Rating: 
Summary: A great reference
Review: This hefty tome is worth every ounce. The chapters are so extensive and so complete that you will likely not need another Sql Server book.I knew when the head of the Sql Server product team endorsed the book that it would probably be a good one, but I never expected this. It is more technical than any book I think I've ever bought. I learned not only how the product works but how to use the various tools it introduces (e.g., the Microsoft Debugger, WINDBG) to explore Sql Server further as well as any other application that interests me. The book is literally loaded with examples that all by themselves teach valuable lessons about Windows applications and applications development. Beyond merely learning about Sql Server, you also learn a good deal about Windows itself and how applications run under it. Once you understand how Windows works and how Windows apps use its various services then you have the foundation you need to understand how Sql Server works. That's when the author gets into the low-level internals and design of Sql Server. One chapter after another explores how the product is put together from a design standpoint and how it works. By the time you finish reading the book you have received the best tour through Sql Server that exists in print. It is the next best thing to having the source code yourself and being able to read through it.
Rating:
Summary: The most comprehensive book on Sql Server available
Review: You might be intimidated by the size of this book. At over 1000 pages it might seem a little much but every page is well worth it. I recommend you read the book in sequence and work through all the exercises. Not only will you come away a better Sql Server admin or developer but you will also come a away a better software engineer. I learned several things from this book: 1) that Sql Server makes use of numerous advanced Windows services and how it uses them 2) that the query optimizer is smart but not psychic - it needs a little help now and then to render good query plans 3) that Sql Server comes with such a wide variety of things in the box that it pays to research them before building or designed new software 4) that merge replication isn't the only type of bi-directional replication 5) that DTS is as powerful a data import-export facility as many third-party products, 6) and many others. Now for the negative: I wish high availability topics were covered. It seems like a natural area for this book and I was disappointed that it wasn't covered. Having said that the book is long enough as it is. I'll hold out hope that the next edition will have coverage of this aspect of using Sql Server. I also wish there was more about how Sql Server stores data in this book. I realize Inside Sql Server covers this, but if this book had that information, I wouldn't need Inside Sql at all. Again, the book is long enough as it is, but I was surpised that it wasn't covered. Although the topics covered by a book like this is never enough, it is easily the most comprehensive book on Sql Server available and belongs in your library if you are serious about Sql Server.
Rating:
Summary: The only book you need
Review: Like the forward says, this is a book for people who want to get into how something works rather than just understanding how to put it to use. This book picks up where Delaney's book leaves off and takes you up to the next notch. I don't know of any other Sql book that does this. At least for me this is the only book I need to understand how Sql works and how it is best used. At the very least start with this book then work around to the others. It will give you a solid foundation for understanding the others.
Rating:
Summary: Exactly what I needed
Review: I was looking for one like this for a long time before I found it. I want a deeper understanding that T-sql syntax and Books Online-type stuff like you get in other books. This is the first book that I've ever found that didn't treat me like an idiot. The knowledge measure questions are hard but worth the time to answer.
Rating:
Summary: What everyone should know
Review: This book has things that everyone who uses Sql Server should know. It is essential knowledge that anyone who claims to be a practitioner should have. It is difficult to pick just one favorite part. There is not a weak chapter in the book. Henderson favorite topics such as the query optimizer and cursors have been updated in this book and are in top form. Newcomers such as the memory management chapters, the user-mode scheduler chapter, the ODSOLE chapter, etc., are all excellent. Each one stands alone as the best coverage of its particular subject that is currently available in any book. One more thing: the DTSDiag tool is a great piece of software. We are using it in our data center everyday to monitor our servers. You owe it to yourself to get the book if for no other reason than to get this tool.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT book
Review: This is one great book. I can't believe all the great information it has. I love all the sample programs. I love all the low level details. I love the teach regarding Windows and regarding SQL internal mechanisms. I have never spent better money than I spent on this book. I will be learning from it for years to come.
Rating:
Summary: One of a kind
Review: I have never seen a book like this one. I'm used to getting books that cover so many topics that they cover none of them well (for example the Unleashed series of books) or books that are so narrow in scope that they have little practical use. When I saw how many topics this book covered I worried that it might be another one of those Unleashed-type books. I was happily mistaken. Every topic it covers is covered in more depth that I have ever seen before. Many of the chapters in this book could be books unto themselves. Some examples The Sql Server memory management chapter is a wonderful piece of work. I have read it about five times now. I think I finally have a handle on how my server's memory allocations work and why Microsoft makes some of the recommendations it does. The UMS chapter is a concise treatise on a piece of Sql Server that I didn't even know existed before I read this book. It is not documented in the Books Online or in any other book AFAIK. I think it is one of the many jewels to be found in this book. The chapter on the Query Optimizer is so chalk full of info that I've taken to consulting it any time I have a query performance problem I'm trying to resolve. It is the perfect balance between internal details and practical advice. The DTS chapter could literally be its own book. We have often built custom data transfer applications in the past without realizing that this powerful tool was right there in the box. We know now. The coverage of replication is excellent. I wish I had had the three chapters on replication in this book when we first began using it a few months ago. I didn't know, for example, that transactional replication can allow subscribers to update their data. This book lays all that out and provides a wealth of practical advice on which type of replication to go with and what the strengths/weaknesses of each are. The full text search chapter is also a gem. There is a great balance between inside details and how to apply them practically that I think anyone even thinking about using FTS would benefit from. This book is like no other that I've seen. It pulls off the seemingly impossible task of being both extremely detailed and extremely wide-ranging in the topics it delves into. I think any Sql Server manager, DBA, or software developer would benefit from reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Everyone should have this book
Review: Every SQL Svr library needs an internals-architecture book of some sort. You just need that. You can have books that are more how-to info for specific tasks or troubleshooting specific types of problems, but you need at least one that talks about how everything is put together. This book is the one. It is head and shoulders above anything else that is available on SQL Svr including Inside SQL Svr 7.0/2K. What do I like about this book? I'm glad you asked that question. It stresses the importance of understanding the technologies that have been used to build SQL Svr as much as knowing how those technologies affect our practical use of the product. So, for example, it discusses why you need to know how asynchronous I-O works in Windows then shows one practical example after another to illustrate. By the time you get done, you have a great feel for how and why SQL Svr uses asynchronous I-O. You know it much better than you would had you merely read, "SQL Svr reads and writes data asynchronously." You know the subject the same way the developers of the product must know it. Another thing I like about the book is how well it flows and how easy to read it is. An great example of this the User Mode Scheduler chapter. In a relatively short number of pages, Henderson explains the nitty-gritty details of one of the most important components in the server. Before reading this book, I didn't even know UMS existed. One last thing I like about this book is the exceptional example code. I'm used to book example code normally not having much value outside the context of the book. But things like the VBODSOLE library, the DTS Package Guru tool, the DTSDIAG tool, the xp_array extended procedures, etc., all have value apart from this book. I'd be willing to bet that people would pay for the CD for this book separately if they had to. It is that valuable. One chapter after another shows some nifty tool or useful code sample that has numerous practical applications. Basically, there is something here for everyone. If you are a coder, you'll love this book. If you are a SQL Svr DBA or developer and actually want to know what you're doing - if you really want to know SQL Svr inside-out - look no further. You have found your book.
Rating:
Summary: Most in-depth book on SQL on the planet
Review: Based on my experience with the other two "Guru's Guide" books I was expecting a book that was chalk full of practical advice and reusable code. Henderson's books tend to be cookbooks of insightful coding techniques and clever algorithms with some sagely advice thrown in for good measure. The first GG book, which I still use regularly, has some 500+ code samples on the CD. Easily 10 times what you would normally expect in a book its size. The second one has over 600. This one has over 1000 code sample files. When I saw that number on the back cover I thought to myself, "He has done it again. This is another code cookbook with goodies that I can put to use in my shop and make myself look like an expert." I was right but I was wrong. Yes, there's a boat load of code in this book, more than either of the other two GG books and more than any other SQL book that I've seen. However, it doesn't end there. This isn't a mere cookbook. There is also a boat load of internal design info in this book. There is great discussion of how SQL works internally. Henderson says something in the preface about wanting to keep his core reader base happy while still staying true to the architecture motif of the book. I would say that he accomplished that very well. I still found a huge amount of code demonstrating innovative and useful techniques as well as advice on how to use it in real-world scenarios, but I also found the details behind the code and the use cases. I'm hoping that knowing so much more about how the product works internally to itself will help me develop some of these innovative and clever coding techniques myself. In fact, I think that was the point of the book. Rather than just dispensing guru advice as he did in the last two books, Henderson actually pulls back the curtain and shows the reader how to become a guru himself. That alone was worth the price of admission.
Rating:
Summary: Worth the investment
Review: About 300 pages into this book I was beginning to wonder about all the emphasis on Windows fundamentals and such. Having now finished the book, I can definitely say that it was time well-spent. It was worth it. I finally get what the author was trying to do. If I could put it in one sentence, the message of the book is this: To become the best Sql Server practitioner you can, you need to understand how the product is designed and intended to be used and to understand that you need to know something about how the operating system on which it runs was designed and intended to be used. This is a brilliant aproach to teaching Sql Server and one that has not been explored by anyone else as far as I know. So when I say that this book is worth the investment, I don't mean that it is worth the cover price you pay to get it. Of course it is. That goes without saying. I mean that it is worth the investment of your time that such a comprehensive and deep book requires. If you want to really master Sql Server, you have to pay attention and do your homework, and this book forces you to do that.
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