Exam 70-432 TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Implementation and Maintenance - My Notes as of 4/21/09 - Carpe Datum - Site Home

In a previous post, I started the process of my study for the 70-432 exam. I'm working on that (as I have time) and I promised to post my notes here. My notes aren't totally inclusive, they are just things I found interesting as I was doing my reading.

As I've been using a few new resources, I think they may have some bad info that I'll correct as I go. If I don't know if something is accurate, I'll mention that until I verify it. As always, these are just my thoughts, so this list certainly isn't inclusive:

Resources:

http://infoweb2007/sites/learning/EmployeeResources/Internal%20Test%20Centers/Pages/default.aspx#find

http://learning.microsoft.com/Manager/default.aspx

I've added this book, since it has practice tests as well: http://www.amazon.com/MCTS-Self-Paced-Training-70-432-PRO-Certification/dp/0735626057/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238461542&sr=8-1

Requirements:
1. Install SQL Server 2008 and related services - file locations; default paths; service accounts

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143547.aspx

NTFS is required for installation, but if you upgrade FAT32 won't be blocked.
Read-only and compressed installs are blocked.
Dot Net requires the restart
MSDE will upgrade to Express
2K5 Express will go to Workgroup
Evaluation will upgrade to "real" versions
IS and client components are not Instance related
The Windows firewall may close TCP port 1433, which is the default port for SQL Server. UDP Port 1434 is the SQL Browser service, and if you have multiple instances you need to open that as well
SQL Server 2008 is supported in virtual machine environments running on the Hyper-V role in Windows Server 2008 Standard, Enterprise and Data Center editions.
If you use EFS, the database files will be encrypted under the identity of the account running SQL Server
SQL Server 2008 will install side-by-side with everything from 2K up, with the exception of IA64
Windows 2008 Server Core not supported since there is no dot-net.
Installation requires Shared Memory, Named Pipes, or TCP/IP protocols
For server, you need Windows 2003 Standard SP2 or higher
Use Unicode to store multi-lingual data
SQL Server 2008 supports setting collations at the following levels:

Server
Database
Column
Expression

The server-level collation can either be changed during setup, or by changing the Windows system locale before installation.
Binary is the fastest sorting order and is case-sensitive, but can yield unexpected sort orders.
Three editions have all features in SQL Server: Enterprise, Developer and Evaluation. Only Enterprise can be used in Production.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143504.aspx - Service Acounts
Use the Configuration Manager to change the service accounts - it does things other than just set the account
The DBTA requires an administrator to run the first time, then a dbo can run it on their own databases after that
For SQL Server and SQL Server Agent to run as services in Windows, SQL Server and SQL Server Agent must be assigned a Windows user account.
IS is not Instance-aware
The Workgroup edition is where the memory limits start - at 4GB. Express is 1 GB.
By default, sample databases and sample code are not installed as part of SQL Server Setup.
Up to 16 Instances are available for install on all editions except Enterprise, which can have 50.
You need administrative rights to configure Reporting Services.
To update an expired service account for Reporting Services you must use SSMS.
Currently stopped at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb510455.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc281953.aspx

2. Configure SQL Server instances - sp_configure

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188787.aspx

Configure SQL Server services - configuration manager; SQL browser

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms174212.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms181087.aspx

Implement database mail - set up and configure

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175887.aspx

Configure full-text indexing - enable/disable, index population

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms142571.aspx

Manage SQL Server Agent jobs - create and schedule jobs; notification of job execution; disable/enable jobs; change job step order; logging

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187061.aspx

Manage SQL Server Agent alerts - performance condition alerts; SQL event alerts; Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) alerts

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms191508.aspx

Manage SQL Server Agent operators - operator schedules; fail safe operator; add a new operator; notification methods

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms179336.aspx

Implement the declarative management framework (DMF) - create a policy; verify a policy; schedule a policy compliance check; enforce a policy; create a condition

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb510667.aspx

Back up a SQL Server environment - operating system-level concepts

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187048.aspx

The EMERGENCY mode of a database allows SELECT operations by members of the db_owner role.

Manage logins and server roles- create logins; disable/enable logins; security model (authentication mode); password policy enforcement; fixed server roles; alter logins

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb510476.aspx

Manage users and database roles - user mapping; user-defined roles; fixed roles; guest, public, dbo; creating and deleting user roles

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189121.aspx

Manage SQL Server instance permissions- logon triggers; permissions vs fixed role membership; cross-database ownership chaining; impersonation

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms191291.aspx

Manage schema permissions and object permissions- manage schema ownership

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190387.aspx

Audit SQL Server instances- use DDL triggers and logon triggers; C2; common criteria; login failures; event notifications

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187634.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb153837.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms186406.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc645917.aspx

Change Tracking is enabled on a database, and enabled for a table.

Manage transparent data encryption- impact of transparent data encryption on backups

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb934049.aspx

Manage and configure databases- files, file groups, and related options; database options; recovery model; attach/detach data

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187087.aspx

The proportional fiel algorythm balances writes so that all files in a filegroup fill up at the same time.
SQL Server creates one thread per file in a database (not sure about this - author could be wrong).
Always create a second filegroup and designate it as the default for best performance.
The Filestream feature allows you to associate files on a disk with a database, tied to a filegroup.
Index operations affect bulk-logged recovery models.
The restricted_user option allows only the db_owner, db_creator and sysadmin roles to have access.
Issuing ALTER DB statements wait for all transactions to complete unless you specify a ROLLBACK qualifier.

Manage database snapshots- create, drop, revert

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175158.aspx

Maintain database integrity- DBCC CHECKDB; suspect pages

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms176064.aspx

You should enable PAGE_VERIFY for production databases.
If a database is mirrored, it can recover a corrupt page from the mirror.

Maintain a database by using maintenance plans- Maintenance Plan Wizard; Maintenance Plan Designer

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187658.aspx

Import and export data- BCP; BULK INSERT; OPENROWSET; GUI tools

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms162802.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms175915.aspx

Manage data partitions- switching data from one partition to another; add a filegroup; alter a partition function; alter a partition scheme

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188730.aspx

Implement data compression- sparse columns; page/row

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc280449.aspx

Maintain indexes- create spatial indexes; create partitioned indexes; clustered and non-clustered indexes; XML indexes; disable and enable indexes; filtered index on sparse columns; indexes with included columns; rebuilding/reorganizing indexes; online/offline

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188783.aspx

There are three types of index pages: root, intermediate and leaf.
Indexes can have 16 columns.
INCLUDE columns are part of the index at the leaf level only.
Filtered indexes simply indicate a WHERE clause in the index.
FILLFACTOR specifies the space to be left, and applies only to the leaf level.
If you build an index offline, you lock the table until it is complete.
A primary XML index is built on all nodes.

Manage collations- column collation; database collation; instance collation

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143503.aspx

Identify SQL Server service problems- DB Engine service; SQL Agent service; SQL Browser service

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143504.aspx

Identify concurrency problems- blocks, locks, deadlocks, activity monitor; relevant Dynamic Management Views
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms190615.aspx

Identify SQL Agent job execution problems- proxy accounts; credentials; job history

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189064.aspx

Locate error information- error log; agent log; job execution history; event logs

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms191202(sql.90).aspx

Implement Resource Governor

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb933866.aspx

Use the Database Engine Tuning Advisor

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188639.aspx

Collect trace data by using SQL Server Profiler

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187929.aspx

Collect performance data by using Dynamic Management Views (DMVs)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188754.aspx

Collect performance data by using System Monitor

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms191246.aspx

Use Performance Studio

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb677179.aspx

Implement database mirroring- monitoring, configuring, failover

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189852.aspx

Implement a SQL Server clustered instance- monitoring, configuring, failover

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189134.aspx

Implement log shipping- monitoring, configuring, failover

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb895393.aspx

Implement replication- monitoring, configuring, failover

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms151198.aspx

Uncategorized:

Tables -
Numeric and decinal types are the same.
Precision is total, scale is the numbers to the right.
Substituting MAX for the volume of the character type or VARBINARY gives you 2GB of space.
The XML datatype is limited to 2GB (not sure about this one, the author might be wrong)
Collation can be specified at the Instance, database and column levels.
Database Mirroring does not work with Filestream data or a Database Snapshot.
Sparse columns must allow NULLs, cannot be compressed, and is designed for tables with many NULLs.
Computed columns can be persisted.
You can define up to 30,000 columns (need to check this) but the data still cannot exceed 8096 bytes per row.
A column-level constraint cannot reference other columns.
A table-level constraint can only reference objects in that table.
Parent tables require a Primary Key for a Foreign Key to reference.