Customer Reviews

A Guide to SQL Server 2000 Transactional and Snapshot Replication

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great book, jam-packed with information that's either tough to find, or doesn't exist, in Microsoft's documentation. I liked that the author delved through the basics, and then showed the pros and cons of each approach (SPs, DMO, ActiveX). He also documented Microsoft's replication system procedures much better than they ever could, and explained some of the caveats that they conveniently leave out.

Probably not a book you would read straight through in a single evening, but if you are involved with replication, this is the one book I think you need to have by your side.

A book dedicated to all aspects of SQL Server replication is long overdue. I was excited to learn that one finally existed and asked several Microsoft Support Engineers who work with replication daily if they knew about it.

I received one particularly enthusiastic response and almost immediately afterward ordered Cotter's book. I have not been disappointed.

Many DBA reference books are designed to let you read just a few relevant paragraphs. That's possible here too, but you will also want to read entire chapters for the most solid foundation on replication.

I eagerly await the next book on merge replication.

This book is the only choice for a reference on replication -- and not just because it's literally the only book available, but also because Cotter has jammed it full of information. This book covers every aspect of transactional and snapshot replication, from basics all the way through to deep internals. Cotter leaves few, if any, issues uncovered.

For replication beginners -- like me -- this book is certainly not an easy read. Replication has a steep learning curve, with lots of new terminology to learn. And it's a huge topic -- this book can only be fairly described as a tome. However, Cotter's casual writing style helps the reader get comfortable with replication quickly and easily.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to successfully work with replication.

I have been waiting for a SQL Server replication book for the last few years and was excited to get hold of one of the first copies. Replication has been crying out for a comprehensive manual and finally we now have one. Firstly, it's a big tome - almost 1000 pages. If you've used replication before this'll be no surprise, as it is a deceptively 'wide' subject that really requires this size of book to do it justice. There are plenty of screenshots throughout the book to help guide newcomers and the first 5 chapters should take a complete beginner and make him more than proficient in planning and implementing snapshot and transactional replication. Some of this info is also in the microsoft help guide (Books On Line, BOL) but much is not - especially replication to other database systems, and many generally useful little tips. Later chapters concentrate on programming, replication internals and troubleshooting - valuable topics which IMHO need to be understood if you want to successfully support replication, and again topics which neither BOL nor on the net are really adequately covered. So, if you're thinking of getting involved with replication or even if you've been using it for some time - either way I'd definitely recommend getting this book.

I'm new to SQL Server replication and this book is exactly what I needed. Mr. Cotter's book provides insights, tips and experiences that have put me far ahead of the learning curve. He distills his diverse knowledge on the subject into a form that is very helpful for the novice, like myself, and I suspect it is also helpful for the person that is moderately experienced with replication and the replication pro. Don't be intimidated by the size of the book. It's loaded with good information that isn't easily found by floating around the Internet. The personal touches in this book are nice too. I highly recommend this book.

Having dealt with DB2 and Oracle databases for years I wasn't too worried when I suddenly "inherited" 40 SQL Servers. However I was not prepared for intricacies of bi-directional replication running over a cross country network! I wish I had this book back then to lessen the learning curve. This book is all that one needs to take on transactional and snapshot replication. Everything is in one place and organized in a logical manner.

For anyone getting involved in MSSQL replication, this is the book that you need. Trust me on this.

The first and only a fully comprehensive book on Transactional replication, filling a gap that has existed for over five years. I found it easy to read, and I like that it covers both the surface phenomena like wizards, and internals such as tables and stored procedures. By taking time with both, the book adds a nice perspective to a very complex topic. It also avoids the scattershot approach of online help.
Just a couple of days after getting the book, I jumped ahead to the internals of the distribution database and based on Hilary's info, write a query to monitor the progress of transactions. Very nice!

If you are the person assigned who was assigned the task of replication (either by your boss or by yourself), then before you do anything else, get Hilary's book.

He starts off by taking you through the various pro's and con's of not only the various methods of replication, but also alternatives like log shipping, using backup/restore, and triggered solutions. This is very valuable information and can help you save many hours by starting off in the right way.

It is also clear that the author has made every effort to make your life as easy as possible, by adding as much relevant information as necessary to prevent you from needing to flip backwards and forwards to related sections in the book. I find it much easier to skip over redundant information than to look up 5 different references in other sections of the book. Thanks Hilary!

Lastly, I have found Hilary's personal touch in this book very inspiring. There are pictures of his family at the start of each chapter, and his acknowledgements and dedication comes straight from the heart. In fact, that is the most unusual quality in a technical book, and it is what I have enjoyed reading the most!

Hilary has at last provided those of us using Replication in SQL Server with a book explaining how to go about it properly. He has a no-nonsense approach to writing and is obviously enthusiastic about what he does. The book is beefy but don't let that put you off, the information within is well worth the read.
Excellent.

It's true that this book fills an important gap in the SQL Server world-- there is no other book, to my knowledge, with thorough coverage of replication. And the information in the book is thorough, well-written, and useful.

However, the book really could have benefited from some serious editing, and from better design. The book is unreasonably large-- I actually cut my copy into four pieces because I found the book unusable at full size-- and the tragedy is that the size of the book is unnecessary. The book is printed in a huge font with wide margins and wide line-spacing; fixing these simple design issues would make the book 30% smaller; cutting a small fraction of the unnecessary screenshots could save many pages; and a decent editor could have worked on Cotter's prose to make it a lot more compact and effective.

This book is absolutely the best out there for its topic. If you're working with SQL Server Replication, you need this book. It's too bad that poor production and editing mar the final product.