One of the few SQL books I consider a must-have. It's not for beginners, but it's absolutely essential to get the most of it.
Example: I was looking at shredding XML data. Hey, look, there's info on that. I want to look at a concise article on SQL Audit. Done. Service Broker? Sure, from two different perspectives.
While, yes, there are some duff chapters, the level of detail and attention and out-and-out "holy crap you can do that?" moments more than make up for it. I probably reference it every 2 weeks. Which, given the breadth of info on the 'net, should say quite a bit.
The book is good in most areas, but there are some subjects that I question as a long time data architect/DBA/Modeler. The authors are well known, but some may find it a somewhat disjointed due to each chapter being written by different authors - it is a compedium of knowledge though, and I have referenced it while doing SQL Server things.
My latest SQL read was SQL Server MVP Deep Dives. It's a compilation - 59 chapters - on various SQL Server topics, written by Microsoft MVPs. What's so cool about this book, as opposed to most, is that it plays to an author's strengths and passions. It doesn't cover one topic; it covers every aspect of SQL Server.
Part 1 - Database Design and Architecture
I found this section relevant when I opened this book because I was starting two database design projects. Louis Davidson and Paul Nielsen's database design ideas are useful for everyone to review from time to time.
Part 2 - Database Development
The "Error Handling in SQL Server applications" chapter by Bill Graziano was immediately useful and impactful. Using "Try...Catch" and RAISERROR are often overlooked, but shouldn't be, when writing T-SQL.
"Introduction to XQuery" by Michael Coles also caught my attention, as learning it is one of my goals for 2012.
"Full-text searching" by Robert C. Cain is an awesome chapter. It covers how to set up, use, and maintain full-text catalogs and indexes. I've read about it before, but this had some of the best real-world examples. I had been looking at implementing it in a project at that time, so it was great timing.
Reading "Why every SQL developer needs a tools database" by LessThanDot's very own Denis Gobo was cool. (You guys! I get to blog with authors and MVPs and really smart, amazing people!) Denis makes a great case for a separate database to hold shared functions. He also emphasizes the need for a numbers table, which I've recently re-acquainted myself with. Trust us, you want one.
I learned something brand new! (At 5:55 am, no less!) "Deprecation feature" by Cristian Lefter showed how to track the use of deprecated features through perfmon, a trace, or (my favorite) extended events. How did I NOT know about this? What a great audit tool. Now, how to effectively implement this...
I like the fact that non-SQL MVPs are also contributing. Even a (gasp) Access MVP.
Part 3: Database Administration
"My favorite DMVs, and why" by Aaron Bertrand is one of my favorite chapters. DMVs are great. What I learned is that Aaron made his own sp_who! I wish I was still in a large corporate environment to test that. He also shows an uptime function that he created in his utility database, which he uses in almost all DMV queries. Good idea!
Ron Talmage wrote "Some practical issues in table partitioning". It covered the basics - usually writing about this topic is overwhelming. I know I don't fully understand partitioning yet. One thing I know: I think LEFT is easier to understand.
Scott Stauffer wrote "Successfully implementing Kerberos delegation". In February, I had the pleasure of meeting Scott in Redmond, WA. I remember many Kerberos issues from my previous job. I never had a solid understanding of all the pieces until now. He provides a great great list of resources. I would love to see more people understand Active Directory and related services. (As Argenis Fernandez once tweeted, you can't be really good at SQL Server until you get AD.)
Part 4 - Performance Tuning and Optimization
There are a few chapters on indexes here, because they are that important.
"How to optimize tempdb performance" by Brad McGehee includes many useful tips. Some are very basic, like splitting it into multiple files and having the files located on a different disk than data files. He also talks about pre-allocating space and how TDE affects tempdb.
Kevin Kline's chapter, "Correlating SQL Profiler with Windows Performance Monitor", blew me away. I always knew you could do it, but didn't realize how easy it was. I wish I'd known this a year ago.
"How to use Dynamic Management Views" by Glenn Berry is immediately useful, just like the ebook "SQL Server DVM Starter Pack" he wrote with Louis Davidson and Tim Ford. This chapter includes lots of queries you can run, work with, and edit further. DMVs continue to be one of the features I use most in SQL Server.
Cristian Lefter talks about Xevents in "XEVENT: the next event infrastructure for SQL Server". I agree, these are the future of monitoring. It's a good overview that summarizes key points. There are also a couple of easy-to-follow examples.
Part 5: Business Intelligence
Erin Welker's "BI for the relational guy" gives a good overview of how OLTP differs from OLAP. She discusses what Microsoft products are BI-related. There's also a list of further reading material. (More books to put on my list...)
William Vaughn's writing style for "U nlocking the secrets of SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services" had me giggling from start to finish. He gives a thorough overview of the many often -overlapping parts of SSRS. He also makes note of things like IIS no longer being required.
"Expressions in SQL Server Integration Services" by Matthew Roche was an interesting read for me. I'm familiar with expressions in SSRS and thought this might be similar. Not really. Expressions are powerful, because they allow you to offer more than one option for some properties.
The book closes with an excellent chapter by Andy Leonard, "Incremental Loads using T-SQL and SSIS". The first sentence had me giggling. The comparison between the two options is thorough and interesting.
This section made me realize how little I know about SSIS, SSAS, and data mining.
59 Chapters Later...
I would recommend this book to anyone who works with SQL Server in any capacity. It touches on so many topics that anyone can find something of interest. Everyone is guaranteed to learn something. It's easy enough to read one chapter in the morning, or at lunch, or before bed. Thank you to all of the authors who worked on it!
After seeing what I thought was the author list and given the title "Deep Dives", I was really excited about the book. I figured a list of MVPs diving into difficult subjects would be really interesting.
Unfortunately, the book is an overview without any deep dives at all. The chapters provide less detail than the average BOL page. For example there is a full chapter on how to join tables, another chapter informs us that indexes can help with queries and even introductions to XML, Reporting Services, Profiler, etc.
Basically the book is a collection of 59 chapters of "Hello World" to various featuers and is what you would expect from a Microsoft Marketing Presentation on the wonders of SQL Server.
You will see the big name authors advertised, but they did not write any of the chapters. They are "editors" of others work.
If you are interested in in-depth knowledge of SQL Server, I doubt you will get any value from this book, unless you are a SQL Server Newbie.
I didn't buy this book the day it came out because despite the fact that all 53 of the contributors are SQL Server MVPs (indeed some of the the world's leading experts and practitioners), I wondered if the fact that there were so many authors, it might mean the chapters would be just 'sound bites' with only a moderate amount of interesting content.
I could not have been more wrong! In fact, it is the complete opposite. Over the last 4 weeks, I've learnt something significant and useful each time I've picked this book up, either directly about SQL Server or one of the associated technologies. I challenge you to pick this book up, open it at random and read a couple of pages, and not learn something useful.
The blurb states "This is no ordinary SQL Server book" and it's not. There are insights and practical know-how that are the result of years of real-world experience working with SQL Server.
The book is divided into 5 sections, broadly divided into the 5 job roles based around SQL Server:
1. Database Design and Architecture
2. Database Development
3. Database Administration
4. Performance Tuning and Optimisation
5. BI Development
The 59 chapters cover material for newcomers and pros, developers and DBAs alike, including some of the new features of SQL Server 2008.
Purchasing the hard copy book, also gets you bonus access to a free pdf version of the book. [The authors of this book have donated 100% of their royalties to support War Child International]
An excellent book, and I'm glad I bought it. Highly recommended.
Product Details :
Paperback: 848 pages
Publisher: Manning Publications; 1 edition (December 20, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1935182048
ISBN-13: 978-1935182047
Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 1.6 x 9.2 inches
More Details about SQL Server MVP Deep Dives 1st edition
or
Download SQL Server MVP Deep Dives 1st edition PDF Ebook
No comments:
Post a Comment