On-site Customized SQL Server Training

We offer customised training, usually on-site and for small to medium sized groups of people in the following topics:

   General SQL Server training (includes both SQL administation and development). See sample course lower down.

   Microsoft SQL Server Administration (recovery models, backup/restore, maintenance, security, configuration, etc.)

   Transact SQL (writing queries; both basic and advanced T-SQL can be accommodated)

   Database design (relational model, primary key selection, data types, referential integrity, etc.)

   SQL Server programming (Stored Procedures, User Defined Functions, Triggers, etc.)

   DTS/SSIS (data import/export)

   SQL Server Performance Tuning (indexing, profiler, execution plans, slow and fast T-SQL, etc.)

   SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services

   Migrating from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005 

   SQL Server client connectivity (inc. running stored procedures from VB/Access/.NET)

"Just wanted to say thanks for the SQL training last week, it was exactly what we were after and everyone attending has commented on how useful they thought it was. If you ever need need us to act as a reference, we'd be happy to."
   - John Boyle, Topaz Computer Systems Ltd. 

All courses are tailored to your specific requirements and are delivered onsite for your organisation only. We will discuss with you what your current level of knowledge is, your purpose in undertaking the course and what you hope to achieve. We will then arrange to deliver custom training, at a date and location to suit you, and can further bespoke it according to your needs and your current level of experience during the course itself.

All training will be provided by an experienced developer with up-to-date, real-world, development expertise ( and the scars to prove it! ).

Attendees can be new trainees or experienced software developers; however, as you would expect, our training will be most beneficial where those taking part have at least roughly similar levels of experience so that we can pitch the content at the correct level.

In addition to our own content we are also happy to base some of the training around your own systems; perhaps looking at how to speed up a particular query, showing you how to profile your own system, analysing the design of one of your existing databases, working out how to import a specific data file or discussing a particular problem that you are experiencing.

Courses will usually be delivered at your own site. In order to provide individual attention we recommend groups of from three to six people although we can teach up to ten people if you prefer. Small groups of trainees can also be accommodated at our offices near Cambridge if you do not want an on-site course.

Recent training courses have been given to organizations as diverse as Amtech Power, Advantage Finance, British Heart Foundation, Eurostop, NFU Mutual, Havering NHS Trust, Nottinghamshire County Council, St Andrews University and Topaz Computer Systems.

"I was very pleased with the course and your professionalism."
   - Arthur Mills, Micro Business Systems Ltd. 

Prices vary according to duration, location and the amount of prior customisation required but a typical two day course delivered on-site in the UK would cost £1,800 (equivalent to £180/person/day for five people attending).

Client/Server v File Server
   Processing on the client.
   Redesign for client/server (performance, network traffic, robustness)

Component Overview
   Management Studio {Express} (or Ent Mgr + Qry Analyser)
   Configuration Tools
   Configuration Manager (or Service Mgr + client & server network utilities)
   Books Online (BOL)
   SQL Server Agent 
   Integration Services (or DTS)
   Analysis Services
   Reporting Services
   Database Engine Tuning Advisor
   Profiler
   Business Intelligence Development Studio

Installation
   Client Components
   SQL Server
   Instances (named, default)
   2005 Prerequisites (Service packs, IE6 SP1, .Net Framework, MDAC)
   2005 Surface Area Configuration

SQL Server
   Tables (Primary Keys, Identity, GUID)
   Indexes (Unique, Clustered, Covering, suitable fields, unsuitable fields/tables, ranges)
   Views
   Stored Procedures
   Database Diagrams
   Triggers
   Rules
   Defaults
   Declarative Referential Integrity
   Global variables
   Security (NT Integrated, SQL Server, Roles and Users, sa account)
   Datatypes (int, char, varchar, unicode, datetime, bit, decimal, timestamp, UniqueIdentifier, etc.)
   System Stored Procedures
   Transaction log
   Scripts

Transact-SQL (Queries)
   SELECT
   WHERE
   ORDER BY
   GROUP BY
   LIKE
   JOINS (INNER, LEFT/RIGHT OUTER, FULL, UNIONS, CARTESIAN)
   ROLLUP, CUBE, COMPUTE
   CASE statements
   Dates (DATEADD, DATEDIFF, DATEPART, etc.)
   ISNULL, IS NULL, = NULL
   TOP, TOP Percent
   CAST, CONVERT
   SUM, COUNT, AVG
   Subqueries

Backup/Restore
   Recovery models (Full/Simple)
   Backups (Full and Transaction log)
   Maintenance Plan Wizard
   Restore (Full/Transaction Log/Point in time)
   Restore to another database/server
   Changing filepaths
   Scripting restores

Security
   NT Integrated, SQL Server, sa account
   Authentication and Authorization
   Users, Logins, Schemas and Roles
   Audit Trails
   SQL Injection attacks
   Encryption

Scheduling Jobs
   SQL Server Agent
   Sample schedules

Database Design
   Normalisation
   Referential Integrity

Writing Stored Procedures
   Basic stored procedure creation
   Parameters and Variables
   IF / ELSE
   BEGIN / END
   IF EXISTS()
   NOCOUNT
   TRANSACTIONS
   TRY/CATCH error trapping
   @@Identity / Scope_Identity

Triggers
   Insert/Update/Delete Triggers
   Accessing previous data
   Common problems

User Defined Functions (UDFs)
   Types of UDFs
   Creating User Defined Functions

Licensing Issues
   SQL Server licencing options