SQL Server

Free SQL Server 2008 Developer Training Kit!

Dave Oliver — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:12:28 GMT

Continuing my series of great free stuff for SQL Server I’ve pulled a rabbit out of the hat for you today!

In this economic climate one of the first things that seems to get cut is the training budget so anything that can help get your head around stuff is a big plus.

To help Microsoft has released SQL Server 2008 Developer Training Kit

So what does the Training Kit contain …

Presentations (6)
- Filestream
- Spatial
- T-SQL
- Date and Time Types
- SQLCLR
- Reporting Services
Demos (12)
- AdventureWorks Racing All-Up SQL Server 2008 Demo
- SQL Server 2008 All-Up Spatial Demo
- Spatial Types Demo
- Intro to Filestream Demo
- SQL CLR Nullable Types Demo
- Programming with Filestream Demo
- Reporting Services Web Application Integration Demo
- Date and Time Support in SQL Server 2008 Demo
- T-SQL Table-Valued Parameters Demo
- T-SQL Row Constructors Demo
- T-SQL Grouping Sets Demo
- T-SQL Merge Demo
Hands-on Labs (3)
- Using Spatial Data in TSQL
- Using Spatial Data in Managed Code
- Using SQL CLR in SQL Server 2008

Important!

To install it you are going to need a copy of SQL Server 2008 (at least Express Edition with Advanced Services) Visual Studio (the free versions will work just fine) and the Adventure Works 2008 sample databases installed first!

Now it says in the recommended operating systems that XP is supported, I was getting error messages when I installed it on XP that didn’t appear when I installed it onto Windows 2008, so my advice would be not to install it on a desktop version of the OS.

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A very good Free SQL Server Utility : FineBuild

Dave Oliver — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:24:54 GMT

Codeplex is a wonderful site. However not just for the .Net coder but the SQL Server guy/gal can find plenty of goodies there as well.

One such goody is the FineBuild utility that does as the name suggest helps create a ‘Fine Build’ of your SQL Server install.

All to often installing SQL Server can turn into a day long process with the various additional service packs, CU’s, tools and utility to install. Well FineBuild can automate all of that so all you need to do is run the start script, go off to lunch and it’s all done for when you come back.

So this makes a DBA life easier, big deal! What about developers? Well how often have you heard or said, it works in development but it doesn’t work in Live! What’s the difference?

In SQL Server this is likely to be one of two common reasons,

Using a feature or setting that is present in the development environment but not so in live.
Or the very frustration, using a different collation especially as many collation have been deprecated (did you know that?)

The answer is creating a standard build that is consistently used and agree on throughout all the stages of the development lifecycle that is also easy to change and can work with server building utilities such as Altiris. Work on desktops as well and can be installed many times over as SQL Instances.

FineBuild ticks all these boxes and comes in a 2005 flavour and a release candidate for 2008 both of which are free.

Even if you use the default settings you will be onto a winner from the start but I would advise reading the comprehensive instructions and tailoring settings and scripts to suite your particular environment as it will save you lots of time and stress later on.

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Free eBook on what’s new in SQL Server 2008

Dave Oliver — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 10:18:14 GMT

It’s not often we get stuff for free but Microsoft has decided to give away a complete book, not just afew sample chapters.

All you have to do is go to this link , press the ‘Sign Up’ button, leave some details about yourself, if you’ve registered with MSDN before it’ll just pick up you existing details and then pdf will download.

So what’s the catch? Well you will be signing up to Microsoft Press Book Connection monthly newsletter and learn about new books on Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and other topics, plus special offers.

So Microsoft want to give you a free book and keep you informed. I call this a win-win!

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The Trouble With Data …

Dave Oliver — Wed, 27 May 2009 03:28:17 GMT