Introduction

SQL Server 2005 is easily the largest leap forward for SQL Server since its inception. Because of this rapid evolution, the learning curve in using some of the newest features can be challenging. It is no longer unheard of to have 20-terabyte databases running on a SQL Server. SQL Server administration used to just be the job of a database administrator (DBA), but now, as SQL Server proliferates throughout smaller companies, many developers have begun to act as administrators as well. Additionally, some of the new features in SQL Server are more developer-centric, and poor configuration of these features can result in poor performance. We've provided a comprehensive, tutorial-based book to get you over the learning curve of how to configure and administrate SQL Server 2005.

Who This Book Is For

Whether you're an administrator or developer using SQL Server, you can't avoid wearing a DBA hat at some point. Developers often have SQL Server on their own workstations and must provide guidance to the administrator on how they'd like the production configured. Often, they're responsible for creating the database tables and indexes. Administrators or DBAs support the production servers and often inherit the database from the developer.

This book is intended for developers, DBAs, and casual users who hope to administer or may already be administering a SQL Server 2005 system and its business intelligence features such as Integration Services. This is a professional book, meaning that the authors assume that you know the basics on how to query a SQL Server and have some rudimentary concepts of SQL Server already. For example, the authors of this book will not show you how to create a database or walk you through the installation of SQL Server through the wizard. Instead, the author of the installation chapter may provide insight to how to use some of the more advanced concepts of the installation. This book will not cover how to query a SQL Server database, but it will cover how to tune the queries you've already written.