Tag Archives: Reviews

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Step by Step – A Review

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The latest tech book I’ve been reading is Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Step by Step, written by Patrick LeBlanc and published by Microsoft Press. This is an excellent book for anyone new to SQL. If your familiar with older version of SQL you may still find information about some of the new features, but you should remember that it’s written with beginners in mind.

The book is split into nine sections that cover everything from installing and configuring SQL 2012 to high availability and disaster recovery. In between you’ll read about the basics of database design and T-SQL. There’s a very good chapter covering backup and recover of databases. 

Like most other Step by Step books I’ve read this book teaches by example. First there’s a discussion about the  topic of each chapter, followed by an example that walks you through the concepts being taught. What I especially like is that you will see how to perform tasks like creating a table through the Management Studio but you’ll also learn how to perform the same tasks using T-SQL.

This is a great book for anyone who wants to get up to speed with SQL 2012 quickly.

MS Press TK for 70-463 – A Review

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The last Microsoft certification exam I took was 70-448: SQL Server 2008 Business Intelligence. Because that’s the freshest in my mind, and because I’m focusing more on the BI side of SQL lately, I’ve decided that my next exam would be the new 70-463 Exam. This post is my review of the Microsoft Press Training Kit for 70-463 Implementing a Data Warehouse with Microsoft SQL Server 2012, written by Grega Jerkic, Matija Lah, and Dejan Sarka.

You’ll notice a difference between 70-463 and the older Training Kit (Exam 70-463): Implementing a Data Warehouse with Microsoft® SQL Server® 201270-448 exam. When the new exams came out for SQL 2012 Business Intelligence got its own track. There’s now a MCSE just for BI that requires the core tests (70-461, 70-462, and 70-463) plus 70-466 that covers Analysis and Reporting Services, and 70-467 on designing a Business Intelligence solution. 70-463 covers designing a data warehouse and using SSIS for ETL. You can read up on the exam requirements for 70-463 here. Information on all the new SQL 2012 Business Intelligence exams can be found here. 

If you’ve ever used a Microsoft Press training kit to study for an exam you’ll be familiar with the layout. There are five sections that match the exam objectives; Design and Implement a Data Warehouse, Extract and Transform Data, Load Data, Configure and Deploy SSIS Solutions, and Build Data Quality Solutions. Each section of the book contains chapters covering topics pertaining to the objective. The chapters are comprised of lessons that have walkthroughs and a short quiz. Each chapter also has case studies that are a little bit more involved. When you buy the physical book or an electronic copy from O’Reilly you’ll also get a CD (or the files) that contain the code samples used in the book as well as a practice test engine from MeasureUp.

This book, like the exam, covers mostly loading a data warehouse using Integration Services. Most of the concepts are the same as they were in earlier versions of SQL; control flows, data flows, and the different transforms available to each, error handling, using variables, logging, transactions and checkpoints are all covered. The new features, like using the new SSISDB catalog, are also well covered

What I like about this training kit is the 25% or so of the exam that’s not directly related to SSIS. The first section covers the design of a data warehouse. It’s a good introduction to the concepts of dimension and fact tables, of star and snowflake schemas. You’ll see how data compression and columnstore indexes are helpful. You’ll also learn about creating SSIS package templates, something I didn’t learn about as part of the 70-448 test.

So far I find the training kit to be well written and easy to follow. I like the examples presented in the case scenarios, they make me think a little about the question. They’re closer to the kind of questions you may find on the exam. (NOTE: I haven’t taken the test yet so I have no knowledge of the actual questions or exam format. I’m basing my opinion solely on past Microsoft exams I’ve taken). I haven’t taken any of the included practice exams yet as I want to wait until I’m ready to take the exam. My past experience is that if I take the practice exams too early I tend to remember the question and not the concepts.

So if you plan on taking Microsoft’s 70-463 exam I recommend you use the MS Press Training Kit as part of your studies. If you have no other experience with SSIS you may want other resources. I feel that with my past experience I can learn enough about the 2012 version from this book.

Strata RX Conference 2012 Video – A Review

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This post is my review of the video set from the Strata RX Conference, held in San Francisco on October 16th – 17th 2012.

I’m a SQL DBA for a company in the healthcare field, and as such I try to keep current with trends that affect patient medical records. Leverage the Power of Big Data in HealthcareI’m not as familiar with “big data” as I’d like to be. So when I saw the Strata RX Conference 2012 I thought it was one that would be beneficial to me.Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend. But I found that O’Reilly has made the complete conference video set available on the O’Reilly Media site.

This full set contains over 29 hours of content from the 2 day conference, including the keynotes and panel discussions. There’s over 50 files you can either watch online or download the .mp4 to watch when you’re not connected to the internet. Most of the videos are short, they probably average about 30 minutes each. And like every video I’ve ever seen from O’Reilly, the audio and video quality are superb. Watching these videos is like having a front row seat at each session. Sometimes questions from the audience can be hard to make out. But that happens if you see the session live as well. It’s up to the presenter to repeat the question so everyone can hear it.

While the set, subtitled Leverage the Power of Big Data in Healthcare, does talk about healthcare and big data I found the most interesting sessions to be on the future of handling medical records. In particular John Kansky from the Indiana Health Information Exchange had a very interesting session on where health information exchange is heading. He talks about some of the issues setting up ACOs. Another favorite video is a panel discussion with moderated by DJ Patil and Tim O’Reilly, Benjamin West, John Mattison talking about where healthcare will be in 2020. Believe it or not, there were electronic health records as far back as the 1970’s. Tim O’Reilly had the best line of the conference when he stated that you won’t be calling your doctor, but rather your doctor will be calling you.

I encourage anyone who works with medical data to watch these videos. The price is steep, at $299.99. But your company would probably be willing to pick up the cost as there is a lot of information that’s beneficial to all healthcare companies, whether they deal with patient care or insurance. There’s a lot of the changes of healthcare data here, through HITECH, HIPAA  or just to see where we’re going. These videos will help you and your company do just that. Just tell your manager that $299.99 is a lot cheaper than sending you to San Francisco for a few days!

MS Press Training Kit 70-461:Querying SQL Server 2012 – A Review

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This post is my review of Microsoft Press Training Kit for Exam 70-461 Querying Microsoft SQL Server 2012. The authors are Itzik Ben-Gan, Dejan Sarka, and Ron Talmage.

I’ve been taking Microsoft SQL Certification Exams for a while now. For whatever reason I’ve fallen into a pattern of taking them every second release; I took a few for SQL 7, skipped SQL 2000, renewed with SQL 2005, and mostly missed SQL 2008 and R2 (70-448 on Business Intelligence was the exception). Now with SQL 2012 Exams being live it’s time to hit the books again. 

The 70-461 exam is required if you’re going for a MCSA: SQL Server 2012 certification. And the MCSA is a requirement if you’re continuing on to either the MCSE: Data Platform or MCSE: Business Intelligence certs. There are four main objectives to the exam, each comprising roughly about 25% of the total. You can read more about the objectives on Microsoft Learning’s 70-461 Exam page.

If you’ve read any of the other MSPress training kit books you’re familiar with how the book is laid out. The chapters and lessons are written to address the exam objectives, and there’s a handy guide in the front that maps the lessons to the skills being measured in the exam. Each lesson in a chapter has a small set of questions based on the material just covered along with a lesson summary. At the end of each chapter are case scenarios that present a problem you might face as a SQL developer and you’re asked questions that re-enforce the chapter objectives. In addition the book comes with a testing engine you can install to take practice tests.

This TK for 70-461 is one of the best TKs I’ve ever used to study. The authors have done a great job in laying out the material and giving you examples to make their points. I really like how they ask the questions at the end of each lesson. Instead of just saying type this to get that, they give you a snippet that almost does the job, and you need to find out what was missed and how to fix it. I think this style helps reinforce the material.

My favorite chapter was the very first one, Foundations of Querying. It explains the difference between the standard SQL and T-SQL languages and where they’re different. A great example the authors state is using CAST or CONVERT. CAST is standard and CONVERT is not. You should always use the standard, unless the alternative allows additional needed functionality. CONVERT allows for the use of a style argument.  

This is definitely a book you should get if you’re studying for the 70-461 Exam. Since I haven’t taken the test yet, and everyone has a different level of knowledge, I can’t state that this can be your only resource. But I think it should be your main one. I know it will be mine, once I decide to schedule the exam.

Good luck!

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Integration Services – A Review

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The latest book I’ve been reading is Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Integration Services.The authors are Wee Hyong Tok, Rakesh Parida, Matt Masson, Xiaoning Ding, and  Kaarthik Sivashanmugam, and the publisher is Microsoft Press. This post is my review.

This is not a book for beginners. You should have a solid understanding of SSIS before  reading it. It would also be helpful to know T-SQL, .NET and PowerShell as there are plenty of code examples in each language. This is also not a walkthrough type of book, where you’ll follow along in creating SSIS packages. But the book does come with plenty of projects where you can follow along chapter by chapter.

The chapters are broken down into five parts. The first is Overview which contains Chapters 1 – 3 and is an overview of SSIS concepts. Part II has Chapters 4 – 9 and covers Development, including Change Data Capture. Part III is on Database Administration in Chapters 10 – 14 and covers configuring, deploying and executing packages. Part IV is a Deep-Dive into the components of SSIS in Chapters 15 – 19. Finally, Part V is on Troubleshooting, in Chapters 20 – 23. Here you’ll learn some best practices in designing for performance    

I’ve got three favorite chapters so far. Chapter 3 covers Upgrading to SQL 2012. There’s more to think about than just upgrading the server instance. There’s lots more to consider, and the authors do a good job of showing you not just the requirements but how to upgrade packages as well. For instance, you may have heard that the old DTS have been deprecated. That means any package that uses the also deprecated Run DTS Package transform must also be upgraded. You’ll see how to use the Upgrade Advisor on packages as well as the instance.

Chapter 5, on Team Development, is another favorite. I feel that working with objects under source control is one of the most important pieces of development, and is a topic that’s not covered very often. It’s nice to see how to store packages in Team Foundation Server here, along with some best practices. Chapter 16 is SSIS Catalog Deep Dive and you won’t want to skip this one. The new catalog has to be the biggest new feature in SSIS 2012 and you’ll want to learn all about it.

My only minor complaint about the book is the way it jumps around sometimes. For instance, when reading about running packages using PowerShell in Chapter 11, I saw one paragraph basically saying that PowerShell and SSIS was now available and referred me to Chapter 13. But the information was there. You probably don’t want to read the book cover to cover anyway. You can pick where and what you want to read based on your comfort level with SSIS.

This is a very detailed book, and one I recommend to any SSIS developer. It probably won’t be your only book on the subject but I feel it covers the internals of SSIS very well. I can see myself using this book as a reference over and over again as I work with SSIS more.  

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services: The BISM Tabular Model – Review

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The latest technical book I’m reading is Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services: The BISM Tabular Model, written by Marco Russo, Alberto Ferarri, and Chris Webb, published by Microsoft Press. This is my review.

 

Microsoft introduced the Tabular model with the release of SQL Server 2012 earlier this year. It doesn’t replace the Multidimensional model already in Analysis Services, but it does give you another option. If you’re familiar with PowerPivot you should be comfortable with Tabular models.

While this is an introductory book on the Tabular Model, it is not a beginners book by any means. You may find yourself in over your head if you’ve never worked with Analysis Services in previous versions of SQL. For instance, you will learn how to create hierarchies and relationships but not what they are.

Chapter 1 is Introducing the Tabular Model. You’ll get a the background of Analysis Services as it existed before SQL 2012. There is a comparison of features between the existing Multidimensional Model and the new Tabular Model.This section will help you to determine which part of SSAS you may need by going over the biggest differences. For instance you can’t create partitions using the Tabular Model. The hardware needs are different as well; Multidimensional would need better disks and Tabular would need more memory. Also the Tabular Model is only available in the Business Intelligence, Enterprise, or Developer Editions of SQL 2012.

Chapters 2 and 3 are where you begin to work with a Tabular Model. You’ll see what you will need to develop projects using SQL Server Data Tools. It’s more than just a walk through. You’ll learn how the Tabular model uses a workstation, a development server, and a workspace server and some best practices in setting them up. There’s a walkthrough in creating your first Tabular project against the famous AdventureWorks data warehouse. By now, if you’re already familiar with cubes in SSAS, you’ll have a pretty good feel for working with Tabular versus Multidimensional models.    

This book is worth getting just for the chapters on the Data Analysis Language (DAX). DAX isn’t new, you’ve been able to work with it in PowerPivot. The authors make it seem like an easy to grasp language, much easier than trying to use MDX. And what’s even nicer, they include a DAX Functions Reference Appendix at the end of the book, sorting functions by their use; statistical, logical, mathematical, and so on.

There’s so much more to this volume, I can’t cover it all. You’ll learn some best practices for deploying your solutions, security, how to process the models, how to work with the Tabular model in various clients, and much much more. The sample walkthroughs are clear and the text is easy to follow. I didn’t find any obvious technical errors though there were a few small typos. You’ll most likely spot them yourself but if you don’t make sure to check the errata page. The few I saw were already caught by others and explained. 

This is a book you’ll be returning to again and again. It’s a great reference for anyone working in Business Intelligence.

MS Press Training Kit Exam 70-462 – A Review

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This is a review of Training Kit Exam 70-462: Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Databases. It is written by Orin Thomas, Peter Ward, and boB Taylor (that’s how it appears on the book, not sure if it’s a typo) , and was published by Microsoft Press. This should be one of your main resources if you are working towards the new 70-462 Exam. It’s well written and covers the new stuff that’s in the latest SQL release. I recommend it to all SQL test takers.

The SQL Exams have changed for 2012. First off, there’s more of them, and more acronyms too. To get your MCSA you’ll need the 462 exam plus 461 (Querying SQL 2012) and 463 (Implementing Data Warehousing). Then there’s MCSE, which comes in 2 flavors; Data Platform (MCSA plus 464 on Developing SQL Server and 465 on Designing Solutions) or Business Intelligence (MCSA plus 466 on Data Models and Reporting and 467 on Designing BI Solutions). There’s also upgrade paths if you hold earlier SQL certifications. You can read more here.

If you’ve read any previous Training Kit you’ll recognize this one. It lays out chapters based on exam points. Each chapter is further broken down into lessons. At the end of each lesson is are walkthroughs, a lesson summary and some question that review the material. Each chapter also has Case Studies, where you are given a few scenarios to think about. The book also comes with a CD with additional content; an ebook copy and a testing engine supplied by Measure Up that allows you to take practice exams.either in Certification or Study mode. The test questions are multiple choice and in Study mode you can configure the test to be limited to certain exam objectives or a set number of questions. From my past experience these questions do a good job of preparing for the real exam but they are nothing like what you’ll see there. But then again they aren’t meant to be.

The TK for 70-462 goes into great detail about setting up an environment for all the walkthroughs. There’s detailed instructions on how to set up a domain with a DC and 4 member servers. You’ll need these computers if you want to test Mirroring and Replication (Chapter 7) or Clustering and Always On (Chapter 8). I found these steps very helpful in setting up my SQL lab.

Besides the chapters on Mirroring and Clustering there are chapters on installing and configuring the different SQL 2012 components, working with logins and roles, troubleshooting, and much more. All the new features that were released with SQL 2012 are here. For instance there’s a section on how to install SQL on a server running Windows 2008 R2 Server Core. I didn’t notice any enhancement that was missing from the book.

The last chapter contains a set of 4 Code Case Studies. These are somewhat similar to the scenarios at the end of each chapter, but here you are given a short description and a T-SQL script. After that is a set of questions related to the code, followed by the answers explaining why each choice is correct or incorrect. This is a good practice if you’ve worked mostly with Management Studio to perform tasks. It’s helpful in seeing the sequence of events.

Another feature of the book I found very useful was the URLs for different topics. To cover everything involved with SQL would contain a series of books, not just one volume. So to help you get more information there are different More Info sections that contain links to that section in Book Online. There you can see what Microsoft says about the topic. Very helpful since it is a Microsoft exam after all.

I feel this Training Kit for 70-462 is an excellent resource for anyone studying for the exam. It may be all you need if you’re already familiar with earlier editions of SQL. There’s enough of the basis that haven’t changed. You’ll still need to know which feature is available in what edition, and you still need to know what’s new with 2012, and this book seems to cover that. But if you haven’t worked with SQL before, or if you haven’t received a certification yet, you may want to pair this book with others that covers some of the material in greater detail.

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 T-SQL Fundamentals – A Review

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I’ve just picked up a copy of Itzik Ben-Gan’s latest book, Microsoft SQL Server 2012 T-SQL Fundamentals, published by Microsoft Press. If you’ve ever researched anything about SQL you’re probably already familiar with the author. Mr Ben-Gan is well-respected in the SQL field and is one of the top experts. He has written or co-written many of the must-have books going back through previous versions of SQL. His book, Microsoft SQL Server 2012 High-Performance T-SQL Using Window Functions was published earlier this year.

This is a book for anyone who works with T-SQL, at any skill level, though you’ll get more from it if you already have at least a bit of SQL experience. The first chapter goes through some of the basics, like creating tables and constraints, but not in great depth. It also discusses normalization, set theory, the relational model, and explains what a data warehouse is. Since this edition covers SQL 2012 he also describes Windows Azure SQL Database, the cloud based version of SQL.

Where the book really shines is from the second chapter on. Chapter 2 is all about simple queries against a single table. He goes through the SELECT statement syntax and how SQL processes a query. He explains how to work with different data types; all the built-in functions available for string manipulation and the different date and time functions. Chapter 3 goes into joins; what the difference is between an inner and outer join and when you want to use each. By Chapter 5 you’re getting into sub-queries and Common Table Expressions. The rest of the book covers so much more; locking and concurrency, data modification, cursors and temp tables, variables, and on and on.

And since this is the SQL 2012 edition he covers the new T-SQL features. For instance, when he writes about using the TOP keyword in a SELECT statement he also describes the new OFFSET and FETCH function and how they’re useful in limiting the number of records. The section on IDENTITY is matched by one on the new SEQUENCE object. The new Windows functions are described and demoed here as well.

This edition is similar to earlier editions of T-SQL Fundamentals. At the end of each chapter are a list of exercises that covers what you just learned. This is followed by the solutions, where you get not just the answer but a further explanation of why this is the right solution. If multiple solutions are available each is explained.

I highly recommend this book to everyone who works with SQL Server. It’s not just for SQL 2012, as most of what the book covers is also valid against earlier versions. I plan on using this as a reference again and again.

Strata Conference Santa Clara 2012 Complete Video Compilation – Review

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I recently began watching the videos from the O’Reilly Strata Conference, subtitled “Make Data Work”, held earlier this year in Santa Clara, CA. There were seven tracks on data; data science, visualization, big data, and more. Keynotes were given by Avanish Kaushik from Market Motive, Coco Krumme from MIT Media Lab, Dave Campbell of Microsoft, and Doug Cutting of Cloudera  O’Reilly Media has made all those sessions available.

The Strata Conference Santa Clara 2012: Complete Video Compilation The Business of Datais a great series and I highly recommend it to anyone who works with or is interested in data science. Any conference of this size has multiple sessions going on at one time; you’ll never be able to see them all. And even for the ones you did see in person it’s great to replay them again and again. For me at least there’s usually some point I didn’t get the first time, or completely missed. 

There are 3 days worth of videos to watch, over 100 hours in all. Luckily you can stream them from O’Reilly and just download the ones you want. They’re available as .mp4 files so you can watch them on the device of your choice. So far I’ve only watched the Designing Data Visualization Workshop by Noah Iliinsy (4 videos, 3 hours) but that’s a great start. In it he talks about some of the issues, the difference between data visualization and infographics. He also makes good points about motivation and how bias can affect affect the visualization.

There’s tons of other topics. Day 1 for example has a 4 part series on an Introduction to Apache Hadoop and another on using R for Data Modeling. There’s other sessions on Big Data and Visualization with Tableau. Days 2 and 3 seem to move more away from using specific tools to theories.

I’ve always found O’Reilly videos to be excellent quality, and these are no exception. The audio and video in the sessions I watched was flawless. The video moves from the speaker to the slides I felt as if I was part of the audience. You can hear the questions asked in the background. I’ve always felt this type of format was better than just watching a slide deck with a voiceover. It helps me keep focused on the topic.

The only concern you may have is the price. After all, $399 is not cheap. But if you compare it to what it cost to attend the conference in person, the conference fees, hotel and travel costs, I’d consider it a bargain. Plus you get to see all the sessions, not just picking 1 out of the 7 held at the same time.

If you have any interest in data science, big data, visualization, or just want to see where we’re headed, then you should consider this video set.   

Database Design and Relational Theory: Normal Forms and All That Jazz Master Class by C.J. Date

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I’ve been watching C.J. Date’s latest video, Database Design and Relational Theory: Normal Forms and All That Jazz Master Class. This is meant to be a follow up to his earlier video class, Relational Theory Master Class. Both are available from O’Reilly Books and Videos. I recommend both to anyone who wants a better understanding of database design theory.
This set is most definitely not for beginners. You should have a basic understanding of SQL and database design before viewing this video. Be prepared for terms like relvar and tuples. But don’t worry if you’re not; the first module will go over these and other terms that will be used in the series.
O’Reilly also has the content in a book, but it’s not required for the video. Personally I’d rather watch the videos because it has more of a classroom feel. Mr Date is talking to you as though were in the room with him and a few other students. The focus is on the instructor but switches to his slides when necessary to make a point. The slides also come with the video, which is just a bit over 10 hours of split into 24 segments. Few of the segments go over 30 minutes so you never feel overwhelmed. And if you are just take a break and start over.
The content is excellent. It’s theory so it’s not focused on just Microsoft or Oracle. The video quality is excellent. I was able to download the files as .mp4 files and play them on my iPad. But it’s just great stuff wherever you watch it from.