Boston SQL Training

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Description

This five-day course focuses on performance, design, and availability, leveraging internals to help you get the most out of SQL Server 2005 and 2008. After taking this course you will have a thorough understanding of how to keep your databases up, running, and ready to go wherever your business needs.

Day 1: SQL Server Internals

  • On-disk structures: how the data is stored
    • Records, pages, allocation bitmaps
  • Index internals: how the data is organized
  • Logging and recovery: how the data is protected
    • What is logging?
    • How recovery works
    • How the transaction log is structured
    • Recovery models

 

Day 2: Designing for Performance

  • Choosing the RIGHT Data Type
    • Understanding data types
    • Character data, overflow and LOB
    • LOB considerations
    • Date and time data types
    • Heterogeneous data types
    • Sparse columns
    • Application inconsistencies in types
  • Designing for Performance
    Table & Index Partitioning Strategies
    • Concepts/motivating factors in Partitioning
    • SQL Server 2000+ Partitioned Views
    • SQL Server 2005+ Partitioned Tables
    • Partitioning Design Techniques Combined
    • Partitioned and non-partitioned Indexes
    • Implementing the Sliding Window Scenario

 

Day 3: Indexing for Performance

  • Data Access
    • Data Access Patterns
    • Covering
    • Using INCLUDE (SQL Server 2005+)
    • Using Filters (SQL Server 2008+)
  • Indexing Strategies
    • Indexing for AND
    • Indexing for OR
    • Indexing for Joins
    • Indexing for Aggregates
    • Indexed Views (Overview – detailed if time permits)

 

Day 4: Essential Database Maintenance

  • Data and log file provisioning and management
    • Database layout considerations
    • Growing and shrinking
    • Instant initialization
  • Tempdb
  • Index and statistics maintenance
    • Fragmentation and its causes
    • Detecting and removing
  • Using backup and restore
    • Types of backups
    • Backup strategy
    • How restore works
    • Restore options

 

Day 5: Essential Database Maintenance

  • Consistency checking and disaster recovery
    • Page protection options
    • IO errors and monitoring
    • DBCC CHECKDB
      • Best practices
      • Interpreting output
    • Recovering from corruption