Inside Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 [With *]

I can't imagine that it would be possible not to get your money's worth from this book if you use SQL Server.The main strength of the book is the insight it gives you into the internals of the engine. This, in turn, makes it a lot easier to do things efficiently, and squeeze more performance out of your engine. This version revises an earlier edition of the book that was written by a core member of the SQL server team at Microsoft -- the discussion of the internals is straight from the horse's mouth, and there's a lot of good stuff in the book that you won't get anywhere else.The second reason to buy this book is that it does a good job of explaining the ideosyncracies of SQL Server, the things that separate it from engines from other vendors. This is particularly useful information to have before you install your engine for the first time -- it's easy to inadvertently make choices that have consequences you don't understand.Some of the complaints here about the book are easy to understand, but still strike me as not entirely well founded. Learning how to run a complicated database engine is hard, and it's not realistic to expect to pick it up from one book, or even from a single reading each of several books. I have found that returning to the book time and again as I become more seasoned at my job is helpful -- things that went right by me on the first reading make sense when I can put them into the context of real world problems I've encountered.This book isn't a good place to learn SQL, either at a beginning or an advanced level. I would recommend Joe Celko's books for people who are looking for instruction. It is also not a good reference for SQL Server -- the "Books Online" help system that comes with the engine is a great reference source. Finally, it's not a great nuts and bolts DBA howto book -- the "Microsoft SQL Server 7 DBA Survival Guide" is a better choice for people who want to learn how to set up backups and replication.But this book is the best window under the hood of the engine, and you'll learn a lot that will help you run your engine as efficiently as possible. Again, I can't imagine anyone doing anything with the engine who wouldn't benefit from the book.Finally, if you want to play with the engine, to learn about SQL, this is a great book because it comes with a 120 day evaluation copy of SQL Server 7 on CD.

I've just finished reading this book. The style is excellent, no typos, no garbage and I'd be hard pressed to find any mistakes in the content. This book is an excellent choice for anyone using SQL Server 7.0. I especially liked the many examples given for a certain scenario scaling up from the poorest solution to the best. BOL gives you the "how", this book explains the "why". Thank you Kalen and Ron!

This is an excellent book if you are developing for SQL Server. It starts off with administration/setup. Creating tables, views, triggers and stored procedures each have their own chapters. The only database I knew before this was ms-access. We had to port our database to MS-SQL. This book was a great help. It also gave me insights and suggestions on how to improve my database (using stored procedures) in the future. I highly recommend this book.

Inside Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 is simply the best SQL Server, and possible the best database book I've ever read. If you are a SQL Server developer, this is the only book you will need. It provides a clear, comprehensive, and thorough discussion of all fundamental concepts a developer must know. Other books I've read fail to cover or lack depth on so many topics, such as database locks, query and performance optimization, and SQL Server functions and syntax constructs. This book however was not only extremely informative, but was well organized and easy to understand. I enjoyed every page.

This is a great book for giving a novice SQL 7 user a detailed understanding of how SQL 7 really works. While not billed as an exam prep guide, this text was absolutely key to getting me past 70-29. I highly recommend it for anyone who needs to learn SQL or wants to attain their MCDBA.