Reviews for Professional SQL Server 2008 Internals and Troubleshooting

1. SQL Server 2008 Troubleshooting Book Review

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, April 12th, 2010

   This SQL Server 2008 Troubleshooting book, is the definitive guide for reviewing and optimizing your SQL Server 2008 environment. There is something inside for any type of DBA - whether they are reasonably new to their SQL 2008 environment or a seasoned and experienced Senior SQL DBA. The authors of this book have drawn on their vast experience with SQL Server and have written in some great content for us all to read through, in an nice 'n' easy and understable format. This book leads on brilliantly from their other SQL Server 2005 Performance Tuning Guide - great stuff and thanks !!

2. One of the "De Facto" books on SQL Server

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, April 12nd, 2010

   I met Christian Bolton a number of years ago when I done a course with him at Microsoft under a Premier Contract and knew from that how much he knew about the depths of SQL Server, and this book shows that this is still the case, along with his co-authors.
   
   It is clearly laid out and the authors have written in a style that makes it easy reading - unlike other technical books which can be (very) dry and can only really used as a reference. It dives in deep into the internals of SQL Server without overwhelming you and gives real world examples on how the knowledge did (or could have) resolved an issue. It also covers all areas related to SQL Server, from the network and storage through to the actual processor architecture and operating system you will be using.
   
   There are areas that will be of use to developers (indexes/tuning etc) that would help them to understand the challenges of operational systems but I would say that this is aimed directly at the Production DBA whose neck is on the line. If this is you - make this your top book - get it, read it, re-read it, and keep it to hand because it will help you out one day
   
   My only gripe with the book is that it is so good I could loose work....
   
   Steve

3. Very Good Performance Book

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, April 12th, 2010

   First of all a disclosure as some of the other reviewers have omitted to mention this: I have met with both Christian and Justin and know them from a business perspective. They are both SQL Server experts and very qualified to write this book.
   
   The book covers two main areas: internal architecture and performance tuning. The former concentrated on the parts of the internals that are most relevant to the latter (so if you need to see all the specifics on the internals I would still recommend Kalen Delany's book: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Internals (Pro - Developer) as this is still the best overall book in this area. The section on hardware is particularly good though and I haven't seen it covered as well elsewhere.
   
   The second half of the book covers troubleshooting and performance tuning. It gives very good coverage of this looking at it from all angles. It is certainly a very good place to start from and by doing this you will be given the information you need to resolve problems. Where I felt that it was slightly weaker was in the next step of actually resolving those issues; though it is stll overall a very good reference.
   
   Overall, a highly recommended book.

4. You're mad if you don't get this book!

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, March 12st, 2010

   I'm not a SQL Server expert by any stretch of the imagination but I had a customer who was experiencing real performance issues with our application. I'd tried collecting the necessary data from Perfmon and Profiler myself and got into all sorts of problems. I had way too much data and had no idea how to present it or even if it was the right data to tell me what I needed to know. I'd bought the book and had it for a couple of weeks but hadn't had the time to read it.
   
   I got so exasperated I stopped everything I was doing and sat for an evening and read through a couple of sections about the tools available to collect performance related data - SQLDiags, Perfstats etc. The next day, within 30 minutes I had a database with reports showing me all the information I needed.
   
   The following day we ran a whole bunch of tests using the new tools introduced in this book and we found the major problem that was causing performance issues in the app.
   
   These guys have written a fantastic book obviously from real life practical experience, not theory. Well done guys and thanks for your help!
   
   Now I've got to find the time to sit down and read the book front to back!
   
   TIP! One thing that wasn't in the book is what to do if you've collected some performance data, run ReadTrace to load it into the PerfAnalysis db and then you want to run another set of tests but keep the original set of results for later analysis. Luckily I went to a SQL PASS user group where Christian Bolton did a presentation and reminded us that when you use this tool you need to rename the PerfAnalysis database first before running your next collection of data otherwise you'll overwrite your previous data collection.

5. A Must Have Read For SQL Developers and DBAs

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, February 12st, 2010

   This is an excellent book for anyone who works with SQL Server on a daily basis. As the name implies it is for people who want to go deeper to understand what is happening under the hood rather than a beginners guide. That said it is a tribute to the authors that they have managed to present such a technical subject in such a clear and easily digestible form.
   
   The information contained in this book would be difficult to find by searching on the internet and clearly comes from a extensive knowledge of the subject.
   
   Cant recommend it enough.