Recently, the kind folks of INETA APAC – Sanjay Shetty and Raj Chaudhuri – conducted an interview with myself and Vinod Kumar (co-author of my book). We had lots of fun during the interview. Sanjay asks questions which, even as an author, I did not think of. My hope is that talking more about our book will help the community in the same way they all helped motivate me to write this book.  Another benefit of the interview was that Raj always has questions which dig out the secrets of the book publishing business. Well, we answered each question candidly. When the interview was about to be over – we realized that book publishing is indeed long process and, just like us, many need help understanding this subject.

I know that I cannot be the only person who ever dreamed of becoming a published author. We would like to offer help to anybody who wants to write book. Writing this one book has taught us a lot and we are eager to share our hard-earned knowledge with you. If you have also written a technical book about computers, SQL Server, or just technology in general, I know that we will be able to help you in some way. Even if you are the sort of person who writes short stories in their free time, give us a try and we might be able to help you, too!

Once again: Thanks Sanjay and Raj for giving us the honor to be featured in an interview with you.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

One of the interesting questions I recently received is how many people actually touch the manuscript of the book before it goes to the publisher. Now this number may vary, but here is how many people touched our book’s manuscript.

• 2 authors
• 1 technical adviser
• 3 technical editors
• 1 language  adviser
• 2 layout designers
• 2 other people at the publisher/printer

With this many people collaborating, keeping organized was our main concern.  There were multiple people working together and most of the time we all were working parallel to each other on various part of the book. We kept on increasing the versions of the Word documents which we were all sharing. In the end the final version was sent to the printer. In our book there were two kinds of inaccuracies – 1) Ones we overlooked and did not correct, and 2) Ones we noticed but missed while collating various versions.

Before the book was published, everybody involved (every single person who contributed to the book in any capacity) had decided that if any errata was found, the next version must not have that error and we should maintain an error log. It has been 60 days since the book has been published and we have received quite a lot of communication on the book. The number one request is that many want a second part of the book, I am overwhelmed with your support and love.

Here is the page where we are listing all the errata of the book, if you are reading the book and you find anything which you would like to share with us – you are welcome to send us an email at books “at” sqlauthority.com. It does not matter if it is an English grammar error or technical inaccuracy – we value your input on any and all points. We aspired to be as close to perfect as possible and the first step is to accept our mistakes. Once we know the mistake, we will not repeat it and promptly correct it.

I know that I am looking forward to hearing from my readers about what they loved and what they’d like to see changed, and I’m sure my fellow collaborators would like to hear from you, too.  Thank you again for all your support.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Every day I write continuously. Here are few of the writing tasks I do in my everyday routine.

I write -

Emails

I write nearly 400+ emails every day. I get about 1000 emails and 10s of thousands of spam e-mails. I am thankful that 99.99% of the spam is caught by spam filters. The remaining spam I report to my email provider. However, I still get over 1000 valid emails. I do my best to answer each of them. I write a customized email to every single person. I research quite often for a few answers and that makes me write more and more. Work and personal emails combined together means I write more than 400 emails a day. If I take a one day vacation, the next day I find myself writing 800+ emails. An empty inbox has been just a dream forever.

Web Browser

To answer emails I have to research a lot, and every day I keep on finding myself writing more and more on various browsers and in search engine boxes. An efficiency tool helped me discover that I write more than 2000+ words every day just in the search engine box. I think 2000+ words is a lot of typing!

Social Media

You can find me on pretty much all the social media sites – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. I have been writing various status updates and sharing information which interests me. I really find this easy but sometime this can be very distracting as well. I often cut off myself from all the social media when I am working on something important but when I find leisure time I often spend considerable time on my social media. I often answer a few technical questions on Facebook as well engage with community folks.

Blogs

I have blogged every day for the last five years and if you consider the average length of the blog post to be about 500 words, and since I am about to reach the 2000th  blog post, I have written about 1,000,000 (1 Million) words so far. As per Wikipedia the longest novel is Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady (by Samuel Richardson) and it has 969,000 words. If you think War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy was the longest novel, it had only 587,28 words. Well, just writing blog posts I have done almost the same amount of writing as the longest novel in the world. Note that here I am not comparing the quality or genre of the work, just comparing the length of the work.

My Daughters Workbook

I did not want to include this here. However, it is currently the best part of my life. I enjoy doing work books with my 2.25 year old daughter. I enjoy it, I sometimes write the letter ‘A’ hundreds of time to demonstrate how it is written to my daughter. Recently she spotted the letter A in the newspaper and ran to me and proudly demonstrated to me that it is ‘Daddy’s A’. I loved it, I cherish every moment of my life when I am writing with my daughter. I think this is the best time spent.

3 Books in Year 2011

After writing so much throughout my life I always wanted to write a book that adds real value to the publishing world. I wanted to write a book which tremendously helps the community. I am fortunate that I was able to write three various books in the year 2011. I am lucky to write three books which covers various aspect of my favorite technology, SQL Server.

SQL Programming

SQL developers need to be able to create processes for working databases by using one of many programming objects (like functions, stored procedures, constrains, or triggers). By creating objects that talk with SQL you simply change the way other programs (like applications or web pages) can interconnect. These eternal programs only need to call your programming objects by name rather than needing to submit large pieces of advance code. With SQL Programming Development (Volume 4 of 5) in the SQL Server Joes 2 Pros development series, you learn how programming objects work in SQL Server.

[Amazon] | [Flipkart] | [Kindle]

SQL Wait Stats

You learn a lot when thrown into a crisis situation, where everyone is looking to you for answers. The system is down, the CEO is pleading with you for answers, as each minute of downtime further cuts into the company’s bottom line. You can almost hear the fiscal charts turning upside down. The simple fix you thought would work when you received the call will not fix the scenario you’ve just walked into. In a hurry, you need new ideas right away. Let this book be your solution manual at work.

[Amazon] | [Flipkart] | [Kindle]

SQL Server Interview Questions and Answers

Today we use computers for various activities, motor vehicles for traveling to places, and mobile phones for conversation. How many of us can claim the invention of the micro-processor, a basic wheel, or the telegraph? Similarly, this book was not written overnight. The journey of this book goes many years back with many individuals to be thanked. Though each of these chapters are geared towards convenience we highly recommend reading each of the sections irrespective of the roles you might be doing since each of the sections have some interesting trivia about working with SQL Server. In the industry the role of accidental DBA’s (especially with SQL Server) is very common. Hence, if you have performed the role of DBA for a short stint and want to brush-up your fundamentals then the upcoming sections will be a great review.

[Amazon] | [Flipkart] | [IndiaPlaza] [Sample Chapters] | [Kindle]

In future blog posts I will dive deeper into these books’ writing experiences.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

My goals were simple:

1. Mastering the Basics
2. Igniting Learning

I am very fortunate that my co-author shares the same love and passion for the SQL Server community. Vinod Kumar always believed in my same two goals. Our combined passion for the subject made writing this book a pleasant, even invigorating experience. We always felt this urge to help community and those who are eager to learn more. Years of learning the basics and practicing advanced technology led us to believe that learning the basics is sometimes the most difficult task of all. Once someone masters the basics, advanced concepts come easy. We have kept this in mind as we wrote this book.

A Book for Everyone

This book is not just for people who are looking to get their first job in the information technology field.  If you do not have an upcoming interview, if you already work in the field, but have questions about SQL Server or know that there are topics you should brush up on, then this is the book for you.

You don’t have to have a certain level of experience to get a lot from this book, either.  If you are a beginner you will not be totally confused by the topics – in fact, we tried to lay out the book for beginners.  However, experts will also find a lot to learn in these pages. Too.

Philosophy of the Book

We believe that this book will give advanced users a refresher and beginners a good learning point. We believe that after reading this book, our readers would be ignited to learn more. The goal of this book was not to tell you everything but to tell you enough so that you can learn yourself. Here is the hidden philosophy behind the book:

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” – Source Unknown

Our goal in writing this book was to give our readers a SQL Server fishing pole.  They can then learn how to “fish out” the good answers and solutions to their problems.  This book does not list the most common problems (and interview questions) and then give a long list about exactly what to do.  The point of this book was to teach the readers to think for themselves – and feed themselves for a lifetime.

Mastering the Basics

Recently someone asked me if they could pass an interview just by reading this book. The answer is – interviews are a complex process. One’s goal should not be to merely pass the interview. The goal should be to demonstrate your knowledge and find the right appropriate way to apply your learning. Think of it this way, before attempting to pass an interview just by remembering the right answers – ask yourself if you will be able to perform the real world tasks – the answer can be complex. How about this – learn all you can about the real work job before you go to the interview, and master the subject. Now when you go to the interview or to the real world job, you will always demonstrate superior quality and the ability to perform the necessary tasks.

Igniting Learning

Well, our book is exactly the same. It tells you what you should learn in depth, what you should know in the real world, what kind of information you should collect and master before you go on that interview. Do not use this book as a tool to pass the interview – it will not work that way – consider the book as ‘learning path’. Take each topic covered in the book and dwell on it, think about it and digest it slowly and masterfully. The book is designed in such a way that every important topic has enough reference material listed right below it. You can use the references listed there or do your own search on the subject. Just make sure that the learning experience is complete.

Real World Experience

In a tough job market, it can be easy to look at a job advertisement and think to yourself, “I could do that job.”  You might know just a little bit about a subject, and you think that if you study hard enough you will sound smart enough to get the job, and then later you can learn all you can about the subject.  However, while our book will certainly help with the “sounding smart” part, you will also find that it encourages you to really learn SQL Server before that interview – with lots of real world examples and pointers advanced learning.  We encourage everyone to think about the job they want and love, and go for it.  Don’t look at book as just a way to get a job.

YOU!

We are constantly flooded with numerous emails, positive comments and constructive feedback. We are overwhelmed that almost everybody has understood the philosophy behind the book. SQL Server experts have told us that this book has helped them remember the basics and many have sent us questions to incorporate into the next versions. We believe the success of this concept is the positive energy which we have received from all of YOU!

Here are few blog posts about the book:

1) Review by Nakul Vachhrajani – Good, portable book with easy to understand language on SQL Server Interview Questions & Answers

2) Review by Paras Doshi – Book Review: SQL server Interview Questions and Answers by Pinal Dave and Vinod Kumar.

 3) Review by Madhivanan SQL Server MVP  – Book Review – SQL Server Interview Questions and Answers

4) Review by Sandeep Kalra – Pinal Dave and Vinod Kumar‘s SQL Server Interview Questions and Answers: Book review

This book is available worldwide, here is the information about book – SQL Server Interview Questions and Answers

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Here is the question how many of you had the same suggestion as Vinod, Jacob and Rick?

Here is the updated version of the same article. If you use PRINT statement and directly appending string and datetime datatype you will get following error.

PRINT 'Current Time ' + GETDATE()


The normal reaction to the same is to modify the script and convert datetime datatype to varchar datatype. This will not only remove the error but also a very common practice.

PRINT 'Current Time ' + CAST(GETDATE() AS VARCHAR(20))


Current Time Dec 21 2011  7:00PM

Just like earlier blog post you can now use SQL Server 2012 function CONCAT to resolve the error.

PRINT CONCAT('Current Time ', GETDATE())


I have previously written in detail article about SQL Server 2012 CONCAT function over here additionally, I have written quick guide on 14 new functions of SQL Server Denali.

I am sure Vinod, Jacob and Rick are smiling at looking at this blog post.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

SELECT 'Current Time ' + GETDATE()


I quickly modified script to following workaround and my script worked right away.

SELECT 'Current Time ' + CAST(GETDATE() AS VARCHAR(20))


Current Time Dec 20 2011  7:00PM

However, I instantly realized that I can use SQL Server 2012 function which can right fit for this situation.

SELECT CONCAT('Current Time ', GETDATE())


I have previously written in detail article about SQL Server 2012 CONCAT function over here additionally, I have written quick guide on 14 new functions of SQL Server Denali.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Well, we learn the lesson from the experience and have made sure that the inventory does not run out any more. Since then we are now available on multiple outlets. Pretty much anywhere in USA and India the book is available. Additionally, where ever Amazon ships internationally.

I have created dedicated page where I have listed where one can avail this book from Details of SQL Server Interview Question and Answers. Even though I keep on getting common question like – where one can get this book.

You can get this book from:

USA: Amazon

India: Flipkart | IndiaPlaza | Crossword

In India now you can walk into any crossword store and ask this book, if they do not have it, you can ask them get one for you.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

If you are new to SQL Server, don’t think I left you out of my book writing efforts. If you are new to the subject or have not had to deal with SQL Server in a long time, this book is perfect for someone who wants or needs a last minute refresher. If you are facing an upcoming interview and want to impress your future bosses, this book is perfect for getting you up to speed in a short time. However, if you are already an expert, you will still find a lot to learn and many pointers and suggestions that go deep into the subject.

As I said before, I wrote this book in order to help my community, and I certainly hoped that this book would become popular. However, we decided to print a very limited number of copies to begin with. We did not think that it would sell out since much of the information is available for free online. We could not have been more wrong! We incorrectly estimated what people wanted. We did not realize that there is still a need and an interest for structured learning. So, with great reservations, we printed quite a large number of copies – and it still ran out in 36 hours!

We got call from the online store with a request for more copies within 12 hours. But we had printed only as many as we had sent them. There were no extra copies. We finally talked to the printer to get more copies. However, due to festivals and holidays the copies could not be shipped to the online retailer for two days. We knew for sure that they were going to be out of the book for 48 hours.

48 hours – this was very difficult as the book was very highly anticipated. Many people wanted to buy this book quickly, and receive it soon in order to meet a deadline or to study for an upcoming test of their knowledge. But now this book was out of stock on the retail store. The way the online store works is that if the Indian-priced book is not there they list the US version of the book so that buyers will not be disappointed. The problem was that the US price of the book is three times more than the Indian price – which means one has to pay three times as much to buy this book instead of the previous very low price. We received a lot of communication on this subject, here are some examples:

• We are now businessmen and only focusing on money
• Why has the price tripled in 36 hours
• Why we are not honest with the price
• If the prices will ever come down
• And some of the letters we cannot post here!

Well, finally after 48 hours the Indian stock was finally available online. Thanks to our printer who worked day and night to get all the copies printed. He divided the complete stock in two parts. The first part they sent immediately to online retailer  and the second part they kept with them to sell. Finally, the online retailer got them online promptly as well, and the price returned to normal. Our book once again got in business and became the eighth most popular new release in 36 hours.

We appreciate your love and support. Without all of your interest and love we would have never come this far and the book would not be so successful. After thinking about all your support and how patient you were with our online troubles, the online retailer has decided to give an extra 25% discount for a limited time only.

I think the 48 hours when the book was out of stock were very horrible and stressful and I’d like to apologize to my loyal readers for the mishap. I hope that the 25% off is enough to sooth any remaining hurt feelings, and that everyone will continue to learn and discover things in the book. Once again thank you so much and I truly hope that you all enjoy reading the book as much as I enjoyed writing it.

My book SQL Server Interview Questions and Answers is available now.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

I have received lots of interesting comments on the blog about what is in it. Many of you got it absolutely incorrect and many got it close to the right answer but no one got it 100% correct. Well, no issue at all, I am going to give away the price to whoever has the closest answer first in personal email.

Here is the answer to the question about what is in the box? Here it is – the box has my new book. In fact, I should say our new book as I co-authored this book with my very good friend Vinod Kumar. We had real blast writing this book together and had lots of interesting conversation when we were writing this book. This book has one simple goal – “master the basics.”

This book is not only for people who are preparing for interview. This book is for every one who wants to revisit the basics and wants to prepare themselves to the technology. One always needs to have practical knowledge to do their duty efficiently. This book talks about more than basics. There are multiple ways to present learning – either we can create simple book or make it interesting. We have decided the learning should be interactive and have opted for Interview Questions and Answer format.

Here is quick interview which we have done together.

Details of the books are here

The core concept of this book will continue to evolve over time. I am sure many of you will come along with us on this journey and submit your suggestions to us to make this book a key reference for anybody who wants to start with SQL server. Today we want to acknowledge the fact that you will help us keep this book alive forever with the latest updates. We want to thank everyone who participates in this journey with us.

You can get the books from [Amazon] | [Flipkart].

Read Vinod‘s blog post. Do not forget to wish him happy birthday as today is his birthday and also book release day – two reason to wish him congratulations.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Last month I released my SQL Wait Stats  book. This book is the beginning of my journey in wait stats. It has been extremely popular and so far in India it has sold all the print copies twice on Flipkart. This book is available in the United States on Amazon and it has gotten a tremendous response as well. What is special about this book is that it gives you the opportunity to start on performance tuning instantly after receiving the book. The scripts are very simple and they are all available online on this blog. Additionally, the book is open for improvement and suggestions. There are so many different kinds of wait stats that it is not possible to cover all of them, but I have attempted to cover almost all of the most important ones and most frequently encountered.

So far this book was available in India and the United States. However, here is the good news for worldwide readers and everybody who was waiting for the eBook version of SQL Wait Stats. We have an eBook version out for sale! Looking at your response for the month of October we have a special price as well. The price for the eBook in the United States is USD 3.99 – you can spend less than a large coffee and gain the knowledge to find bottlenecks and improve the performance of your SQL Server. The price for the rest of the world is between 3.99 to 5.99, based on your country location. In any case, now there is no excuse to not read this book. If you do not own a Kindle device, there is no need to buy one, you can download Kindle for PC right now and get your SQL Wait Stats eBook.

Please note, there are still 25 more days in October. After October the price will reset to the regular higher price.

SQL Wait Stats – Kindle Edition

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Earlier this year in February, I wrote a 30-day series on Wait Types and Queue. This series was very popular and I have received a number of good and encouraging comments on various parts of the series. The no.1 request was to compile the concept in an eBook. This idea really appealed to me. Talking about personal preferences, I do not like eBooks as I spend lots of time on the computer, and if I have to read books, I prefer to read printed ones my way. Driven with the same idea, I published SQL Wait Types and Queues in print copy. If I do not mention Rick Morelan (Founder of Joes2Pros) it will not be fair. Rick is such a great supporter in all the efforts.

On the good occasion of having total of 31 Millions Views on SQLAuthority.com here is the interesting news for all!

My SQL Server Wait Stats books are available on [Amazon] | [Flipkart]. Recently I got a number of extremely motivating emails from kind folks at expressor studio; they really liked my book. They have decided go to next step and want to give away 5 print copies of SQL Wait Stats books.

The rules of the contest are very simple. In the next 48 hours go ahead and register yourself at expressor studio. They will select 5 random winners who will directly receive the SQL Server Wait Stats books. This contest is open to everybody worldwide. The winners will be selected by the end of the month. Winners will be informed via the email address provided at the time of the registration.

Thank you expressor studio, I am truly touched with your kind offer.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

You can buy my book from Amazon.com and Flipkart. We did receive few notes from user that it is listed as out-of-stock. There may be some glitch but the book has been always available as there is enough copies of the same.

US: http://amzn.to/pb49jq
India: http://bit.ly/pinalbook

If you are from other countries, you can still get it from Amazon where it delivers. The content of Book4 are as listed below:

• Contraints
• After Triggers
• Other Triggers
• Views
• Updating and Maintaining Views
• Stored Procedures
• Stored Procedure Techniques
• User-Defined Functions
• SQL Error Messages
• Error Handling
• Change Tracking
• Change Data Capture
• Performance Tips by Pinal Dave
• Next Steps for Aspiring SQL Pros

Reference:  Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Filed under: Joes 2 Pros, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority Book Review, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology ]]> http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2011/09/02/sqlauthority-news-programming-development-for-microsoft-sql-server-2008/feed/ 3 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2011/09/01/sqlauthority-news-shaivis-birthday-sql-wait-stats-joes-2-pros-book-released-today-30-million-views-completed/ http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2011/09/01/sqlauthority-news-shaivis-birthday-sql-wait-stats-joes-2-pros-book-released-today-30-million-views-completed/#comments Thu, 01 Sep 2011 01:33:02 +0000 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/?p=14142 ]]> Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to all the friends of SQLAuthority.com. On today’s auspicious day I have three news to share – 1) Shaivi’s 2nd Birthday 2) New Book Released 3) 30 Millions Views.

I am extremely proud of the newly published Joes 2 Pros: Programming and Development for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (Amazon, Flipkart) book, which I contributed to and am lucky enough to have my name on the front cover as author.  And today is good day when I am releasing my second book ‘SQL Wait Stats Joes 2 Pros: SQL Performance Tuning Techniques Using Wait Statistics, Types & Queues’ So today I would like to dedicate this book to my beautiful daughter on her second birthday.  Two years ago she came into this world as an angel, and every day my love for her has grown.  My wife and I jokingly refer to her as the “other woman,” because since her appearance it seems like my love for my daughter is growing to take my wife’s share.

My daughter, Shaivi, is the dearest part of my life.  She is what motivates me to excel at work and at life, and ultimately what motivated me to write this book.  I hope one day that she is half as proud of me as I am of her.  That is why I am dedicating my book to her – because she was the inspiration that made me work to achieve this goal.

Writing this book was an exhausting process.  There were days when to meet the editor’s deadlines I would lock myself in my office in the early morning before my daughter was awake, and when I came out at the end of the day my daughter was already asleep.  However, I want her to know that even though I may have been absent from her life on those days, I am dedicating all those efforts to her.  She is the best.

Any parent – especially the parent of a daughter – knows that having a child puts everything in perspective.  A job we might have once done simply for money, or even because we love the subject, now becomes a labor of love to excel for our children and provide them with a better life.  I am lucky enough to have a job I love, one that I enjoy getting up every morning for, and now I am extra lucky because my love for my daughter makes that job even more enjoyable.  For that, and so many other reasons, I dedicate this book to you Shaivi.

Btw, today this blog completed 30 Million Views.

Reference:  Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

In India you can get it from Flipkart - http://bit.ly/pinalbook

In USA you can get it from Amazon – http://amzn.to/pb49jq

This book is just like this blog and contains all the complex subject in very simple manner. I am confident that you will for sure like this book if you like this blog.

Here is quick video shot by my wife when I was reading my own book. See the original post to see the video.

Here is quick secret for you – there is big surprise in September for all those who own this book.

Reference:  Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Looking back at the year, it is very satisfying as I was able to go out in public and help community out at various capacity. Thought, most of the time my contribution was as speaker, many times, I have reached out and helped organized event and worked at any capacity to get the event out.

I have taken parts in many TechEds, PASS events, Virtual Tech Days, Various Community Events around the Globe and my contribution is not limited to my country only.

Overall – I feel good to be part of this wonderful and supportive community.

SQLAuthority News – A Successful Community TechDays at Ahmedabad – December 11, 2010
SQLAuthority News – A Successful Performance Tuning Seminar at Pune – Dec 4-5, 2010
SQL SERVER – A Successful Performance Tuning Seminar – Hyderabad – Nov 27-28, 2010 – Next Pune
SQLAuthority News – SQLPASS Nov 8-11, 2010-Seattle – An Alternative Look at Experience
SQLAuthority News – Statistics and Best Practices – Virtual Tech Days – Nov 22, 2010
SQLAuthority News – SQL Server Performance Optimizations Seminar – Grand Success – Colombo, Sri Lanka – Oct 4 – 5, 2010
SQL SERVER – Visiting Alma Mater – Delivering Session on Database Performance and Career – Nirma Institute of Technology
SQLAuthority News – Feedback Received for Virtual Tech Days Sessions on Spatial Database
SQLAuthority News – Community Tech Days, Ahmedabad – July 24, 2010
SQLAuthority News – SQL Data Camp, Chennai, July 17, 2010 – A Huge Success
SQLAuthority News – 2 Sessions at TechInsight 2010 – June 29 – July 1, 2010
SQLAuthority News – Author Visit – SQL Server 2008 R2 Launch
SQLAuthority News – Professional Development and Community
SQLAuthority News – TechEd India – April 12-14, 2010 Bangalore – An Unforgettable Experience – An Opportunity of A Lifetime
SQLAuthority News – Speaking Sessions at TechEd India – 3 Sessions – 1 Panel Discussion
SQLAuthority News – Meeting with Allen Bailochan Tuladhar – An Unlimited Experience
SQLAuthority News – Author Visit Review – TechMela Nepal – March 29-30, 2010
SQLAuthority News – Excellent Event – TechEd Sri Lanka – Feb 8, 2010
SQLAuthority News – Hyderabad Techies February Fever Feb 11, 2010 – Indexing for Performance
SQLAuthority News – MUGH – Microsoft User Group Hyderabad – Feb 2, 2010 Session Review
SQLAuthority News – Ahmedabad Community Tech Days – Jan 30, 2010 – Huge Success

For earlier year’s contribution you can check my webpage over here.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Amazon Link

Detail Review:
Beginning T-SQL 2008 is one of the best books on the market if you are just beginning to work with Microsoft SQL, or have a little bit of experience and need to learn more quickly.

Each chapter of the book introduces a new subject, and builds upon topics covered in previous chapters.  The author of the book, Kathi Kellenberger understands that you need to form a solid foundation of knowledge before moving on to new topics, and sets up each subject nicely.  Because the chapters move in an orderly progression, you continue to use skills you learned earlier.

One of the best features of Beginning T-SQL 2008 is that each chapter has multiple examples and exercises.  Many books introduce a topic and then never go back to it.  This book gives enough examples that you will be familiar with the subject when you come across it in real life.  The exercises at the end of the chapter mean that you will be using the skills you learned – and there is no better way to cement a subject in your brain.

The book also includes discussions of the common errors that programmers will come across, how to avoid them, and how to fix them if they happen.  Ms. Kellenberger understands that not only do mistakes happen, but they are bound to happen if you aren’t trained properly.  Mistakes are part of the learning process!

The book begins by discussions relational theory, so that programmers will understand the way T-SQL works from the ground up.  It also walks readers through writing accurate queries, combining set-based and procedural processing, embedding logic in stored functions, and so much more.

Overall, the main goal of Beginning T-SQL 2008 is to introduce novices to SQL programming, and quickly familiarize them with the basics of running the program.  The book is written with the idea that readers will not know any of the technical terms or vocabulary.  However, if you are a little more familiar with SQL and looking to become better, you will still find this book very helpful.

Ratting: 4.5+ Stars

Summary: I must recommend Beginning T-SQL 2008 highly enough.  If you are going to buy any beginners guide to Transect-SQL, this is the one you should spend your money on.  You can save yourself a lot of time and effort later by using this very affordable manual to learn the basics, which will allow you to become an expert much faster.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

During the conversation we ended up how Microsoft is evolving encryption technology. The same discussion lead to talking about history of encryption tools in SQL Server. Michale pointed me to page 18 of his book of encryption. He explicitly give me permission to re-produce relevant part of history from his book.

Encryption in SQL Server 2000

Built-in cryptographic encryption functionality was nonexistent in SQL Server 2000 and prior versions. In order to get server-side encryption in SQL Server you had to resort to purchasing or creating your own SQL Server XPs. Creating your own cryptographic XPs could be a daunting task owing to the fact that XPs had to be compiled as native DLLs (using a language like C or C++) and the XP application programming interface (API) was poorly documented. In addition there were always concerns around creating wellbehaved XPs that “played nicely” with the SQL Server process.

Encryption in SQL Server 2005

Prior to the release of SQL Server 2005 there was a flurry of regulatory activity in response to accounting scandals and attacks on repositories of confidential consumer data. Much of this regulation centered onthe need for protecting and controlling access to sensitive financial and consumer information. With the release of SQL Server 2005 Microsoft responded to the increasing demand for built-in encryption byproviding the necessary tools to encrypt data at the column level. This functionality prominently featured the following:

• Support for column-level encryption of data using symmetric keys or passphrases.
• Built-in access to a variety of symmetric and asymmetric encryption algorithms, including AES, DES, Triple DES, RC2, RC4, and RSA.
• Capability to create and manage symmetric keys. Key creation and management.
• Ability to generate asymmetric keys and self-signed certificates, or to install external asymmetric keys and certificates.
• Implementation of hierarchical model for encryption key management, similar to the ANSI X9.17 standard model.
• SQL functions to generate one-way hash codes and digital signatures, including SHA-1 and MD5 hashes.
• Additional SQL functions to encrypt and decrypt data.
• Extensions to the SQL language to support creation, use, and administration of encryption keys and certificates.
• SQL CLR extensions that provide access to .NET-based encryption functionality.

Encryption in SQL Server 2008

Encryption demands have increased over the past few years. For instance, there has been a demand for the ability to store encryption keys “off-the-box,” physically separate from the database and the data it contains. Also there is a recognized requirement for legacy databases and applications to take advantage of encryption without changing the existing code base. To address these needs SQL Server 2008 adds the following features to its encryption arsenal:

• Transparent Data Encryption (TDE): Allows you to encrypt an entire database, including log files and the tempdb database, in such a way that it is transparent to client applications.
• Extensible Key Management (EKM): Allows you to store and manage your encryption keys on an external device known as a hardware security module (HSM).
• Cryptographic random number generation functionality.
• Additional cryptography-related catalog views and dynamic management views.
• SQL language extensions to support the new encryption functionality.

The encryption book covers all the tools in its various chapter in one simple story. If you are interested how encryption evolved and reached to the stage where it is today, this book is must for everyone.

You can read my earlier review of the book over here.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Link to Amazon

Short Review:

This is one book that provides a solid fundamental to the reader along with hands-on experience  and in-depth learning. Right now, an error-free book that is closer to real world scenarios is very much in need. This one fundamental book can take the reader for a wonderful ride, where he/she can learn the advanced aspects of the subject very quickly. Instead of pure theory, this book focuses on real diagrams, examples or just a pure old–school-style exercise, which appeals the readers the most.

Detail Review:
Almost all of us agree on the fact that there are very few SQL Server Experts in the industry. There are really not many SQL Server Experts out there when compared to the work load available. There is always demand of good employees everywhere and every time. There has not been a single scenario where a truly talented person has no job, but there have been many instances where a great potential project has been started due to lack of experts. Now the real question is how do these excellent people excel every time? How did they start and how did they ever reach where they are today. The answer is simple – Solid Fundamentals. Solid Fundamentals come from hands-on experience.

The book written by Rick is one of those books I am delighted to read myself. I have referred this book to many professionals and beginners and have received very positive comments. The reason why I personally liked the book is that it is loyal to the title till the last page. I know Rick; he is a master and expert in Database. When you meet him, you won’t fail to notice the spark and enthusiasm in his eyes for this technology. He has understood the fundamentals very thoroughly and has expressed deep understanding of the subject. Besides all these, he takes care not to show off his status or knowledge in the book. This book reflects his deep understanding, without arrogance or overuse of the word “I.” In fact, his book is one of those books, which does not lose its focus – i.e., the readers – which is all of us.

This book starts with some very basic concepts; if you are an expert or have experience of more than 5 years in database, you can skim through the first 3 chapters. I personally read through them as I had figured out that no matter how much I know, I always learn something new. Chapter 4 on Query Strategies is the point you need to stop and start paying attention to the details. Rick has masterfully laid all the chapters after that and I have personally learned some new tricks as well.

Chapter 9 is again one of those chapters which I recommend for every expert. It talks about transaction control language. This stands important to all of those who do not use transactional control language command on a daily basis. After completing this chapter, I really wanted to read more of it.

The most attractive point of this book is the sections which show up in each chapter – Points to Ponder, Review Quiz, Glossary and Bug Catcher Game. The unique addition here is the Bug Catcher Game. I have no doubt that this section will soon become main stream and you will start finding it in many different books – such a novel idea to learn a subject!

Rating: 4.5 Stars out of 5 Star

Note: If my daughter ever decides to learn SQL Server, I will surely ask her to read this book.

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Link to Amazon
Link to Flipkart

First of all, I thank all my readers when I wrote that I could not get this book in any local book stores, because they offered me to send a copy of this good book. A very special mention goes to Sripada and Jayesh for they gave so much effort in finding my home address and sending me the hard copy. Before, I did not have the copy of the book, but now I have two of it already! It surprises me how my readers were able to find my home address, which I have not publicly shared.

Quick Review: This is indeed a one easy-to-read and fun book. We all work day and night with technology yet we should not forget to show our love and care for our family at home. For our souls that starve for peace and guidance, this one book is the “it” book for all the technology enthusiasts. Though this book was specifically written for DBAs, the reach is not limited to DBAs only because the lessons incorporated in it actually applies to all. This is one of the most motivating technical books I have read.

Detailed Review:
Let us go over a few questions first:
Who wants to be as famous as rockstars in the field of Database Administration?
How can one learn what it takes to become a top notch software developer?
If you are a beginner in your field, how will you go to next level?
Your boss may be very kind or like Dilbert’s Boss, what will you do?
How do you keep growing when Eco-system around you does not support you?
You are almost at top but there is someone else at the TOP, what do you do and how do you avoid office politics?
As a database developer what should be your basic responsibility?
and many more…

I was able to completely read book in one sitting and I loved it. Before I continue with my opinion, I want to echo the opinion of Kevin Kline who has written the Forward of the book. He has truly suggested that “You hold in your hands a collection of insights and wisdom on the topic of database administration gained through many years of hard-won experience, long nights of study, and direct mentorship under some of the industry’s most talented database professionals and information technology (IT) experts.”

Today, IT field is getting bigger and better, while talking about terabytes of the database becomes “more” normal every single day. The gods and demigods of database professionals are taking care of these large scale databases and are carefully maintaining them. In this world, there are only a few beginnings on the first step. There are many experts in different technology fields who are asked to address the issues with databases. There is YOU and ME, who is just new to this work. So we ask ourselves WHERE to begin and HOW to begin. We adore and follow the religion of our rockstars, but oftentimes we really have no idea about their background and their struggles. Every rockstar has his success story which needs to be digested before learning his tricks and tips. This book starts with the same note and teaches the two most important lessons for anybody who wants to be a DBA Rockstar –  to focus on their single goal of learning and to excel the technology.

The story starts with three simple guidelines – Get Prepared, Get Trained, Get Certified. Once a person learns the skills, and then, it would be about time that he needs to enrich or to improve those skills you have learned. I am sure that the right opportunity will come finding themselves and they will not have to go run behind it. However, the real challenge for any person is the first day or first week. A new employee, no matter how much experienced he is, sometimes has no clue about what should one do at new job. Chapter 2 and chapter 3 precisely talk about what one should do as soon as the new job begins. It is also written with keeping the fact in focus that each job can be very much different but there are few infrastructure setups and programming concepts are the same. Learning basics of database was really interesting. I like to focus on the roots of any technology. It is important to understand the structure of the database before suggesting what indexes needs to be created, the same way this book covers the most essential knowledge one must learn by most database developers.

I think the title of the fourth chapter is my favorite sentence in this book. I can see that I will be saying this again and again in the future – “A Development Server Is a Production Server to a Developer“. I have worked in the software industry for almost 8 years now and I have seen so many developers sitting on their chairs and waiting for instructions from their lead about how to improve the code or what to do the next. When I talk to them, I suggest that the experiment with their server and try various techniques. I think they all should understand that for them, a development server is their production server and needs to pay proper attention to the code from the beginning. There should be NO any inappropriate code from the beginning. One has to fully focus and give their best, if they are not sure they should ask but should do something and stay active.

Chapter 5 and 6 talks about two essential skills for any developer and database administration – what are the ethics of developers when they are working with production server and how to support software which is running on the production server. I have met many people who know the theory by heart but when put in front of keyboard they do not know where to start. The first thing they do opening the browser and searching online, instead of opening SQL Server Management Studio. This can very well happen to anybody who is experienced as well. Chapter 5 and 6 addresses that situation as well includes the handy scripts which can solve almost all the basic trouble shooting issues.

“Where’s the Buffet?” By far, this is the best chapter in this book. If you have ever met me, you would know that I love food. I think after reading this chapter, I felt Thomas has written this just keeping me in mind. I think there will be many other people who feel the same way, too. Even my wife who read this chapter thought this was specifically written for me. I will not talk any more about this chapter as this is one must read chapter. And of course this is about real ‘FOOD‘.

I am an SQL Server Trainer and Consultant and I totally agree with the point made in the chapter 8 of this book. Yes, it says here that what is necessary to train employees and people. Millions of dollars worth the labor is continuously done in the world which has faults and incorrect. Once something goes wrong, very expensive consultant comes in and fixes the problem. This whole cycle which can be stopped and improved if proper training is done. There is plenty of free trainings available as well, if one cannot afford paid training.

“Connect. Learn. Share” – I think this is a great summary and bird’s eye view of this book. Networking is the key. Everything which is discussed in this book can be taken to next level if one properly uses this tips and continuously grow with it. Connecting with others, helping learn each other and building the good knowledge sharing environment should be the goal of everyone.

Before I end the review I want to share a real experience. I have personally met one DBA who has worked in a single department in a company for so long that when he was put in a different department in his company due to closing that department, he could not adjust and quit the job despite the same people and company around him. Adjusting in the new environment gets much tougher as one person gets more and more experienced. This book precisely addresses the same issue along with their solutions.

I just cannot stop comparing the book with my personal journey. I found so many things which are coincidentally in the book is written as how we developer and DBA think. I must express special thanks to Thomas for taking time in his personal life and write this book for us. This book is indeed a book for everybody who wants to grow healthy in the tough and competitive environment.

Ratting: 5 Stars

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Professional SQL Server 2008 Internals and Troubleshooting
by Christian Bolton, Justin Langford, Brent Ozar, James Rowland-Jones, Steven Wort

Link to Amazon (Worldwide)
Link to Flipkart (India)

Brief Review: Having a book on internal and associating that with real life is “almost” an impossible task. The reason for using the word “almost” is because this book has accomplished this very well. This internals book is written by keeping real life scenarios as top focus. The highlight of the book is that it teaches how to use internals to troubleshoot the real life issues of performance, storage, query processing and all the other important aspects of SQL Server – A must-have book for everybody who is a hands-on DBA/Developer.

Detail Review: I planned to finish reading this book within a week. Very soon, I realized that I was going over very interesting subjects of SQL Server very quickly and understanding them very well. In fact, I finished reading this book in less than a week, and I have to accept that it offers an interesting journey for its readers. This book is also quite easy to read. This book has addressed some of the complex subjects in such a simple manner that any SQL user can understand it very easily.

The three very important components for any server are CPU, Memory and IO. This book effectively elucidates these three components. The topics usually begin by covering internals which shift to practical implementations after proper amount of internals. In other way, I can say that this book is NOT a usual boring book, which can put you to sleep. Each chapter keeps you interested till the end of it. CPU and IO, which are very important deciding factors for Query cost, are very well explained in the book. This book explains how any query can be understood in terms of internals. After explaining the query internals in terms of CPU and IO, it also explains how the physical memory affects query execution and what are the techniques to improve performance?

This book gives an in-depth explanation of Wait Types and Extended Events. I must admit that I was quite scared of Wait Types and Extended Events thus far and learned how “friendly” they can be after reading this book. In fact, I can really see that how I can use these concepts in my real life scenarios and help my servers to run better and efficiently. This book also covers some topics which do not have much available help online, i.e. SQLDiag, RML Utilities, etc. One who is new to these subjects can easily learn from the basics and soon can move to an advanced level. Again, as mentioned earlier, this book is written by taking the real world into consideration and all these subjects follow the same goal.

In fact, I liked the entire book. However, the chapters which I really enjoyed the most are Chapter 3: SQL Server Waits and Extended Events by Jonathan Kehayias; Chapter 4: Working with Storage by Brent Ozar; and Chapter 5: CPU and Query Processing by Steven Wort. Each chapter is independent of the other chapters; this way, the reader can practically start reading any chapter from anywhere and explore the book according to his/her convenience.

Databases are required because there is a large amount of data available, and keeping the data safe, secure and available is the MOST important task of any database system. The fourth chapter on Storage by Brent covers this important basic concept very thoroughly. The most impressive part of Chapter 4 is that it explains how storage works in real time. While taking about storage, Brent manages to effectively explain the concepts of High Availability and Disaster Recovery as well. Maintenance of storage has always been a challenge, and also there has been a lack of understanding on storage devices and techniques available. This chapter answers few very basic but important questions like when should SAN be used for data storage, and what is its effect on performance? This chapter also explains RAID setup; however, please note that it focuses on “practical internals.” After setting up good storage, it is equally important to test it; this chapter continues discussing different tools and methodologies for testing storage. This chapter also covers Windows Server Configuration as well as tuning of software by means of storage devices. Corruption can be significant problem in case of a large database; this chapter also covers the proper usage of DBCC CHECKDB and its best practices.

There is no doubt that this book is written by experts who have extensive experience in the subject, which is covered in different chapters. Solid and thorough content, plenty of code, easy-to-understand diagrams, lots of tips along with each topic and simple language are the key highlights of this book.

Rating: 5 Stars

Summary: There is no doubt that this book is by far one of the best books available for anybody who is interested in SQL Server Internals and applying its knowledge to real world troubleshooting scenarios. I think this is one of the must-have books for understanding SQL Server, and believe me, you will find yourself flipping the pages of the book when you are facing a trouble with the SQL Server instead of using search engine!

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Link to Amazon

“What is your opinion on encryption? What I mean is: In a world filled with data, how do you see encryption?” This is the precise question Michael Coles posed to me on March 3^rd of this year, while we were heading to Starbucks in Seattle. We were both attending the Microsoft MVP Summit there.

In the information era, security has become one of the most vital aspects of life. Although the topic may seem a little mundane, its importance cannot be overemphasized. It is the pillar of the information age and I shudder to think where we would be without it. We don’t leave our houses unlocked and risk thieves or opportunists taking off with our valuables. We also often take precautions, not only to preserve the precious, but also to avoid the sheer hassle of replacement and misuse. So too it should be with our information.

Encryption’s roots are extremely old and it has resolved numerous security problems over the years. In days gone by, couriers were entrusted with letters sealed with a royal wax stamp. If on delivery, the seal was broken, it was obvious that there had been a security breach. This very concept evolved as CRC checksum and developed into a complex algorithm.  While CRC checksum alerted the end user to the fact that content had been modified, its limitation was that it allowed manipulation of the content to occur in the first place. With encryption, only the authenticated owner can access and modify content.

In response to Michael’s question, I began to tell him what I knew about public and private keys. He looked at me doubtfully and asked me directly if I had ever used encryption in my career. My reluctant answer to this was “No”. He strongly suggested that I not underestimate its capabilities and explore its possibilities. I took his advice and have since implemented encryption for many of my clients, who are now far safer from unauthorized access to data.

To be very honest, in my experience, not many people know much about the subject beyond a little about public and private keys.  You do not often find experts discussing symmetric and asymmetric keys, which are just the tip of the iceberg. SQL Server has come a long way with regard to security. Encryption has taken on a whole new meaning in SQL Server 2008. There are many new features such as Extensible Key Management, Transparent Data Encryption, not to mention the pre-2008 ones such as cryptographic hashing, SQL CLR and many more. In performance terms, these are great enhancements.

The one exception is Transparent Data Encryption, where the whole database is encrypted. This can considerably reduce performance if the SQL Server box is not sufficiently powerful. It this is the case, it is a good time to offload all the encryption and decryption to third-party hardware. SQL Server allows third-party management of encryption and decryption through Extensible Key Management.

Extending the earlier courier analogy, consider the fact that even if our letter is secure and safe in our hands, as soon as we hand it to the courier it is exposed to risk and can be compromised. SQL Server 2008 has many new features, which secure data while it is being communicated between applications. A number of features were introduced that check whether data is manipulated during transmission.

Data is everywhere and taking in terms of Terra Bytes (TB) is the current reality. When a large amount of data needs to be handled, there are two major challenges. The first challenge is the actual encryption process and the resources needed to perform it. The second challenge is how to use the data once it has been encrypted.  In a regular database searching through TBs of data can take a very long time. Imagine how long this could take in and encrypted database?

In Seattle, Michael and I discussed these challenges and a few more subjects. The discussion lasted more than four hours. I have always known Michael to be an excellent author. He is renowned in the industry for his expertise of XML and Full Text Search. To my mind, he is an expert who has the extraordinary ability of relating complex concepts in simple terms. No matter how long, boring or complicated the topic, his delivery is always sweet, like chocolate that melts in the mouth.

Michael always addresses uncommon subjects. Perhaps his experience as a Sergeant in the army has given him the spirit to explore the unexplored.  I have never before encountered a single book on the subject of encryption for SQL Server and Michael’s will a “first”.

I recently had the pleasure of reading it and especially like the manner in which he and his co-author, Rodney, explain the significance of encryption. While many of the concepts covered are domain-specific, quite a few topics are common to all and the appendix is a “must read” for anyone planning a security strategy. One thing that really makes this book special is the fact that each module is written independently and you can find solutions by simply reading the relevant one.

I am a hands-on developer and only like books that have a lot of workable examples. With the exception of the first chapter, the book is filled with examples and hands-on experiments. The first chapter in itself is quite unique, as it not only provides a introduction to encryption, but also the very interesting history of encryption.  Even non-technical readers will enjoy this.

Summary:
It is my great pleasure to welcome this one-of-a- kind book to the SQL Server world. There is no doubt that this book is exceptional and will inspire anyone one who is ready to take their current security mechanism to the next level using encryption.

Stars : 5 Stars

Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)

Link to Amazon

Short Summary: Murach’s SQL Server 2008 for developers is an ideal book for all developers, and particularly, it is an excellent book for training and reference. If you are new to SQL, no problem! This book is the best reading material to start with.

Long Summary:
SQL Server has emerged as the leading database and nowadays there are a number of books available on this subject. However, it is important to select the right book to imbibe proper, thorough understanding. Murach’s SQL Server 2008 for Developers is an upgrade from an earlier version that was written for SQL Server 2005. As the title clearly suggests, this book deals with SQL Server skills that are very useful for application developers.  It primarily focuses on 2008 edition of Microsoft’s SQL Server and introduces you to the new features added to SQL Server 2008. This book is a great training resource for developers who are just starting out using Microsoft SQL Server. But this book is equally useful for experienced developers as it provides comprehensive information on SQL, which even they are not even aware of.

In sharp contrast to the usual database or SQL Server books, the first 8 chapters of this book provide information on how to use the Select, Insert, Update, and Delete statements with the Management Studio to work with an existing database. This information develops good understanding of learners regarding how a database works. In section3, the three chapters illustrate how to design and implement a new database using either SQL statements or the Management Studio. Further, in section 4 you can learn how to use advanced features such as views, stored procedures, functions, triggers, cursors, transaction, locking, database security, XML integration, and the new FILESTREAM feature for handling BLOB data. Finally, section 5 contains three chapters on how to use SQL Server’s CLR integration feature to create database objection C# or Visual Basic code.

This latest edition intends to make a developer’s job easier by appropriately covering 2008 features, helping them reach a higher level of competence and professionalism. The FILESTREAM storage feature is useful for working more proficiently with binary large objects (BLOBs) such as image, sound, and video files. The MERGE statement allows using a single statement to make multiple updates and insertions. The date, time, datetime2, and datetimeoffset data types provide better flexibility and accuracy for working with dates and times. The user-defined table type allows passing a table as a parameter to a stored procedure or a function. Also, the SPARSE attribute helps in working with NULL values more efficiently, and filtered indexes allows retrieving data more rapidly. Moreover, the code given in this book has been meticulously updated and tested against SQL Server 2008.

This book is an excellent technical reference for SQL Server 2008 and is characterized by a great format, making it thoroughly user friendly. It has Murach’s unique paired-pages layout style where each subject is given two pages of description. The left hand page is a technical description regarding what a particular function does, while the right hand page is an illustration of that feature being used; it shows the critical details, using syntax, code, screen shots, and how-to notes. This way, tutorial and reference formats have been presented in a single book, which makes it very convenient for both beginners and developers to focus on the information they need.

One drawback about this book is that it does not have answers to exercise questions. However, if you can get Instructors CD along with this book, you will find all the answers and other vital information. If you are new to SQL Server 2008, you must purchase this book.

Ratting: 5 Starts

Summary:
This book will not only introduce you to the new features but will also serve as an excellent reference guide. This book will become an integral and prized part of your collection!

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Posted in Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority Book Review, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology ]]> http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/07/08/sqlauthority-news-book-review-murachs-sql-server-2008-for-developers/feed/ 1 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/07/03/sqlauthority-news-book-review-the-rational-guide-to-building-technical-user-communities-rational-guides/ http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/07/03/sqlauthority-news-book-review-the-rational-guide-to-building-technical-user-communities-rational-guides/#comments Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:30:14 +0000 pinaldave http://blog.sqlauthority.com/?p=5779 ]]> The Rational Guide to Building Technical User Communities (Rational Guides) (Paperback)
by Greg Low

Short Review : A Great, one-of-its-kind book for everybody who is interested in building technical user community. There is no other book written on this subject but after this comprehensive book no further reading will be required.

Link to Amazon

Detailed Review :

This is for the first time in my book review, instead of talking about the book or author, I will introduce myself in a couple of lines to explain why and how this book is helpful to those interested in building community. I am a Microsoft MVP and the founder of SQLAuthority.com. I am actively involved with Technical User Group Community  all over the world and have been helping many user groups to start, grow and continuously expand successfully. I am helping user groups in capacity of their mentor to overcome any obstacles they face while running the user group.

Author Greg Low is the most experienced person when it comes to community and people. He is a Microsoft Regional Director as well as mentor for Solid Quality Australia. For over a decade, he organized several Queensland User Groups. Greg is looked upon for guidance when User Groups are in need of the most appropriate advice. He is a very renowned person in technical community and does not need any further introduction.

This book focuses on the most important lessons learned by Greg over decades of involvement in technical communities. It provides practical advice on establishing, sustaining and growing these communities. This books is focused on helping user group leaders to deal with any potential pitfalls and contains workaround as well. The book is not limited to only user group leaders. In fact, this book is for everybody who is interested in community. If you are already a member of a community, this book is a perfect guide to help you get the most out of your membership.

The first chapter, which is appropriately named as – “People, Not Technology,” sets the pace and keeps up the concept live till the end of the book. In community, staying in focus is very important for people as everything revolves around it. No matter how knowledgeable  or renowned a person is in the domain of technology, if he is not a people’s person, he cannot become an integral part of community and can never grow. For any technology to survive, support from people is required. Community provides combined power of people to lend strong support to community.Throughout the book, this key concept is cherished and explored.

Greg talks about two very important challenges for any technical community. 1) Finding Speaker and 2) Finding Operational Funds. If these two things are done appropriately the heart of any community, which is “Finding People,” comes to shape on its own. I run few User Groups and they are growing tremendously. Recently, we have been discussing about lots of legal issues. That was the prime reason why I chose to read this book. After reading this book through and through, I presented the valuable ideas from this book to my fellow leaders , and we all agreed on them right away. The rich experience that Greg  shares with his readers can effectively  solve their problems. Because of this book, we were no longer required to spend money on lawyer and instead we will now divert that fund toward our scholarship program.

Each chapter of this book is build to stand alone and it covers the subject with sufficient breadth. I really liked the real-life examples from Greg, where he talks about his friends, fellow MVPs, SQL Server Groups Leaders and other important people of community. As each chapter is written to have independent read, same topics have been covered  twice. But what I liked about it is that same subject conveys different meaning when it is presented in a different consent. This particular aspect of the book, makes it a genuine must-read book.

One negative aspect of this book is that a very important checklist of the book is only given to those who will register online. If you have a friend who owns this book and has already  registered online, you can ask that friend to pass this important stuff to you. One more thing, I would like to request Greg to include his latest learning from  his experience as a Global Community Development of PASS, in the next version of his book. I am sure that more information about international technical user groups can be now included.

Rating : 5 Stars

Summary : A must-have book for everybody who is involved with technical community in any capacity. This is a unique book on this subject.

PS : I read this book while I was traveling from Kerala to Gujarat after attending a TechEd Event.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Link to Amazon

Short Summary:
SQL SERVER 2008 is a trusted database platform that provides organizations a competitive edge by allowing them to obtain faster results and thus make improved business decisions. This book covers all the topics that can make Database Administrators efficient and successful.

Detail summary:

This information-rich book aims to enhance the experience of professionals working with SQL Server. It covers a wide array of topics and modules of the SQL Server 2008, for instance, database engine, Analysis Services, Integration Services, replication, Reporting Services, Notification Services, services broker, and full text search. The book provides elaborated guidance on management, administration, and monitoring. Besides, new features such as Policy-Based Management, Compressed Backup, and Fail-over Clustered are covered in depth. The book even has a few chapters dedicated to some of the newly introduced concepts including Powershell, Resource Governor, and Virtualization.

The latest version of SQL Server 2008 is a significant improvement on the previous version. People who have purchased the previous version know that it contains only 300 pages and does not provide comprehensive information. I had criticized the author Ross Mistry for the same. The author took my criticism positively and promised me that the next version of the book will be complete. I am extremely glad that the latest version lives up to my expectations! It is a complete book with over 850 pages and covers every topic related to SQL Server under the sun. So, there is no need to refer anything online. Not to forget that there is an online version this book available for free.

The latest edition of SQL Server 2008 includes some of the great features from the previous edition apart from the various new features to improve a DBA’s life. The later chapters of the book focus on some interesting and practical information on improving your efficiency, the scale of your server, and performance. It contains some key new features that will help you manage multiple servers at one time using Policy-Based Management, scale your I/O load using compression, and collect valuable information about your environment using data collectors. This information will certainly make a huge positive difference in your experience of working with SQL Server.

This book assumes that the reader has no experience with installing SQL Server 2008, so it starts with explanation of the basic installation and setup methods and then provides further information. One thing I really appreciate about this book is that it focuses on day-to-day administration, best practices, and industry case scenarios, which is relevant for all SQL Server users. Another attractive fact about this book is that all the topics and examples are based on the new features and functionalities.

One of the most interesting chapters I found in this book is chapter 21 – Consolidating and Vitalizing SQL Server 2008 with Hyper-V. I have not seen any other author presenting this concept in such a simple way. I think the author has done great job in organizing the ideas in a coherent manner. I recommend this useful book to everyone; in particular those interested in learning SQL Server 2008 should start with this book.

Every chapter of the book ends with Best Practices related to that chapter. Let us go over few of them.

“All database users belong to the public database role by default. Avoid using the public database role when assigning permissions unless absolutely necessary.”

“Make your key index as narrow as possible – preferably an integer column with nonclustered index on it. “

Rating: 5 Stars

In summary, this is a great concise book for all DBAs. They should definitely adorn their desk with this book for frequent reference, as I have done mine.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)

Short Summary:
Pro T-SQL 2008 Programmer’s Guide examines SQL Server 2008 T-SQL from a developer’s perspective. This information-rich book covers a wide array of developer-specific topics in SQL Server 2008. In addition, it provides in-depth knowledge of various newly introduced topics. This book is written as a practical guide to help database developers who mainly deal with T-SQL. It has really hit the spot with appropriate .NET code at a few places where required. The book assumes a basic knowledge of SQL, but it is very easy to understand for novice developers, while for advanced developers it is a great source to enhance their knowledge.

Detailed Summary:

Pro T-SQL 2008 Programmer’s Guide is a well-written and well-structured book with a good depth and breadth of quality content presented in a reader friendly way. The book is structured into chapters where latest and comprehensive information have been backed with numerous examples to facilitate understanding of all levels of developers. What I really liked about this book is that it can either be read from cover to cover, or can be used as a reference guide for finding information topic-wise. A well-organized index aids in finding the  topics very quickly.

Apart from valuable knowledge, each chapter of the book contains excellent advice and is filled with sample code (available online). It primarily revolves around SQL Server 2008 and innovative ways to code T-SQL, new functions and commands.  It addresses many details and comparisons with T-SQL in a very organized manner. All the examples have been carefully selected and are accurate, useful and sufficient for the targeted topics. In addition, this book addresses a number of real-world issues with examples, discussions and solutions.

SQLCMD and SQL Server Management Studio are advanced tools to explore SQL Server 2008 that have been covered in depth in the beginning of the book. I would like to discuss Chapter 2 in detail. This chapter dives right into the new features of T-SQL on SQL Server 2008, with discussion on productivity-enhancing features, the new MERGE statement, new data types like geometry and hierarchyid, and grouping sets. Chapter 13 introduces SQL Server 2008 catalog views, which are the preferred tools for retrieving database and database object metadata. This chapter also hashes out dynamic management views and functions, which provide access to server and database state information.

Chapters that cover Common Table Expressions (CTEs), new data types, operators, keywords, functions, and control of flows are very interesting and contain necessary explanation. Readers of my blog are very well aware of my interests in Error handling and Debugging. Interesting enough for me, there is one whole chapter dedicated to these areas. Some of the regular T-SQL concepts such as Stored Procedure, Triggers and Dynamic SQL, which I write a lot about, have also been covered in this book and each have a chapter dedicated to them. The last three chapters of the book on SQLCLR, .NET Client Programming and HTTP Endpoints necessitate Microsoft .NET FrameWork 2.0, as they contain some codes that are written in VB and C#.

One demerit with other run-of-the-mill T-SQL books is that they do not include in-depth information on XML, XQuery and XPath, while these topic have been discussed in good detail in this book, and their importance has been appropriately explained. Yet another attractive feature of this book is that all the chapters contain exercise with Appendix A having answers to all the questions asked. Appendix D comprises quick reference to SQLCMD command-line tool, which I have been using myself.

Some excerpts from the book that demonstrate how complex subjects have been explained in a lucid way  and present the visionary attitude of the author.

“How do you pass parameters to triggers? The short answer is you can’t. Because they are automatically fired in response to events, SQL Server triggers provide no means to pass in parameters.”

“When used with an aggregate function like SUM, COUNT, or AVG, or a user-defined aggregate, the OVER clause can only take a PARTITION BY clause-not an ORDER BY clause. This is a serious shortcoming in the SQL Server implementation of OVER for aggregate functions. ORDER BY in the OVER clause for aggregate functions allows you to easily perform single-statement running sum-type calculations. Running sum calculations without this feature require extensive joins, causing many people to fall back on cursors. ORDER BY for the aggregate OVER clause, and other features related to windowing functions, has been submitted as a feature request to Microsoft. Hopefully, we’ll see it implemented at some point in the near future.”

One thing that I have always liked in any database book is the use of sample database AdventureWorks. I strongly believe that the all the examples should be independent of the previous examples and should use default database. If you have not installed default database AdventureWorks, you can get its latest location by searching in my blog SQLAuthority.com. All the scripts of examples are easily available and can be downloaded online. No book is free from errors and the website for this book has errata list, which is surprisingly very small.

Rating: 5 Stars

To sum up, Pro T-SQL 2008 Programmer’s Guide is a must-read book for every developer who wants to take full advantage of the power of T-SQL on SQL Server 2008. This book by Author Michel Coles it meant to facilitate developers -  they can now spend less time worrying about how things get done and instead think about what they actually want to get done.

Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com)