Well, I'm the new SQL guy at work...

tdean

...and I've never used it prior to this month. So far i have set up a cluster with 2 nodes, 18 instances and moved 12 databases. I would like to know what you guys think are the best books out there for someone just starting. Should i go with the 2008 books? or 2012? Are there books that cover design (clustering, lun allocation etc), optimization, and querying? Should i get them individually? I'f im going to be the guy, im going all the way. I have read all the book recommendations above. I was just hoping someone could narrow them down for me.

To be more clear, I've looked at the "Joes for Pros" series, the DB for Mere Mortals, all the Sams, MS training kits and Step by Step books.[h=1][/h]

pandiculator

I can't recommend a book for certification but an excellent book for systems administrators thrown in at the deep end with SQL is Don Jones's Learn SQL Server Administration in a Month of Lunches. It's a fantastic introduction to SQL server administration and it will give you a foundation to build on if you want to take the steps to get certified or become a DBA. The link has a couple of sample chapters so you can see if this book will be of any help to you before buying.

tdean

pandiculator wrote: »

I can't recommend a book for certification but an excellent book for systems administrators thrown in at the deep end with SQL is Don Jones's Learn SQL Server Administration in a Month of Lunches. It's a fantastic introduction to SQL server administration and it will give you a foundation to build on if you want to take the steps to get certified or become a DBA. The link has a couple of sample chapters so you can see if this book will be of any help to you before buying.

I saw that one.... Might be a good place to start. I dont even really know what questions to ask. I almost bought a whole series of books and noticed they are for T-SQL... which i still dont know what it is.

N2IT

T- SQL is Transact SQL, Microsoft's flavor of SQL. PL-SQL is Oracle's.

zaleonardz

Microsoft's 70-462 is aimed at exactly what your doing

Best one to get your interest going is actually online with the Microsoft Virtual Academy

Course is called 'Administering SQL Server 2012'

Covers everything Microsoft thinks you should know, and its free,

That one is aimed directly at you, for the kind of work your doing right now

Querying SQL

70-461, MVA course is called 'Querying SQL server' which is T-SQL. Not for the faint hearted, but really cool if you want to go and play.

I just finished 70-461, will let ya know how I go in prep for 70-462.

tdean

Awesome info! i'll check out that course and maybe go for the 462 course before the 461. For books, i was thinking about the 2008 Admin in Action and the 2012 T-SQL Fundamentals for now. Unfortunately at work, we are 2008 R2 but if i want to take this to the next level, or any level, im going to need to understand this stuff from top to bottom.

zaleonardz

So
Next level

Go download SQL server 2014 Express Edition, free from Microsoft's website. Limited in function, but fully working, and comes with all the toys

Download the Adventureworks database, which is also free.

Most courses and books use the adventureworks database as an example.

With that dataset, and free SQL 2014, go play to your hearts content.

On the MS Site, there are 4 versions you can download, get the big one, 1gb i think

It has all of the toys such as the management studio, SSIS ect...

tdean

Do you guys think these books are a good place to start? I'd like to get something in hand to get a away from a computer screen for a while.

2008 Admin in Action and the 2012 T-SQL Fundamentals

Learned

I'm not familiar with the Admin in Action but the T-SQL Fundamentals is highly recommended for anyone interested in Microsoft SQL.

N2IT

I find these books because obsolete rather quickly. Either you pick up on SQL quickly or you don't. You have to be able to think in sets and if you are good at thinking in sets, then the examples in these books dry up and become very elementary.

I find Google is my best teacher in times of need of a new theory or piece of code.