Recommendations for learning SQL Server

  • Hey guys, just found your cool site. I've been an oracle dba for a few years and i'm starting on a new gig with the opportunity to learn sql server. I've never used it...Any recommedations, books, on how to get started? learn basic administration? basics of t-sql? do's and dont's?Thanks a bunch.

  • There used to be an independent SQL Server exam prep books that were quite detailed.

    Having worked with an ORACLE developer he gained a grudging respect of SQL Server, mainly due to its ease of use and administration. The were a few things that gave him a few headaches. I gather that ORACLE encourages the use of cursors? SQL Server performs better with set based operations.

    Aslo there is no concept of row id in SQL Server.

  • Visit here at least weekly and read/work through the articles, tips, scripts, etc.

    There are a series of books by Henderson called 'The Guru's Guide...' which are great!

    Welcome to the club!



    Michelle

  • Thanks. Here are some of the books I've ordered. One includes a book by Henderson:

    Guru's Guide to Transact-SQL - Ken Henderson

    Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2000 - Kalen Delaney

  • Congratulations!

    You've chosen two of the very best around. Never had a look at this one here http://www.chriskempster.com/ but it might also be worth a try.

    --
    Frank Kalis
    Microsoft SQL Server MVP
    Webmaster: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs
    My blog: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs/frankkalis/[/url]

  • I've gotten a lot of use out of "Professional SQL Server 2000 Programming" by Robert Viera.

    Regards,

    Scott

  • Since you're interested in the DBA side, in the Henderson book, he recommends just letting SQL grow on it's own using only the default settings... very, very bad idea.  The default database size starts at 1 meg with a growth rate of 10%.  Same with the log file size.  Let that puppy grow in such small increments and you will suffer a tremendously fragmented hard drive which absolutely kills speed.

    Automatic growth is fine but use your head... plan the initial size of the database with 1 year's anticipated growth.  Then make the growth rate in mega bytes, not a percentage.  The databases we have at work are over 50 gig each... we use a 500 meg to 1000 meg growth rate and try to plan ahead for each year.  When I first got there, it was set to 10% from day one... the hard-disk was so fragmented that we got more than a 100% speed improvement (things that took 10 minutes to run took less than 5, for example) by defragmenting the disk and setting the growth to domething more predictable than a percentage.

    --Jeff Moden


    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
    ________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.


    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

  • As someone in the same boat (oracle DBA learning SQL Server) I found the book

    Oracle8i and Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Integration by Stephen Chelack very helpful.  Outlines the differences very nicely.  Not sure if its still in print.

  • Thanks..We have a lot in common then (oracle dba learning sql server). Ping me at melsterdba@yahoo.com, maybe we can share some notes!

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