Another DBA question...

[cHk4]

Ok so I've gone for a trainee/junior DBA job role. I have my interview next week and obviously I want to read up on SQL etc so that when asked any questions I have a brief bit of knowledge about it.

Are there any good books or any recommended online resources that I can read which will give me a good understanding to the basics of SQL and a DBA? Now I know I can google this but not knowing anything about SQL I don't want to read up on the wrong things so any help is appreciated.

Thanks

 

[neil3k]

job spec?

 

[cHk4]

Hi, the below is what was outlined - that is all I really know.

Key Tasks and Areas of Activity:

• Providing support on SQL Server installations
• Carrying out database administration tasks
• Establishing operational processes
• Applying change control and release procedures
• Implementing additional facilities

 

[cHk4]

Anyone? I know I haven't given you much to go by lol.

 

[wildman]

Ok so I've gone for a trainee/junior DBA job role. I have my interview next week and obviously I want to read up on SQL etc so that when asked any questions I have a brief bit of knowledge about it.

Are there any good books or any recommended online resources that I can read which will give me a good understanding to the basics of SQL and a DBA? Now I know I can google this but not knowing anything about SQL I don't want to read up on the wrong things so any help is appreciated.

Thanks

Rule 1 of SQL basics :

don't use DELETE FROM table_name without a WHERE or you nuke all the records in the table . I have seen this in action and it wasn't pretty for the DBA that did it where I work !!

 

[scorza]

Rule 1 of SQL basics :

don't use DELETE FROM table_name without a WHERE or you nuke all the records in the table . I have seen this in action and it wasn't pretty for the DBA that did it where I work !!

Did he not know about the ROLLBACK command?

Reading your job spec I would expect they'll be more interested in your knowledge of SQL Server 2008 e.g. how to install it, integration with Windows AD, how to archive and backup, partitioning, clustering and just how to maintain the installation, what a schema is.

I guess it wouldn't hurt to know about how to create tables, indexes, keys etc in SQL though. I'm not a DBA btw, so take with a pinch of salt

 

[cHk4]

Rule 1 of SQL basics :

don't use DELETE FROM table_name without a WHERE or you nuke all the records in the table . I have seen this in action and it wasn't pretty for the DBA that did it where I work !!

Haha thanks mate

Did he not know about the ROLLBACK command?

Reading your job spec I would expect they'll be more interested in your knowledge of SQL Server 2008 e.g. how to install it, integration with Windows AD, how to archive and backup, partitioning, clustering and just how to maintain the installation, what a schema is.

I guess it wouldn't hurt to know about how to create tables, indexes, keys etc in SQL though. I'm not a DBA btw, so take with a pinch of salt

You know what that sounds exactly like what it will be! I'll try and find some stuff to read about about what you mentioned.

 

[wildman]

Did he not know about the ROLLBACK command?

You can't undo a DELETE FROM table_entry using redo or rollbackunless the database is running in ARCHIVELOG mode, Oracle creates an archived redo log at every checkpoint and then stores them online for you to be bale to use this feature. Lucklily this was a dev database and not one we were running in production so it wasn't too much of an issue as it was just a dump of all the live data as we wanted to run a few tests.

I got 1 minute of comedy out of watching this poor git lay an egg in his trousers after he realised what he did though !!

 

[contracteur]

I'm guessing as the spec refers to "SQL Server" the Oracle point is moot. There's plenty of info and books around, might be worth having a quick look for any material online relating to the MCTS course for SQL Server 2008 Administration. Think it's 70-432.