Expert Scripting and Automation for SQL Server DBAs

This book should be in every dba's tool kit, I am learning so much. I love that powershell is covered.

Awesome hints and tips for the novice to advanced.

this book belongs on every dbas desk

Nothing is presented in any detail. The information contained is cursory to the point of being trivial. Strange number of GUI screenshots for an “expert scripting” book. Not enough meat for experts. Not enough explanation for novices.

Very useful content, but so far lots of typos and a few factual errors, will update review later.

<disclaimer>I am a blogger, writing reviews about IT books, IT articles and anything I find interesting. I have received the book "Expert Scripting and Automation for SQL Server" from the publisher Apress for a review, upon a request from my site.After October 2016 I have become a MCP in SQL Server (exam 70-461). In order to obtain the certification, I have decided to start reading mainly SQL Server books. </disclaimer>Thus the review of Expert Scripting and Automation for SQL Server DBAs begins. The book is divided into 9 chapters, starting with T-SQL techniques and PowerShell fundamentals. I liked the T-SQL techniques, these were also asked in the Microsoft 70-461 Exam and were of help for me for my preparation. Especially for the XML related questions. Concerning the second chapter for PowerShell, it is really very good for any developer to use it. As a professional VBA developer (or at least something similar, if you have the opinion that VBA and developer should not be in one sentence) I really like the scripting languages and I usually use a great deal of them at work. Thus, a big plus for the second chapter and the idea to introduce it in a SQL Server DBA book!In the other chapters the book gives real data examples for axiomatization, with lots of SQL code and step by step scenarios with screenshots. Even basic database theories are covered in the book (e.g. normalization and SSIS concepts), which I liked.Pretty much, to summarize, I liked the book mainly because it can be used as a nice handbook and with its approach you may automate your SQL Server. A tiny minus is that the SQL code in the book looked a little unsorted and difficult to follow (e.g. page 273), but that's a tiny minus, as far as the code is available also online.

This is an excellent resource for both beginners and experienced DBAs. Not only are important techniques introduced, but the chapters of demos, example scripts, and database applications are very well done. The demos emphasize techniques introduced earlier and provide demos that can be run, modified, and used anytime!Automation is introduced as the solution to a common problem we all face, and then explained, justified, and presented thoroughly. The use of SQL Server Agent, SSIS, and Powershell, in addition to TSQL, provide a variety of tools to implement automation depending on the circumstances or software available to the DBA.

Contains very little Expert Scripting... Full of screenshots and copy/pastes of config files. Poor value for money.

The book is overpriced. The scripts/steps mentioned in the book was very much useful few years back, not now. Power shell scripts are rarely seen in the book.