SQL Server 2000: The Complete Reference [Paperback]

Jeremy Shapiro (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 8, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0072125888 | ISBN-13: 978-0072125887 | Edition: 1

Master the revolutionary new release of Microsoft's high-performance, scalable database management system. This complete reference explains installation, configuration, administration, replication, security, backup, and recovery. You'll also learn to exploit all the advanced features of SQL Server 2000, including the Enterprise Manager, TSQL, data warehousing, and OLAP services.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The ultimate resource on Microsoft's reliable database and analysis system

Build and manage highly available distributed database applications using SQL Server 2000 and the comprehensive information in this volume. You'll get full details on SQL Server 2000 system and platform architecture, administration, application development, and enterprise services. Learn to program SQL Server with Transact-SQL, handle multi-dimensional data processing with the Analysis Services, use Data Transformation Services, implement data mining and data warehousing techniques, back up and restore databases, and manage security, performance, and more. Complete with real-world examples, SQL Server 2000: The Complete Reference is an invaluable tool for DBAs, operators, developers, and network administrators of all skill levels.

• Install, configure, and administer SQL Server 2000
• Build and deploy Web-enabled, scalable, e-commerce database solutions with XML support
• Use permissions, logins, user accounts, and roles to secure databases and servers
• Write and deploy T-SQL scripts, stored procedures, triggers, and queries
• Take full advantage of the new English Query platform Populate, maintain, and analyze data warehouses and data marts
• Plan and set up replication and distributed transactions with Data Transformation Services (DTS)
• Build and manage OLAP cubes and systems
• Manage multiple, isolated installations of SQL Server from a single machine
• Configure fail-over clustering and implement sound disaster recovery procedures

About the Author

Jeffrey Shapiro (Boca Raton, FL) has been involved in IT for more than 12 years and has worked with hundreds of companies around the world including Microsoft, IBM and Novell. He has been a key speaker on IT and Software Engineering at numerous conferences. Trained as a journalist, Jeffrey now spends most of his time writing on IT. He is also the editor of two new newsletters: Service Level and CRM Review.

Product Details

• Paperback: 931 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media; 1 edition (December 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072125888
• ISBN-13: 978-0072125887
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,522,715 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not Recommended!, December 21, 2003

By 

James H. Hansen (Flagstaff, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SQL Server 2000: The Complete Reference (Paperback)

I am a software developer of over 30 years. While I am new to SQL server, I have been doing DBMS developement for over 15 years.

I gave up on this book by page 55. I found the style plodding with only marginally helpful analogies. But the real problem was a series of muddled, misleading and downright inaccurate statements and references. There are too many to list them all here, but a few examples:

Muddled on p 50: "You can create additional indexes for a table, targeted at certain columns. Multiple indexes require more resources, however, so you need to be conservative and limit new indexes to columns you know are frequently searched on. In other words, no two rows can have identical values for the index key." What does the third statement have to do with the first two?

Inaccurate on page 48, figure 2-7 shows two tables, but the caption refers to three tables and using A, B and C for names/labels which do not appear in the figure: "The primary key in Table A links the row to the rows in Tables B and C, which bear the foreign keys. All three rows combine to form a unique record. If you delete one of the rows, you actually break the record and wreck the integrity of your data." The last statement is at best misleading, at worst inaccurate.

In discussing Constraints (NOT NULL) on p 52: "As discussed earlier, NULL means that the record is deemed to be unknown or missing." Actually, the value of a column for the row is unknown or missing, not the whole record.

I cannot rely on the information I learn from a book that contains such problems and cannot recommend it to friends.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not There., July 5, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: SQL Server 2000: The Complete Reference (Paperback)

Less chest-thumping and many more real world examples would have made this a better book. "SQL Server 2000 The Complete Reference" is over 900 pages and packed with lots of ink, but it lacks relevance and many times left me confused because of its hollow attitude.

Here, for example, the author goes off on a tangent, telling us about a workplace incident where he apparently sees himself standing up for what's right: "Once I was handed the keys to a critical server, and a few days after I took over the system, a number of alterations had been made to several databases."

We're not told the specifics but apparently these were not good alterations: "After that, I changed access permissions and locked down the databases."

And then there's a showdown: "I was confronted by the development team and their head honcho... Trust me I have been down this road a few times."

Sounds like every other watery post on every other Internet forum -- a vague, self-possessed, Barney Fife anecdote.

In Chapter 14 the author argues against the use of fat clients (PCs that use front end database products like Microsoft Access): "Fat clients need lots of processing power, lots of hard drive space, lots of memory, and executives who know how to waste money."

A sentence that only a teenager or a political speechwriter could write and appreciate. That, he expects us to believe, is the only reason so many PCs with Microsoft Office are in the business place -- because executives have a desire to waste money?

The book's primary failing: It provides a flyover of a lot of territory but it never lands. Yes, it explains the features of SQL Server 2000, offers plenty of screen shots, but where are the step-by-step, real-world earthy examples? How and when do we apply all these features and ideas to our business?

If the author knows, he's not telling. Or at least he's not telling enough. In the end this is yet another computer reference book where there's no there there.

Don't waste your money.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars High-altitude pass through the clouds., December 10, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: SQL Server 2000: The Complete Reference (Paperback)

I read this book cover to cover and was greatly disappointed. The author's writing style leaves much to be desired. He covers a wide variety of topics. Unfortunately perhaps too many as he only gives the most superficial treatment of each. Not a compete reference. He also uses a huge number of annoying analogies. Sometimes two on one page. There are several minor errors throughout the book and the supporting web site doesn't exist. Buy a different book.