bob Bryla
Sybex ? 2002 (452 pages)
ISBN:0782140637
Let this comprehensive study guide help prepare you for the OCA/OCP Oracle9i DBA Fundamentals I Exam (1Z1-031).

bastardised description.
If you run into in large scale Oracle type environments a DBA will almost certainly only administer. Backups, restoring scripting, consistenacy checking, optimising etc. Dependant on the resource level required there may be devlopment responsibilities as well. Which would be design and or implementation. Take the sql server exams and make sure you are up on optimising, if you understand that you must understand almost everything else anyway.
SQL server tends to be smaller scale so your .net skills will probably come in very handy.
Career wise it's not a bad move. Other DBMS's will be worth boning up on, business objects, cubes, data warehousing etc will probably be a help as well.
I did four years as a SQL server Admin as well as being a developer in a one man shop. Admin is not what I wanted to do, but it makes prospective employer's eyes light up that I know a bit more than select * from table.

Oh and work on DTS, microsoft got that tool right big style.

Cets would be very important if you can show the experience, critical if you can't.

Optimisation is the key though.

Thank you both for your answers! I actually dug up my copy of "Sam's Teach Yourself SQL Server 2000 in 21 Days" yesterday. It is filled with topics such as optimization and replication. I think it covers all of the critical topics that a DBA would probably need. I read through it once a couple of years ago, but skipped over sections I didn't think I would be using, such as replication and optimization. Now I am going back over those chapters and studying hard.

Any suggestions on which certs would be the best to pick up? It seems, from what I have been able to gather so far, that certification is critical to making your resume shine in the proverbial pile.

Again, I thank you for your responses!