Most Recommended SQL Server DBA Books

Most Recommended SQL Server DBA Books for Beginners and Professionals

In this article, I will provide the list of the Most Recommended SQL Server Books for Students, Beginners, and Professional Software Developers. If you want to start your carrier as a SQL Server DBA then writing code using SQL Server might be confusing for a beginner. Books are the best friend of students as well as developers and the first mode of learning new languages, and technologies and nothing can beat books when it comes to educating. It is the reason most experienced SQL Server DBA recommend reading books for learning SQL Server DBA. 

Combining the best SQL Server DBA books along with articles, tutorials, and videos, you will get an excellent path to learn SQL Server DBA. Some of the books just give an overview of various SQL Server DBA concepts, while some others SQL Server DBA books go into the depth of each SQL Server DBA concept.

There are hundreds and thousands of SQL Server DBA books available on Amazon or Internet or any other e-commerce site. And as a beginner, you might be confused to choose the right book to start learning SQL Server DBA. Here, we are giving you the list of SQL Server DBA Books based on the experience of Learners and Professionals. If you still haven’t put together your reading list for 2021, we’re here to help with our choice of the best-recommended books for SQL Server DBA.

1. Troubleshooting SQL Server – A Guide for the Accidental DBA

Troubleshooting SQL Server – A Guide for the Accidental DBA is a well-compiled and comprehensive guide to help professionals deal with server-related problems. Around the world, numerous firms face SQL Server-related performance problems that bring down the efficiency of the workplace. Understanding the solutions to some of the most commonly arising SQL server-related problems is made easier thanks to this title that has been carefully compiled by experienced professionals.

Troubleshooting SQL Server – A Guide for the Accidental DBA was published by Simple Talk Publishing in 2011 and is available as a paperback.

Buy This Book: https://amzn.to/306m9p2

Most Recommended SQL Server Books for Beginners, and Professional

2. Expert Scripting and Automation for SQL Server DBAs

Automate your workload and manage more databases and instances with greater ease and efficiency by combining metadata-driven automation with powerful tools like PowerShell and SQL Server Agent. Automate your new instance-builds and use monitoring to drive ongoing automation, with the help of an inventory database and a management data warehouse.

The market has seen a trend towards there being a much smaller ratio of DBAs to SQL Server instances. Automation is the key to responding to this challenge and continuing to run a reliable database platform service. Expert Scripting and Automation for SQL Server DBAs guide you through the process of automating the maintenance of your SQL Server enterprise.

Expert Scripting and Automation for SQL Server DBAs shows how to automate the SQL Server build processes, monitor multiple instances from a single location, and automate routine maintenance tasks throughout your environment. You will also learn how to create automated responses to common or time-consuming break/fix scenarios. The book helps you become faster and better at what you do for a living, and thus more valuable in the job market.

Buy This Book: https://amzn.to/2YG7cJW

Most Recommended SQL Server Books for Beginners, and Professional

3. Brad’s Sure Guide to SQL Server Maintenance Plans

In his new book, Brad’s Sure Guide to SQL Server Maintenance Plans, Brad McGehee takes you on a comprehensive tour of two SQL Server tools designed to help DBAs ensure that a “required minimum” level of maintenance takes place on their SQL Server instances: the Maintenance Plan Wizard and the Maintenance Plan Designer. Table of Contents

Chapter 01: Why is Database Maintenance Important?

Chapter 02: Before you Create any Maintenance Plans

Chapter 03: Getting Started with the Maintenance Plan Wizard Chapter 04: Task Scheduling

Chapter 05: Check Database Integrity Task

Chapter 06: Shrink Database Task

Chapter 07: Rebuild Index Task

Chapter 08: Reorganize Index Task

Chapter 09: Update Statistics Task

Chapter 10: Execute SQL Server Agent Job Task

Chapter 11: History Cleanup Task Chapter 12: Define Back Up Database (Full) Task

Chapter 13: Define Back Up Database (Differential) Task

Chapter 14: Back Up Database (Transaction Log) Task

Chapter 15: Maintenance Cleanup Task

Chapter 16: Using the Maintenance Plan Designer Why read this book?

Millions of SQL Server instances run in the offices of small and medium-sized organizations and there are many “accidental” DBAs out there whose job it is to maintain them. Often, they find that they don’t have the knowledge, experience, or critically the time, to perform the correct level of maintenance on their SQL Server databases, much as they might like to. This can mean poor performance and reduced availability. Regardless of the size of your organization, if your mission-critical data becomes unavailable, then the business will suffer greatly. The Maintenance Plan Wizard and Designer allow you to configure and schedule eleven core database maintenance tasks, ranging from integrity checks to database backups, to index reorganizations and rebuilds. Brad walks through every one of these tasks covering:

  1. The intent of each task and why it’s important
  2. How to configure each task and what all the options mean
  3. Scheduling considerations: when and how often should you run the task?
  4. Customizing and extended your Maintenance Plans using the Designer Used carefully, these Maintenance Plan tools represent powerful time-saving devices for any DBA. At each stage of the book, Brad explains clearly the correct and incorrect uses for the tool and indicates where more advanced solutions, using T-SQL or PowerShell scripting, would be more appropriate.

Buy This Book: https://amzn.to/3asi8NI

Most Recommended SQL Server Books for Beginners

4. SQL Server 2019 Administrator’s Guide: A definitive guide for DBAs to implement, monitor, and maintain enterprise database solutions

SQL Server is one of the most popular relational database management systems developed by Microsoft. This second edition of the SQL Server Administrator’s Guide will not only teach you how to administer an enterprise database, but also help you become proficient at managing and keeping the database available, secure, and stable.

You’ll start by learning how to set up your SQL Server and configure new and existing environments for optimal use. The book then takes you through designing aspects and delves into performance tuning by showing you how to use indexes effectively. You’ll understand certain choices that need to be made about backups, implement security policy, and discover how to keep your environment healthy. Tools available for monitoring and managing a SQL Server database, including automating health reviews, performance checks, and much more, will also be discussed in detail. As you advance, the book covers essential topics such as migration, upgrading, and consolidation, along with the techniques that will help you when things go wrong. Once you’ve got to grips with integration with Azure and streamlining big data pipelines, you’ll learn best practices from industry experts for maintaining a highly reliable database solution.

Whether you are an administrator or are looking to get started with database administration, this SQL Server book will help you develop the skills you need to successfully create, design, and deploy database solutions.

What you will learn

  1. Discover SQL Server 2019’s new features and how to implement them
  2. Fix performance issues by optimizing queries and making use of indexes
  3. Design and use an optimal database management strategy
  4. Combine SQL Server 2019 with Azure and manage your solution using various automation techniques
  5. Implement efficient backup and recovery techniques in line with security policies
  6. Get to grips with migrating, upgrading, and consolidating with SQL Server
  7. Set up an Always On-enabled stable and fast SQL Server 2019 environment
  8. Understand how to work with Big Data on SQL Server environments

Who this book is for?

This book is for database administrators, database developers, and anyone who wants to administer large and multiple databases single-handedly using Microsoft’s SQL Server 2019. Basic awareness of database concepts and experience with previous SQL Server versions is required.

Buy This Book: https://amzn.to/3AymCgl

Most Recommended SQL Server Books for Beginners

5. High-Performance SQL Server DBA: Tuning and Optimization Secrets

A guide to troubleshooting and correcting SQL Server performance problems, this book provides a methodology for use in analyzing any SQL Server database. The most recent advances in SQL Server8i and 9i are covered to make a SQL Server database run as fast as possible. Properly using ratio-based and bottleneck analysis, designing a fast-running database from the ground up, and establishing methods for making storage and reorganization problems a thing of the past are demonstrated. Also presented are new techniques for monitoring and optimizing memory usage and improved methods for uncovering session-related bottlenecks.

Buy This Book: https://amzn.to/3mGV2sv

Most Recommended SQL Server Books

6. Beginning SQL Server 2000 DBA: From Novice to Professional

Gives a fresh perspective in a stale market segment: “How to be a good SQL Server DBA”, rather than “This is SQL Server, this is feature A, here is an example of feature A”.

The only book on the market to provide complete coverage of the core jobs and roles involved in SQL Server DBA. Therefore, has broad, general appeal to novices who are browsing shelves, and looking for a book that makes sense of SQL Server entirely.

Written by an expert DBA who lets the reader know exactly what the essential aspects of a DBAs job are, the sort of issues that novices commonly run into, and provides effective solutions and troubleshooting tips for all of the most common problems.

Buy This Book: https://amzn.to/3v8OczO

Most Recommended SQL Server Books

7. Microsoft SQL Server 2019: A Guide for the Modern DBA

To start, it presents the SQL statements that you need to retrieve and update the data in a database. These are the SQL statements that you’ll use every day. Then, it shows you how to design a database, how to implement that design, and how to work with database features like views, scripts, stored procedures, functions, triggers, transactions, security, XML data, and BLOB data with FILESTREAM storage.

The result? You’ll be able to create database applications that are thoroughly professional. You’ll be familiar with the DBA-related issues that let you work far more effectively than most of your colleagues. And you’ll have a handy reference at your side to answer questions and handle new challenges as they come up

Buy This Book: https://amzn.to/3oUPE7E

Microsoft SQL Server 2019: A Guide for the Modern DBA

8. Professional Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Administration

Microsoft’s SQL Server 2014 update means big changes for database administrators, and you need to get up to speed quickly because your methods, workflow, and favorite techniques will be different from here on out. The update’s enhanced support of large-scale enterprise databases and significant price advantage mean that SQL Server 2014 will become even more widely adopted across the industry. The update includes new backup and recovery tools, new Always On features, and enhanced cloud capabilities. In-memory OLTP, Buffer Pool Extensions for SSDs, and a new Cardinality Estimator can improve functionality and smooth out the workflow, but only if you understand their full capabilities. Professional Microsoft SQL Server 2014 is your comprehensive guide to working with the new environment. Authors Adam Jorgensen, Bradley Ball, Ross LoForte, Steven Wort, and Brian Knight are the dream team of the SQL Server community, and they put their expertise to work guiding you through the changes.

  1. Improve oversight with better management and monitoring
  2. Protect your work with enhanced security features
  3. Upgrade performance tuning, scaling, replication, and clustering
  4. Learn new options for backup and recovery

Professional Microsoft SQL Server 2014 includes a companion website with sample code and efficient automation utilities, plus a host of tips, tricks, and workarounds that will make your job as a DBA or database architect much easier. Stop getting frustrated with administrative issues and start taking control. Professional Microsoft SQL Server 2014 is your roadmap to mastering the update and creating solutions that work.

Buy This Book: https://amzn.to/3mHpmmF

Professional Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Administration

9. Securing SQL Server: DBAs Defending the Database

Protect your data from attack by using SQL Server technologies to implement a defense-in-depth strategy for your database enterprise. This new edition covers threat analysis, common attacks, and countermeasures, and provides an introduction to compliance that is useful for meeting regulatory requirements such as the GDPR. The multi-layered approach in this book helps ensure that a single breach does not lead to loss or compromise of confidential, or business-sensitive data.

Database professionals in today’s world deal increasingly with repeated data attacks against high-profile organizations and sensitive data. It is more important than ever to keep your company’s data secure. Securing SQL Server demonstrates how developers, administrators, and architects can all play their part in the protection of their company’s SQL Server enterprise.

This book not only provides a comprehensive guide to implementing the security model in SQL Server, including coverage of technologies such as Always Encrypted, Dynamic Data Masking, and Row Level Security but also looks at common forms of attack against databases, such as SQL Injection and backup theft, with clear, concise examples of how to implement countermeasures against these specific scenarios. Most importantly, this book gives practical advice and engaging examples of how to defend your data, and ultimately your job, against attack and compromise.

What You’ll Learn

  1. Perform threat analysis
  2. Implement access level control and data encryption
  3. Avoid non-reputability by implementing comprehensive auditing
  4. Use security metadata to ensure your security policies are enforced
  5. Mitigate the risk of credentials being stolen
  6. Put countermeasures in place against common forms of attack

Who This Book Is For?

Database administrators who need to understand and counteract the threat of attacks against their company’s data, and useful for SQL developers and architects

Buy This Book: https://amzn.to/3lBWNId

Securing SQL Server: DBAs Defending the Database

10. Pro SQL Server 2019 Administration: A Guide for the Modern DBA

Use this comprehensive guide for the SQL Server DBA, covering all that practicing database administrators need to know to get their daily work done. Updated for SQL Server 2019, this edition includes coverage of new features such as Memory-optimized TempDB Metadata, and Always Encrypted with Secure Enclaves. Other new content includes coverage of Query Store, resumable index operations, installation on Linux, and containerized SQL.

Pro SQL Server 2019 Administration takes DBAs on a journey that begins with planning their SQL Server deployment and runs through installing and configuring the instance, administering and optimizing database objects, and ensuring that data is secure and highly available. Finally, readers will learn how to perform advanced maintenance and tuning techniques.

This book teaches you to make the most of the new SQL Server 2019 functionality, including Data Discovery and Classification. The book promotes best-practice installation, shows how to configure for scalability and high workloads, and demonstrates the gamut of database-level maintenance tasks such as index maintenance, database consistency checks, and table optimizations.

What You Will Learn

  1. Install and configure SQL Server on Windows through the GUI and with PowerShell
  2. Install and configure SQL Server on Linux and in Containers
  3. Optimize tables through in-memory OLTP, table partitioning, and the creation of indexes
  4. Secure and encrypt data to protect against embarrassing data breaches
  5. Ensure 24x7x365 access through high-availability and disaster recovery features
  6. Back up your data to ensure against the loss, and recover data when needed
  7. Perform routine maintenance tasks such as database consistency checks
  8. Troubleshoot and solve performance problems in SQL queries and in the database engine

Who This Book Is For?

SQL Server DBAs who manage on-premise installations of SQL Server. This book is also useful for DBAs who wish to learn advanced features such as Query Store, Extended Events, Distributed Replay, and Policy-Based Management, or those who need to install SQL Server in a variety of environments.

Buy This Book: https://amzn.to/3AqjkMd

Pro SQL Server 2019 Administration: A Guide for the Modern DBA

Here, in this article, I provided the list of Most Recommended SQL Server DBA Books for Beginners and Professional and I hope this Most Recommended SQL Server DBA Books for Beginners and Professional article will help you with your needs and you enjoy this Most Recommended SQL Server DBA Books for Beginners and Professional article.

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