Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Integration Services: Problem, Design, Solution [Paperback]

Erik Veerman (Author), Jessica M. Moss (Author), Brian Knight (Author), Jay Hackney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0470525762 | ISBN-13: 978-0470525760 | Edition: 1

An authoritative guide to designing effective solutions for data cleansing, ETL, and file management with SQL Server 2008 Integration Services

SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is the leading tool in the data warehouse industry, used for performing extraction, transformation, and load operations.

After an overview of SSIS architecture, the authors walk you a series of real-world problems and show various techniques for handling them.

• Shows you how to design SSIS solutions for data cleansing, ETL and file management
• Demonstrates how to integrate data from a variety of data sources,
• Shows how to monitor SSIS performance,
• Demonstrates how to avoid common pitfalls involved with SSIS deployment
• Explains how to ensure performance of the deployed solution and effectively handle unexpected system failures and outages
• The companion Web site provides sample code and database scripts that readers can directly implement

This book shows you how to design, build, deploy, and manage solutions to real-world problems that SSIS administrators and developers face day-to-day.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Build practical SSIS solutions to real-world problems

SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is the most widely adopted Business Intelligence (BI) component of SQL Server and the leading extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) tool in the data warehouse industry. Written by a team of Microsoft MVPs for SQL Server, this book presents you with an array of common problems that SSIS administrators and developers face on a daily basis, and walks you through the steps necessary to solve these challenges.

• Demonstrates how to solve common pitfalls involved with SSIS deployment

• Shares solutions for challenges you may encounter with package deployment and storage decisions

• Explores file handling and processing methods

• Reviews best practices for data extraction

• Covers the basic concepts and challenges of dimension table ETL and fact table ETL

• Solves problems that may arise with scripting design patterns and SSIS package scaling

• Discusses how to effectively scale and performance-tune SSIS packages

wrox.com

Wrox Problem – Design – Solution references give you solid, workable solutions to real-world development problems. Each chapter is devoted to a different scenario, analyzing every problem, examining relevant design issues, and implementing the ideal solution.

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About the Author

Erik Veerman is a Microsoft MVP for SQL Server and a mentor for Solid Quality Mentors. He is a coauthor of Professional SQL Server 2008/2005 Integration Services with Brian Knight.

Jessica M. Moss is a Microsoft MVP in SQL Server and a BI mentor, consultant, and trainer with Solid Quality Mentors.

Brian Knight is a Microsoft MVP For SQL Server and the cofounder of SQLServerCentral.com and JumpstartTV.com.

Jay Hackney is a mentor and consultant for Solid Quality Mentors, who works with SSIS to provide data warehousing and ETL solutions.

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Wrox; 1 edition (November 2, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470525762
• ISBN-13: 978-0470525760
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 0.9 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #416,495 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars SQL Server Integration Services: Problem - Design - Solution April 15, 2010

By Tim D. Mitchell

Format:Paperback

I usually don't do book reviews (at least publicly, anyway), but when I find a piece of work that I really get a lot out of, I don't mind sharing my experience. Such was the case with a book I finished recently. SQL Server 2008 Integration Services: Problem - Design - Solution is a concise guide to becoming a better ETL developer, written by four highly experienced industry experts. After reading this book, I can recommend it without hesitation!

From the first few pages, it's obvious that this book is different from many other SSIS books. Rather than trying to teach the reader how to use the software, this book instead focuses on common business problems and the methodology behind solving them. The authors assume some familiarity with SSIS, so you won't find a comprehensive how-to manual if you've never created a package before. That being said, the concepts presented here are not so complex that only highly seasoned ETL developers will understand them; to the contrary, the book illustrates a number of simple yet practical approaches, along with relevant examples, that audiences of various skill levels will get something out of it.

One of the most relevant topics covered was the concept of building an SSIS management framework, which was my favorite part of the book. Having recently moved from an environment with a relatively small number of packages to a consulting role where I might interact with hundreds of packages a month, I found that a solid ETL framework is a critical component of success. Chapter 2 of the Problem - Design - Solution book explains why, and illustrates how, one would build an SSIS management framework. For anyone that has struggled with a large number of packages or has wrestled with the shortcomings of the built-in SSIS logging tools, this chapter should prove useful as both a guide and a best practices reference. Further into the book, the authors cover other topics essential to data warehousing ETL, including data cleansing and fact and dimension table ETL. The authors go on to cover scripting in SSIS, one of my favorite topics, and do a good job of addressing scripting patterns in both the script task and script component. Finally, the book reviews ways to monitor and improve SSIS performance.

I consider a technical book to be successful if it contains the right mix of information so that I can immediately apply what I've learned to legitimate problems and situation. To that end, this book is a winner in my opinion; even though I have been developing ETL processes in SSIS for years, I was able to walk away with some practical techniques that I began using almost immediately. Experienced ETL developers, as well as those with only a little SSIS experience, will likely find this book very useful.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A treasury of ETL best practices in action. February 16, 2010

By Shabnam Watson

Format:Paperback

This book is a treasury for ETL developers / architects. It is very different from other ETL books in the way that it is written with a top-to-bottom approach instead of focusing on details of an ETL tool. Each chapter presents a problem that an ETL developer/architect will face during a real project. Then it provides design ideas and best practices for the problem and finally delivers a solution that can be implemented. The collection of design ideas, best practices and solutions provided is priceless. The solutions are ready for use or require minimal change and presented in enough details for someone who is familiar with SSIS. This is the book you want to have if you want to know how the SSIS experts would solve the ETL problems you are facing.

The only chapter that falls short in comparison with others in terms of the quality of the solution provided is chapter 9 on SSAS processing. The information is useful and written with the same format of other chapters but is not as comprehensive and of the same caliber. Considering that the focus of this book is on SSIS and not SSAS, this chapter is a good starting point for SSAS processing.

One highlight of this book is that many of the design patterns and frameworks presented in this book are independent of the version of SQL Server and will be useful in future versions. There are many references to other useful books when the reader needs to gain a deeper background knowledge. This is a great book to keep and come back to.

Overall this book is written well, easy to understand, and chapters flow smoothly together. Once I started reading this book, it was hard to put it down.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Advanced SSIS, Thank You! March 23, 2010

By J. Cooke

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is really good for more advanced users. If you have developed SSIS packages in the past, and want to take the next step to make your systems better, then get this book. I am a developer for a big company and I rarely see advanced "real world" examples of SSIS solutions. I love the first chapter on SSIS logging. Download the code from the website, and it will create your logging tables and procs with just minor modifications to the scripts.

I initially put off buying this book for a week because it only had one review at the time (even though it was 5 stars).
This is an excellent Book!