If you work in SQL 2000 and do any administration then you are going to love this book. It does not get in depth as some other books but everything is easy to find and you do not have to search hundreds of pages to figure out what you need to find.



Although I've been working in SQL since 6.5 this book still comes in handy when I need to do something that I haven't done in awhile or need to confirm something.

If you work in SQL 2000 and do any administration then you are going to love this book. It does not get in depth as some other books but everything is easy to find and you do not have to search hundreds of pages to figure out what you need to find.

Although I've been working in SQL since 6.5 this book still comes in handy when I need to do something that I haven't done in awhile or need to confirm something.

It is a very good book to have for reference. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking for answers to SQL Server 2000. It gives good detail on configuration and tuning and it also explains how to set up SQL Mail, which I couldn't find in some books I have read. I pretty much use this book every day on the job.

This good and concise sqlserver administration reference manual has a complete online version on microsoft.com/technet.

This good and concise sqlserver administration reference manual has a complete online version on microsoft.com/technet.

I haven't found a better book for sql admins. This book is extremely informative. I worked for a year with SQL 7 and have been studying and working with SQL Server 2000 for a year and a half. I passed Exam 70-228 in large part due to what I learned from this book. If you are looking for a how-to book that shows just exactly how to accomplish tasks associated with creating and maintaining SQL 2000 this book is for you. This is an excellent book if you want to understand how SQL Server 2000 works as well.

A lot of SQL Server books give you the same information included already in Books Online. SQL Server 2000 Administrator's Pocket Consultant is an excellent complement for Books Online, TechNet and MSDN. It covers similar topics, but it digs in where necessary, provides best practices, tips to the internal operations, explaining how SQL Server actually works, with unique information only available in this book.

I always want to know how things work because it helps me to understand the behaviour of a system. In many cases if you don't know how things work it could drive you to some misunderstandings. Here is where SQL Server Pocket Consultant helps out and Stanek has excellent teaching skills.

The book is very compact and full of information. It's all in the details. Chapter 2 "Configuring and Tuning" is a real gem. It helped so much with server and database tuning. Chapter 5 "SQL Server Security" is excellent on the security details. Chapter 7 provides deep detail of DTS and BCP. The final part of the book is the best, in my opinion. It covers performance, maintenance and optimization.

The book's small size makes it easy to take with you where ever you go and its good enough that you'll want to. Overall excellent guide ot sql server.

Overall this is a concise good overview of a complex product. It covers all the basics and in general the author did a good job of writing in plain language. Instead of typical Microsoft mumbo jumbo. I do find fault with the chapter on Security. The author refers to the built in "Guest" user account as a login. Which confuses the issue. I think he was confused about MSSQL's security schema as I am. (The security schema can be thought of in 3 layers: logins, users/serverroles/dbroles, and the actual object& statement permissions.) One last note, last time I checked Microsoft's Technet has a free online copy of this book. The book is still worth the full price I paid for it.

I knew nothing about SQL Server 2000 before picking this up. It took me from knowing nothing to knowing a lot. The author has an easy writing style which made it easier for me to learn this subject. I looked at a lot of SQL Server 2000 books and at least from my perspective, this is the one to own. Great information makes it well worth the money.

If you're anything like me, you may be considering this book as a study guide for 70-228. I recently took this exam and passed. This book is without doubt a text you can buy to prepare for the exam. Sure it doesn't cover everything in the exam, but it comes close.

Great chapters on replication and DTS. Very few screen shots. Packs in a lot of material in 450 pages. Absolutely useful for admining.

Here's my exam study sheet... Hope it helps you like it helped me.

Exam objectives not covered:

Installation
Upgrades
IIS virtual directories for XML

Exam objectives covered:

Create a linked server.
Configure SQL Mail and SQLAgentMail.
Configure network libraries.

Configure database options for performance. Considerations include capacity, network connectivity, physical drive configurations, and storage locations.
Attach and detach databases.
Create and alter databases.
Add filegroups.
Configure filegroup usage.
Expand and shrink a database.
Set database options by using the ALTER DATABASE or CREATE DATABASE statements.
Size and place the transaction log.

Managing, Monitoring, and Troubleshooting SQL Server 2000 Databases
Optimize database performance. Considerations include indexing, locking, and recompiling.
Optimize data storage.
Optimize files and filegroups.
Manage database fragmentation.

Modify the database schema.
Perform disaster recovery operations.
Perform backups.
Recover the system state and restore data.
Configure, maintain, and troubleshoot log shipping.

Perform integrity checks.

Troubleshoot transactions and locking
Extracting and Transforming Data with SQL Server 2000
Import and export data.
Develop and manage DTS packages.
Manage linked servers.
Manage OLE DB Providers.
Configure security mapping.

Convert data types.
Configure, maintain, and troubleshoot replication services.
Managing and Monitoring SQL Server 2000 Security
Configure mixed security modes or Windows Authentication.
Create and manage log ons.
Create and manage database users.
Create and manage security roles.
Add and remove users from roles.
Create roles to manage database security.

Enforce and manage security
Set permissions in a database.
Manage security auditing.
Managing, Monitoring, and Troubleshooting SQL Server 2000
Create, manage, and troubleshoot SQL Server Agent jobs.
Configure alerts and operators by using SQL Server Agent.
Optimize hardware resource usage.
Monitor hardware resource usage by using System Monitor.
Resolve system bottlenecks by using System Monitor.

Optimize and troubleshoot SQL Server system activity.
Monitor SQL Server system activity by using traces.
Monitor SQL Server system activity by using System Monitor.

This book makes a good administrative tool, particularly for people for whom SQL admin is one of many responsibilities and who therefore can't spend the time for in-depth training. One main flaw in this book is that it pretty much ignores the design aspect of setting up a new database and/or server. For example, the book lacks any information on best practices for the physical layout (files, drives, RAID, etc) or security. It assumes someone (a consultant?) knew what they were doing and set up the server and databases. Personally, I see this as part of the administrator's role. Another major shortfall of this book is that it excludes clustering completely, and as databases are more and more critical to companies, clustering is gaining in popularity.

This book is designed as a reference book and it does a decent job as that. The layout, contents, and index make finding what you need very easy. If, however, you want a book to read cover-to-cover in order to learn SQL administration, this is not it.

This book does not cover any advanced topics. For example, it will not teach you how to program DTS or how to spot performance problems due to bad indexing. It does, however, provide a very rock solid instruction on how to perform 95% of SQL administrative tasks. Cynically speaking, this book will teach you how to become a very successful button pushing SQL monkey. If you want to become something better, than I strongly suggest you buy and master "SQL 2000 Unleashed" and "Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Performance Optimization and Tuning".

This is the top book for SQL 2000 administration. Mr. Stanek has put together a great book for day-to-day administration of SQL Server 2000. I can't recommend this book strongly enough. It goes beyond the basics and goes a long way answering those questions that you ask yourself everyday and instead of hunting on the Internet every time you need a solution, you should carry this book with you. It shows you the types of tips and real world info that you only get from years of experience. This is like having an expert by your side. The best part about this book is the style in which it is written. Its not too technical and very easy to read. I read this book cover to cover and I have also been using it to help me prep for the exams. This book belongs on every DBA's bookshelf.

A must have for administrators and developers. I own several books on SQL Server but none have been as good as this one at saving me time and effort. The book is clearly written, not overly technical, and extremely informative. I really like the tips, notes and real world sections. Use this book to help you with day to day issues, almost like having an experienced consultant at your desk!

As a web/dba I use sql server, IIS and windows 2000 server extensively. Last year when I was just getting started I discovered this little gem and it was what set me on the right path. I found this book to be utterly indispensible. I actually have two copies that one I use at home when I work in my own projects and one I use at work.

Again in this book as with others in the series I have found single chapters that alone were worth the price of the book, and in a book filled with such chapters you cannot go wrong. The chapter I use the most is 2. In this chapter covers configuring and tuning the sql server database. The chapter starts by looking at guidelines you can use to choose server hardware covering memory, CPU, drives, and more then goes into tools, services and more that you can use to optimize the sql server. In addition to covering the graphical interface, the book covers command-line tools extensive and I found this to be invaluable.

Mr. Stanek includes a best practice tip on page 35 that caused a light bulb to go off in my head and helped me resolve a problem with our databases. This tip covers memory usage in various situations and how you can optimize the memory configuration. The chapter goes on and on like this giving out secrets that other admins didn't want to share with someone like me who was just getting started. In short I think the chapter gave me the equivalent of several years worht of in the field knowledge and since I didn't have years to prove myself this was incredibly helpful.