Learn effective and scalable database design techniques in a SQL Server environment. Pro SQL Server 2008 Relational Database Design and Implementation covers everything from design logic that business users will understand all the way to the physical implementation of the design in a SQL Server database. Grounded in best practices and a solid understanding of the underlying theory, authors Louis Davidson, Kevin Kline, Scott Klein, and Kurt Windisch show how to "get it right" in SQL Server database design and lay a solid groundwork for the future use of valuable business data.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 8 Ratings

Review of Pro SQL Server 2008 Relational Database Design and Implementation - 2009-02-07
Reviewer Rating:
Good database design is extremely important if you want to have a database that performs well and is easily modifiable.
How many times did you have to go back and change countless lines of code because your database was not normalized and it was not easy to add another payment type to the existing database?

This is where Pro SQL Server 2008 Relational Database Design and Implementation comes in; in the first couple of chapters you are taught how to design a database in a normal form. Most books that deal with database design are dry and boring; you need to read a chapter several times to digest the information leaving you with a headache. Not this book, Pro SQL Server 2008 Relational Database Design and Implementation makes this almost fun, the author goes through the phases of database design in a fun way which is understandable to the common man

After the design is done and you have your database you will be shown how you can protect the integrity of your data. Remember nothing in the database is as important as to make sure the data is correct, if you have bad data then you might as well have no data at all. This book will show you how to protect the integrity of your data by using constraints and triggers

There is a whole chapter of some good tips and tricks, patterns and query techniques. I think that you will find out you can solve a whole lot of business problems with a numbers table much faster than if you had to do it without

Security is a big topic these days, look on the internet, ever week you here horror stories how some data was stolen or otherwise compromised. Fear not there one whole chapter about securing access to your valuable data

Table structure and indexing is also covered, how are tables stored internally, the differences between clustered and non clustered indexes. These are very important concepts to understand; there are plenty of stories of people who designed a database and it worked flawless when they tested it. Once they loaded it up with real data in the real world it became painfully slow, by then they had to spend countless hours trying to refactor that mess. This book will prevent these kind of things

Coding for concurrency is also covered. This is also a very important concept. Explained are the different isolation levels, the difference between optimistic and pessimistic locking and best practices


Each chapter has a summary and a best practices chapter. This is very handy because you can quickly get an overview of the whole chapter in a page or two.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn or get better at designing databases. Having a bad database design is like building a house on a weak foundation; sooner or later you will pay for it and you will have to tear parts down to fix that faulty foundation.

When it comes to database design and SQL Server I have no doubt in my mind that this is the book to get. This is the third version of the book I have read and I am pleased to see that every edition is a little better than the previous one.

Refreshing read on database design - 2009-07-13
Reviewer Rating:
I had not read a book covering database design since Uni, so this was a really good refresher. This was not a dull read - with a very good balance between technical detail and real world scenarios.
The author's experience comes through very well, lending credibility to the examples in the text. This book builds a conceptual framework for the analysis and design of databases in systems architecture. In particular, he does a great job of describing the normalization process, and its importance to the systems development lifecycle.
There is a lot of SQL Server 2008 content, from TSQL and indexing, through to security and administration features. A very good resource, which has increased the depth of my knowledge in this area.
I highly recommend this book to anyone learning, or expanding their knowledge of designing databases.

Great for non professional programmer - 2009-06-26
Reviewer Rating:
I have some experience in database and web desinging as a hobby. As a non professional programmer, I can say this book was a real help guide for me in understanding relational database in general and more specifically on SQL 2008.

Going deep with their normalization view and indexes issues, they could help me in re-designing my database in a different way (better way as I beleive).

I don't know about professional programmers or those who have academic degrees in computer or programming field; for me, it was a great reference for me to use whenever I need to build a new database.

Good point was reflecting their experience in presenting the materials which give you the feeling that you really like the authors; especially Louise.

Bad point from my side as a non professional programmer is some chapters were dificult. However, re-reading could solve this problem for me.

I really like it. Not saying how much it was helpful to me... Buying so much books in the field of programming and we designing, I felt this is a real full-of-information book written by real experts..

I hope the author can publish supplementary matarial to go deeper in some other issues like more deep example especially those related to web desinging

Nice introductory book - 2009-05-03
Reviewer Rating:
This was the first book I got from SQL Server 2008. It's interesting how all the topics are presented because it takes you from very simple items like database fundamentals to way more complex ones like security and concurrency.

The good thing about it is that it's easy. If you're starting with SQL Server 2008 then this is the book for you. It will even explain the Codd's Rules, amazing.

The bad thing is that is not a book for experts. In any case, if you're an expert, you should be writing a book, not reading it.

Testing doesn't warrant a mention? - 2009-04-14
Reviewer Rating:
In this age of TDD (Test Driven Design) I was interested to see what he would say about testing as it relates to the implementation of database designs. Unfortunately it doesn't even get touched on. Look up "testing" in the index. Not there.

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