Synopses & Reviews
Delve inside the core SQL Server engine—and put that knowledge to work—with guidance from a team of well-known internals experts. Whether database developer, architect, or administrator, you’ll gain the deep knowledge you need to exploit key architectural changes—and capture the product’s full potential. Discover how SQL Server works behind the scenes, including:
- What happens internally when SQL Server builds, expands, shrinks, and moves databases
- How to use event tracking—from triggers to the Extended Events Engine
- Why the right indexes can drastically reduce your query execution time
- How to transcend normal row-size limits with new storage capabilities
- How the Query Optimizer operates
- Multiple techniques for troubleshooting problematic query plans
- When to force SQL Server to reuse a cached query plan—or create a new one
- What SQL Server checks internally when running DBCC
- How to choose among five isolation levels and two concurrency models when working with multiple concurrent users
About the Author
Kalen Delaney is a Microsoft MVP who has worked with SQL Server since 1987. She's a subject-matter expert on Microsoft's official SQL Server courses and previously wrote Inside SQL Server (Microsoft Press). She lives in the Pacific Northwest.
Paul Randal and wife Kimberly L. Tripp are two of the most-sought-after SQL Server speakers in the world. A Microsoft MVP and Regional Director, Paul is also contributing editor to TechNet Magazine.
Kimberly L. Tripp is a SQL Server MVP and a Microsoft Regional Director and has worked with SQL Server since 1990. She lectures for a variety of events including Microsoft Tech*Ed and is married to co-editor and SQL guru Paul Randal.
Conor Cunningham is principal architect of the SQL Server Core Engine Team at Microsoft.
Table of Contents
Foreword; Introduction; Who This Book Is For; What This Book Is About; Companion Content; System Requirements; Support for This Book; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1: SQL Server 2008 Architecture and Configuration; SQL Server Editions; SQL Server Metadata; Components of the SQL Server Engine; The SQLOS; The Scheduler; Memory; SQL Server Resource Governor; SQL Server 2008 Configuration; SQL Server System Configuration; SQL Server Configuration Settings; Final Words; Chapter 2: Change Tracking, Tracing, and Extended Events; The Basics: Triggers and Event Notifications; Change Tracking; Tracing and Profiling; Extended Events; Summary; Chapter 3: Databases and Database Files; System Databases; Sample Databases; Database Files; Creating a Database; Expanding or Shrinking a Database; Using Database Filegroups; Altering a Database; Databases Under the Hood; Setting Database Options; Database Snapshots; The tempdb Database; Database Security; Moving or Copying a Database; Compatibility Levels; Summary; Chapter 4: Logging and Recovery; Transaction Log Basics; Changes in Log Size; Backing Up and Restoring a Database; Summary; Chapter 5: Tables; Creating Tables; User-Defined Data Types; IDENTITY Property; Internal Storage; Constraints; Altering a Table; Heap Modification Internals; Summary; Chapter 6: Indexes: Internals and Management; Overview; Tools for Analyzing Indexes; Understanding Index Structures; Index Creation Options; Physical Index Structures; Special Index Structures; Data Modification Internals; Managing Index Structures; Summary; Chapter 7: Special Storage; Large Object Storage; Filestream Data; Sparse Columns; Data Compression; Table and Index Partitioning; Summary; Chapter 8: The Query Optimizer; Overview; What Is Optimization?; How the Query Optimizer Explores Query Plans; Optimizer Architecture; Statistics, Cardinality Estimation, and Costing; Index Selection; Partitioned Tables; Data Warehousing; Updates; Distributed Query; Extended Indexes; Plan Hinting; Summary; Chapter 9: Plan Caching and Recompilation; The Plan Cache; Caching Mechanisms; Plan Cache Internals; Objects in Plan Cache: The Big Picture; Multiple Plans in Cache; When to Use Stored Procedures and Other Caching Mechanisms; Troubleshooting Plan Cache Issues; Summary; Chapter 10: Transactions and Concurrency; Concurrency Models; Transaction Processing; Locking; Lock Compatibility; Internal Locking Architecture; Row-Level Locking vs. Page-Level Locking; Row Versioning; Controlling Locking; Summary; Chapter 11: DBCC Internals; Getting a Consistent View of the Database; Processing the Database Efficiently; Primitive System Catalog Consistency Checks; Allocation Consistency Checks; Per-Table Logical Consistency Checks; Cross-Table Consistency Checks; DBCC CHECKDB Output; DBCC CHECKDB Options; Database Repairs; Consistency-Checking Commands Other Than DBCC CHECKDB; Summary; Appendix : About the Authors; Kalen Delaney; Paul S. Randal; Kimberly L. Tripp; Conor Cunningham; Adam Machanic; Technical Reviewer: Benjamin Nevarez;