Inside Microsoft SQL Server(TM) 2005: The Storage Engine (Solid Quality Learning) (Paperback)

by Kalen Delaney (Author)
Key Phrases: tempdh database, dynamic management objects, online index building, Books Online, Read Committed, Memory Dump (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Understanding the internals of storage in SQL Server helps database developers and administrators to better create, maintain, and mine information from enterprise data. This practical, hands-on book focuses on the SQL Server 2005 Storage Engine and delves deep into the structures used for storing data, including files, tables, indexes, and data types. Topics also include security details, with coverage of the new SQL Server 2005 security model, and data protection through the backup and restore algorithms. With pragmatic advice, best practices, extensive code samples, and table examples, developers and database administrators will find the guidance they need to better understand how to build powerful, efficient databases.

From the Author
Key Book Benefits:

- Delivers practical, hands-on guidance for understanding and making the most of the architecture of SQL Server storage, including logging and recovery, indexes, tables, transactions and locking, and security - Provides deep background information that helps developers better understand how to build more responsive databases that have fewer vulnerabilities - Features numerous code samples, table examples, practical advice, and best practices

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press (November 8, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735621055
• ISBN-13: 978-0735621053
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #174,189 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Information Source, April 18, 2007

By	Grant Fritchey (MA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Most SQL Server DBA's I know who have been working on SQL Server 7 or 2000 for any length of time usually have a copy of Kalen Delaney's "Inside SQL Server" sitting on their desk. For SQL Server 2005, that book has been split into four different books and it looks like all them are going to be must-have's occupying large swaths of book-shelf space across the planet. Because, the fact of the matter is, if you want to know the internals of the new database engine, this is your source.

Comparisons between this new book and the previous books in the series seem inevitable. From that type of comparison, I think that this book comes off very well. Removing the TSQL processing and other aspects of development from the book allows Delaney to drill down into every aspect of how the server works. She takes a very structured approach, showing how to install SQL Server before moving on to the Server Architecture and Configuration chapters. She covers database and database files, logging and recovery, tables, indexes, and locking, each in separate chapters, each in a great degree of detail. She takes the time between explaining how things work to suggest best practices for configuration and usage along the way. Scattered throughout are also Tip's & Notes that suggest alternatives to the topic under discussion or implications of the usage of a particular topic.

This is not a book from which you can easily learn basic SQL Server skills. So much time is spent on so much detail, invaluable detail for the experienced user, that the novice might get stuck in the mire. I personally don't find that to be an actual detraction from the book. In fact, I'd recommend that if you're just learning SQL Server 2005, you pick this book up in addition to some other, more general, tome, because from here you can learn the why's and wherefore's of what you're trying to do.

The Forward to the book says one of the most important things about this book and it bears repeating, "This is not a revision of the previous book. So much has changed and there are so many new features that Kalen had to write a brand new book." Reading through this book, that becomes clear on every single page. Nothing appears to have been regurgitated from the previous books, but each and every screen shot, description and code example is written for 2005.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Technically advanced but sometimes incomprehensible, October 2, 2007

By	Jaewoo Kim (Santa Monica, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is perhaps the best book out there for understanding SQL 2005 architecture. I know of no other book which offers such advanced understanding of how SQL 2005 stores, retrives, and manages data.

Indeed, the author is a MS SQL MVP and has written with collaboration of those who have wrote the code for MS SQL 2005 at Microsoft.

The author's explaination, however, could be a lot better. For example, here is an exerpt on the author's explaination of IAM (Index Allocation Map):

"An IAM page contains a page header; an IAM page header, which contains eight page pointer slots; and a set of bits that map a range of extents on a file, which doesn't neccessarily have to be the same file that IAM page is in. The header has address of first extent in the range mapped by the IAM. The eight page pointer slots might contain pointers to pages belonging to the relevant object contained in mixed extents; only the first IAM for an object has values in these pointers."

Now, I have worked with databases for over a decade and have good understanding of Indexes and its structure, and I still did not understand what the author was talking about on some sentences.

Pros:
1)Explains data and index storage structures (Page, extents, B-Tree, Keys etc) and how they are managed in transactions (update, delete, insert) better than any book I know.
2)Relatively short book (400 pages) which does not waste words or sentences to make it a thicker book (common practice to write a thicker book for a higher price).

Cons:
1)Tries to combine MS SQL 101 topics (What is Master, MSDB, TEMP, and MODEL db?) with expert subject matter (What is IAM, Cluster Keys, RID, etc).
2)Writing is sometimes indecipherable.
3)Mostly not for the beginners (despite its rudimentrary coverage of the basics).

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Depth and Clarity, February 22, 2007

By	Paul Nielsen (Colorado Springs, CO United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm stingy with reviews, but once again, Kalen's book is a winner and this is one of the few great books on SQL Server. Her writing style is clear and she gets right to the details. Every book serves a specific need. If you need to understand the SQL Server engine, then this is the best book for that purpose. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Thanks, Kalen!