Great book for SQL Server and Oracle DBAs.
591779
This book has almost everything you would want to know about Mysql, with lots of examples and quite well explained. And if you are looking to MySQL for solving your database problems, you should definitely buy this one.
423683
I got a copy of this book back in September of 2009 because I wanted to know more about the hardware configuration of production database servers.  Specifically, I wanted to know about best practices and recommendations in the areas of storage, memory and CPU.  While at the store, I read chapter 2 "Storage and System Sizing" which covers from what SATA means to areas such as RAID, SAN, solid state drives, and best practice considerations. I purchased this book just for the content in chapter 2 and had zero expectations for the rest.

After reading the remainder of the book, I commend Rod College and the team behind this volume for their fantastic job.  The material is accurate, current and invaluable to DBAs at any level. You'll get a wealth of information from new features found in MS SQL 2008 to concepts you should already know but you are not familiar with in MS SQL 2008.
1981620
1st, a small disclaimer...

At the time of this review, 12/13/12 I have not finished reading or studying this book yet; as a matter of fact, I challenge any person or reviewer saying he or she has finished the book, as frankly speaking would be difficult or impossible to believe. However, I decided to jump ahead and give my honest review from what I've read so far. I have no business relationship with any of the authors whatsoever.

Having said that, I like this book so far. It is way, way better than its previous version. It goes more in-depth and gives a more holistic approach to T-SQL. I'll explain that in a few.

So far, i've read: Chapter 1, which is an intro to what set theory is. Chapter 2, which is about SELECT statements. Chapter 15, which is about Indexes and Chapter 17, which is about optimization. All those cover the basics and more about what you need for your day to day job and to fully understand T-SQL and their proper usage. The Index and Optimization chapters have plenty of illustrations and the concepts are exposed in a clear but concise manner.

Each chapter, as the typical MS cert books, has questions an answers but there are also lot of labs with exercises and T-SQL queries to play with. You only need a SQL2012 instance (any flavor) to practice.

I consider this book a hybrid between Itzik's bestseller, T-SQL fundamentals and previous SQL query book from Microsoft. This new version keeps its simplicity while going more in detail and giving a non proprietary and holistic approach to what T-SQL is or should be.

I've been reading Itzik's books for several years now and he has improved his writing skills a lot. He knows his stuff, no doubt about it, but somehow he has learned how to write to "masses" and being less set based or math oriented.

Another key difference to SQL 2008 or SQL 2005 versions of this book, which is actually a nice one, is that this 2012 MS series of T-SQL books is now more DBA oriented. Not sure if this is because the new authors or the MS cert. requirements itself, but the exercises and lessons are more realistic and performance oriented. The book is no longer about obscure T-SQL syntaxes but how to write code that will run fast and efficient on SQL2012 database engines.

Will this book alone help you pass the test? No, it will not. I think that if you have been working as a full time developer for a year or more, maybe it will. Is this book a good source or test material? No doubt about it. As a matter of fact, this is one of the 1st MS cert. books that actually teaches you proper and clean T-SQL. And giving the awesome writing style, the 15% exam discount and the ANSI oriented code or advices, this is a book that deserves a space In your bookshelf, regardless if you are planning to take the cert. or develops a stronger T-SQL and coding skills.
454179
A must-have for anybody working 6.5, 7, and 2000 MSSQL.  Very well scoped-out in its depth of coverage.  Explains aspects of the RDBMS that will be required knowledge for any DBA coming from a non-MSSQL background.  Covers differences from SQL 6.5 through SQL 2000.  Sure, there is a lot that is not in here, but it is impressive how much is covered (from basics of physical design, to ACID transactions, to replication-related stored procedures).  The smaller form factor makes it easy to carry around, which is an absolute bonus.  The material in this book (and the "for Experienced DBAs" book in the Osborne series) must be distilled from a vast amount of real-world experience-- sadly, not out there yet for SQL 2005.
4917912
Nice all around book for getting to know SQL.  Covers all the bases. Basic database administration, inserting, updating, and deleting data, views, stored procedures, triggers and XML.

My only complaint is that the grammar is a little rough in spots.  On at least a handful of occasions I found myself trying to mentally rebuild a sentence due to words being left out or misplaced.
2019511
This book is a great resource for the new or experienced DBA. With so many configuration options and infrequently used features it is nice to have one source for all of this information.

Also, the CD which accompanies the book makes carrying the book and searching it much faster.
2340889
This book is fantastic for beginners like myself, and has been extremely helpful with manuveuering through the Management Studio. The book is loaded with information and I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to learn about SQL Server. Thank you!
2723431
David Kroenke's newest edition of his work, Database Processing: Fundamentals, Design, and Implementation (9th Edition), is an excellent book that serves well as an introductory text on Databases. What makes this text even more valuable is that it takes you beyond the basics as you work your way through it. The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) uses this text for two different database courses. Here is an overview of the sections in the book (each section contains multiple chapters):
Part I - Entity-Relationship Data Modeling
Part II - Database Design
Part III - Structured Query Language (SQL)
Part IV - Part Four (multi-user databases, Oracle 9i, and SQL Server 2000)
Part V - Database Access Standards (ODBC, OLE DB, ADO, ASP, XML, ADO.NET, JDBC, Java Server Pages, MySQL)
Part VI - Object-Oriented Database Processing
As you can see, Kroenke covers the necessary foundations of multiple DBMS systems, and goes into good detail on different schema regarding E-R data modeling. Additionally, screenshots are abundant in this text from numerous applications and DBMSs (including Access), and Kroenke does a great job at giving examples and discussing topics in a reader-friendly manner.
465558
While this comprehensive book is a definitive and complete reference for Oracle DBAs who need to support mission-critical databases, it is also a key reference for developing a comprehensive high-availability posture in Oracle-centric enterprises.
This book focuses on making Oracle highly available and resilient, but also touches on related aspects, such as hardware, operating systems and networks.  What I particularly liked is the way the book begins, with an exceptionally well-written chapter on identifying your uptime requirements.  All of the material here applies to availability and reliability of enterprise-wide systems, not just Oracle.  In fact, Parts I and II of this book should be read by anyone who is responsible for implementing and managing a 24x7 enterprise regardless of whether they are a DBA because the information in the first two parts of this eight-part book will have the whole team (SAs, DBAs, network analysts and service delivery/support staff) using a common framework.
The remaining six parts span chapters 7 through 20 and are specific to Oracle.  There is an overwhelming amount of information here.  What makes getting through these chapters so hard is the fact that nearly every page has some important tip, fact or technique.  The sheer number of these, all of which are important, will consume two or three highlighters before you get to the end of the book
Overall, this book is essential for Oracle DBAs, and deserves a place in the library of every architect and operations manager in large 24x7 enterprises that use Oracle .
2821289
This book does a good job of covering the major activities confronting a DBA, such as back-ups, recoveries, creating and using DTS packages, scheduling jobs, etc.  Furthermore, the book provides concrete syntax or  screen shots as part of the step-by-step descriptions.  Overall this is a  fine addition to a DBA's library.  My only complaint is that in some  sections, like configuring mail for SQL Server, it uses only MS  software  for the examples.
2801834
Though I am DBA from long years but I like the way this book talk about new product for new Oracle DBA's.
954792
We have been looking for over a year for a textbook for our SQL Server DBMS classes.  At long last, we finally found one.  I'm an assistant prof. here and teach most of the third and fourth year database classes.  This book is the first one I've found that I'd consider college-level material.  Written in clear, understandable terms, this is the first SQL Server book I've seen that successfully balances the practical with the theoretical.  Most technical books go too far to one side or the other, especially non-academic books.  Not this one, though.  It informs and educates, trains and teaches, all at once.  If you want to understand how an industry-leading DBMS like SQL Server *really* works, get this book.
422010
Very in-depth book that explains the "why" behind many things. I had my MCSA: SQL Server 2012/2014 before reading this, and I'm still learning a ton from it. There are lots of code examples and comparative benchmarks for different approaches, which is extremely helpful.
947032
I started reading this book without much knowledge of SQL. My background isn't IT, but I work closely with systems and wanted to learn more on the side to help me with my job. This is a great guide. It's easy to follow and understand, moves along quickly, but it doesn't dumb down the material. Also, the 8 books in one encompass a lot of knowledge about SQL and databases. This is a good resource.
431218
This CD Bookshelf is an excellent resource for PL/SQL and Oracle Database Developers.  It contains 7 books which offer valuable information on PL/SQL programming.  The collection of books cover basic to advanced PL/SQL programming topics.  Beginners and advanced PL/SQL Developers will find this a good reference to add to their library collection.  The Oracle PL/SQL Programming, 2nd Edition book on the PL/SQL CD Bookshelf provides indepth information on the fundamentals of PL/SQL.  For more advanced developers the Advanced Oracle PL/SQL Programming with Packages is an excellent resource.  Other books on the PL/SQL CD Bookshelf are equally useful and valuable.  The PL/SQL CD Bookshelf is a great resource kit to have in my collection!
1039848
Begin'ers + Mid Lvls Using SQL Svr 2K-- Get this book!!!

...Have experience with programming langs. like c++, java, vb, c# (and other procedural and OOP langs.)?  Having trouble transitioning from procedural and OOP langs to set/list based T-SQL?  Get this book.

This book is great.  Plenty of explanations of T-SQL concepts.  The author is a good writter.  Many thanks to the author and publisher for putting the entire book on the CDROM as a PDF file.  Now I can take the book with me without the extra weight.  I have it on my laptop.  I will be studying for my 1st SQL exam in two months, but in the mean time I'm able to finish my DB project at work now.

I bought it because I wanted to be able to write stored proc's., user defined functions, sub-queries, DTS packages, and learn how to schedule jobs in SQL Server.  Also I needed some well explained examples of creative uses of select statements and sub-queries.  The author delivers.  For example, turning a single column in a table into a comma separate value list (CSV list).  Which is often used with look-up tables used to populate a drop-down list or multi-select list.

---------------------

DECLARE @strValue VARCHAR(30)

SET @strValue = ''

SELECT @strValue = @strValue + tbl_Cities. CityName ','

FROM tbl_Cities

Result is like... "New York City,Chicago,Miami,Dallas"

---------------------

There is another book that is recommended/hailed as the best T-SQL book, but this book will get you up and running fast and offers more than just T-SQL...  plenty of SQL Server admin content and practice advice that is used in the real world.
1849010
Lets me honest, as I have said in other reviews of Oracle 11g, Oracle 11g is a beast. There are so many new features that have been added to it in this new version that it sometimes feels that you are learning a whole new database.

Yes, Oracle 11g is pretty much the defacto standard when it comes to DBMS but it can take years to fully master all its complexities. I've only been using Oracle for a few years and sometimes I still consider myself a newbie at time.

So even though this book seems like a monster too (1300+ pages), it is something that no Oracle DBA or even casual user should be without. The author, Sam Alapati really covers everything there is to know to fully administer Oracle 11g and some things I didn't even know existed until I went through the book. You don't have to read this book cover to cover to fully appreciate this book's wealth of knowledge.

The book is very well organized and makes it really easy to find exactly what you are looking for. Since a book this size really has to be well organized otherwise you will spend hours trying to find something. Not only is this book very well organized but is written in a way in that you don't have to be a genius to understand it. I've read so many other Oracle books that assume you have a Phd in engineering or something to understand what the author is talking about.

This book explains all the topics in an easy to read and digest manner with plenty of "real-life" examples that you probably already have encountered at work using Oracle.

The book is divided into 7 sections: Data Modeling, Achitecture, Installation and Upgrading, User Management, Backup and Recovery, Managing, and Performance Tuning.

The author explains so much excellent information in this book than its really like getting 2 or 3 books in one. The Performance section alone is worth the price alone since many other Oracle books barely talk about this topic unless its a separate book. And the Architecture and Installation sections really explain how the new version (11g) really differs from previous versions and quickly makes you understand how much has changed from older versions.

This book can also be used as reference book for getting your Oracle certifications as well: Oracle Database SQL Certified Expert exam.

So I highly recommend this book to anyone who really wants to learn Oracle the right way and save money in the process since you really do not need another book! A great buy!