Accelerated SQL Server 2008 (Paperback)

~ (Author), (Author), Fabio Claudio Ferracchiati (Author), Robert Rae (Author), Donald Farmer (Author)
Key Phrases: report designer, sales amount, resource governor, Service Broker, Analysis Services, Reporting Services (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The expert tuition and approach to rapid learning in Accelerated SQL Server 2008, one of the first SQL Server 2008 books available, will enable SQL Server and other database professionals to make the leap to the latest release of Microsoft’s flagship database management system quickly. Take full advantage of the new features of SQL Server 2008, know what tools are available, and quickly realize the power and ease of use that SQL Server 2008 has to offer.

• Lightning–quick introduction to SQL Server 2008
• Written by top experts in the field
• Provides a solid grounding in key features and technologies

What you’ll learn

• Manage SQL Server installations through the brand–new Declarative Management Framework.
• Protect yourself from downtime with high–availability features such as failover clustering.
• Speed your applications by taking advantage of new performance–enhancement features in SQL Server 2008.
• Find what you need using full–text search.
• Store, retrieve, and manage XML in the database.
• Derive competitive advantage from business intelligence tools such as Analysis Services and Reporting Services.

Who is this book for?

Database professionals who need to make the leap to SQL Server 2008, and who need to make that leap quickly. This audience primarily includes users of previous releases of SQL Server such as SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005. The audience also includes database professionals with experience on competing platforms who are moving laterally to SQL Server.

About the Author

Rob Walters works with Microsoft as a data platform technology specialist covering the Northeast district. Rob’s extensive experience with Microsoft SQL Server started over 8 years ago when he worked as a consultant for Microsoft Consulting Services in Denver, Colorado. Shortly after the dot–com bubble burst, Rob returned to Microsoft’s headquarters and worked as a program manager in the SQL Server product unit. There he owned various features within SQL Server including SQL Server Agent, various management features, and the security for the database engine. Rob is lead author on Accelerated SQL Server 2008 and has coauthored other texts including Pro SQL Server 2005. Mr. Walters holds a bachelors of science in electrical engineering from Michigan State University and a masters degree in business administration from Seattle University. When not thinking about databases, he enjoys spending time with his wife, children, and two St Bernard dogs.

Michael Coles has over a decade’s experience designing and administering SQL Server databases. A prolific writer of articles on all aspects of SQL Server, particularly on the expert use of T–SQL, he holds MCDBA and MCP certifications. He received a bachelor’s of science (magna cum laude) in information technology from American Intercontinental University. A member of the United States Army Reserve, he was activated for two years following 9/11.

A prolific writer on cutting-edge technologies, Fabio Claudio Ferracchiati has contributed to over a dozen books on .NET, C#, Visual Basic, and ASP.NET. He is a .NET MCSD and lives in Milan, Italy. You can read his blog at www.ferracchiati.com.

Robert Rae is a senior technology specialist at Microsoft and focuses most of his time on helping companies build solutions with Microsoft&rsqup;s Data Platform. Robert has fourteen years of experience designing, building, and deploying enterprise solutions.

Donald Farmer has worked in the Microsoft Business Intelligence team for 7 years. He has worked on both the Analysis Services and Integration Services product teams. Donald is now a Principal Program Manager for SQL Server Analysis Services, working to build the new generation of analytic technology, including predictive analysis, within the Microsoft business intelligence offering. Donald is a popular speaker at international events for both business and technical audiences, with a wide range of interests including data integration, information quality, meta data intelligence, master data management and predictive analytics. He is the author of a number of books and articles. Prior to joining Microsoft, Donald worked not only in business intelligence but in fields as varied as medieval archaeology and fish–farming.

Product Details

• Paperback: 816 pages
• Publisher: Apress (May 23, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590599691
• ISBN-13: 978-1590599693
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #73,328 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very misleading title!, June 18, 2008

By	Mr. Ian W. Stirk (London) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've just finished reading the "Development in SQL Server" section of this book (i.e. 40% of the total book).

I assumed the book related solely to SQL Server 2008. The book's introduction, forward, back cover content, and free downloadable chapter 1 led me to that belief.

However, the book relates to both 2005 and 2008, and frustratingly it typically does not say what features belong to which database version.

I wanted a book that showed me what was new in SQL Server 2008, I know what is in 2005, I have several books on it! I think the publishers etc have been very misleading with this book's title.

That said, the content of the book is very good.

The book is large (784 pages) and heavy. A book containing SQL Server 2008 only content would perhaps contain only 300 pages, and be more convenient to read and carry.

The book's real title is "Accelerated SQL Server 2005 and 2008"

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What I needed, when I needed it.. , March 20, 2009

By	Mark L. McHugh "dbaMark" (Atlanta) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In support of a current project, I was searching for whatever books I could find to help me with SQL Server 2008. This is one of the first available "credible" books I found. Credible since I have a number of other APRESS technical books that I found useful, and credible since the authors list certainly fit the lead-in on the cover - "The Experts Voice in SQL Server".

I found this book to be exactly what the title says (Accelerated) and exactly what I needed for my project effort. Let me explain - I have a significant background in database administration, and had worked on literally hundreds of SQL Server 2000 related projects. But due to job focus on other responsibilities, my exposure to SQL Server 2005 was limited to a couple of projects. So when this high profile SQL 2008 project came along, I really needed something to quickly jumpstart my learning.

As I went through the installation and the configuration of the database engine, analysis services, reporting services, and integration services in my environments, I used all the associated chapters in this book. It gave me the pertinent information, the important differences and improvements, without bogging me down in the basic things I felt I already knew.

I felt that the first 13 chapters covering primarily the database engine and associated features - Installation, Policy, Availability, Performance, Security, Monitoring, Service Broker, Full Text Search, and TSQL enhancements were very complete and excellent resource for someone with experience looking for a jumpstart. I don't see myself buying another book to supplement this knowledge - forums and whitepapers will probably be all that I will need - in the short term at least.

I admit that I skimmed the chapter or two on .Net integration and programming assemblies - but I will be back to it in a couple of weeks to be sure.

Since this current project requires a good deal of XML based data integration between our existing world and this new application - the chapters on XML and XQuery were of particular interest to me. I found them a valuable and complete introduction. The next few months of the project will show how valuable this really was, but I came away feeling pretty good about what we might be able to do to leverage this.

Because my work for the past couple of years has been focused on BI, I went through those last three chapters covering Business Intelligence (analysis server, reporting services, integration services) multiple times. First to do the installation and configuration, second to see what I was that I missed, and a final time to understand what I thought the authors had missed. This section provides a good basic intro to the products, and gives you what you need to get them setup and functional. To exploit them however, you will need to look for further resources.

You can look at this book as a focused set of expert recommendations, advice, and key bullet points around its 3 major divisions - the Enterprise data platform (I rate it excellent in that coverage), development in SQL Server (I'd rate it good, but I know I need to read it again), and Business Intelligence (I'd rate it useful, but basic in the coverage).

What this book is not, is an in-depth and complete coverage of all the specifics of each of the SQL 2008 vertical product features. If your primary interest is in one of those features outside the database engine itself - Reporting Services or Analysis Services, you will need to follow this book up with one of the detailed and targeted books.

At the end of the day - this book gave me exactly what I needed, when I needed it. That makes it a good book in my view, a keeper for my top bookself, and one I can recommend to others in similar circumstances.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I just expected better..., September 21, 2008

By	Rob Farley - See all my reviews

I saw this book come out, and had high expectations. The authors are all great guys who really know their stuff. What's more, Donald Farmer is _the_ guy for Data Mining, so I was hoping for a big section about the improvements in that area for SQL 2008.

Looking through it though, it feels like a book that was written for SQL 2005 that just got updated a little for SQL 2008, and that wasn't what I was wanting. And to boot, there are things that are just plain missing. There's not a single page on Data Mining, and some of my favourite features just don't appear. For Xmpl, in the FOR XML section, there's no mention of FOR XML PATH at all - which has to be the best way of using FOR XML.

However, I will still recommend this book. I will recommend this book to people who are moving from SQL 2000 and want to know what's new in both SQL 2005 and 2008, but there is a better reason again:

It's really honest! It's written by Microsoft guys, and they give really frank opinions about things. There are times when they happily point out that one feature or another isn't really as useful as it sounds. It's the kind of thing that more books need.