Best SQL Server Books 2024

SQL Server Advanced Troubleshooting and Performance Tuning: Best Practices and Techniques

This practical book provides a comprehensive overview of troubleshooting and performance tuning best practices for Microsoft SQL Server. Database engineers, including database developers and administrators, will learn how to identify performance issues, troubleshoot the system in a holistic fashion, and properly prioritize tuning efforts to attain the best system performance possible.

Author Dmitri Korotkevitch, Microsoft Data Platform MVP and Microsoft Certified Master (MCM), explains the interdependencies between SQL Server database components. You’ll learn how to quickly diagnose your system and discover the root cause of any issue. Techniques in this book are compatible with all versions of SQL Server and cover both on-premises and cloud-based SQL Server installations.

Discover how performance issues present themselves in SQL Server
Learn about SQL Server diagnostic tools, methods, and technologies
Perform health checks on SQL Server installations
Learn the dependencies between SQL Server components
Tune SQL Server to improve performance and reduce bottlenecks
Detect poorly optimized queries and inefficiencies in query execution plans
Find inefficient indexes and common database design issues
Use these techniques with Microsoft Azure SQL databases, Azure SQL Managed Instances, and Amazon RDS for SQL Server

SQL Server Query Tuning and Optimization: Optimize Microsoft SQL Server 2022 queries and applications

by Benjamin Nevarez. SQL Server is a relational database management system developed by Microsoft. As a database server, it is a software product with the primary function of storing and retrieving data as requested by other software applications.

This book starts by describing the inner workings of the query optimizer, and will enable you to use this knowledge to write better queries and provide the query engine with all the information it needs to produce efficient execution plans. As you progress, you’ll get practical query optimization tips for troubleshooting underperforming queries. The book will also guide you through intelligent query processing and what is new in SQL Server 2022. Query performance topics such as the Query Store, In-Memory OLTP and columnstore indexes are covered as well.

By the end of this book, you’ll be able to get the best possible performance for your queries and applications. You will learn:

Troubleshoot queries using methods including extended events, SQL Trace, and dynamic management views
Understand how the execution engine and query operators work
Speed up queries and improve app performance by creating the right indexes
Detect and fix cardinality estimation errors by examining query optimizer statistics
Monitor and promote both plan caching and plan reuse to improve app performance
Troubleshoot and improve query performance by using the Query Store
Improve the performance of data warehouse queries by using columnstore indexes
Handle query processor limitations with hints and other methods

SQL Server Execution Plans: Third Edition

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.

It will explain, among many other things, the following:

How to capture execution plans using manual and automatic methods
A documented method for reading and interpreting execution plans
How common SQL Server objects, such as indexes, views, stored procedures, and so on, appear in execution plans
How to control execution plans with hints and plan guides, and why this is a double-edged sword
How the Query Store works with, and collects data on, execution plans

Murach’s SQL Server 2019 for Developers

Murach’s SQL Server 2019 for Developers by Joel Murach and Bryan Syverson will help you get started with SQL Server. If you’re an app developer or you’re training to be one, this latest version of Murchison’s classic SQL Server book is for you. To get started, it presents SQL statements that you need to recover and update data in a database. These are SQL statements that you use every day in your sql server environment. Next, it shows you how to design a database, how to apply that design, and how to view XML data and blog data, including views, scripts, stored methods, functions, triggers, transactions, security, and FILESTREAM storage. The result? You will be able to create professional database applications perfectly. You will be familiar with the problems associated with DBA that allow you to work much more efficiently than most of your colleagues. You will have a practical reference to answer questions and deal with as new challenges arise. Learn SQL Server from the best SQL Server book in 2023.

SQL Server 2019 Revealed: Including Big Data Clusters and Machine Learning

Keep up to date with the revolutionary developments of SQL Server 2019 It is no longer just a database engine, SQL Server 2019 is at one end of technology with the help of Machine Learning (ML), big data analysis, Linux, Containers, Quernetware, Java and Devourage. . This is not a book about traditional database administration for SQL Server. It focuses on everything new in one of the most advanced modernization data platforms in the industry. This is a book for data professionals who already know the basics of SQL Server and want to improve their game by building skills in some of the latest technology.

The SQL Server 2019 release begins by reviewing the project team’s goal of integrating the big data world with SQL Server into a larger version of the product. The book gives an overview of key new features in SQL Server 2019 using the ‘Learn for example’ approach to smart performance, security, critical availability and functionality for modern developers. The improvements to SQL Server 2019 for Linux are also discussed. Lets discover SQL Server.

The book concludes by showing you how to virtualize your data access on Oracle, MongoDB, Hadop and Azure with Polybus, allowing you to reduce the need for expensive extraction, transformation and load (ETL) applications. You can create a complete solution called Big Data Cluster which is a brand feature of 2019 on your own data lake and deploy end-to-end machine learning applications.

You are going to learn

Implement Big Data Clusters with SQL Server, Spark, and HDFS
Create a Data Hub with connections to Oracle, Azure, Hadoop, and other sources
Combine SQL and Spark to build a machine learning platform for AI applications
Boost your performance with no application changes using Intelligent Performance
Increase security of your SQL Server through Secure Enclaves and Data Classification
Maximize database uptime through online indexing and Accelerated Database Recovery
Build new modern applications with Graph, ML Services, and T-SQL Extensibility with Java
Improve your ability to deploy SQL Server on Linux
Gain in-depth knowledge to run SQL Server with containers and Kubernetes
Know all the new database engine features for performance, usability, and diagnostics
Use the latest tools and methods to migrate your database to SQL Server 2019
Apply your knowledge of SQL Server 2019 to Azure

IT professionals and developers who understand the basics of SQL Server and want to focus on the new modern capabilities of SQL Server 2019. The book is for those who want to learn more about SQL Server 2019 and the news Big Data Cluster and AI Functions Together, Machine Learning and Java, How to Run SQL Server with Containers and Enhances Power for Smart Performance, Improved Security and High Availability

Pro SQL Server Relational Database Design and Implementation 6th Edition

Pro SQL Server Relational Database Design and Implementation: Best Practices for Scalability and Performance 6th Edition by Louis Davidson will help you learn efficient and scalable database design techniques in SQL Server 2019 and other recent versions of SQL Server. This book is revised to cover additions to SQL Server that include enhancements to SQL charts, in-memory online transaction processing, temporary data storage, row-level security, and other design-related features. This book will help you design high-quality OLTP databases, protect the integrity of your data, and run quickly on-premises, in the cloud, or in hybrid configurations.

Designing an efficient and scalable database using SQL Server is a task that requires skills that have been around for more than 30 years, with ever-changing technology. This book covers everything from the design logic that business users will understand to the physical implementation of the design in a SQL Server database. Based on best practices and a solid understanding of the underlying theory, author Louis Davidson shows you how to “get it right” when designing SQL Server databases and laying a solid foundation for future use of SQL Server. You will:

Develop conceptual models of customer data using customer interviews and documentation.
Deploy designs that work on premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid approach
Recognize and apply common database design patterns
Standardize data models to improve the integrity and scalability of your databases for long-term use of valuable data
Translate Conceptual Models in High-Performance SQL Server Databases
Ensure and protect data integrity in accordance with regulatory requirements
Create efficient indexing to speed up query performance
Understand the concepts of competition.

SQL Server 2022 Query Performance Tuning: Troubleshoot and Optimize Query Performance

SQL Server 2017 Query Performance Tuning: Troubleshoot and Optimize Query Performance by Grant Fritchey will help you learn about query store, adaptive execution plans, and automatic tuning on the Microsoft Azure SQL database platform. Anyone responsible for writing or creating T-SQL queries will find valuable information on bottlenecks, including how to recognize and eliminate them. This book covers the latest performance tuning features and techniques and is up-to-date with SQL Server 2017. If your queries aren’t running fast enough and you’re tired of frustrated user phone calls, this book is the answer to your performance. issues.

Tuning SQL Server 2017 query performance isn’t just about quick fixes and tips. You will learn to be proactive in setting performance benchmarks using tools like Performance Monitor and Extended Events. You will recognize bottlenecks and disable them before the phone rings. You will also learn quick fixes, but the emphasis is on design for performance and good execution. The point is to avoid problems before they arise. You will learn:

Use the Query Store to easily understand and modify query performance
Recognize and eliminate bottlenecks that lead to poor performance.
Implement quick solutions when needed, followed by long-term solutions
Implement best practices in T-SQL to minimize performance risks
Build the performance you need with careful query and index design
Use the latest SQL Server 2017 performance tuning features
Protect query performance when upgrading to new versions of SQL Server

High Performance SQL Server: Consistent Response for Mission-Critical Applications

Design and configure SQL Server instances and databases in support of high-throughput, mission-critical applications providing consistent response times in the face of variations in numbers of users and query volumes. In this new edition, with over 100 pages of additional content, every original chapter has been updated for SQL Server 2019, and the book also includes two new chapters covering SQL Server on Linux and Intelligent Query Processing.

This book shows you how to configure SQL Server and design your databases to support a given instance and workload. You will learn advanced configuration options, in-memory technologies, storage and disk configuration, and more, all aimed toward enabling your desired application performance and throughput.

Configuration doesn’t stop with implementation. Workloads change over time, and other impediments can arise to thwart desired performance. High Performance SQL Server covers monitoring and troubleshooting to aid you in detecting and fixing production performance problems and minimizing application outages. You will learn about a variety of tools, ranging from the traditional wait analysis methodology to the query store or indexing, and you will learn how improving performance is an iterative process.

This book is an excellent complement to query performance tuning books and provides the other half of what you need to know by focusing on configuring the instances on which mission-critical queries are executed. What You Will Learn

Understand SQL Server’s database engine and how it processes queries
Configure instances in support of high-throughput applications
Provide consistent response times to varying user numbers and query volumes
Design databases for high-throughput applications with focus on performance
Record performance baselines and monitor SQL Server instances against them
Troubleshot and fix performance problems

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 High-Performance T-SQL Using Window Functions

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 High-Performance T-SQL Using Window Functions by Itzik Ben Gan will help you optimize your queries and get simple and elegant solutions to a variety of problems with Transact-SQL window functions. Led by T-SQL expert Itzik Ben-Gan, you will learn to apply calculations to sets of rows in a flexible, clear and efficient way. Ideal if you are a database administrator or developer, this practical guide shows you how to use more than a dozen T-SQL query solutions to handle common business tasks.

Find out how:

Go beyond traditional query approaches to express ensemble calculations more efficiently
Explore ordered set functions such as range, distribution, and compensation
Implement Hypothetical Set and Inverse Distribution Functions in Standard SQL
Use strategies to improve sequencing, paging, filtering, and rotation.
Increase query speed by dividing, sorting, and indexing your coverage
Apply new optimization iterators like Window Spool
Manage common issues like totals, ranges, medians, and spreads