I did end up pre-ordering the first DVD on SQL Server internals by SQL Server MVP and SQL Server internals expert, Kalen Delaney. If you haven't pre-ordered the DVD yet, there's only a few days left to do so at the pre-order price:

  Pre-Order Kalen Delaney's SQL Server Internals DVD - Lesson 1

One of the nice things that was done was for those who have pre-ordered, we were given access to the DVD on-line through the On Demand system that has been developed. This will last until all the pre-orders shipped. As a result, I sat down tonight and went through the entire lesson 1. It was well worth the time.

Overall, the material is just under 2 hours long with over 30 minutes of demos. Kalen covers the basic metadata views and then dives in to explanations about certain internals components such as the User Mode Scheduler and how SQL Server handles the Buffer Pool. I really liked the explanation on the scheduler. It's clear and it's done in a way that someone who is a complete novice to SQL Server but who understands the basic concept of scheduling and priorities (not from an IT perspective, I mean in general) can grasp what SQL Server is doing. Buffer pool was another area that was done in an easy to understand manner. Another thing I liked is how Kalen referred to other sources for more information. So if you want to do more reading on a topic, she's given where to go.

I said in an earlier post that I was looking forward to this DVD. Having now viewed lesson 1, I'm looking forward to getting it in my grubby hands to go back over and waiting for Lesson 2.