Precision and Quality — Since 2004
Database reliability. Cloud modernization. Data that moves with your business.
Senior database consulting for reliable operations, complex projects and a second experienced DBA when your primary resource is unavailable.
Toronto, Canada · Worldwide remote consulting
On-site visits on request
Contingency DBA services
Another full-time senior DBA may be difficult to justify. Yet vacations, unexpected absences and complex projects still call for experienced backup. CTRD provides a secondary resource who becomes familiar with your environment, supports your primary DBA and adds capacity when needed.
CONTINUITY & COVERAGE
Reduce dependency on a single person while keeping your existing team at the centre of operations.
VALUE BETWEEN COVERAGE PERIODS
Use agreed consulting time to advance work that daily operations can push aside.
PLANNED & PRACTICAL
Establish environment knowledge before coverage is needed, with clear responsibilities and a documented handover.
Availability, notice periods, coverage and response expectations are agreed in advance. Onboarding supports continuity; it does not imply automatic 24/7 or immediate emergency availability.
01 / Architecture & stack matrix
Choose a source, a destination and the type of help you need. Explore a potential engagement and the questions we would resolve together.
DISCOVERY & DELIVERY FOCUS
A discovery starting point. Architecture, tooling, support hours and commitments are agreed for each engagement.
02 / Migration blueprint
An illustrative Oracle → OCI GoldenGate → Snowflake pattern. Select each component to explore design concerns and validation checkpoints. This is a reference architecture, not a client case study.
03 / Delivery capabilities
Engine upgrades, Oracle-to-PostgreSQL assessments and cloud transitions. Dependency inventories, rehearsals, cutover validation and rollback planning.
Operational support, interim coverage, health reporting and automation. Complement your primary DBA during absences and workload peaks, with documented responsibilities and agreed availability.
Query and execution plan analysis, PL/SQL optimization, indexing and workload review. Establish a baseline, isolate bottlenecks and validate improvements.
Oracle RAC, Data Guard, RMAN and SQL Server Always On. Backup troubleshooting, restore testing, recovery runbooks and failover exercises aligned with agreed recovery objectives.
CDC pipelines, OCI GoldenGate, SQL Server replication and Snowflake integration. Data validation, lag investigation, reporting performance and documented recovery procedures.
AWS, Azure and OCI database environments, including AWS RDS. Review connectivity, access controls, resource utilization and operational costs.
SUPPORTING ADVISORY
Server, application and network dependencies are reviewed with your teams and vendors. Implementation responsibilities and wider infrastructure work are explicitly scoped.
REMOTE DELIVERY / INTERNATIONAL REACH
Toronto-based remote consulting for organizations worldwide, with particular attention to island and geographically remote regions—including Europe, the Caribbean, Atlantic and Pacific.
Engagement planning considers time zones, connectivity, local team capacity and recovery needs. On-site visits are available on request by mutual agreement.
Discuss your requirements ↗04 / Technical field notes
Transparent diagnostic approaches and a small read-only inventory query. These are general references, not published client post-mortems or measured benchmarks.
REPLICATION / INVESTIGATION CHECKLIST
Separate source capture, transport and target apply. Track the backlog over time, then correlate it with workload changes and resource pressure.
Metrics to collect: capture lag, apply lag, backlog growth and target throughput. No benchmark is assumed.
SQL SERVER / READ-ONLY INVENTORY
A basic version and edition check. Run on the intended instance using your normal approved connection.
/* Purpose: SQL Server version inventory.
Version: 1.0 | 2026-10-15
Author: Andrew Shubas */
SELECT
SERVERPROPERTY('ProductVersion') AS ProductVersion,
SERVERPROPERTY('ProductLevel') AS ProductLevel,
SERVERPROPERTY('Edition') AS Edition;
/* END OF SCRIPT */05 / Engagement models
Choose contingency DBA coverage, focused advisory work, a defined delivery project or ongoing operational support. Fees, availability and service commitments are confirmed before work begins.
MONTHLY RETAINER
For teams that need ongoing database oversight and an experienced operational partner.
DEFINED PROJECT SCOPE
For upgrades, cloud moves and architecture decisions that need disciplined planning and delivery.
HOURLY / ON DEMAND
For focused troubleshooting, workload reviews and urgent issues requiring senior technical analysis.
24/7 coverage, response-time SLAs, fixed fees and recovery commitments are offered only where explicitly agreed in the engagement.
06 / The expertise behind CTRD
Established in 2004, CTRD Inc. provides database, cloud infrastructure and data engineering consulting grounded in hands-on enterprise experience.
Andrew Shubas brings decades of database administration and reliability experience across financial services, retail, healthcare, broadcasting and telecommunications. His work spans production operations, complex migrations, performance analysis, high availability and recovery planning.
Work directly with a senior consultant who connects technical decisions to business priorities—and leaves your team with clear documentation and a maintainable solution.
Start a technical conversation
Your platform. Your constraints. Your timeline.
Let’s define the next practical step.
Toronto-based · Worldwide remote consulting
On-site visits available on request.