RTM’d today: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant, Second Edition
We’re happy to announce that Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Administrator's Pocket Consultant, Second Edition , by William Stanek, has shipped to the printer. The book’s ISBN is 9780735627383, the book includes 17 chapters and 736 pages, and it will be available after April 21. The book’s first edition has been updated for the R2 of SQL Server 2008.
Below is more info about the book. Check back later for excerpts from the book’s chapters.
Introduction
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant, Second Edition,
is designed to be a concise and compulsively usable resource for SQL Server
2008 and SQL Server 2008 Release 2 (R2) administrators. It covers everything you
need to know to perform the core administrative tasks for SQL Server and is the
readable resource guide that you’ll want on your desk at all times. Because the focus
is on giving you maximum value in a pocket-sized guide, you don’t have to wade
through hundreds of pages of extraneous information to find what you’re looking
for. Instead, you’ll find exactly what you need to get the job done.
This book is designed to be the one resource you turn to whenever you have
questions about SQL Server administration. To this end, the book zeroes in on
daily administration procedures, frequently used tasks, documented examples, and
options that are representative while not necessarily inclusive. One of the key goals
is to keep content concise enough that the book is compact and easy to navigate
while also ensuring that the book contains as much information as possible. Instead
of a 1,000-page tome or a 100-page quick reference, you get a valuable resource
guide that can help you quickly and easily perform common tasks, solve problems,
and implement advanced SQL Server technologies such as replication, distributed
queries, and multiserver administration.
Who Is This Book For?
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant, Second Edition, covers
the Standard, Enterprise, Developer, Web, and Workgroup editions of SQL Server.
The book is designed for:
- Current SQL Server database administrators
- Accomplished users who have some administrator responsibilities
- Administrators migrating to SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2 from
previous versions - Administrators transitioning from other database architectures
To include as much information as possible, I had to assume that you have basic
networking skills and a basic understanding of SQL Server. With this in mind, I don’t
devote entire chapters to understanding SQL Server architecture or running simple
SQL queries. But I do cover SQL Server installation, configuration, enterprise-wide
server management, performance tuning, optimization, maintenance, and much
more.
I also assume that you’re fairly familiar with SQL commands and stored procedures
as well as the standard Windows user interface. If you need help learning SQL
basics, you should read other resources (many of which are available from Microsoft
Press).
How Is This Book Organized?
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Administrator’s Pocket Consultant, Second Edition, is
designed to be used in the daily administration of SQL Server, and as such the book
is organized according to job-related tasks rather than SQL Server features. Before
you use this book, you should be aware of the difference between the Administrator’s
Pocket Consultant titles and the Administrator’s Companion titles. Both types
of books are designed to be a part of an overall administrator’s library, but books in
the Administrator’s Pocket Consultant series are the down-and-dirty, in-the-trenches
books, and Administrator’s Companion titles are the comprehensive tutorials and
references that cover every aspect of deploying a product or technology in the
enterprise.
Speed and ease of reference are essential parts of this hands-on guide. The book
has an expanded table of contents and an extensive index for finding answers to
problems quickly. Many other quick reference features have been added to the
book as well. These features include quick step-by-step procedures, lists, tables with
fast facts, and cross-references.
The first several chapters cover the fundamental tasks you need for SQL Server
administration. Chapter 1 provides an overview of SQL Server administration tools,
techniques, and concepts. Chapter 2 discusses deploying SQL Server. Chapter 3
shows you how to configure SQL Server’s services, components, and networking
capabilities. Chapter 4 examines the structures available for configuring and tuning
SQL Server. The chapter looks at SQL Server’s system catalog and then continues
with a discussion of catalog queries and stored procedures.
In Chapters 5 through 9, I describe the essential tasks for administering SQL
Server. Chapter 5 details management techniques for server groups and servers
in the enterprise. In Chapter 6, you’ll learn about essential tasks for implementing
Policy-Based Management. Policy-Based Management defines policies that not
only configure SQL Server settings but also control whether and how settings can
be changed. Before you deploy SQL Server, you should familiarize yourself with
the available options and determine whether your servers will be put into specific
management groups. Chapter 7 explores configuring and tuning SQL Server using
SQL Server Management Studio. You’ll learn about optimizing memory usage, parallel
processing, authentication, auditing, and more. The core administration tasks for
creating and managing databases are covered in Chapter 8. Chapter 9 focuses on
SQL Server security. To manage server security, you’ll create user logins, configure
login permissions, and assign roles. The permissions and roles you assign determine
the actions users can perform as well as what types of data they can access.
Data administration is the subject of the next set of chapters. Chapter 10 covers
techniques for creating, managing, and optimizing schemas, tables, indexes, and
views. In Chapter 11, you’ll find tasks for importing and exporting data, as well as
the old standby bulk copy program (BCP). Chapter 12 focuses on integrating SQL
Server databases with other SQL Server databases and with other data sources.
You’ll find detailed discussions on distributed queries, distributed transactions,
Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MS DTC), and linked servers. Chapter
13 explores data replication. You’ll learn all about the latest replication techniques,
including merge replication and immediate-updating subscribers.
In the last four chapters I cover administration tasks you’ll use to enhance and
maintain SQL Server. Chapter 14 provides the essentials for working with server logs,
monitoring SQL Server performance, and solving performance problems. Chapter
15 starts by explaining how to create a backup and recovery plan. The chapter then
dives into common tasks for creating and restoring backups. Chapter 16 explores
database automation and maintenance, showing you how to create alerts, schedule
jobs, handle operator notifications, and more. You’ll also learn how to create maintenance
plans and resolve database consistency problems. Chapter 17 begins with a
discussion about log shipping and database mirroring. Log shipping and database
mirroring are disaster recovery solutions designed to help improve availability and
quickly recover SQL Server.