Knowledge and ability to apply XML are de rigueur in today's world, and SQL Server developers and administrators are no exception to that rule. Pro SQL Server 2008 XML is your key to unlocking the powerful XML feature set first introduced in SQL Server 2005 and since refined in SQL Server 2008. Author Michael Coles shows how to store XML using SQL Server's built–in XML data type. Learn to query and manipulate XML data using standard technologies such as XQuery and XSLT. No SQL Server database professional can afford to be without knowledge of the XML feature set. Pro SQL Server 2008 XML delivers on the knowledge that you need to remain competitive in your career. Shows how to store, query, and manipulate XML documents in SQL Server Provides step–by–step examples showing best practices and advanced features Accurately discusses how SQL Server's XML feature set stacks up against the ISO XML standards

Pro SQL Server 2008 Policy-Based Management is critical for database administrators seeking in-depth knowledge on administering servers using the new policy-based management features introduced in SQL Server 2008. This book will cover everything from a basic introduction to policy-based management to creating your own custom policies to enforce consistent rules across your organization. Provides in-depth treatment of policy-based management in a single source Provides practical usage scenarios for policy-based management Provides guidance to help meet growing regulatory compliance needs

Service Broker is a key Microsoft product in support of message–based processing between applications. Pro SQL Server 2008 Service Broker helps you to take full advantage of this key Microsoft technology, beginning from the fundamentals, moving through installation and application development, and ultimately showing you how to develop highly available and scalable applications based upon the service–oriented architecture that is quickly gaining ground as the way forward in application development. Comprehensive approach to developing with Service Broker Strong focus on best practices and real–world scenarios Covers the key aspects of distributed application design

Pro SQL Server 2008 Administration is critical for database administrators seeking in-depth knowledge on administering SQL Server 2008. This book covers the impact of the new features available in SQL Server 2008 specifically targeted for database administrators, along with the tried-and-true advanced techniques required to support and maintain Microsoft SQL Server. Introduces new administration features of SQL Server 2008 Shows how to manage a SQL Server 2008 database at professional level Provides guidance on performance optimization

Discussing new and existing features, SQL Server designer and administrator Michael Coles takes you on an expert guided tour of Transact–SQL functionality in SQL Server 2008 in his book, Pro T–SQL 2008 Programmer's Guide. Fully functioning examples and downloadable source code bring Coles' technically accurate and engaging treatment of Transact–SQL into your own hands. Step–by–step explanations ensure clarity, and an advocacy of best–practices will steer you down the road to success. Pro T–SQL 2008 Programmer's Guide is every developer's key to making full use of SQL Server 2008's powerful, built–in Transact–SQL language. Transact–SQL is the language developers and DBAs use to interact with SQL Server. It's used for everything from querying data, to writing stored procedures, to managing the database. New features in SQL Server 2008 include a spatial data type, SQLCLR integration, the MERGE statement, a dramatically improved and market–leading XML feature set, and support for encryption—all of which are covered in this book

Get a detailed look at the internal architecture of T-SQL with this comprehensive programming reference. Database developers and administrators get best practices, expert techniques, and code samples to master the intricacies of this programming language—solving complex problems with real-world solutions. Discover how to: Work with T-SQL and CLR user-defined functions, stored procedures, and triggers. Handle transactions, concurrency, and error handling. Efficiently use temporary objects, including temporary tables, table variables, and table expressions. Evaluate when to use set-based programming techniques and when to use cursors. Work with dynamic SQL in an efficient and secure manner. Treat date- and time-related data in a robust manner. Develop CLR user-defined types and learn about temporal support in the relational model. Use XML and XQuery and implement a dynamic schema solution. Work with spatial data using the new geometry and geography types and spatial indexes. Track access and changes to data using extended events, SQL Server Audit, change tracking, and change data capture. Use Service Broker for controlled asynchronous processing in database applications. All the book’s code samples will be available for download from the companion Web site.

SQL Server 2008 Query Performance Tuning Distilled presents a direct trouble–shooting methodology for identifying poorly-performing stored procedures and queries, isolating the causes of that poor performance, and fixing the underlying problems. Each chapter is dedicated to one of the top causes of poorly performing queries and shows methods for identifying and dealing with the problems in that chapter's domain. Emphasis is always put upon or placed upon practical methods that you can put to immediate use in your day–to–day work. SQL Server 2008 functionality, tips, and tricks are emphasized in each subject area. Emphasizes the practical. Does not bury readers in theory. Gives readers practical techniques to immediately apply in their daily work. Dedicates a chapter to each of the most common, performance–related problem areas.

This book is written for SQL Server 2008. However, it does maintain roots going back a few versions and looks out for backward compatibility issues with SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2000. These versions are old enough that there is little to no time spent on them except in passing. The book is oriented around developing on SQL server. Most of the concepts are agnostic to what client language you use although the examples that leverage a client language general do so in C#. For those who are migrating from early versions of SQL Server, some “gotchas” that exist any time a product has versions are discussed to the extent that they seem to be a genuinely relevant issue. This book assumes that you have some experience with SQL Server and are at an intermediate to advanced level. The orientation of the book is highly developer focused. While there is a quick reference-oriented appendix, there is very little coverage given to beginner level topics. It is assumed that you already have experience with data manipulation language (DML) statements and know the basics of the mainstream SQL Server objects (views, stored procedures, user defined functions, etc.). If you would like to brush up on your knowledge before diving into this book, the author recommends reading Beginning SQL Server 2008 Programming first. There is very little overlap between the Beginning and Professional books and they are designed to work as a pair.

Pro SQL Server 2008 Replication is for Microsoft database developers and administrators who want to learn about the different types of replication and those best suited to SQL Server 2008. This book will also cover advanced topics like replication with heterogeneous databases, backup and recovery of replicated databases, database mirroring with replication, log shipping with replication, troubleshooting, plus optimization and tuning. Tools like tablediff, SQLCMD, DTA, SQL Profiler, and Replication Monitor will be discussed to demonstrate the different techniques used in monitoring, administering, and troubleshooting replication. Examines the detailed configuration and the internal workings of the different replication types using real–life scenarios Covers replication with database mirroring and troubleshooting Discusses replication administration using different tools

Businesses today want actionable insights into their data—they want their data to reveal itself to them in a natural and user–friendly form. What could be more natural than human language? Natural–language search is at the center of a storm of ever–increasing web–driven demand for human–computer communication and information access. SQL Server 2008 provides the tools to take advantage of the features of its built–in enterprise–level natural–language search engine in the form of integrated full–text search (iFTS). iFTS uses text–aware relational queries to provide your users with fast access to content. Whether you want to set up an enterprise–wide Internet or intranet search engine or create less ambitious natural–language search applications, this book will teach you how to get the most out of SQL Server 2008 iFTS: Introducing powerful iFTS features in SQL Server, such as the FREETEXT and CONTAINS predicates, custom thesauruses, and stop lists Showing you how to optimize full–text query performance through features like full–text indexes and iFilters Providing examples that help you understand and apply the power of iFTS in your daily projects