SQL Server 2008 Administration in Action

02/01/2011 · No Responses

The integrity and security of your database is crucial to your business. SQL Server 2008 is a massive and mature product with a very large feature set. As a SQL Server administrator, you must be equipped to handle myriad day-to-day tasks to keep your database healthy, and you must also be prepared to act quickly when something unexpected happens.

SQL Server 2008 Administration in Action offers over 100 DBA-tested, high-value, best practices that will help you tame the beast and keep it under control. Unlike the many comprehensive SQL Server reference tomes out there that attempt to cover the whole SQL Server feature set, this book drills down on the techniques, procedures, and practices that help you keep your database running like clockwork.

SQL Server 2008 Administration in Action focuses the production DBA, digging deep into the various tasks specific to that role. Expert author Rod Colledge–check him out at sqlCrunch.com–teaches you best practices that cover the lifecycle of a SQL Server system, including infrastructure design, installation, and operational maintenance. And while many of these techniques will work in any recent version of SQL Server, you’ll find full coverage of emerging SQL Server 2008 best practices.

Each technique is presented in a task-driven style, and in the order of the typical life cycle of a SQL Server system. This allows you to easily open the book at the appropriate page and focus on what you need to know for each specific situation.

What’s Inside

Selecting and configuring server components
Distributing I/O load over multiple controllers
Selecting the appropriate stripe size
Configuring storage cache
Preparing for SQL Server clustering
Configure the private network for cluster use only
Configure the cluster network priority
Prepare resources for a clustered SQL Server installation
Index selection and maintenance
Identify and drop unused indexes
Identify and create missing indexes
Select the appropriate clustered index
Database mirroring
Prepare the mirror server for failover
Select the appropriate failover mode
Consider disabling log stream compression for CPU bottlenecked systems
Upgrading SQL Server
Reduce downtime with T-Log backup/restore and the side-by-side upgrade method
Prior to an upgrade, run DBCC checks and take full backups with verification
Ensure read only is not enabled prior to the upgrade

This book is a DBA’s best friend. It covers the most important and often overlooked areas that you need to maintain to keep your databases secure, in-tune, and well-protected in the event of disaster.

About the Author
Rod Colledge is an independent SQL Server consultant based in Brisbane, Australia. Since 1996, Rod has specialized in the development and administration of SQL Server database systems. His recent work has included the design and implementation of custom transactional replication and log shipping solutions, performance tuning large high-volume databases, and developing procedures for operational maintenance of large database systems. In September 2007, Rod founded sqlCrunch.com, a website specializing in summarizing and categorizing links to SQL Server white papers and best practices.