Pro SQL Server 2008 Relational Database Design and Implementation (Paperback)

by Louis Davidson (Author), Kevin Kline (Author), Scott Klein (Author), Kurt Windisch (Author)
Key Phrases: Best Practices

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Learn effective and scalable database design techniques in a SQL Server environment. Pro SQL Server 2008 Relational Database Design and Implementation covers everything from design logic that business users will understand all the way to the physical implementation of the design in a SQL Server database. Grounded in best practices and a solid understanding of the underlying theory, authors Louis Davidson, Kevin Kline, Scott Klein, and Kurt Windisch show how to “get it right” in SQL Server database design and lay a solid groundwork for the future use of valuable business data.

• Solid foundation in best practices and relational theory
• Maximize SQL Server features to enhance security, performance, scalability
• Thorough treatment from conceptual design to an effective, physical implementation

What you’ll learn

• Develop conceptual models of client data using interviews and client documentation.
• Normalize data models to enhance scalability and the long term use of valuable data.
• Translate conceptual models into high–performing SQL Server databases.
• Secure and protect the integrity of data as part of meeting regulatory requirements.
• Take full advantage of new SQL Server features such as the spatial datatype, XML support, transparent data encryption, and more.
• Create effective indexing to speed query performance.

Who is this book for?

Pro SQL Server 2008 Relational Database Design and Implementation is designed for programmers of all types who want to use SQL Server 2008 to store data. Rookie database programmers will find a complete course on the fundamentals of database design that includes conceptual designs and physical implementation. Seasoned veterans will find many tips and tricks for implementing database systems that will be well worth the time invested in reading this book.

About the Apress Pro Series

The Apress Pro series books are practical, professional tutorials to keep you on and moving up the professional ladder.

You have gotten the job, now you need to hone your skills in these tough competitive times. The Apress Pro series expands your skills and expertise in exactly the areas you need. Master the content of a Pro book, and you will always be able to get the job done in a professional development project. Written by experts in their field, Pro series books from Apress give you the hard–won solutions to problems you will face in your professional programming career.

About the Author

Louis Davidson has been in the IT industry for over 15 years as a corporate database developer and architect, spend the majority of his career with Microsoft SQL Server from the early days of 1.0 to whatever is the latest version currently in beta. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in computer science with a minor in mathematics.

Currently Louis is the data architect for Compass Technology (www.compass.net) in Chesapeake, Virginia, leading database development on their suite of nonprofit–oriented CRM products, built on the Microsoft CRM platform and SQL Server technologies.

is the technical strategy manager for SQL Server solutions at Quest Software, a
leading provider of award-winning tools for database management and application monitoring
on the SQL Server platform. Kevin is the president of the international Professional
Association for SQL Server (PASS). He has been a Microsoft SQL Server MVP since 2004. Kevin
is the lead author of SQL in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference (O'Reilly Media Inc., 2004)
and Transact-SQL Programming (O'Reilly Media, Inc., 1999). Kevin writes the monthly SQL
Server Drilldown column for Database Trends & Applications, blogs at http://www.sqlmag.com,
and is a resident expert at SearchSQLServer.com. Kevin is a top-rated speaker, appearing at
international conferences such as Microsoft TechEd, DevTeach, PASS, Microsoft IT Forum,
and SQL Connections. When he's not pulling his hair out over work, he loves to spend time
with his four kids and in his flower and vegetable gardens.

Scott Klein is an independent consultant with a passion for all things SQL Server, .NET, and XML. He is the author of several books, including Professional SQL Server 2005 XML (Wrox, 2006) and Professional LINQ (Wrox, 2008), and he writes the biweekly feature article for the SQL PASS Community Connector. He has also contributed articles for several web sites, including Wrox (http://www.wrox.com) and TopXML (http://www.topxml.com). He frequently speaks to SQL Server and .NET user groups around Florida. Scott lives in Wellington, Florida, and when he is not sitting in front of a computer, he can be found hanging out with his family or aboard his Yamaha at the local
motocross track. He can be reached at [e-mail].

Kurt Windisch is a senior technical specialist with Levi, Ray & Shoup, Inc., a global provider
of technology solutions with headquarters in Springfield, Illinois. He has more than 15 years of
experience in IT, and is a DBA and technical architect for the internal IT department at LRS.
He spent 5 years serving on the board of directors for PASS, has written for several SQL Server
magazines, and has presented at conferences internationally on the topic of database programming
with SQL Server.

Product Details

• Paperback: 680 pages
• Publisher: Apress (August 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 143020866X
• ISBN-13: 978-1430208662
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #190,973 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of Pro SQL Server 2008 Relational Database Design and Implementation , February 7, 2009

By	Denis Gobo "SQL Menace" (Princeton, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Good database design is extremely important if you want to have a database that performs well and is easily modifiable.
How many times did you have to go back and change countless lines of code because your database was not normalized and it was not easy to add another payment type to the existing database?

This is where Pro SQL Server 2008 Relational Database Design and Implementation comes in; in the first couple of chapters you are taught how to design a database in a normal form. Most books that deal with database design are dry and boring; you need to read a chapter several times to digest the information leaving you with a headache. Not this book, Pro SQL Server 2008 Relational Database Design and Implementation makes this almost fun, the author goes through the phases of database design in a fun way which is understandable to the common man

After the design is done and you have your database you will be shown how you can protect the integrity of your data. Remember nothing in the database is as important as to make sure the data is correct, if you have bad data then you might as well have no data at all. This book will show you how to protect the integrity of your data by using constraints and triggers

There is a whole chapter of some good tips and tricks, patterns and query techniques. I think that you will find out you can solve a whole lot of business problems with a numbers table much faster than if you had to do it without

Security is a big topic these days, look on the internet, ever week you here horror stories how some data was stolen or otherwise compromised. Fear not there one whole chapter about securing access to your valuable data

Table structure and indexing is also covered, how are tables stored internally, the differences between clustered and non clustered indexes. These are very important concepts to understand; there are plenty of stories of people who designed a database and it worked flawless when they tested it. Once they loaded it up with real data in the real world it became painfully slow, by then they had to spend countless hours trying to refactor that mess. This book will prevent these kind of things

Coding for concurrency is also covered. This is also a very important concept. Explained are the different isolation levels, the difference between optimistic and pessimistic locking and best practices


Each chapter has a summary and a best practices chapter. This is very handy because you can quickly get an overview of the whole chapter in a page or two.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn or get better at designing databases. Having a bad database design is like building a house on a weak foundation; sooner or later you will pay for it and you will have to tear parts down to fix that faulty foundation.

When it comes to database design and SQL Server I have no doubt in my mind that this is the book to get. This is the third version of the book I have read and I am pleased to see that every edition is a little better than the previous one.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books on the market, for a long time to come, January 8, 2009

By	James A. Luetkehoelter (Wisconsin, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As I thought with the 2005 version of this book, I find Louis' book extremely well written, extremely informative, and down to earth. You get the impression that you're just discussing things with the author. Another thing that I love is that Louis' actually presents a point of view rather than spitting out what's already in books online, or just online itself. Not just facts, guidance. We need more writing like this, and more authors like Louis.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely worth the price of admission, January 10, 2009

By	A. Bertrand (Rhode Island) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I don't know what Patric's problem is (and how could I? He wasn't specific at all). This book is simply great from start to finish. I have been heavily involved in SQL Server 2008 since the very early betas, so felt pretty comfortable in my "new" knowledge, but I found lots of new information peppered throughout this book. And where Louis is not teaching me something new, he's explaining a concept in a different way, and I can turn around and use that when I try to explain the same concept to a colleague or client. No book is perfect, but this is definitely something quite opposite of a "waste of time."