Whats Inside

What’s Inside

The book is divided into four parts, and each part consists of several chapters.

Part I: SQL Server 2005 System and Platform Architecture

This part opens with an overview of both the system and platform architectures of SQL Server 2005. Gone are the days when a Microsoft product ran on just one OS of Windows. There are now several platforms on which you can deploy the product, albeit they are all Windows operating systems. Chapter 1 discusses aspects of all versions of SQL Server, from the Enterprise Edition that runs on megaservers and that can scale to support huge databases and serve thousands of concurrent users, to the Windows Mobile Edition that can run on tiny mobile devices and appliances.

Chapter 1 is designed to get you familiar with SQL Server as quickly as possible. It also places the product at the core of Microsoft’s .NET initiative. Chapter 2 discusses SQL Server database architecture, while Chapter 3 goes on to discuss the client/server and DBMS architectures respectively. Chapter 4 introduces the administrative interfaces and applications to SQL Server, such as SQL Server Management Studio.

Part II: Administering SQL Server 2005

This part deals exclusively with database administration. Building on the overview in Part I, this part is aimed particularly at database administrators and operators (DBAs), the teammates tasked with platform administration, such as backing up and restoring databases, keeping servers healthy, keeping servers and data secure, supporting users, configuring services, managing availability and performance, and so on. Chapter 5 kicks off the part with a critical overview of SQL Server security, while Chapter 6 covers everything a DBA needs to know about databases and tables. Chapter 7 deals with the critical subjects of disaster recovery We will also discuss the backup/restore services in some detail in this chapter.

Chapter 8 provides an introduction to replication and is suitable for DBAs just starting in this area. The replication subject would fill several chapters or even a book in its own right. You will thus be able to “graduate舡 from this chapter to a more advanced, dedicated treatise on the subject, or at least make some headway with the documentation in Books Online. Chapter 8 also covers log shipping and the new database mirror functionality in SQL Server 2005. Chapter 9 is an extensive chapter on the subject of clustering.

Part III: Programming SQL Server 2005

Application development is covered extensively in Part III. We kick off with a general discussion of programming SQL Server 2005 using Transact-SQL (T-SQL). We also look at the new support for the .NET Framework’s Common Language Runtime in SQL Server. This part also provides extensive coverage of advanced data processing features, such as stored procedures, triggers, SQL queries, data manipulation (or modification) language, and so on.

Part IV: Working with SQL Server 2005

The final chapters, 15, 16, 17 and 18, deal with SQL Server operations, in particular, support for XML. With XML now the de facto data exchange language of the Internet, SQL Server’s support for XML is mind-blowing to say the least. Chapter 17 thus provides full coverage to this essential subject. Chapter 18 covers performance monitoring, tracing, and troubleshooting.