Average Rating: 4.40
Rating: 5 - MANDATORY reading for any SQL-Server DBA
McBath's book highlights common problems and provides practical workarounds for Backup/restore
The Book shows some very cool tricks that make it possible to recover data that's lost due to media
failures. It also covers data recovery tricks by using indexes. It continues about explaining what
to do when you need to rebuild your machine from scratch. Common problems are discussed and workarounds
given. The book is full of examples and tips and tricks from REAL consulting, not rehashing a manual
or Books on line. These tips give the book even more value.What I liked most was that it describes using the GUI and T-SQL scripts. A GUI is nice but to really
hit the nail one should automate this and script it.
This is THE Backup/Restore book each SQL-Server DBA must have in his bag. READ it BEFORE disasater
happens. One can never be preperaed enough for situations like this. Last but not least there's an appendix with the Mohan/Narang paper This paper outlines
the ARIES Write Ahead Log protocol recovery mechanism that SQL Server uses.
Rating: 2 - Shallow and Disappointing
Author calls it concise monograph that covers a wide variety of backup and recovery issues with plenty of examples. Well, concerning backup section there are more examples in Books on Line. No backup options are explained (i.e. You would use this option to do this particular thing). Absolutely NO scenarios are given. Only a few basic backup statements without any explanation what to run before and after backup. There is an interesting script "Monitoring the Completion of a Backup" - almost 3 pages of code but there is no download option so it is up to the reader to type it in. What a waste of time. Author often makes a point how bad backup and restore practices are in places he did the consulting for. I think they are no better or worse than the books we have to learn from.
Rating: 5 - Buy This Book!
If you do any SQL Server administration where your boss cares about the data contained therein, TRUST ME, READ THIS BOOK THOROUGHLY BEFORE you are in a position of responsibilty. Had I never read this book before I inherited my DBA responsibilities, I doubt I'd be employed right now. This book could not be easier to read, have better examples or provide better insights. Even though I went through a MOC training course and the teacher was great, one week isn't long enough for everything to sink in. Thank goodness there are guys like Mr. McBride to fill in the remaining gap. I could not say enough good things about this book...mainly becuase I still have a good job because of it. If your database is important to your boss, this book is a MUST!!!!!!!!!!!
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