Download an updated version of Books Online for Microsoft SQL Server 2005. Books Online is the primary documentation for SQL Server 2005. The February 2007 update to Books Online contains new material and fixes to documentation problems reported by customers after SQL Server 2005 was released. Refer to “New and Updated Books Online Topics” for a list of topics that are new or updated in this version. Topics with significant updates have a Change History table at the bottom of the topic that summarizes the changes. Beginning with the February 2007 update, SQL Server 2005 Books Online reflects product upgrades included in SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 (SP2).
The text above is copied from MS Download Center.
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How to Use SQL Server 2005 Books Online, and What to Use Now
Books Online was installed with SQL Server, so it worked even without an internet connection. For many DBAs it was the first place to check syntax, error numbers and the limits of a feature. Updates like this one mattered because the documentation kept getting fixes after release, and service packs changed how some features worked.
The Change History table at the bottom of an updated topic is worth noticing. It tells you quickly what is different, so you do not have to reread a long page to find the one new line.
Today the SQL Server documentation lives online on Microsoft Learn and is updated all the time, so there is nothing to download. A few reading tips still apply:
- Check the Applies to line near the top of a page to be sure the feature exists in your version.
- Read the Remarks and Permissions sections. They answer many questions before you ever hit an error.
- Run the examples on a test database before you use them on real data.
If you still run SQL Server 2005 somewhere, remember it has been out of support for years. Plan an upgrade, and use the current documentation to learn what changed between your version and the new one.
When a blog post and the documentation disagree, trust the documentation for the version you run, then test it yourself on a small example. Things do change between versions, and a quick test settles the question.
Published by Pinal Dave on SQLAuthority. More of my work at pinaldave.com.
1 Comment. Leave new
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Shailesh Saxena