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Redgate Books is a technical publisher specializing in database and programming technologies.
Our authors are practitioners at the top of their game who have the urge to share their knowledge and expertise with others.
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For efficient team-based database development, and reliable and repeatable database deployments, going without source control isn't really optional any more. Quite apart from making it easier to work together, roll back, and share changes, it's the cornerstone of better change management and continuous integration.
This book provides just the right combination of theory and practical example to get you started quickly.
(3rd Edition, September 2018)
If a query is performing poorly, and you can't understand why, then that query's execution plan will tell you not only what data set is coming back, but also what SQL Server did, and in what order, to get that data. It will reveal how the data was retrieved, and from which tables and indexes, what types of joins were used, at what point filtering, sorting and aggregation occurred, and a whole lot more. These details will often highlight the likely source of any problem.
This book has the singular goal of teaching you how to read SQL Server Execution plans, so you can work out the root cause of poor performance and how to fix it.
(1st Edition, November 2010)
This book will take you from the fundamentals of Statistics, Cost Estimation, Index Selection, and the Execution Engine, and guide you through the inner workings of the Query Optimization process, and throws in a pragmatic look at Parameterization and Hints along the way.
An essential purchase for your SQL Server library
The goal of Defensive Programming is to produce resilient code that responds gracefully to the unexpected. To the SQL Server programmer, this means T-SQL code that behaves consistently and predictably in cases of unexpected usage, doesn't break under concurrent loads, and survives predictable changes to database schemas and settings. Inside this book, you will find dozens of practical, defensive programming techniques that will improve the quality of your T-SQL code and increase its resilience and robustness.
'Defensive Database Programming with SQL Server' should be required reading for all SQL practitioners.
(1st Edition, April 2009)
When information is exchanged in XML format, you need an agreement between the sender and receiver about the structure and content of the XML document. This "agreement" takes the form of an XSD (XML Schema Definition Language) Schema. Jacob Sebastian's book explains all.
Finally a book that can explain the principles of XSD schemas in an easy to understand way.
The SQL Server 2016 In-Memory OLTP engine (aka Hekaton) is designed to exploit terabytes of available memory and high numbers of processing cores. It allows us to work with memory-optimized tables and indexes, and natively compiled stored procedures. Hekaton in-memory data is accessible with T-SQL and SSMS, but its internal behavior is different from the standard relational engine. In this book, Kalen Delaney explains how the new In-Memory OLTP engine works, how it stores and manipulates data, and how it can still guarantee the ACID properties of all transactions.
Fundamentals of SQL Server 2012 Replication provides a hands-on introduction to SQL Server replication. The book begins with a short overview that introduces you to the technologies that make up replication. In the following chapters, the book will walk you through setting up different replication scenarios. All hands-on exercises are designed with security best practices in mind. When you're finished working through the exercises, you will be able to implement your own multi-server replication setup while following the principle of least privilege.
15 first-time authors answer the question: what makes you passionate about working with SQL Server? MidnightDBA and Redgate partnered to produce a book filled with Tribal knowledge on SQL Server. The resulting book is a series of chapters on lessons learned, perhaps the hard way, which you won’t find in traditional training or technical guidance material.
As a truly community-driven book, the authors are all generously donating 100% of their royalties to the charity Computers4Africa.
When a SQL Server database is operating smoothly and performing well, there is no need to be particularly aware of the transaction log, beyond ensuring that every database has an appropriate backup regime and restore plan in place. When things go wrong, however, a DBA's reputation depends on a deeper understanding of the transaction log, both what it does, and how it works. An effective response to a crisis requires rapid decisions based on understanding its role in ensuring data integrity.
(1st Edition, October 2012)
FILESTREAM is implemented as an extension to the VARBINARY(MAX) data type and allows large object data to be stored in a special folder on the NTFS file system, while bringing that data under the transactional control of SQL Server. This book describes both the way it works and the implementation, administration and troubleshooting of it.
Your application can have impeachable indexes and queries, but they won't help you if you can't get to your data because another application has it locked. That's why every DBA and developer must understand SQL Server concurrency and how to troubleshoot excessive blocking or deadlocking.
A DBA's tasks, from day-to-day, are rarely constant; with one exception: the need to ensure each and every day that any database in their charge can be restored and recovered, in the event of error of disaster. In this book, you'll discover how to perform each of these backup and restore operations using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), basic T-SQL scripts and Redgate's SQL Backup tool.
by Jonathan Kehayias and Ted Krueger
Three SQL Server MVPs provide fascinating insight into the most common SQL Server problems, why they occur, and how they can be diagnosed using tools such as Performance Monitor, Dynamic Management Views and server-side tracing. The focus is on practical solutions for removing root causes of these problems, rather than "papering over the cracks".
I'm adding it to my list of recommended books for SQL Server DBAs.
(1st Edition, July 2011)
SQL Server Hardware will provide the fundamental knowledge and resources you need to make intelligent decisions about choice, and optimal installation and configuration, of SQL Server hardware, operating system and the SQL Server RDBMS.
There's never been a book like this before, and it's a Herculean effort for anyone to pull off alone, and do it accurately. Glenn pulled it off.
(1st Edition, November 2010)
Holger Schmeling's work in SQL Server Distribution Statistics was first published as a pair of long articles for Simple-Talk. The booklet takes a practical, and well-informed approach to a subject that is not always easy to explain or understand.
This is the book that will de-mystify the process of using Dynamic Management Views to collect the information you need to troubleshoot SQL Server problems. It will highlight the core techniques and "patterns" that you need to master, and will provide a core set of scripts that you can use and adapt for your own requirements.
I highly recommend this book. If you're responsible for maintaining or developing SQL Server systems, you'll find something useful in this book that you can put to work, right away.
Brad's Sure Guide to Maintenance Plans shows you how to use the Maintenance Plan Wizard and Designer to configure and schedule eleven core database maintenance tasks, ranging from integrity checks, to database backups, to index reorganizations and rebuilds.
The seventh volume in this collection brings you a compilation of the best articles we've seen over the past year, from over 50 authors.
This book holds the key to "encryption without fear". In it, John Magnabosco sweeps away some of the misconceptions surrounding SQL Server's encryption technologies, and demonstrates that, when properly planned and implemented, they are an essential tool in the DBA's fight to safeguard sensitive data.
Inside the SQL Server Tacklebox you'll find day-to-day tools, scripts and techniques to automate and standardize SQL Server installation, document and report on your servers, migrate data and manage data growth, troubleshoot performance issues, receive notifications of impending issues, secure access to your servers and fight off the data corruption monster.
SQL Server Tacklebox is a must have for the technical library of any DBA.
(2nd Edition, July 2009)
A 2nd edition of Brad McGehee's popular "career guide" for DBAs, designed to help new and prospective DBAs find their feet in the profession, and to advise those more-experienced on how they can excel at their jobs, and so become Exceptional DBAs.
The book is a quick read, and at the end, I was left re-energized. It had the effect on me of a professional motivational speaker, at a fraction of the price.
(1st Edition, June 2009)
Whether you're practicing for an exam or interview, or just wanting to see who's got the biggest SQL Server brain in your office, this book is perfect. Containing 100 SQL Server Central Questions of the Day, this book is a great way to test yourself or increase your knowledge.
(1st Edition, January 2009)
Brad McGehee's "from the ground up" guide to SQL Server's most powerful performance diagnostic tool.
A single, comprehensive (and well-written) resource from one of the best!
As well-engineered as the .NET framework is, it's not perfect, and it doesn't always get memory management right. To write truly fantastic software, you need to understand how .NET memory management actually works. This book will take you from the very basics of memory management, all the way to how the OS handles its resources, and will help you write the best code you can.
The Complete Guide
In the Complete Guide .NET Performance and Optimization, Paul Glavich and Chris Farrell offer a comprehensive and essential handbook to anybody looking to set up a .NET testing environment and get the best results out of it, or just learn effective techniques for testing and optimizing their .NET applications.
by Various authors
Of almost a hundred Simple-Talk articles on topics of interest to System Adminstrators, we've chosen the best and most popular ones for an essential collection that packs a great deal of information about common tasks for the working System Adminstrator.
Having worked with Exchange Server for the last 14 years, Jaap's Practical Guide to Exchange Server 2010 draws upon all that experience to deliver an easy-to-use guide to this latest platform, full of useful examples and top tips for SysAdmins, both new and experienced.
Mankind would benefit greatly if all technical books were written like this.
A truly effective assistant knows their manager’s priorities, concerns and responsibilities as well as they do themselves. They know how to make their manager more effective, and how to help them add value. They work alongside their manager as part of a tight-knit, high-functioning team, sharing a single purpose and workload. Of all teams, of all working relationships, I believe this one has the capacity to be the most transformative for a business.
How do you price your software? Is it art, science or magic?
How much attention should you pay to your competitors?
This short handbook will provide you with the theory, practical advice and case studies you need to stop yourself from reaching for the dice.
Neil presents an honest, candid picture of the software world and how to work within it. Recommended!
(2nd Edition, May 2009)
The software industry is, just occasionally, more absurd than one would dare to imagine. Having spent most of his working life in its clutches, Phil Factor has pretty much "seen it all" and what's more he's prepared to tell what he knows. The second edition of Phil's "Confessions of an IT Manager" contains Phil's full repertoire of tales of institutional mayhem and software projects gone awry.
You won't find a more bitingly funny take on the way the IT industry works.
Download your free copy of 50 Ways to Avoid Find and Fix ASP.NET Performance Issues and see the tips and tricks that top developers from the .NET and SQL Server communities use to boost code and query performance in their applications.
Download your free copy of 25 Secrets for Faster ASP.NET Applications to see the tips and tricks recommended by some of the smartest minds in the ASP.NET community.
Compliant Database DevOps
Standardize team-based development
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Monitor performance and availability
Optimize test data managementasync/await, Web API, ORMs, interactions between your code and your database, and more.
Download your free copy of SQL Code Smells and learn to spot the warning signs in your code.