SQL Server MVP Deep Dives, Volume 2

Summary

SQL Server MVP Deep Dives, Volume 2 lets you learn from the best in the business – 64 SQL Server MVPs offer completely new content in this second volume on topics ranging from testing and policy management to integration services, reporting, and performance optimization techniques…and more.

About this Book

To become an MVP requires deep knowledge and impressive skill. Together, the 64 MVPs who wrote this book bring about 1,000 years of experience in SQL Server administration, development, training, and design. This incredible book captures their expertise and passion in 60 concise, hand-picked chapters.

SQL Server MVP Deep Dives, Volume 2 picks up where the first volume leaves off, with completely new content on topics ranging from testing and policy management to integration services, reporting, and performance optimization. The chapters fall into five parts: Architecture and Design, Database Administration, Database Development, Performance Tuning and Optimization, and Business Intelligence.

What’s Inside

• Discovering servers with PowerShell
• Using regular expressions in SSMS
• Tuning the Transaction Log for OLTP
• Optimizing SSIS for dimensional data
• Real-time BI and much more

This unique book is your chance to learn from the best in the business. It offers valuable insights for readers of all levels.

Table of Contents
Part 1 Architecture
Chapter 1 Where are my keys?
Chapter 2 “Yes, we are all individuals” A look at uniqueness in the world of SQL
Chapter 3 Architectural growth pains
Chapter 4 Characteristics of a great relational database
Chapter 5 Storage design considerations
Chapter 6 Generalization: the key to a well-designed schema

Part 2 Database administration
Chapter 7 Increasing availability through testing
Chapter 8 Page restores
Chapter 9 Capacity planning
Chapter 10 Discovering your servers with PowerShell and SMO
Chapter 11 Will the real Mr. Smith please stand up?
Chapter 12 Build your own SQL Server 2008 performance dashboard
Chapter 13 SQL Server cost recovery
Chapter 14 Best practice compliance with Policy-Based Management
Chapter 15 Using SQL Server Management Studio to the fullest
Chapter 16 Multiserver management and Utility Explorer—best tools for the DBA
Chapter 17 Top 10 SQL Server admin student misconceptions
Chapter 18 High availability of SQL Server in the context of Service Level Agreements

Part 3 Database development
Chapter 19 T-SQL: bad habits to kick
Chapter 20 Death by UDF
Chapter 21 Using regular expressions in SSMS
Chapter 22 SQL Server Denali: what’s coming next in T-SQL
Chapter 23 Creating your own data type
Chapter 24 Extracting data with regular expressions
Chapter 25 Relational division
Chapter 26 SQL FILESTREAM: to BLOB or not to BLOB
Chapter 27 Writing unit tests for Transact-SQL
Chapter 28 Getting asynchronous with Service Broker
Chapter 29 Effective use of HierarchyId
Chapter 30 Let Service Broker help you scale your application

Part 4 Performance tuning and optimization
Chapter 31 Hardware 201: selecting and sizing database server hardware
Chapter 32 Parameter sniffing: your best friend… except when it isn’t
Chapter 33 Investigating the plan cache
Chapter 34 What are you waiting for? An introduction to waits and queues
Chapter 35 You see sets, and I see loops
Chapter 36 Performance-tuning the transaction log for OLTP workloads
Chapter 37 Strategies for unraveling tangled code
Chapter 38 Using PAL to analyze SQL Server performance
Chapter 39 Tuning JDBC for SQL Server

Part 5 Business intelligence
Chapter 40 Creating a formal Reporting Services report part library
Chapter 41 Improving report layout and visualization
Chapter 42 Developing sharable managed code expressions in SSRS
Chapter 43 Designing reports with custom MDX queries
Chapter 44 Building a scale-out Reporting Services farm
Chapter 45 Creating SSRS reports from SSAS
Chapter 46 Optimizing SSIS for dimensional data loads
Chapter 47 SSIS configurations management
Chapter 48 Exploring different types of enumerators in the SSIS Foreach Loop container
Chapter 49 Late-arriving dimensions in SSIS
Chapter 50 Why automate tasks with SSIS?
Chapter 51 Extending SSIS using the Script component
Chapter 52 ETL design checklist
Chapter 53 Autogenerating SSAS cubes
Chapter 54 Scripting SSAS databases – AMO and PowerShell, Better Together
Chapter 55 Managing context in MDX
Chapter 56 Using time intelligence functions in PowerPivot
Chapter 57 Easy BI with Silverlight PivotViewer
Chapter 58 Excel as a BI frontend tool
Chapter 59 Real-time BI with StreamInsight
Chapter 60 BI solution development design considerations