Help Needed!

Hi,
I have been SQL developer for past 2 yrs, want to get into Administration(DBA) can any one suggest me some good articles on net and good books for this.
TIA,
sudheer.Best book on the planet: Inside SQL Server 2000 by Kalen Delaney.

Also:

SQL Server Performance Tuning Technical Reference (Microsoft Press)
Articles on:
sql-server-performance.com
sqlteam.com
sqljunkies.com

That should take you a long way.

Learn to use profiler, performance monitor, and traces really, really well.

Learn how to analyze execution plans, the locking and transaction processes for SQL Server, and when you're comfortable with that, come back for more.

There's always more to learn. :)|||Drop $49.00 for the full blown developer edition from M$

Install it and use it...

Nothing like hands on...

And remeber, it's a matter of when, not if...

Always be able to recover within minutes...

That said...being a pure DBA is boring...

Target being a systemn architect...whatever that means...

Or wash windows...

http://www.sqlteam.com/forums/pop_profile.asp?mode=display&id=7198|||They call them Data Architects here. But from what I saw they have very little understanding of administration, mostly talk about database federation and project prosecution. Understanding internals of the engine they leave to us, but more often than none lack of understanding of the above leads to bigger things failing. Example of it would be as simple as selection of the wrong datatype, but it's so common, even in this forum.|||Ya mean like...

CREATE TABLE Person (SSN int NOT NULL, ect|||That, and also:

create...PhonePrefix int not null, PhoneSuffix int not null...
YesNoFlag char(3) not null...

3 TEXT fields in the middle of the table, followed by a dozen of INT's...|||Another reason for cross-over knowledge for both Admins and Architects, as well as for cooperation between the two.

By the way, my rule for developers is: "If you don't add it, subtract it, multiply it, or divide it, it ain't a number."|||My rule is (which nobody here agrees with), - you can't be a DBA without a good solid background in development, a couple of "real" systems still running and your name popping in the "About" dialog box.|||I'd say you can be a decent DBA without development experience, but not a good DBA or a great DBA.|||Originally posted by rdjabarov
They call them Data Architects here. But from what I saw they have very little understanding of administration, mostly talk about database federation and project prosecution. shoot 'em

they may be "data architects" in title, but they are not in fact
Example of it would be as simple as selection of the wrong datatype, but it's so common, even in this forum. hang 'em, then shoot 'em|||That is so cruel. Being a knee-jerk liberal, I believe that everyone can be reformed. I think some sort of long-term institutionalized treatment, possibly in conjunction with electro-shock therapy, might be effective.|||I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy

But that's just me...|||no way

data architects have to be able to think

i oughta know, i are one

put these guys out of their misery, i say

where i do have compassion, though, is for DBAs trying to climb the evolutionary ladder to Data Architect

first of all, most of them can make the step up easily, being able to think and all, and secondly, you give them a break for wanting to

but as you may suspect from phrases like "database federation and project prosecution" there is a much higher bullsh1t factor in data architecture, being, as it unfortunately is, closer to management, which is permeated with the stuff

one thing i'll say for DBAs, they usually enjoy a life far removed from management, to the detriment of neither and the greater good of all concerned|||Well, the reason why I said that development background is a must, because before one can administer anything, they need to be able to say that they own it. Without knowing how to develop it you can't say that it's "your baby". And without it being "your baby" I, for example, can't care less how it works and whether it works at all.
But even before all this comes to play, one needs to be able to understand the business that an application is running for, and a specific business need that it serves. blah-blah-blah (place holder for words that the author can't come up with to express what he "really" thinks about it, - a lot of passion ;))|||I have another question along the lines of the original post. I just accepted a job as a Data Analyst/Computer Programmer Friday. I begin my new job April 22nd after 16 very long months of looking. The technologies they will use are SQL Server, MS Access(which they are outgrowing, hence SQL Server) and VB. I am not sure if it is VB.net or VB6 but when I spoke to the owners they mentioned that as I advance there are possibilities for an eventual DBA position. It is a small company that deals w/ a ton of healthcare related data. I see it as a great opportunity. Anyway, the issue is when I see posts from the Oracle DBA's their suggestion is to be able to "break and recreate the database". What does that mean exactly?

Thanks again. I really love this board.

ddave|||Break and recreate? I guess for practice purposes, and also to demonstrate that they can do it ;)

Where's your job at with healthcare?|||Yeah, never heard of break and recreate....

What exactly is the requirement...

Is it Full time? Consulting?

16 months...ouch

Where in the world are you located?

Did a lot of health care back in the day...

designed a health care provider database long tim agao...

That was actually a business analyst/data modeler position...|||Healthcare provider database? You meant provider credentialing?|||Nah...doctors, their managed medical contracts, offices, hospitals. ect|||Hi Guys,

I am in Los Angeles County. It is not for a healthcare company. It is consulting related to healthcare. You know, analyzing medical costs etc.

Yeah, 16 months of filing, making phone calls, etc w/ 2 bachelor's degrees was painful.

ddave|||DDave, if you need a road warrior, - let me know. We'll get them (this place really starts getting on my nerves :mad: )|||Your in the states huh...

maybe we hit bottom and are starting the climb back up...

When I thought we were down, we were actually still up and on the way down some more...

Hell Fleets buying BOA and BOA is going to fire 10,000

Man we're going to have 1 bank in the end....|||road warrior? like, telecommuter?

i've only had a job 5 months out of the past 3 1/2 years...|||Telecommuter would be great, but for some bizarr reason companies want a warm body...|||Originally posted by r937
road warrior? like, telecommuter?

i've only had a job 5 months out of the past 3 1/2 years...

Wow....what'dya do the rest of the time?|||Come to think of it, a recruiter contacted me about a job with Northrup Gruman in Rancho Bernardo. I guess that is their HQ. If you guys are interested I will get the contact info. Rates are up to 95/hour but you gotta be pretty senior for them.

ddave|||Originally posted by Brett Kaiser
Wow....what'dya do the rest of the time?
hang out on database forums, answering questions

many are simple (the questions, not the forums), but i answer them anyway

many are complex, richly rewarding for the effort of solving them, as i get to learn some more about the nuances of sql

approx 10,000 posts of that nature

of which a few, such as this, are not strictly about sql

i'm also writing an sql course at the moment...|||I think what he meant was: what'dya do the FOR MONEY? Five months out of six years? I shudder to think what your hourly rate must have been.|||3 1/2 years...6 1/2 would be like a prison sentence

ddave|||5 months fulltime since january 2001

otherwise, very little

some web development clients, small stuff

oh, and my Ask the Expert (http://r937.com/sqlate.cfm) column, they pay me (modestly) for that

keeping one eye open for data modelling contracts, but it's hard to place a data architect these days, especially one without skillz0rz using all the latest slick data modelling t00lz, and especially one who has a low tolerance for the management bullsh1t i mentioned earlier

i don't let being out of work bother me, though

and the frequent (and dare i say, substantive) posts i make on database forums like this one has brought me a few part-time contracts, so that's good...

like jack horkheimer, i just keep on looking up!!