Foreword

Can one book really cover everything you need to know about SQL Server 2008? As more and more books are covering fewer and fewer features of this huge product, before taking a close look at Paul's SQL Server 2008 Bible, I would have said no. And of course, the answer depends on how much you actually need to know about my favorite database system. For some, "information needed" could cover a lot of ground, but Paul's book comes closer to covering everything than any book I have ever seen.

Paul Nielsen brings his passion for SQL Server and his many years of experience with this product into every page of the SQL Server 2008 Bible. Every detail and every example is tested out by Paul personally, and I know for a fact that he had fun doing all this amazing writing and testing.

Of course, no book can go into great depth on every single area, but Paul takes you deeply enough into each topic that you, the reader, can decide whether that feature will be valuable to you. How can you know whether PowerShell or Spatial Data is something you want to dive deeply into unless you know something about its value? How can you know if you should look more deeply into Analysis Services or partitioning if you don't even know what those features are? How do you know which Transact-SQL language features will help you solve your data access problems if you don't know what features are available, and what features are new in SQL Server 2008? How can you know which high-availability technology or ...

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