“Buck Woody’s new book will help new and experienced users alike in getting productive with SQL Server 2005 quickly. His special attention to security and performance make this an exceptional reference that is sure to remain relevant for some time.”

—Chip Andrews, CISSP, MCDBA, Director of Research and Development Special Ops Security, Inc.

“SQL 2005 is the most exciting upgrade to come out of Redmond in years; this book will help you get up and running quickly to take full advantage of it! If you are looking for a book about upgrading to SQL 2005, look no further, this one is all you need. It gives you all you need to take advantage of everything SQL 2005 has to offer, and that is a lot!”

—Doug Ellis, Area Technical Manager, Cognos

“Buck Woody provides insight into administering SQL Server 2005 that all developers and database administrators will find useful; the book assumes very little knowledge by providing ‘DBA 101’ sections which will not alienate the experienced reader while providing the necessary introduction to topics for those less experienced.”

—Doug Holland, Visual C# MVP, Precision Objects

“SQL Server 2005 is a landmark release and this title does an awesome job of hitting everything new in SQL 2005. It covers new and improved administration tools, and contains an overview of Notification Services, SQL Server Service Broker, Reporting Services, Integration Services, and Analysis Services. As a result, you’ll be able to work on your own SQL Server 2005 solutions quickly and painlessly. Ultimately, this book provides you with a starting point, a roadmap, and then the tools and knowledge to exploit this powerful new database server to its fullest power. So, start your computer and get ready to learn SQL Server 2005!”

—Alexzander N. Nepomnjashiy, SQL Server DBA, NeoSystems NorthWest

“A solid introduction to administering SQL 2005. The ‘DBA 101’ sections provide useful tips for the new DBA, good review for the experienced DBA, and the 101 label enables the seasoned DBA to skip basic material and jump ahead to where the REAL action is…. Buck’s conversational writing style makes this an enjoyable and refreshing contrast to the majority of tech books written these days.”

—Brad Russell, MCDBA, Visionary Integration Professionals

The Complete, Practical, 100% Useful Guide for Every SQL Server 2005 DBA!

This book has one goal: to help database administrators and their managers run SQL Server 2005 with maximum efficiency, reliability, and performance. Renowned SQL Server expert Buck Woody covers every facet of database administration, from installation and configuration through maintaining enterprise-class business intelligence environments.

If you’re a new SQL Server administrator, Buck will help you master core tasks rapidly—and avoid costly mistakes that only show up when it’s too late. If you’re familiar with previous versions of SQL Server, he’ll get you up-to-speed fast on everything new that matters, from high availability improvements and Integration Services to the SQL Server Management Studio. Whatever your background, you’ll find best practices, real-world scenarios, and easy-to-use automation scripts—all grounded in Buck’s unsurpassed SQL Server knowledge.

     •  Timesaving tips, practical applications, and start-to-finish examples throughout

     •  Understand the key “decision points” at every stage of your SQL Server deployment

     •  Perform day-to-day maintenance more efficiently, from hotfixes to backup/recovery

     •  Automate maintenance tasks with the SQL Server Agent

     •  Establish and audit security on SQL Server 2005 and the underlying Windows Server platform

     •  Monitor and optimize SQL Server: baselining, profiling, index strategies, query refactoring, and more

     •  Maximize availability using replication, clustering, mirroring, and SQL Server’s new online indexing

     •  Leverage important new improvements in Integration Services and Reporting Services

     •  Use Analysis Services to support enterprise-class Business Intelligence deployments

     •  Even set up a simple configuration of SQL Server 2005 for free—legally!

Foreword  xviii

Chapter 1: Installation and Configuration  1

Chapter 2: Architecture and Tools  35

Chapter 3: Maintenance and Automation  99

Chapter 4: Security  173

Chapter 5: Monitoring and Optimization  237

Chapter 6: High Availability  295

Chapter 7: Notification Services and the Service Broker  365

Chapter 8: Integration Services  399

Chapter 9: Reporting Services  451

Chapter 10: Analysis Services  515

Appendix A: Upgrading to SQL Server 2005  581

Index  605

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 6 Ratings

Good Advanced Organizer - 2006-08-29
Reviewer Rating:
First, I'm not a DBA but I install, maintain, and use SQL Server 2005 in lab and workgroup settings.

I found this book to work well as an advance organizer and a good source of advice for DBA tasks. I've use the book mainly for topic overviews and guidance on management issues. (I haven't read the reporting and BI chapters -- at least not yet.) I've found the checklists helpful and the script snippets very useful. Scripts, of course, are a great way to capture and document your actions and the book often takes this approach to tasks.

Reviewers who mention the content of SQL Server 2005 books are right that the content is likely to be in Books On Line (BOL). However, I bought this book to organize and filter these topics for me. If you can get what you need from BOL as quickly and conveniently as you can with this book then use BOL. I can't, so I bought a copy.

Careful - 2006-08-09
Reviewer Rating:
A pet peeve i have w/ Microsoft books is they just mirror the help files. This admin guide is not much more than regurgitated help files. I was hoping for some useful examples, closer to real life problems & solutions. Not there. Plz use the help files in Books Online to look up topics THEN examine the same topic in this book at a local bookstore BEFORE buying it.

First 3 chapters looks promising. After that it is useless - 2006-08-24
Reviewer Rating:
During reading the first 3 chapters. this book was very promising. The the author kept repeating himself "I will show you how to do this, to do that". But after the first 3 chapters, his writing becomes dull. Nothing useful to go on reading. Maybe He was rushing to publish this book or the style that he prepared to go into his writing just died out. Whatever reason, one thing I learned from this book is: What a SQL Server DBA is supposed to do on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. I read so many 5 stars books going into details about writing code to backup, restore, scheduling...etc. But those books forget one point: What a SQL Server DBA is supposed to do on a daily basis. Maybe it is not important for an experienced DBA but it may be important for other I.T guys who want to be DBA. That's why we read books for.
After all if you are looking for a deep down details of T-SQL programming, Integration Services, Report Services...etc. Then this book is not for you. If you'd like to know what you are supposed to do as a DBA, this book may be helpful to you.

Great SQL Server 2005 Reference - 2006-07-25
Reviewer Rating:
The Administrator's Guide to SQL Server 2005 is a great reference for DBAs and System Administrators planning to implement and maintain SQL Server 2005. While the book is written for Administrators, database developers will benefit from it as well. For example, one of my day to day activities includes testing various SQL Server configurations before they are implemented into production environments that require near 100% uptime. The chapter covering high-availability provided thorough step by step instructions on how to set up database mirroring and replication. I was especially delighted to find instructions on how to create a production-like test environment using virtual machine technology at the end of the chapter. Each chapter is well written and loaded with good practical advice. I highly recommend this book!

average - 2007-06-28
Reviewer Rating:
Way too much, here's what I'm gonna tell you and not enough telling you. Also way too much background and theory instead of actually doing anything.

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