DBA Diaries

Thoughts and experiences of a DBA working with SQL Server and MySQL

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Have You Set Yourself Any Goals for the New Year?

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“New year, new start” – I’ve heard that saying several times and it could mean the start of many different things.

A new diet, a new fitness regime, a new job or complete career change. Giving up a vice, a new qualification, a new life – there will be others I’m sure.

I don’t usually do new years resolutions but this year I have set myself some new targets and they are related to my profession as a DBA.

SQL Server Certification

I wrote about this before in my posts on SQL Server 2012 certification

Whether you agree or disagree as to whether there is any benefit to certification is your opinion and I have certainly changed my mind on many occasions. I have decided that one of my goals this year will be to study and sit the exams.

Whether I do all of them this year remains to be seen. There are five to pass if I want to get to MCSE but I would hope that I can at least get to MCSA status this year and complete to MCSE the following year.

At the time of writing this post, there seems to be a delay with the release of the exam guide from Microsoft Press for exam 70-461. I have started to look at 70-462 instead as the exam kit is available to buy and I really wanted to get some material that contained practice questions that I could test myself with.

If you are working towards certification yourself or have experience with another SQL Server qualification, it would be great to hear from you. Any tips on approaches to study and revision would be gratefully received. 🙂

Blogging at DBA Diaries

My blog DBA Diaries is now a little over a year old and on a personal front, it has been really enjoyable building it and watching it grow. Traffic to the site is increasing month on month and its been really great to engage with readers who have found my site and commented.

I’m very keen to grow the site in this coming year and have a big list of things that I want to do with it. As well as ensuring that I contribute regularly, I wanted to give the site a new look. I use Thesis which is a great theme for WordPress but I have only touched the surface with what it is capable of.

Writing SQL articles for other sites

I’m looking for sites that I can write articles for. I’ve found the blogging experience really enjoyable and I want to write more and contribute to the SQL community in other ways.

Why have I written a blog post about this?

It’s part of my approach. If I write things down then I am more likely to do them instead of procrastinating over them. The fact that I am broadcasting it puts that little bit of pressure on me to work through it.

Everyone is different and this is me trying to ensure that I am focused on the goals I have set myself. I do fear that I may have given myself too much to do but we will see. The important thing will be to have a clear plan and be organized.

So what about you?

Have you set yourself any personal goals for your career this year? I’d be really interested to know what those are.

SQL books that I frequently use

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In my current role, we have a mixture of SQL Server and MySQL installations and over the courses of time, I have built up a fair size collection of books on these two database platforms.

I keep some of them at home. As we have grown as a family, available space in the house has subsequently reduced and I sometimes receive polite complaints from my better half because of the amount of SQL literature that can be found around the house. Well she did marry a computer nerd! 🙂

sql server books mysql books

Here is a collection of my most used and favourite SQL books and if you look closely, the top two are definitely what I would call “well loved”. A bit like a child’s favourite teddy bear where it is bit rough around the edges having been played with so often.

Yes these are my “teddy bears”. Probably my favourite task working as a DBA is performance tuning. Perhaps it is a boy thing – fast cars and all that.

In my case, I think it stems from when I first got into building computers way back in 1997. I was an I.T apprentice back then and it was always “cool” to upgrade your PC to the fastest processor or have the latest graphics card. Such efforts were all geared around playing computer games and making my system as fast as possible so that I, or rather the computerised version of me, fully loaded with various rocket launchers and machine guns, could run around a Quake II arena with minimal system drag.

When I am notified about a performance issue with a query or users complain of general system performance, it is these problems which I particularly enjoy solving and when I am in learning mode, I tend to read these types of books the most.

The first book on the pile is “Professional SQL Server 2008 Internals and Troubleshooting” which is co-written by SQL Server experts Christian Bolton, Justin Langford, Brent Ozar, James Rowland-Jones and Steven Wort.

This is a great book and I am not the only person who thinks so as on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk it gets 5 stars.

This post is not intended to be a book review and so I will keep this brief but subjects covered in the book start at looking at the architecture of SQL Server by covering ACID properties and SQL Server transactions through to how to build a Management Data Warehouse to store performance statistics generated by your servers. It contains masses of detailed content and is in excess of 550 pages long.

My second favourite is one called “High Performance MySQL”. Again, very informative. Topics cover, for example differences between the MySQL engines as well as troubleshooting, optimization, scaling, performance tools and many others.

I must mention the two books on T-SQL in the pile, second and third from the bottom who amongst the co-authors is a guy called Itzik Ben-Gan who I would describe as a T-SQL black belt. If you want to get really good T-SQL then read his books.

 What will be my next SQL book?

As I wrote in an earlier post I am considering sitting the SQL Server 2012 exams. Microsoft are soon to release a book on the 70-462 exam on “Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Databases” which is available from Amazon on pre-order via this link and due to be released July 17th 2012.

What good SQL books can you recommend?

 

SQL Server Certification – 2 for 1 exam offer

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I came across this today and wanted to share it with you. If you are interested in SQL Server certification then for a limited time, Microsoft are offering “2 for 1” on SQL Server exams.

Between April 11 2012 and June 30 2012, you can purchase a SQL Server exam at full price and then once you have taken it you will be emailed a voucher for the second exam at no additional cost.

Please note that the voucher is for the exam in the next version of your chosen technology.

So for example, you can purchase an exam in SQL Server 2008 and once you have sat the exam, you will be emailed a voucher for an exam in SQL Server 2012 once the new exams have been released.

MCSE SQL Server 2012

The voucher code will be valid for 90 days after the availability of the next version certification.

If you sign up and sit one of the following exams, then the voucher will be available to you.

Exam 70-432 : TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Installation and Maintenance
Exam 70-433 : TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Database Development
Exam 70-448 : TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Business Intelligence Development and Maintenance
Exam 70-450 : PRO: Designing, Optimizing and Maintaining a Database Server Infrastructure using Microsoft SQL Server 2008
Exam 70-451 : PRO: Designing Database Solutions and Data Access Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008
Exam 70-452 : PRO: Designing a Business Intelligence Infrastructure Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008

You can purchase up to five “2 for 1” exam vouchers per technology path and on the sign up page, there are other technologies to choose from.

The link to the sign up page is here

SQL Server Virtual Labs saves you time and resource

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SQL Server Virtual LabsIf you have wanted to try SQL Server 2012 and learn about its new features but have not had the time or capacity to set yourself up a test environment then go over to SQL Server Virtual Labs where you can fire up SQL Server 2012 in an instant.

At the time of writing this post, there is no cost involved in running these labs. They don’t just cover SQL Server 2012, there are labs on SQL 2008 and business intelligence tools for you to try as well.

Whether you are going for SQL Server 2012 certification or wanting to learn about certain features related to SQL Server then these labs are a valuable resource. Not happy with something, then simply run the lab again and cut out any time required to set up what you wanted to cover. It’s also a great resource to come back to when you get close to sitting an exam. Labs can last up to 90 minutes.

There are three sections which a varied number of labs which you can try :

  1. Business Intelligence
  2. Mission-Critical Operations
  3. Database Management

Business Intelligence Labs

  • Creating a PowerPivot Model and Report in the Excel Client
  • Defining DAX Calculations with Microsoft PowerPivot for Excel 2010
  • Creating a Report with Report Builder 3.0
  • Exploring Power View
  • Importing and Developing a BI Semantic Model in Microsoft Visual Studio

Mission-Critical Operations Labs

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2: Database Mirroring
  • SQL Server 2012: AlwaysOn Availability Groups

Database Management Labs

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2: Database Mirroring
  • SQL Server 2012: AlwaysOn Availability Groups
  • SQL Upgrade: Upgrading to Microsoft SQL Server 2008
  • SQL Server 2012 – Working with Contained Databases
  • SQL Server 2012 – What’s new in Manageability
  • SQL Server 2012 – Installation and Configuration
  • SQL Server 2012 – Security and Compliance
  • SQL Server 2012 – Upgrading to SQL Server 2012
  • SQL Server 2012 – What’s new in T-SQL
  • SQL Server 2012 – Installing and managing SQL Server 2012 on Windows Server Core
  • SQL Server 2012 – What’s new in Data warehousing and EIM

Click the link and check out SQL Server Virtual Labs

SQL Server 2012 certification – part 2

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sql server 2012 certificationI previously wrote about SQL Server 2012 certification in March and at the time of writing the post, the information on the Microsoft website about the SQL Server certification paths that you could take spoke of “Professional Level Certifications”.

I also wrote that there did not appear to be a comparative MCTS to MCITP achievement path and that in order to be qualified, you had to take five exams. Thankfully Microsoft has changed things since and now there is a similar structure of accreditation which is comparable to the SQL Server 2008 certification path.

There is a little surprise here also. A previously used acronym for a qualification has been re-used but at the same time, renamed into something new.

SQL Server 2012 certification exams and qualifications

The qualifications you can attain are as follows:

  • MCSA – Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate
  • MCSE – Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (previously this stood for Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer)

So how does this compare to the SQL Server 2008 path? If you were comparing with SQL Server 2008 qualifications then the two are now aligned in terms of the number of achievements you can attain.

Previously in SQL Server 2008 in order to get your MCITP, you had to first pass an exam and attain the MCTS, followed by another for the MCITP. With SQL Server 2012, you have to become a MCSA before you can attain the MCSE.

I wrote before that there were five exams to take before you can achieve a SQL Server 2012 certification. That is still the case and the split is three exams for the MCSA and two exams for either the “Data Platform” or “Business Intelligence” MCSE.

MCSA

  • Exam 70-461: Querying Microsoft SQL Server 2012
  • Exam 70-462: Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Databases
  • Exam 70-463: Implementing a Data Warehouse with Microsoft SQL Server 2012

MCSE – Data Platform

  • Exam 70-464: Developing Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Databases
  • Exam 70-465: Designing Database Solutions for Microsoft SQL Server 2012

MCSE – Business Intelligence

  • Exam 70-466: Implementing Data Models and Reports with Microsoft SQL Server 2012
  • Exam 70-467: Designing Business Intelligence Solutions with Microsoft SQL Server 2012

SQL Server 2012 certification – upgrading from SQL Server 2008

Upgrading from any MCTS to MCSA involves taking 2 exams:

  • Exam 457:  Transition your MCTS on SQL Server 2008 to MCSA: SQL Server 2012 – Part 1
  • Exam 458:  Transition your MCTS on SQL Server 2008 to MCSA: SQL Server 2012 – Part 2

Upgrading your MCITP to MCSE involves taking 3 exams with the last one differing depending on the MCITP qualification which was previously attained.

Upgrading from Database Administrator or Database Developer in SQL Server 2008

  • Exam 457: Transition your MCTS on SQL Server 2008 to MCSA: SQL Server 2012 – Part 1
  • Exam 458: Transition your MCTS on SQL Server 2008 to MCSA: SQL Server 2012 – Part 2
  • Exam 459: Transition your MCITP: Database Administrator 2008 or MCITP: Database Developer 2008 to MCSE: Data Platform

Upgrading from Business Intelligence Developer in SQL Server 2008

  • Exam 457: Transition your MCTS on SQL Server 2008 to MCSA: SQL Server 2012 – Part 1
  • Exam 458: Transition your MCTS on SQL Server 2008 to MCSA: SQL Server 2012 – Part 2
  • Exam 460: Transition your MCITP Business Intelligence Developer 2008 to MCSE: Business Intelligence

I’m really pleased that Microsoft has now clarified this information on their website, you can get more information on it here – SQL Server 2012 certification. It is now clear that you can attain something part way through your exams, albeit because of the new types of qualifications, you have to take three exams for an MCSA instead of previously just one before you attained an MCTS.

Finally, at the very top of the SQL Server 2012 certification ladder is the MCSM (Microsoft Certified Solutions Master) and for more information on that, you can visit this link.

It’s worth noting that SQL Server 2012 qualifications require re-certification every three years.

So there are now more exams and there is more cross over in the SQL Server 2012 certifications.

For a DBA who does not do a lot of development or a SQL developer who does not do a lot of administration, there is a lot to learn and subsequently, if you are not regularly doing what you have learned for your SQL Server 2012 certification because you are production DBA for example, then you will in time be forgetting some of what you have studied.

On the flip side, if you want to get a SQL Server 2012 certification, you have to broaden your skill sets. That may open new opportunities for you in your career as a SQL Server professional.

Get a SQL Server 2012 ebook for free!

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Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2012I’ve just downloaded a free ebook on SQL Server 2012.

Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2012, by Ross Mistry (@RossMistry) and Stacia Misner (@StaciaMisner)

It’s 229 pages long and so provides a good amount of content with 10 chapters. If you have read my previous post on SQL Server 2012 certification and you are going for the certification or if you simply want to learn more about SQL Server 2012, then this ebook is a great place to start.

Thank you to Ross Mistry and Stacia Misner for writing and providing this ebook free of charge. Here is the link to the download page.

If you want to purchase a hard copy then you can also get it via the same page.

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