Customer Reviews

Inside Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 (Mps)

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I don't get it. Every book I pick up on SQL 7 is filled with words, lotsa pages (and this one is even quite useful), and yet something is missing. What's missing is what I can never get enough of: practical examples. Hey, if I knew SQL really well, maybe I wouldn't mind, but I'm often having trouble with things like fancy JOINs, how to send back error strings, and which @@global variables can't be passed as output parameters in stored procedures. There's a lot I don't know real gud. But I gotta get the coding done.

So I keep looking for one of these goldmines that doesn't try to explain what a database is, but gives me lots of examples, and a great index, so I can stumble into instances of things done right and wrong, and try to find some help with my many specific problems.

This is a wonderful book to read if you have the time, it does give you a better insight into SQL7, it's well written. But if you're like me, we're still looking for that book that we can keep on our desks, next to the aspirin.

Inside Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 is simply the best SQL Server, and possible the best database book I've ever read. If you are a SQL Server developer, this is the only book you will need. It provides a clear, comprehensive, and thorough discussion of all fundamental concepts a developer must know. Other books I've read fail to cover or lack depth on so many topics, such as database locks, query and performance optimization, and SQL Server functions and syntax constructs. This book however was not only extremely informative, but was well organized and easy to understand. I enjoyed every page.

Inside SQL Server provides a lot of architectural detail (much of which is also in the on-line documentation) and serves well to describe the product feature set to anyone considering purchasing SQL Server. There are also some technical insights, including material on performance, that might help a developer. But the book falls short of helping you get anything *done* with SQL Server.

From the administration side, the material on installation and performance is good, but advice on security is almost nonexistent and backup and recovery advice is minimal.

For developers, there's almost no VB or C++ code, and not all of the SQL code is stellar. For example, on page 331, a convoluted IF statement using four separate SELECT statements is used to handle possible null parameters when the following simple statement would be a better solution in most actual situations:

SELECT * FROM employee WHERE isnull(employee.dept,'')=isnull(@dept,'') AND isnull(employee.class,'')=isnull(@class,'')

The example was accompanied by a discussion that could lead developers to use nonstandard T-SQL extensions that reduce portability (and which aren't really necessary). The book has a few other SQL Server-centric biases, which isn't such a terrible thing, as long as you don't get led astray by them.

Of the SQL Server 7 books I've read so far, I think SQL Server 7.0 DBA Survival Guide is probably the best book for DBAs. And to actually write code, I'd highly recommend SQL Server 7 Developer's Guide. For a "quick intro" to SQL Server 7, I think SQL Server 7 for Dummies is a good choice. I was impressed with how much information I found in Dummies, even though it's a small book by comparison (just 360 pages).

I was disappointed after I bought and read this book. Too many people gave it a five star. I will give this one 3.5 but this is not a choice in the drop-down box. SQL Server system tables and system stored procedures are very important. This books doesn't give me much information. Microsoft might not want DBAs and developers to really know the inside of SQL Server 7.0. OLAP and Data Warehousing are also two very important areas. I can't find these topics in the content. MSDN library is a much better resource for writing sql statements or queries. You will know the syntax and more examples. Overall, this is still a good book.

I can't imagine that it would be possible not to get your money's worth from this book if you use SQL Server.

The main strength of the book is the insight it gives you into the internals of the engine. This, in turn, makes it a lot easier to do things efficiently, and squeeze more performance out of your engine. This version revises an earlier edition of the book that was written by a core member of the SQL server team at Microsoft -- the discussion of the internals is straight from the horse's mouth, and there's a lot of good stuff in the book that you won't get anywhere else.

The second reason to buy this book is that it does a good job of explaining the ideosyncracies of SQL Server, the things that separate it from engines from other vendors. This is particularly useful information to have before you install your engine for the first time -- it's easy to inadvertently make choices that have consequences you don't understand.

Some of the complaints here about the book are easy to understand, but still strike me as not entirely well founded. Learning how to run a complicated database engine is hard, and it's not realistic to expect to pick it up from one book, or even from a single reading each of several books. I have found that returning to the book time and again as I become more seasoned at my job is helpful -- things that went right by me on the first reading make sense when I can put them into the context of real world problems I've encountered.

This book isn't a good place to learn SQL, either at a beginning or an advanced level. I would recommend Joe Celko's books for people who are looking for instruction. It is also not a good reference for SQL Server -- the "Books Online" help system that comes with the engine is a great reference source. Finally, it's not a great nuts and bolts DBA howto book -- the "Microsoft SQL Server 7 DBA Survival Guide" is a better choice for people who want to learn how to set up backups and replication.

But this book is the best window under the hood of the engine, and you'll learn a lot that will help you run your engine as efficiently as possible. Again, I can't imagine anyone doing anything with the engine who wouldn't benefit from the book.

Finally, if you want to play with the engine, to learn about SQL, this is a great book because it comes with a 120 day evaluation copy of SQL Server 7 on CD.

This is an excellent book if you are developing for SQL Server. It starts off with administration/setup. Creating tables, views, triggers and stored procedures each have their own chapters. The only database I knew before this was ms-access. We had to port our database to MS-SQL. This book was a great help. It also gave me insights and suggestions on how to improve my database (using stored procedures) in the future. I highly recommend this book.

I've just finished reading this book. The style is excellent, no typos, no garbage and I'd be hard pressed to find any mistakes in the content. This book is an excellent choice for anyone using SQL Server 7.0. I especially liked the many examples given for a certain scenario scaling up from the poorest solution to the best. BOL gives you the "how", this book explains the "why". Thank you Kalen and Ron!

A "must have" book for anyone who wants to become a firm friend of SQL Server 7.0. This book is not for those who want to "pass" MCDBA exams, but for those who are practical DBAs and developers, alike. Only 4 stars are given because I would have like to see a Volume II of this book, covering Inside SQL Server 7.0 *Replication* and *DTS* at very least. I would have liked to see some more of the undocumented DBCC commands and Trace flags covered in this book. Excellent book overall. A definite "buy".

This is a great book for giving a novice SQL 7 user a detailed understanding of how SQL 7 really works. While not billed as an exam prep guide, this text was absolutely key to getting me past 70-29. I highly recommend it for anyone who needs to learn SQL or wants to attain their MCDBA.

This book is really good period. I have read a book on SQL admin for 70-028 exam by Sybex, but I only understood half of it since I am a newbie to DB even though Sybex's study guide is well known as a good book. I have read this MS SQL Inside book upto second chapters, and it gave me a wonderful understanding of what DBMS and how MSSQL works in DBMS world. You should get this either you are working on DBA or you already are one.