Customer Reviews

SQL Server 2008 Administration in Action

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I will start by saying that I truly enjoyed this book. The book is written in a casual way and is not filled with tons of code, concepts are explained well and where needed images are included to help you understand it better. I also like the fact that this is not a 1000 page monster which weighs more than my laptop; it is 464 pages and fits nicely in my bag.


This book is filled with best practices and common sense. Each chapter ends with best practice consideration. The 3 page best practices considering security section in chapter 6 is something every SQL Server developer, administrator and especially an accidental DBA should memorize.

The suggested work plan for a DBA is something I needed for a long time; it is there all in one place broken down by daily, weekly and monthly tasks. Besides best practices I found that this book also has the top 25 DBA worst practices.....I guarantee that almost everyone will have a couple of items on that list; now you have a chance to eliminate some of those.

Things that were introduced in SQL Server 2008 are marked with <em>New In 2008</em>, this enables someone with previous experience to quickly jump to those section and focus on the new stuff. Most of the material in this book also applies to previous versions of SQL Server; if you are not on version 2008 yet but will be in a year or so then this is good way to get yourself familiar with the new stuff while implementing best practices for your current environment.

SQL Server administration is not just about SQL Server; you also need to know how the windows operating system itself works, what the different types of RAID are, what kind of memory to get etc etc. reading SQL Server 2008 Administration in Action does a good job explaining all these things, there are links to resources where you can find more detail about a particular subject and there are also links to tools that might be helpful creating the optimal server for your SQL Server installation


I would recommend this book to anyone who has to manage SQL Server, it doesn't matter if the machines are already up and running or if you still have to install everything. The people who will benefit the most from this book are the accidental DBAs; these are the people who never managed a server before but because the company decided to downsize they became the DBA and it is only a matter of time before something happens.

The material in this book will make your job easier; it will make you a better administrator and why not invest in yourself by getting this book?

If you're looking for a "how to" book, this is not it. Don't get me wrong, there are some step by step instructions scattered throughout the book, but that's not the goal. The goal is "how should I?" This book is designed for DBA's young and old who are trying to get a grasp on SQL Server 2008 or improve their understanding on how to best deploy it. The book succeeds admirably at that goal.

I've been working with SQL Server since 2001 (SQL 2000) and still picked up quite a bit from this book. I also recommend it to anyone who's just getting in to SQL 2008, has maybe just taken a course and is trying to figure out when best to apply [insert feature here].

It's a must have on ever DBA's bookshelf.

At last, someone willing to write an entire book dedicated to good principles and best practices! Not since SQL 2000 High Availability and Kalen Delaney's Inside SQL Server range have I carried a book under my arm everywhere I go like a faithful Jack Russell. Not only does this book hold a strong focus on 2008 but the best practices and thought processes can also easily apply to earlier versions. The book is presented in good physical order just like a clustered index and features a handy non-clustered index at the back for locating specific topics or buzzwords quickly. An unusually engaging read (for a technical book) that had me focussed for 2 days end to end....and I feel I'm definately a better database practitioner after reading this book.

The majority of my technical books fall into the skim and gather dust category. NOT THIS BOOK! This book strikes that rare balance of being readable, practical, and a bargain all at the same time.

Readability is high because of the transitions from subject to subject. There are no fantastic leaps of faith when it comes to explaining how things work. Everything builds on something previously said and College does a great job reminding the reader about material covered in earlier chapters. The pacing of the material is good and doesn't bog down in technical details. College also points out some excellent white papers for more in-depth knowledge.

The book is practical for the wealth of best practices listed throughout the book. I don't know how many times I had those "ohhh, I wish I knew this back then" type moments. In addition to the best practices, College clearly explains the multitude of SQL Server settings in a responsible DBA fashion. Meaning, while a feature *might* improve performance you still have to consider the overhead. Good stuff.

Finally, this book is a bargain because it includes a free ebook version. I did the majority of the code examples and they all worked!

Insofar as any omissions and errors, I would have liked to have seen some coverage on troubleshooting a virtual sql server instance. Also, the link to the stored procedure, track_waitstats_2005, doesn't work properly. However, these things don't detract at all from the excellence of this book.

Rod Colledge's book is a well written and reliable reference for the Operational SQL DBA, the Windows Admin or even the Oracle DBA who has been lumped with the task of handling their Departments' SQL Databases and who wants to have an easy to digest resource close at hand.

While obviously this book is targeting SQL 2008 administrators, there are certainly areas that those working with SQL 2005 will find quite useful as well.

Rod's dialogue throughout the book is easy and this in no way compromises the substance of what is being written. It is refreshing if you are used to the standard technical references that leave you feeling like you're doing dog paddle through a quagmire of technical jargon.

As a DBA myself for 10 years I also appreciate another DBA describing what in some sites are "peripheral DBA tasks" such san storage/disk configuration in the context of how a DBA would tackle these activities. Often any delving by the DBA in these areas is greeted with dismissive gestures by SYS and SAN admins and ambiguous comments like "Thanks for that. We hear you... leave it with us.... we know what we're doing........ whoa hoa hoaar!)"

This book is a bit like having that DBA beside you who took you under his wing and taught you all those tricks that old DBA's seem to know - the ones that don't appear no matter how many hours you spend Googling or bouncing back and forth through Books Online.

For the Operational DBA this is Comprehensive, easy to digest and value for money.

I got a copy of this book back in September of 2009 because I wanted to know more about the hardware configuration of production database servers. Specifically, I wanted to know about best practices and recommendations in the areas of storage, memory and CPU. While at the store, I read chapter 2 "Storage and System Sizing" which covers from what SATA means to areas such as RAID, SAN, solid state drives, and best practice considerations. I purchased this book just for the content in chapter 2 and had zero expectations for the rest.

After reading the remainder of the book, I commend Rod College and the team behind this volume for their fantastic job. The material is accurate, current and invaluable to DBAs at any level. You'll get a wealth of information from new features found in MS SQL 2008 to concepts you should already know but you are not familiar with in MS SQL 2008.

I won this via attending a webcast but given the value of it I would easily have bought it myself. This book does a fantastic job covering everything you need to know about SQL Server administration in an easy, and quite frankly fun, way. Many times I've read technical books that are flat out boring but Rod's writing style makes this book feel fresh and engaging. I highly recommend picking this book up for yourself or even for your junior DBA's to have a fantastic go-to resource on how to accomplish and understand SQL Server. Well done Rod!

At a SQL Server class I attended several years ago, someone asked the instructor which book he recommended. The answer was none, because everything is documented in BOL, which should be installed on any machine you would be using as a DBA. I followed that advice until this book came along.

As has been mentioned in other reviews, this book is not going to teach you how to code the syntax, and it is not going to get you from zero knowledge to certification. Unless you are a very experienced DBA, you are familiar with the features that your job requires, and maybe a few more. If you suddenly need to pick up soemthing new, this book is very useful. Also, while SQL Server 2008 has been out for barely a year and a half as I write this, not many shops have done a lot with it yet. So you can get up to speed quickly, instead of using 2008 just like you did with 2005, or even 2000. And in this day on 'getting more done with less', the book is a good way of getting your skills up-to-date.

This book and Ross Mistry's (Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Management and Administration) had become my constant companion in unravelling the mystries of SQL Server 2008. This books is written succintly with clear explanation of concepts without bloatware.

In my opinion, the book paid for itself in its treatment of failover clustering in Chapter 5. Than you Rod

So far this has been a great book for learning about what a SQL DBA does. I especially like that it comes with an ebook. I don't have to lug the hard copy around with me which is very convenient.