In the April 2012 Question of the Month, I asked readers to tell me their favorite DBA books. I have compiled the results, and below are the most popular books my blog’s readers picked. If you are looking for a good SQL Server book to learn from, then you might want to consider reading one or more of them. Click on the image to find out more about the book.
Category Archives: Books
SQL Server MVP Deep Dives: Volume II
Two years ago when SQL Server MVP Deep Dives: Volume 1 was released, I had the opportunity to contribute two chapters. In SQL Server MVP Deep Dives Volume 2, I not only had the opportunity to contribute a chapter, but the privilege of being the section editor of the “Performance Tuning and Optimization” section of the book. I would like to thank all of the following writers in my section for all their hard work, and for getting me their drafts on schedule. I also want to thank Grant Fritchey, who helped me coordinating the technical editing of the chapters.
New Free eBook: Defensive Database Programming with SQL Server
Simple-Talk Publishing has released a new, free 291 page eBook called Defensive Database Programming with SQL Server, by Alex Kuznetsov. Here is what the book covers, as described from the book’s introduction.
“Resilient T-SQL code is code that is designed to last, and to be safely reused by others. The goal of defensive database programming, and of this book, is to help you to produce resilient T-SQL code that robustly and gracefully handles cases of unintended use, and is resilient to common changes to the database environment.
Learn How Vendors Price Their Software
As DBAs, we are often put in the position of purchasing software from third-party vendors. If you are like me, you are probably amazed at the wide variation in software prices, and how the price of a product seems to bear little relationship with its actual cost. For example, why is the SQL Server Enterprise Edition so much more expensive than the SQL Server Standard Edition?
Need to Persuade Your Manager or Co-Worker to Your Point of View?
At one time or another, each of us has been in a position where we need to persuade a manager, a fellow worker, or anyone for that matter, to our point-of-view. For example, you might want new server hardware, to upgrade an existing instance of SQL Server, the help of a co-worker, or you would like a raise.
What Would You Like to See in a New Book on Indexing?
I am currently in the early stages of writing an outline for a new book on indexing, targeted towards novice DBAs. While this topic has been done to death in hundreds of articles, presentations, and books, I think there is still room for a book that makes the topic easy to read and easy to understand for beginners. The focus on the book would be on the essential (not esoteric) indexing skills that DBAs need to perform their job on a day-to-day basis.
I would really appreciate your advice and feedback on what such a book should include. For example:
- What part(s) of indexing do you find very easy to understand?
- What part(s) of indexing do you find the most difficult to understand?
- What topics do you think I should include in the book that would be of the most help to you?
- What topics do you think I should not include in the book because they are not helpful for the typical DBA?
- Can you provide me URL’s of articles on indexing that you think are particularly good, or particularly bad?
- What’s the best book you have ever read on indexing? What’s the worst book? And why?
If you have any feedback on any of the above topics (you don’t have to answer all of the above question), please post them below. The more feedback I get, the better I will be able to write a book that will best fit the needs for novice DBAs. Once the book is done, it would become freely available as an eBook, just as all my recent books have been.
Brad M McGehee 