January 17, 2012 at 10:11 am
Hi all,
I am currently in a position to where I am on a monitoring and response team for ms SQL and oracle environments. I am looking to go to our companies ms SQL product team and looking for some good resources in order to get a good base to ms SQL. Does anyone have any good suggestions for books or articles or a list of things I should/need to read and study up on?
Any feedback is greatly appreciated. I am 23 and a year removed from college with a 4 yr ba degree in information systems and a minor in computer science and I'm looking to excel and further my career as my current. Ompany has many opportunities so I want to be as prepared when an opportunity comes my way.
Thanks
January 17, 2012 at 10:29 am
Hopefully you have an adequate computer at home. If so I would suggest purchasing a DEVELOPER EDITION of SQL Server 2008 and become familiar with it. Practice, for example look at posting here and attempt to solve them using your Developer edition. And/or copy others posting for a solution, execute it on your home system and learn why the solution works....
Follow items such as the STAIRWAYS articles to learn the basics about many aspects of SQL
Then as your interest and knowledge grows settle on a path and ask for people here to list books that they would recommend to further your skill set.
January 17, 2012 at 11:06 am
Since you are looking to join the SQL team where you work, ask to assist in a project or some slightly more meaningful tasks. By contributing where you are now, you will have a better chance of opening doors and learning more about your particular environment.
Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
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I have given a name to my pain...MCM SQL Server, MVP
SQL RNNR
Posting Performance Based Questions - Gail Shaw[/url]
Learn Extended Events
January 17, 2012 at 12:01 pm
Building on Ron and Jason's comments - once you have your home lab use and abuse Bools On Line (BOL) which comes free with your SQL Server. Read about architecture then use the sample databases to learn and test your SQL skills.
An entry level SQL Developer position should be your initial objective.
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Pablo (Paul) Berzukov
Author of Understanding Database Administration available at Amazon and other bookstores.
Disclaimer: Advice is provided to the best of my knowledge but no implicit or explicit warranties are provided. Since the advisor explicitly encourages testing any and all suggestions on a test non-production environment advisor should not held liable or responsible for any actions taken based on the given advice.January 17, 2012 at 1:14 pm
Seconded -- the Developer Edition of SQL is great for learning -- and cheap!
For SQL Server knowledge, check out "Inside SQL Books" by/with Kalen Delaney.
For T-SQL, check out books by Itzik Ben-Gan.
SQL DBA,SQL Server MVP(07, 08, 09) "It's a dog-eat-dog world, and I'm wearing Milk-Bone underwear." "Norm", on "Cheers". Also from "Cheers", from "Carla": "You need to know 3 things about Tortelli men: Tortelli men draw women like flies; Tortelli men treat women like flies; Tortelli men's brains are in their flies".
January 17, 2012 at 1:24 pm
Adding to the above suggestions. This site is a huge resource. Monitor the active threads as much as you can. If someone posts a question you don't know the answer to, then 1. try to figure it out yourself and 2. watch the responses and see what others suggest. As time goes by, you'll go from watching and posting questions to answering them. This will tkae a while of course, but you'll be seeing real world examples.
Also, go back through the QotD's and try your luck there. if you get an swer wrong, read about it. 🙂
______________________________________________________________________
Personal Motto: Why push the envelope when you can just open it?
If you follow the direction given HERE[/url] you'll likely increase the number and quality of responses you get to your question.
Jason L. SelburgJanuary 17, 2012 at 1:56 pm
I will add that it may make sense to skip the developer edition and start with the express version instead. I know the developer edition is cheap and offers more features without the limitations of express, but it doesn't get much cheaper than free. And I'm assuming you're really new with SQL, and the express version has all the things in it that most people starting with SQL Server need. After you get your feet wet you can decide on purchasing the developer edition or not. Up to you though.
January 17, 2012 at 2:19 pm
brendan woulfe (1/17/2012)
I will add that it may make sense to skip the developer edition and start with the express version instead. I know the developer edition is cheap and offers more features without the limitations of express, but it doesn't get much cheaper than free. And I'm assuming you're really new with SQL, and the express version has all the things in it that most people starting with SQL Server need. After you get your feet wet you can decide on purchasing the developer edition or not. Up to you though.
Try going to dreamspark.com where, if you are still a recent enough graduate, you can register and download full versions of Microsoft software for free.
Jared
CE - Microsoft
January 17, 2012 at 2:43 pm
Thank you all for the advice.
I would like to add I currently have 2 instances of SQL server 2008 enterprise edition installed running log shipping and replication at home though no load going into the databases to actually encounter day to day errors.
So I am not exactly what you would call new to SQL. My position at work I am a team lead on the monitoring team and diagnose job failures and fix failed backups whatever the cause may be and resolve disk related issues relating to SQL files such as .mdf and .ldf or backups. My company has a complete team of DBA's for ms SQL and oracle and my goal is ms SQL (even though I do work on oracle currently relating to disk space or tablespaces etc). I have spoken to some of the DBA's and one advised having a solid base and understanding of everything SQL (not needing to be an expert but have a good understanding of indexing and the types and knowing about locks and joins and stored procedures and such things). So this is the point I am at and looking to study and get a more rounded base and understanding.
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