Preface

I love SQL Server. I often find myself defending its various shortcomings as I’d defend a good friend. In a relatively short period of time, it’s developed from a good small-to-medium-size departmental database management system into a world class, enterprise-ready system capable of handling the most intense transaction workloads. That’s a staggering achievement, and it’s only getting better. SQL Server 2008 continues to build on the solid foundation provided by recent versions, and the future for SQL Server looks very bright indeed.

While I only began writing this book in January 2008, it’s been a work in progress for about 15 years. Ever since I started working with SQL Server in the mid 1990s, I’ve been compiling notes on the best way to execute various DBA tasks. In the early years, as I fumbled my way around SQL Server 6.0, I made plenty of mistakes. Although frustrating, they were excellent learning experiences, and I committed to never repeating a previous mistake. A colleague of mine recently said, “Experience is realizing when you’ve just made the same mistake twice!”