Beginning SQL Server 2000 DBA: From Novice to Professional (The Expert's Voice) (Paperback)

by Tony Bain (Author), Michael Benkovich (Author), Brian Freeman (Author), Baya Pavliashvili (Author), Joseph Sack (Author)
Key Phrases: server login, server installation, recovery model, Enterprise Manager, Query Analyzer, Server Agent (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
<p>SQL Server 2000 is the leading relational database in the Windows market. The increased manageability of SQL Server 2000 has also increased its popularity&emdash;anyone, not just database administrators, can use a SQL Server database. </p>

<p>This book recognizes that aspiring DBAs need more than just a basic knowledge of the available features in order to be considered "a safe pair of hands" for the database and the mission-critical data that is stored in it. Aspiring DBAs can benefit from the direction and advice of an expert mentor who not only understands the features available and how they should be used, but also knows what it takes to be a good and effective DBA. In essence, this book is that "mentor," which is what sets it apart from the other books on the market that only present feature overviews.</p>

<p>Database novices will learn the core job and roles involved in administering a SQL Server database. You'll follow the life cycle of the database from installation, design, and modeling; through to development, tuning, and securing; and on to growth and migration. This comprehensive guide provides practical advice, answers typical questions that you'll encounter from managers and developers, and offers practical steps to overcome issues with which new DBAs traditionally struggle. </p>

<p>At every stage of the life cycle, this book supplies a range of tried-and-tested practices and techniques that will help you to establish and maintain a healthy database system.</p>

About the Author
Tony Bain is the founder of Tony Bain & Associates. He has worked with SQL Server for the last 6 years, and he is passionate about all database technologies, especially when they relate to enterprise availability and scalability. Tony currently holds the Microsoft Certified System Engineer, Microsoft Certified Solution Developer, and Microsoft Certified Database Administrator certifications.

Primarily a database technology specialist, Mike Benkovich is a founder of the consulting firm ATG-Imagine! Technologies, a company that focuses on integrating relational technologies withing the client/server framework. Mike has had the good fortune to have worked in a variety of fields including architecture, project management, software development, and technical writing. Mike appeared in Microsoft’s DevCast in 1994, and has since been a lecturer and presenter of technical information at corporate conferences and board meetings.His primary role is designing and implementing custom software in Visual Basic with different back-end storage platforms. His current project is an insurance program suite using SQL Server and VB 6.

Baya Pavliashvili is senior database administrator possessing extensive development experience with the latest client/server and web technologies, as well as Visual Studio .NET. He has in-depth knowledge of and demonstrated experience with Microsoft SQL Server database administration, and he specializes in systems and business analysis, logical and physical database design, database administration, replication, data warehousing and OLAP, query optimization, application performance tuning, and database programming. He is also experienced in systems integration, software testing, implementation, support, and training. Pavliashvili is a Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA), Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD), and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE). He is the coauthor of <i>.NET E-Business Architecture</i> and <i>Knowledge Expert for SQL Server</i>, and he contributed to <i>SQL Server Security Distilled</i>.

Joseph Sack is a database administration and developer consultant based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Since 1997, he has been developing and supporting SQL Server environments for clients in the financial services, IT consulting, manufacturing, and real estate industries. Sack received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Minnesota. He is the author of <i>SQL Server 2000 Fast Answers for DBAs and Developers</i> and a Microsoft Certified Database Administrator (MCDBA).

Product Details

• Paperback: 696 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (January 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159059293X
• ISBN-13: 978-1590592939
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #664,700 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

97 of 97 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extensive coverage of what every SQL DBA should know, May 2, 2004

By	Harold McFarland (Florida) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Packed with practical, real-world information for anyone involved with SQL Server Administration, "Beginning SQL Server 2000 DBA: From Novice to Professional" is one of the most complete administration books available. It is not without its problems but they are generally pretty minor and in fact somewhat humorous at times. For example, page 84 has a section titled "Upgrading to SQL Server 6.5" and page 90 a section titled "Upgrading to Earlier Versions of SQL Server". Obviously you don't upgrade to an earlier version nor do you upgrade from 2000 to 6.5. So, while there are errors, they are so obvious as to not be a big problem. When it comes to the technical details where accuracy is critical, I didn't find any obvious errors.

So what does the book cover? It starts with the different types of DBAs, the different versions of SQL Server 2000 available, installation methods and resolving installation problems. After getting everything installed and working correctly it moves on to working with the database with things like creating a database, basic considerations for databases (such as raid levels), and everyday administrative activities like making the database read-only, removing databases, adding databases, changing the path, creating and deleting tables. One of the things I liked about this section (and most of the sections of the book) was that it explained how to do each task by using the database manager and by using the Transact-SQL language.

Each of the sections follows logically from the prior one. With all the database management section completed the next part covers doing queries, joins, creating indexes, and similar tasks, basic backing up and restoring databases, generating a database script, creating and adding jobs, working with security and authentication, user permissions, roles, application security, ODBC, ADO, performance monitoring, and other tasks.

Although it was mentioned in brief in an earlier chapter, chapter eight provides a thorough treatment of backup and recovery. This is a very important chapter, I have run across many, many SQL installations where people did not understand the correct backup and restore procedures for SQL and made a complete mess of their system using copy and paste techniques. The author does an excellent job here and it will keep you out of trouble if you follow his advice.

The remaining portion of the book covers replication (a particularly well-done chapter), writing Transact-SQL code, creating views, error handling, writing triggers, data warehousing, data analysis, and creating a data transformation package using the data transformation package editor. Due to the breadth of coverage "Beginning SQL Server 2000 DBA: From Novice to Professional" is exactly as advertised and useful to both the complete novice and the experienced professional. Note that although it covers some of the more common uses of T-SQL for administrative purposes it is not a book on programming, it is a book on administration and within that defined area it is excellent. "Beginning SQL Server 2000 DBA" is a highly recommended read.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not enough T-SQL, March 27, 2006

By	Dane F. Black "Dane Black" (Northeast Wisconsin, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Overall, I would say this book is well put together and is an excellent resource. I personally was hoping for a bit more meat on the programming of the T-SQL commands and methods, but the lack of that information is not the fault of the author, merely my selection of the wrong book.

I picked up valuable knowledge about SQL Server that will serve me well, but DBAs in my company do a heck of a lot with T-SQL that apparently is not as common in other places.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A review, November 22, 2006

By	Geek in Spokane - See all my reviews

Warning! This might be a wonderful book except for the fact that the publishers decided to use much smaller print than is normally used for computer manuals. If staring at small print is not a problem for you then buy this book, otherwise you might be better off buying another book with normal sized print.