Authors: Ross Mistry with Hilary Cotter
Publisher: Sams Publishing (www.informit.com/sams)
Published: December 2008
ISBN-10: 0-672-33044-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-672-33044-5
Format: Soft cover, 912 pages.
Price: $39.99
Managing SQL Server 2008
A lot of commitment and hard work is involved in ensuring that your organization obtains maximum value out of its SQL Server environment. Thorough planning is obviously needed for a successful installation to take place. And then there are all the different sorts of tasks and responsibilities associated with the ongoing management, administration, and performance tuning of the environment. In addition, there are other major areas of concern as well, such as the high availability and the security of the environment. That’s why a book like “Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Management and Administration” can prove to be an invaluable aid to managers, database administrators, developers, Windows administrators, business intelligence architects, and all sorts of other IT professionals who interact with an SQL Server environment, either on a regular or semi-regular basis. As stated in the book’s title, the focus of the book is on SQL Server 2008 – its new features and where its functionality differs to that of SQL Server 2005. But because the book’s content is also based on Microsoft’s latest server operating system – Windows Server 2008 – a bonus for readers is that they also get to learn about how SQL Server 2008 runs on Windows Server 2008.
Ross Mistry, the author of “Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Management and Administration”, is well-qualified to write about SQL Server in general and about SQL Server 2008 in particular, given that he worked with SQL Server 2008 two years prior to it being released into the marketplace. As well as possessing a variety of industry recognized qualifications, including being a SQL Server Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP), Mistry has also authored, co-authored, or taken on the role of technical editor, for more than 10 books, with two examples of those books being “Windows Server 2008 Unleashed” and “SQL Server 2005 Management and Administration”. Importantly, he is also a regular communicator with members of the SQL Server community via newsgroups, articles that he writes, public speaking engagements, and his blogging (the address of his blog is contained in the opening pages of his book).
The content of “Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Management and Administration” has been divided into the following five major parts:
1. Installing, administering, and managing the database engine: the opening chapter of the book takes you step by step through the tasks involved in either installing a clean version of SQL Server 2008 Database Engine or upgrading from an existing SQL Server Database Engine implementation. The next five chapters subsequently discuss what needs to be done to configure and administer the diverse variety of core features and components associated with the Database Engine. Just one example of the sorts of administration tasks that are covered in depth here is the management and optimization of SQL Server 2008 indexes. The last chapter in this initial part of the book then highlights two of the most crucial aspects of maintaining a successful SQL Server 2008 environment: firstly, knowing how to back up the SQL Server 2008 Database Engine; and secondly, having the knowledge and confidence to perform a restoration whenever one or more major problems are encountered.
2. SQL Server 2008 security practices: Mistry, the author of “Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Management and Administration”, cites his SQL Server specialties as being the areas of high availability, migrations, and security, and in this second part of his book, he makes use of his experiences and turns his attention to SQL Server 2008 security practices. The four chapters that make up this section of the book respectively cover the topics of hardening a SQL Server implementation, including hardening techniques for Windows Server 2008; administering SQL Server security and authorization; administering policy based management; and encrypting SQL Server data and communications. The importance of security cannot be overstated simply because, as Mistry correctly states, “SQL Server is regularly targeted by hackers because it is a repository of sensitive data for organizations. If the server is breached, hackers can gain access to confidential information, including credit card numbers, Social Security numbers, or marketing information.”
3. SQL Server 2008 high availability alternatives: As with SQL Server security, the ongoing high availability of the environment cannot be overstressed either. The third part of the “Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Management and Administration” book is therefore aimed directly at Database Administrators who have responsibility for that availability, and it has been written specifically to help them to choose the appropriate high availability technology when designing and implementing SQL Server 2008. In order to do that, Mistry presents DBAs with four different implementation and management approaches, namely, failover clustering; database mirroring; log shipping; and SQL Server replication. To back up the theory that he discusses, Mistry has also included real world examples and industry best practices in each of the four chapters that comprise this part of his book.
4. Monitoring and troubleshooting SQL Server 2008: Once the technology is up and running, the challenge is to make sure that the SQL Server 2008 environment remains both optimized and performing at its maximum. Those goals are achieved through the combination of ongoing monitoring, practical management of workloads and consumption; fine tuning of the environment; and having a troubleshooting strategy in place for when problems inevitably arise. However there is little value to be gained from monitoring the environment unless the findings that emerge from that monitoring are then acted upon as quickly and efficiently as possible. Mistry points out, for example, that “it is often difficult to anticipate real world loads during the development phase of application deployment; thus, it is critical to adjust the parameters of the SQL Server 2008 platform to optimize the performance after it is deployed. Frequently, DBAs need to troubleshoot the performance of SQL Server 2008 to address problems that are uncovered by monitoring.” Examples of topics investigated in this part of the book are managing workloads and consumption with Resource Governor (a new management feature that ships with SQL Server 2008); monitoring SQL Server 2008 with a series of native tools; and proactively monitoring SQL Server 2008 with System Center Operations Manager (OpsMgr) 2007 (alternatively known by the acronym SCOM). According to Mistry, the benefit of OpsMgr is that it “helps to identify specific environmental conditions before they evolve into problems.”
5. SQL Server 2008 bonus content: the last part of “Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Management and Administration” has been reserved for two “bonus” topics. The first one provides readers with instructions for administering SQL Server 2008 with PowerShell, a new command line shell and scripting language for automating server administration. The second topic is about consolidating and virtualizing SQL Server 2008 with Hyper-V (don’t be overly concerned if this topic is new to you as both Microsoft’s virtualization strategy, and the role of Hyper-V, a virtualization technology, are introduced and fully discussed by Mistry).
A feature of the “Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Management and Administration” book that is worthy of highlighting is the use of a “Best Practices” section that has been inserted at the conclusion of each of its 21 chapters. Each of these “Best Practices” sections is made up of a short list of tasks, advice, and recommendations that can be quickly referred to ensure that all “bases are covered” in regard to a particular aspect of SQL Server 2008. For instance, as an example, here are just three of the “Best Practices” listed at the end of the chapter devoted to hardening a SQL Server implementation:
1) install the most recent critical fixes and service packs for both Windows and SQL Server;
2) create a role based security policy with the Security Configuration Wizard tool; and
3) install only the required components when installing SQL Server.
One last point: a link for downloading the sample databases used throughout the book is supplied in the book’s introduction so that you can “practice” as you read through the book.
In summing up, “Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Management and Administration” is a comprehensive guide to just about any aspect of SQL Server 2008 technology that you may be interested in learning about for the first time, or for which you are looking for additional, detailed information. It is reassuring to know that it has been written by an expert in the field, who not only has first hand experience in the development of the product but also its subsequent deployment and use throughout the business world.