SQL SERVER – 3 Online SQL Courses at Pluralsight and Free Learning Resources

Usain Bolt is an inspiration for all. He broke his own record multiple times because he wanted to do better! Read more about him on wikipedia. He is great and indeed fastest man on the planet.

“Can you teach me SQL Server Performance Tuning?”

This is one of the most popular questions which I receive all the time. The answer is YES.

I would love to do performance tuning training for anyone, anywhere.  It is my favorite thing to do, and it is my favorite thing to train others in.  If possible, I would love to do training 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.  To me, it doesn’t feel like a job.

Of course, as much as I would love to do performance tuning 24/7/365, obviously I am just one human being and can only be in one place at one time.  It is also very difficult to train more than one person at a time, and it is difficult to train two or more people at a time, especially when the two people are at different levels.  I am also limited by geography.  I live in India, and adjust to my own time zone.  Trying to teach a live course from India to someone whose time zone is 12 or more hours off of mine is very difficult.  If I am trying to teach at 2 am, I am sure I am not at my best!

There was only one solution to scale – Online Trainings. I have built 3 different courses on SQL Server Performance Tuning with Pluralsight. Now I have no problem – I am 100% scalable and available 24/7 and 365. You can make me say the same things again and again till you find it right. I am in your mobile, PC as well as on XBOX. This is why I am such a big fan of online courses.  I have recorded many performance tuning classes and you can easily access them online, at your own time.  And don’t think that just because these aren’t live classes you won’t be able to get any feedback from me.  I encourage all my viewers to go ahead and ask me questions by e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, or whatever way you can get a hold of me.

Here are details of three of my courses with Pluralsight. I suggest you go over the description of the course. As an author of the course, I have few FREE codes for watching the free courses. Please leave a comment with your valid email address, I will send a few of them to random winners.

SQL Server Performance: Introduction to Query Tuning 

SQL Server performance tuning is an art to master – for developers and DBAs alike. This course takes a systematic approach to planning, analyzing, debugging and troubleshooting common query-related performance problems. This includes an introduction to understanding execution plans inside SQL Server.

In this almost four hour course we cover following important concepts.

• Introduction 10:22
• Execution Plan Basics 45:59
• Essential Indexing Techniques 20:19
• Query Design for Performance 50:16
• Performance Tuning Tools 01:15:14
• Tips and Tricks 25:53
• Checklist: Performance Tuning 07:13

The duration of each module is mentioned besides the name of the module.

SQL Server Performance: Indexing Basics

This course teaches you how to master the art of performance tuning SQL Server by better understanding indexes.

In this almost two hour course we cover following important concepts.

• Introduction 02:03
• Fundamentals of Indexing 22:21
• Practical Indexing Implementation Techniques 37:25
• Index Maintenance 16:33
• Introduction to ColumnstoreIndex 08:06
• Indexing Practical Performance Tips and Tricks 24:56
• Checklist : Index and Performance 07:29

The duration of each module is mentioned besides the name of the module.

SQL Server Questions and Answers

This course is designed to help you better understand how to use SQL Server effectively. The course presents many of the common misconceptions about SQL Server, and then carefully debunks those misconceptions with clear explanations and short but compelling demos, showing you how SQL Server really works.

In this almost 2 hours and 15 minutes course we cover following important concepts.

• Introduction 00:54
• Retrieving IDENTITY value using @@IDENTITY 08:38
• Concepts Related to Identity Values 04:15
• Difference between WHERE and HAVING 05:52
• Order in WHERE clause 07:29
• Concepts Around Temporary Tables and Table Variables 09:03
• Are stored procedures pre-compiled? 05:09
• UNIQUE INDEX and NULLs problem 06:40
• DELETE VS TRUNCATE 06:07
• Locks and Duration of Transactions 15:11
• Nested Transaction and Rollback 09:16
• Understanding Date/Time Datatypes 07:40
• Differences between VARCHAR and NVARCHAR datatypes 06:38
• Precedence of DENY and GRANT security permissions 05:29
• Identify Blocking Process 06:37
• NULLS usage with Dynamic SQL 08:03
• Appendix Tips and Tricks with Tools 20:44

The duration of each module is mentioned besides the name of the module.

SQL in Sixty Seconds

You will have to login and to get subscribed to the courses to view them. Here are my free video learning resources SQL in Sixty Seconds. These are 60 second video which I have built on various subjects related to SQL Server. Do let me know what you think about them?

Here are three of my latest videos:

• Identify Most Resource Intensive Queries – SQL in Sixty Seconds #028
• Copy Column Headers from Resultset – SQL in Sixty Seconds #027
• Effect of Collation on Resultset – SQL in Sixty Seconds #026

You can watch and learn at your own pace.  Then you can easily ask me any questions you have.  E-mail is easiest, but for really tough questions I’m willing to talk on Skype, Gtalk, or even Facebook chat.  Please do watch and then talk with me, I am always available on the internet!

Here is the video of the world’s fastest man.Usain St. Leo Bolt inspires us that we all do better than best. We can go the next level of our own record. We all can improve if we have a will and dedication.  Watch the video from 5:00 mark.

http://youtu.be/2O7K-8G2nwU?t=5m3s

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