Rating: 
Summary: Don't believe the hype
Review: (...)This book is a large font book with very general information and the insightful parts or the massive amounts of code [...]is not usable, for the most part, on a production system. The vb.net code taking up a full chapter on notification services for example is a take of from the visual studio.net help files except the example code is not usable. Why the author chose his audience would better learn from something that can't be used is beyond me. The first chapter is nothing but the table of contents usually found in most books before chapter one. There is MASSIVE amounts of duplication from the first two books in here. If you don't mind having hundreds of pages of duplication from the first two books, it may be an ok book for you to learn basic concepts from but it doesn't teach any real world practices. Not in the sense of useful information for a developer working in SQL on production code. There are many other titles that don't spend 4 pages at the beginning of each chapter espousing the author's virtues and simple reasons for writing it this way or that. Each chapter being different from the other. One chapter will tell you that you must learn and just giving examples is a bad idea, other chapters will tell you that examples of usage are the way to go. The author is easily swayed in his ideology by those of persuasive pennings, as is evidenced by his changes in philosphy over the three books and the flip flop and contrary statements throughout the book anyone who reads closely will see time after time. Also some of the code loads at boot and spybot search and destroy picks up it immediately. I'm not sure why sequin needs a memory resident piece running at all times using up valuable resources. That is not acceptable from book code, esp. a query analyzer of dubious worth. The other code in this book is looked upon suspiciously by award winning security software. Anytime I find a macro or code written in this manner I'm very leary of allowing it to run simply because it may not be written well enough not to accidently trash my system. I'm not saying any intentional malicious code is on this CD. Not at all, just not written well enough to pass muster with good security products.
thank you.
Rating: 
Summary: The best book for Sql Server 2000
Review: This is the best book I have found for Sql Server 2000. I have read all of the popular ones: Inside Sql, Sql Server Programming, Sql Server Bible, etc. This is by far the most extensive and exhaustive of them all. The best part is all the source code. There is sample code in more languages than you can keep up with: VB, VB Script, VB.NET, C, C++, C#, and one or two others. And of course there is plenty of T-Sql (this is after all a Ken Henderson book :-) Another great thing about this book is the several chapters on Windows internals. Actually the book is like two books in one: a Windows internals book and a Sql Server internals book. The Windows internals chapters are better than separate books on the subject. After years of working as a Windows developer, I finally have a good understanding of virtual memory, heaps, asynch I/O, scatter-gather I/O, threading, etc. These Windows internals chapters set you up for the deep Sql Server internals that follow. Without them, I would have been lost in the deep coverage of the internals and architecture of Sql Server that makes up most of the book. Another great thing about the book is the deep treatment of so many subjects. The book doesn't limit itself to just the server engine or main executable. It covers things like DTS, replication, SQLXML, Full-text Search, and many others in just as much depth as the server engine chapters. In fact, the DTS chapter should be read by anyone building DTS applications - it should be required reading. It is better than an entire book I have dedicated to DTS. The query optimizer chapter is simply loaded with useful info for Sql Server DBAs and developers. That one chapter alone has provided a gold mine of useful recommendations I have put into practice to speed my systems up and make them generally more robust. If you get just one Sql Server book, this should be the one.
Rating:
Summary: A must have
Review: I have read all three Guru Guide books, and this is the best one yet. The emphasis in this one is on the internal workings of Sql Server. There is still plenty of info you can put directly to practical use, but the theory in this book is that you have to know how something works in order to put it to optimal practical use. If you work with Sql Server for a living, read this book from cover to cover.
Rating:
Summary: The best books available on SQL SERVER
Review: The Guru Guide books are the best books available for SQL SERVER. I have all three and never ceased to be impressed with how much I learn each time I read one of them. Each book requires and rewards careful rereading. There is always more there than you glean the first time. I am still reading the first one nearly four years after I originally bought it. I never cease to find some new nuggest when I research a solution to my latest SQL SERVER challenge. I also like the non-technical writing in each book. The personal anecdotes, the essays, the quotes at the head of each chapter: they all give you the impression that you are being taught by, as Ron Soukup says, a veteran developer who knows what he is talking about because he has lived it
Rating:
Summary: The ULTIMATE Sql Server book
Review: If you are looking for the ultimate book on Sql Server look no farther. You have found it. The incredible technical knowledge conveyed here simply blows the mind. Some of the best parts are: Windows internals - you need this to understand the OS and understand how Sql Server uses it. XML - every practicing technologist should have a working knowledge of XML. COM - every Windows developer should have good COM knowledge. UMS - the User Mode Scheduler component of Sql Server controls how work is scheduled. Learning about it in this book gave me a whole new perspective on how the server works. Memory - this is the first book to have a chapter specifically about Sql Server memory management. I feel like I finally understand what the lazy writer does and why as well as what the buffer pool is and how it differs from the "memory to leave" region. AWE is thoroughly explained and memory use in general is covered extensively. Query optimizer - this chapter alone is worth the cost of the book. I had never heard of parameter sniffing or folding before I read this book. These two concepts alone have helped me write code that runs faster and is easier to maintain over the long haul. ODSOLE - the VBODSOLE library is a gem -- arrays in T-Sql! Regular expressions! Again worth the price of the book. DTS - every DTS developer needs to read this. It's my new DTS bible. Replication chapters - I finally understand the different types of replication and what you can do to optimize each. I think everyone who wants to think about using replication in production should start with this book.
Rating:
Summary: Worth every penny
Review: I have purchased every major Sql Server book over the last seven years. I have them all. I have read about Sql Server voraciously since getting out of school, and there can be only one word to describe Henderson's Guru's Guide books: indespensible. They are head and shoulders above all of the other books out there. The reasons for this are many. I will list but a few: - Extremely well-written. Henderson has a penchant for explaining subjects in ways that no one else seems to be able to. Passages sometimes require more than one read because they are so deep, but the time is always well spent. - Loaded, absolutely loaded, with code. If you manage Sql Server machines for a living you will find that you can drop much of the code into place on your production machines without modificaton. Sp_find_root_blocker, sp_diffdb, sp_generate_script... these are all wonderful pieces of code that make the books worth the price for the code alone. - Extremely deep. One subject after another is covered in excruciating detail. Henderson's books are deeper and more extensive than any other class of technical books I have read. - Wide-ranging. Henderson doesn't stick to just a narrow part of the product, but covers subjects that real DBA's and developers would need: Full-text search, DTS, replication, query performance optimation, XML, etc. If you get and read all three of the Guru's Guide books, you will have as good of coverage of the entire product as exists. There are few authors who are as passionate about great technical writing as we DBA's and developers are about building and maintaining software systems. Ken Henderson is obviously one of them.
Rating:
Summary: Ken hits another grand slam...
Review: Every time Ken comes out with a new Guru's Guide, I'm blown away with the new things I learn just from skimming it on the first day. And what great resources for the long haul. If you're doing anything extensive or elaborate with SQL Server, this and Kalen Delaney's Inside SQL Server 2000 could be the only books on your bookshelf. If, however, you're still learning why you should avoid SELECT *, there are probably better titles aimed at you. Right now, this is the best book on my shelf, bar none... and it has plenty of dog-eared pages. My co-workers will tell you the same thing. [...] Keep up the good work.
Rating:
Summary: Wish I'd had these books 5 years ago
Review: I own all three of Ken Henderson's SQL Server books. They stand apart from the rest of the crowd as the best books available on their respective subjects. Henderson takes a fresh approach to teaching that other authors would do well to emulate. What do I mean exactly? I mean this: Every point of any significance that is raised is illustrated with code when possible. There are hundreds of code examples in each of Henderson's books - many times what you usually see in DBA or programming books. No details are glosssed over. If you really want to know how something works or what the best approach is to doing something, you need these books. Another thing that is great about these books is how easy to read they are. Complex subjects are regularly broached with explanations and teaching that practically anyone could understand. Topics that trip up other authors or that they skip altogether are discussed in terms that anyone can grasp. It is difficult to convey just how important this is, but suffice it to say that the books are simply easy to read. If you want to know SQL Server at an expert level, you need look no further. Get all three of Henderson's books and read them cover-to-cover.
Rating:
Summary: When you absolutely, positively must know!
Review: If you push SQL Server hard enough, fast enough, and to a large enough scale, you *will* have questions. This book has those answers. I really wish I had it at the start of my project, but then I suppose I wouldn't have been able to appreciate the detail to which this book delves.
It does start out with a good bit of Windows internals before getting to SQL Server internals, but only as needed to provide a solid foundation. Great tips and tools for doing your own SQL Server spelunking are supplied as well.
For large scale fine tuning, this book is a must have.
Rating:
Summary: Best SQL Server books I know
Review: I have collected several SQL server books through the years. The three SQL server books that Ken wrote are the only ones I keep at work.
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