KEY POINTS

• Accurate, practical techniques for SQL Server 2008 administration

• Easy-to-use task-based reference format

• Over 100 specific tips, procedures, and best practices

SQL Server 2008 Administration

isn’t a standard SQL Server tutorial—there

are dozens of those to choose from. Instead, this book breaks down the role of

“SQL Server Administrator” into its key focus areas and tasks and details the

techniques and best practices that make an administrator effective.

In this book, a reader can quickly identify a task and find the best practice

associated with it. For example, a reader looking for information about indexing

would find step-by-step procedures for identifying and dropping unused

indexes, creating missing indexes, selecting the appropriate clustered index,

and so forth.

Each technique is presented in a clear, straightforward style and in the order of

the typical lifecycle of a SQL Server system. This allows a reader to easily open

the book at the appropriate page and focus on what you need to know for each

specific situation.

While most techniques will work for all versions of SQL Server, this book is current

for the recent final release of SQL Server 2008.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rod Colledge is an independent SQL Server consultant based in Brisbane,

Australia. Since 1996, Rod has specialized in the development and administration

of SQL Server database systems. His recent work has included the design and

implementation of custom transactional replication and log shipping solutions,

performance tuning large high-volume databases, and developing procedures for

operational maintenance of large database systems. In September 2007, Rod

founded sqlCrunch.com, a website specializing in summarizing and categorizing

links to SQL Server white papers and best practices.