If I actually wanted to become a Sql Server DBA, what would I read?
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In talking about Oracle below it got me thinking about something I've been kicking around for a while now. For two decades, I've been a coding guy. Naturally, I've picked up db design / administratin skills along the way, but in the same manner that we often learn coding technologies. You buy a book, flip to chapter 14 that has the stuff to meet today's deadling, and then put it on the shelf. With all the basic db driven web stuff I've been doing, I more and more feel an actual interest in learning the db side of things and building up the degree of skill there that I have with languages. However, poking around, I really don't see the kinds of books that I'm looking for. It's SQL for Dummies, an introduction to Sql Server, yada, yada. What I'd really like to find is a book or three that starts at the very beginning and says, "So, you've never seen a database or SQL in your life, and you want to become a Sql Server DBA, eh?" and steps you thoroughly from beginning to end covering general db design and best practices, Sql Server itself from beginning to end, and on up through scalability and real world issues if you've got your hands on an Amazon.com sized operation. Mind you, I have zero desire for any MS certification. I don't want to learn how to memorize stuff and pass a test. I want to learn. Are there any books / series out there you'd recommend? Where do real, live DBAs (who don't go to college) learn their skills from beginning to end? I mention books rather than training courses because I've always been self taught and prefer to work at my own pace.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
Christopher Duncan wrote:
"So, you've never seen a database or SQL in your life, and you want to become a Sql Server DBA, eh?"
SQL for Dummies. :~
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In talking about Oracle below it got me thinking about something I've been kicking around for a while now. For two decades, I've been a coding guy. Naturally, I've picked up db design / administratin skills along the way, but in the same manner that we often learn coding technologies. You buy a book, flip to chapter 14 that has the stuff to meet today's deadling, and then put it on the shelf. With all the basic db driven web stuff I've been doing, I more and more feel an actual interest in learning the db side of things and building up the degree of skill there that I have with languages. However, poking around, I really don't see the kinds of books that I'm looking for. It's SQL for Dummies, an introduction to Sql Server, yada, yada. What I'd really like to find is a book or three that starts at the very beginning and says, "So, you've never seen a database or SQL in your life, and you want to become a Sql Server DBA, eh?" and steps you thoroughly from beginning to end covering general db design and best practices, Sql Server itself from beginning to end, and on up through scalability and real world issues if you've got your hands on an Amazon.com sized operation. Mind you, I have zero desire for any MS certification. I don't want to learn how to memorize stuff and pass a test. I want to learn. Are there any books / series out there you'd recommend? Where do real, live DBAs (who don't go to college) learn their skills from beginning to end? I mention books rather than training courses because I've always been self taught and prefer to work at my own pace.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
Go to amazon.com search sql server 2005 Read the reviews of the books.
I didn't get any requirements for the signature
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In talking about Oracle below it got me thinking about something I've been kicking around for a while now. For two decades, I've been a coding guy. Naturally, I've picked up db design / administratin skills along the way, but in the same manner that we often learn coding technologies. You buy a book, flip to chapter 14 that has the stuff to meet today's deadling, and then put it on the shelf. With all the basic db driven web stuff I've been doing, I more and more feel an actual interest in learning the db side of things and building up the degree of skill there that I have with languages. However, poking around, I really don't see the kinds of books that I'm looking for. It's SQL for Dummies, an introduction to Sql Server, yada, yada. What I'd really like to find is a book or three that starts at the very beginning and says, "So, you've never seen a database or SQL in your life, and you want to become a Sql Server DBA, eh?" and steps you thoroughly from beginning to end covering general db design and best practices, Sql Server itself from beginning to end, and on up through scalability and real world issues if you've got your hands on an Amazon.com sized operation. Mind you, I have zero desire for any MS certification. I don't want to learn how to memorize stuff and pass a test. I want to learn. Are there any books / series out there you'd recommend? Where do real, live DBAs (who don't go to college) learn their skills from beginning to end? I mention books rather than training courses because I've always been self taught and prefer to work at my own pace.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
Inside SQL Server 2000 was one of these in-depth books you are looking for. Instead of an updated edition, the author came with up with 4 separate books[^] that I believe are very much woth reading if you are serious about databases.
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In talking about Oracle below it got me thinking about something I've been kicking around for a while now. For two decades, I've been a coding guy. Naturally, I've picked up db design / administratin skills along the way, but in the same manner that we often learn coding technologies. You buy a book, flip to chapter 14 that has the stuff to meet today's deadling, and then put it on the shelf. With all the basic db driven web stuff I've been doing, I more and more feel an actual interest in learning the db side of things and building up the degree of skill there that I have with languages. However, poking around, I really don't see the kinds of books that I'm looking for. It's SQL for Dummies, an introduction to Sql Server, yada, yada. What I'd really like to find is a book or three that starts at the very beginning and says, "So, you've never seen a database or SQL in your life, and you want to become a Sql Server DBA, eh?" and steps you thoroughly from beginning to end covering general db design and best practices, Sql Server itself from beginning to end, and on up through scalability and real world issues if you've got your hands on an Amazon.com sized operation. Mind you, I have zero desire for any MS certification. I don't want to learn how to memorize stuff and pass a test. I want to learn. Are there any books / series out there you'd recommend? Where do real, live DBAs (who don't go to college) learn their skills from beginning to end? I mention books rather than training courses because I've always been self taught and prefer to work at my own pace.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
Christopher Duncan wrote:
What I'd really like to find is a book or three that starts at the very beginning and says, "So, you've never seen a database or SQL in your life, and you want to become a Sql Server DBA, eh?" and steps you thoroughly from beginning to end covering general db design and best practices, Sql Server itself from beginning to end, and on up through scalability and real world issues if you've got your hands on an Amazon.com sized operation.
They are not all that, but I like Ken Henderson's books on SQL Server.[^]
In January you said "Money in April" - That was two years ago! B. Python
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In talking about Oracle below it got me thinking about something I've been kicking around for a while now. For two decades, I've been a coding guy. Naturally, I've picked up db design / administratin skills along the way, but in the same manner that we often learn coding technologies. You buy a book, flip to chapter 14 that has the stuff to meet today's deadling, and then put it on the shelf. With all the basic db driven web stuff I've been doing, I more and more feel an actual interest in learning the db side of things and building up the degree of skill there that I have with languages. However, poking around, I really don't see the kinds of books that I'm looking for. It's SQL for Dummies, an introduction to Sql Server, yada, yada. What I'd really like to find is a book or three that starts at the very beginning and says, "So, you've never seen a database or SQL in your life, and you want to become a Sql Server DBA, eh?" and steps you thoroughly from beginning to end covering general db design and best practices, Sql Server itself from beginning to end, and on up through scalability and real world issues if you've got your hands on an Amazon.com sized operation. Mind you, I have zero desire for any MS certification. I don't want to learn how to memorize stuff and pass a test. I want to learn. Are there any books / series out there you'd recommend? Where do real, live DBAs (who don't go to college) learn their skills from beginning to end? I mention books rather than training courses because I've always been self taught and prefer to work at my own pace.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
When I was a SQL Server DBA the best book I read was: SQL Server 2000 Programming Author: Robert Vieira Published: by Wrox I know the title does not have the word "Administrator" in it but it covers essential SQL Server aspects required to be a decent DBA. I would also recommend joining SQLServerCentral.com - there are some pretty good articles etc on that site.
Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.(Winston Churchill)
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Yeah, I subscribe to both of those, but I swear, I don't read the articles. I only look at the pictures. Honest.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
Christopher Duncan wrote:
I don't read the articles
Do they have to be pre aproved by gold 'members'?
Dave
BTW, in software, hope and pray is not a viable strategy. (Luc Pattyn)
Visual Basic is not used by normal people so we're not covering it here. (Uncyclopedia) -
In talking about Oracle below it got me thinking about something I've been kicking around for a while now. For two decades, I've been a coding guy. Naturally, I've picked up db design / administratin skills along the way, but in the same manner that we often learn coding technologies. You buy a book, flip to chapter 14 that has the stuff to meet today's deadling, and then put it on the shelf. With all the basic db driven web stuff I've been doing, I more and more feel an actual interest in learning the db side of things and building up the degree of skill there that I have with languages. However, poking around, I really don't see the kinds of books that I'm looking for. It's SQL for Dummies, an introduction to Sql Server, yada, yada. What I'd really like to find is a book or three that starts at the very beginning and says, "So, you've never seen a database or SQL in your life, and you want to become a Sql Server DBA, eh?" and steps you thoroughly from beginning to end covering general db design and best practices, Sql Server itself from beginning to end, and on up through scalability and real world issues if you've got your hands on an Amazon.com sized operation. Mind you, I have zero desire for any MS certification. I don't want to learn how to memorize stuff and pass a test. I want to learn. Are there any books / series out there you'd recommend? Where do real, live DBAs (who don't go to college) learn their skills from beginning to end? I mention books rather than training courses because I've always been self taught and prefer to work at my own pace.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
If you want to get down and dirty writing code and designing tables, because at the end of the day that is what matters most, then I would pick up a book on Sybase. The methodology behind Sybase applies to MS SQL your just not filling your brain cells with marketing garbage.
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In talking about Oracle below it got me thinking about something I've been kicking around for a while now. For two decades, I've been a coding guy. Naturally, I've picked up db design / administratin skills along the way, but in the same manner that we often learn coding technologies. You buy a book, flip to chapter 14 that has the stuff to meet today's deadling, and then put it on the shelf. With all the basic db driven web stuff I've been doing, I more and more feel an actual interest in learning the db side of things and building up the degree of skill there that I have with languages. However, poking around, I really don't see the kinds of books that I'm looking for. It's SQL for Dummies, an introduction to Sql Server, yada, yada. What I'd really like to find is a book or three that starts at the very beginning and says, "So, you've never seen a database or SQL in your life, and you want to become a Sql Server DBA, eh?" and steps you thoroughly from beginning to end covering general db design and best practices, Sql Server itself from beginning to end, and on up through scalability and real world issues if you've got your hands on an Amazon.com sized operation. Mind you, I have zero desire for any MS certification. I don't want to learn how to memorize stuff and pass a test. I want to learn. Are there any books / series out there you'd recommend? Where do real, live DBAs (who don't go to college) learn their skills from beginning to end? I mention books rather than training courses because I've always been self taught and prefer to work at my own pace.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
You have received some good suggestions. Not being a book person myself, I find SQL Server Magazine[^], Database Journal[^] and SQL Server Central[^] very helpful.
Farhan Noor Qureshi
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In talking about Oracle below it got me thinking about something I've been kicking around for a while now. For two decades, I've been a coding guy. Naturally, I've picked up db design / administratin skills along the way, but in the same manner that we often learn coding technologies. You buy a book, flip to chapter 14 that has the stuff to meet today's deadling, and then put it on the shelf. With all the basic db driven web stuff I've been doing, I more and more feel an actual interest in learning the db side of things and building up the degree of skill there that I have with languages. However, poking around, I really don't see the kinds of books that I'm looking for. It's SQL for Dummies, an introduction to Sql Server, yada, yada. What I'd really like to find is a book or three that starts at the very beginning and says, "So, you've never seen a database or SQL in your life, and you want to become a Sql Server DBA, eh?" and steps you thoroughly from beginning to end covering general db design and best practices, Sql Server itself from beginning to end, and on up through scalability and real world issues if you've got your hands on an Amazon.com sized operation. Mind you, I have zero desire for any MS certification. I don't want to learn how to memorize stuff and pass a test. I want to learn. Are there any books / series out there you'd recommend? Where do real, live DBAs (who don't go to college) learn their skills from beginning to end? I mention books rather than training courses because I've always been self taught and prefer to work at my own pace.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
The canonic reference for database theory and math is 'An Introduction to DATABASE Systems' by C.J.Date.
...cmk The idea that I can be presented with a problem, set out to logically solve it with the tools at hand, and wind up with a program that could not be legally used because someone else followed the same logical steps some years ago and filed for a patent on it is horrifying. - John Carmack
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In talking about Oracle below it got me thinking about something I've been kicking around for a while now. For two decades, I've been a coding guy. Naturally, I've picked up db design / administratin skills along the way, but in the same manner that we often learn coding technologies. You buy a book, flip to chapter 14 that has the stuff to meet today's deadling, and then put it on the shelf. With all the basic db driven web stuff I've been doing, I more and more feel an actual interest in learning the db side of things and building up the degree of skill there that I have with languages. However, poking around, I really don't see the kinds of books that I'm looking for. It's SQL for Dummies, an introduction to Sql Server, yada, yada. What I'd really like to find is a book or three that starts at the very beginning and says, "So, you've never seen a database or SQL in your life, and you want to become a Sql Server DBA, eh?" and steps you thoroughly from beginning to end covering general db design and best practices, Sql Server itself from beginning to end, and on up through scalability and real world issues if you've got your hands on an Amazon.com sized operation. Mind you, I have zero desire for any MS certification. I don't want to learn how to memorize stuff and pass a test. I want to learn. Are there any books / series out there you'd recommend? Where do real, live DBAs (who don't go to college) learn their skills from beginning to end? I mention books rather than training courses because I've always been self taught and prefer to work at my own pace.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
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In talking about Oracle below it got me thinking about something I've been kicking around for a while now. For two decades, I've been a coding guy. Naturally, I've picked up db design / administratin skills along the way, but in the same manner that we often learn coding technologies. You buy a book, flip to chapter 14 that has the stuff to meet today's deadling, and then put it on the shelf. With all the basic db driven web stuff I've been doing, I more and more feel an actual interest in learning the db side of things and building up the degree of skill there that I have with languages. However, poking around, I really don't see the kinds of books that I'm looking for. It's SQL for Dummies, an introduction to Sql Server, yada, yada. What I'd really like to find is a book or three that starts at the very beginning and says, "So, you've never seen a database or SQL in your life, and you want to become a Sql Server DBA, eh?" and steps you thoroughly from beginning to end covering general db design and best practices, Sql Server itself from beginning to end, and on up through scalability and real world issues if you've got your hands on an Amazon.com sized operation. Mind you, I have zero desire for any MS certification. I don't want to learn how to memorize stuff and pass a test. I want to learn. Are there any books / series out there you'd recommend? Where do real, live DBAs (who don't go to college) learn their skills from beginning to end? I mention books rather than training courses because I've always been self taught and prefer to work at my own pace.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
I took that exact path three years ago. I had been a developer for about 15 years (including a relatively brief side-trip into management), and I decided that I wanted to go the DBA route. What I found is that the only real way to learn how to be a DBA is to be a DBA. The best training comes from your peers - there are very few books on the subject, and courses are few and far between, especially for SQL Server DBAs. The most important thing I can tell you is to make sure you have solid experience writing queries, stored procedures, etc. A large amount of DBA work is performance tuning, so the more experience you have writing the queries, the easier time you'll have learning how to debug and improve them. Beyond that, take the suggestions of a few people above who mentioned online resources - SQL Server Central is a great site for that, as are SQLServerPerformance.com and MSSQLTips.com. SQL Server Magazine has been a good resource for me, also, but they seem to be slipping a little in recent months. If you can afford it, I also highly recommend attending the PASS conference - I went to that for the first time this past November, and it was worth every penny in the amount of peer-to-peer training I received. Membership in PASS is free, so also take advantage of their web resources (weak right now, but they have good plans for improvement) and a local PASS user group, if there's one in your area (also expanding rapidly). One other resource you might consider is the test prep materials for the MCTS and MCITP certifications. I know you said that you weren't interested in the certification, but I found those to be some of the best beginning-to-end references on SQL Server and gave some information I didn't find elsewhere. (FWIW, I did get my certification, even though I had never had interest in a MS certification. Studying for the exams helped me really dig into the subject, and I found a lot of topics that I had never had reason to explore as a developer that are vital as a DBA. I don't claim to have all the answers now - far from it - but I have a much better idea of what questions to ask because of that background and am learning much more quickly because of it.) Ed
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I took that exact path three years ago. I had been a developer for about 15 years (including a relatively brief side-trip into management), and I decided that I wanted to go the DBA route. What I found is that the only real way to learn how to be a DBA is to be a DBA. The best training comes from your peers - there are very few books on the subject, and courses are few and far between, especially for SQL Server DBAs. The most important thing I can tell you is to make sure you have solid experience writing queries, stored procedures, etc. A large amount of DBA work is performance tuning, so the more experience you have writing the queries, the easier time you'll have learning how to debug and improve them. Beyond that, take the suggestions of a few people above who mentioned online resources - SQL Server Central is a great site for that, as are SQLServerPerformance.com and MSSQLTips.com. SQL Server Magazine has been a good resource for me, also, but they seem to be slipping a little in recent months. If you can afford it, I also highly recommend attending the PASS conference - I went to that for the first time this past November, and it was worth every penny in the amount of peer-to-peer training I received. Membership in PASS is free, so also take advantage of their web resources (weak right now, but they have good plans for improvement) and a local PASS user group, if there's one in your area (also expanding rapidly). One other resource you might consider is the test prep materials for the MCTS and MCITP certifications. I know you said that you weren't interested in the certification, but I found those to be some of the best beginning-to-end references on SQL Server and gave some information I didn't find elsewhere. (FWIW, I did get my certification, even though I had never had interest in a MS certification. Studying for the exams helped me really dig into the subject, and I found a lot of topics that I had never had reason to explore as a developer that are vital as a DBA. I don't claim to have all the answers now - far from it - but I have a much better idea of what questions to ask because of that background and am learning much more quickly because of it.) Ed
Hey, Ed. Great stuff, thanks so much for taking the time to point me in the right direction. Advice from fellow geeks is always the best. :-D
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
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Hey, Ed. Great stuff, thanks so much for taking the time to point me in the right direction. Advice from fellow geeks is always the best. :-D
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
My pleasure. Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help. I'm glad to do whatever I can. :) Ed
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In talking about Oracle below it got me thinking about something I've been kicking around for a while now. For two decades, I've been a coding guy. Naturally, I've picked up db design / administratin skills along the way, but in the same manner that we often learn coding technologies. You buy a book, flip to chapter 14 that has the stuff to meet today's deadling, and then put it on the shelf. With all the basic db driven web stuff I've been doing, I more and more feel an actual interest in learning the db side of things and building up the degree of skill there that I have with languages. However, poking around, I really don't see the kinds of books that I'm looking for. It's SQL for Dummies, an introduction to Sql Server, yada, yada. What I'd really like to find is a book or three that starts at the very beginning and says, "So, you've never seen a database or SQL in your life, and you want to become a Sql Server DBA, eh?" and steps you thoroughly from beginning to end covering general db design and best practices, Sql Server itself from beginning to end, and on up through scalability and real world issues if you've got your hands on an Amazon.com sized operation. Mind you, I have zero desire for any MS certification. I don't want to learn how to memorize stuff and pass a test. I want to learn. Are there any books / series out there you'd recommend? Where do real, live DBAs (who don't go to college) learn their skills from beginning to end? I mention books rather than training courses because I've always been self taught and prefer to work at my own pace.
Christopher Duncan Author of The Career Programmer and Unite the Tribes www.PracticalUSA.com
This is a little late, but you might find this article[^] interesting. Of course you might not, or you might have already read it. In which case please ignore this message.
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?"