Microsoft SQL Server 2008
Management and Administration by
Ross Mistry
Favorite Book Of My Shelf - A Great Concise Book For All Dbas - Review By Founder
Of Sqlauthority.Com
If you need to deploy, manage, or secure Microsoft SQL Server 2008, this
is the complete, fast-paced, task-based reference you’ve been searching
for. Authored by a world-class expert on SQL Server in the enterprise, this
book goes far beyond the basics, taking on the complex tasks that DBAs
need to make the most of Microsoft’s flagship database platform. SQL
Server MVP, Ross Mistry presents proven techniques for SQL Server 2008
installation, upgrades, backup/restore, data transfer, indexing, high
availability, security, and much more. He draws on extensive testing in
high-profile production environments to offer step-by-step solutions and
powerful tips you won’t find anywhere else. Every chapter begins with a
section identifying SQL Server 2008’s most significant new improvements,

and concludes with a convenient summary of best practices. Each chapter
also outlines the benefits of leveraging Windows Server 2008.
Understand how to: Master DBA tips, tricks, and best practices
proven in actual enterprise environments Install, upgrade or
transition to SQL Server 2008. Harden and Secure an
implementation. Encrypt SQL Server from an end-to-end
perspective. Implement high availability–and leverage SQL Server
2008’s major improvements to failover clustering and database mirroring
Save time with SQL Server 2008’s new policy-based management
tools Performance tune and troubleshoot a SQL Server 2008
environment. Optimize application performance and manage
workloads with the powerful new Resource Governor Implement
Performance Studio, maintenance plans, Transparent Data Encryption and
much more…Bonus Content: The book is based on Windows
Server 2008 Step by step instructions of how to implement a failover
cluster on Windows Server 2008 SQL Server PoweShell
Administration Tasks Consolidate and virtualize SQL Server with
Hyper-V Step by step instructions on how to install Hyper-V
Proactively Monitor SQL Server with Operations Manager Install
Windows Server 2008 certificates to encrypt SQL Server dataContributing
Writers include: Hilary Cotter — SQL Server MVP
John Welch — SQL Server MVP
Marco Shaw — PowerShell MVP
Maciej Pilecki — SQL Server MVP
Shirmattie Seenarine — Technical Writer
Personal Review: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Management and
Administration by Ross Mistry
Short Summary:
SQL SERVER 2008 is a trusted database platform that provides
organizations a competitive edge by allowing them to obtain faster results
and thus make improved business decisions. This book covers all the
topics that can make Database Administrators efficient and successful.
Detail summary:
This information-rich book aims to enhance the experience of
professionals working with SQL Server. It covers a wide array of topics and

modules of the SQL Server 2008, for instance, database engine, Analysis
Services, Integration Services, replication, Reporting Services, Notification
Services, services broker, and full text search. The book provides
elaborated guidance on management, administration, and monitoring.
Besides, new features such as Policy-Based Management, Compressed
Backup, and Fail-over Clustered are covered in depth. The book even has
a few chapters dedicated to some of the newly introduced concepts
including Powershell, Resource Governor, and Virtualization.
The latest version of SQL Server 2008 is a significant improvement on the
previous version. People who have purchased the previous version know
that it contains only 300 pages and does not provide comprehensive
information. I had criticized the author Ross Mistry for the same. The
author took my criticism positively and promised me that the next version
of the book will be complete. I am extremely glad that the latest version
lives up to my expectations! It is a complete book with over 850 pages and
covers every topic related to SQL Server under the sun. So, there is no
need to refer anything online. Not to forget that there is an online version
this book available for free.
The latest edition of SQL Server 2008 includes some of the great features
from the previous edition apart from the various new features to improve a
DBA's life. The later chapters of the book focus on some interesting and
practical information on improving your efficiency, the scale of your server,
and performance. It contains some key new features that will help you
manage multiple servers at one time using Policy-Based Management,
scale your I/O load using compression, and collect valuable information
about your environment using data collectors. This information will
certainly make a huge positive difference in your experience of working
with SQL Server.
This book assumes that the reader has no experience with installing SQL
Server 2008, so it starts with explanation of the basic installation and setup
methods and then provides further information. One thing I really
appreciate about this book is that it focuses on day-to-day administration,
best practices, and industry case scenarios, which is relevant for all SQL
Server users. Another attractive fact about this book is that all the topics
and examples are based on the new features and functionalities.
One of the most interesting chapters I found in this book is chapter 21 -
Consolidating and Vitalizing SQL Server 2008 with Hyper-V. I have not
seen any other author presenting this concept in such a simple way. I think
the author has done great job in organizing the ideas in a coherent
manner. I recommend this useful book to everyone; in particular those
interested in learning SQL Server 2008 should start with this book.
Every chapter of the book ends with Best Practices related to that chapter.
Let us go over few of them.

"All database users belong to the public database role by default. Avoid
using the public database role when assigning permissions unless
absolutely necessary."
"Make your key index as narrow as possible - preferably an integer column
with nonclustered index on it. "
Rating: 5 Stars
In summary, this is a great concise book for all DBAs. They should
definitely adorn their desk with this book for frequent reference, as I have
done mine.
Pinal Dave
Founder - blog.SQLAuthority.com
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