M2783: Designing the Data Tier for Microsoft SQL Server 2005

Prerequisites:

Before attending this course, students must:

- Have experience reading user requirements and business-need documents. For example, development project vision/mission statements or business analysis reports.
- Have basic knowledge of the Microsoft .NET Framework, .NET concepts, and service oriented architecture (SOA).
- Be familiar with the tasks that application developers typically perform.
- Understand Transact-SQL syntax and programming logic.
- Be able to design a database to third normal form (3NF) and know the trade offs when backing out of the fully normalized design (denormalization) and designing for performance and business requirements in addition to being familiar with design models, such as Star and Snowflake schemas.
- Have basic monitoring and troubleshooting skills. Specifically, how to use SQL Profiler and dynamic management views.
- Have basic knowledge of the operating system and platform. That is, how the operating system integrates with the database, what the platform or operating system can do, and how interaction between the operating system and the database works.
- Have basic knowledge of application architecture. That is, how applications can be designed in three layers, what applications can do, how interaction between the application and the database works, and how the interaction between the database and the platform or operating system works.
- Know how to use a data modeling tool.
- Be familiar with SQL Server 2005 features, tools, and technologies.
- Have a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 credential - or equivalent experience.
- In addition, it is recommended, but not required, that students have completed:
- Course 2779, Implementing a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Database.
- Course 2780, Maintaining a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Database.

Course Description:

This one-day instructor-led clinic provides students with the knowledge and skill to design the data tier for Microsoft® SQL ServerT 2005. The clinic focuses on teaching database developers working in enterprise environments to understand and decide how application developers are going to access and consume their data. This is a major failure point of database solutions today.

This course is intended for current professional database developers who have three or more years of on-the-job experience developing SQL Server database solutions in an enterprise environment.

Elements of this syllabus are subject to change.

This course includes the following modules:

Choosing Data Access Technologies and an Object Model

• Introduction to Data Access Technologie
• Choosing Technologies for Accessing Data
• Building a Data Access Layer
• Designing Data Access from SQL Common Language Runtime (CLR) Objects
• Available Data Object Models for Administering SQL Server

Designing an Exception Handling Strategy

• Exception Types and Their Purposes
• Detecting Exceptions
• Managing Exceptions

Choosing a Cursor Strategy

• Common Scenarios for Row-based vs. Set-based Operations
• Selecting Appropriate Server-side Cursors
• Selecting Appropriate Client-side Cursors

Designing Query Strategies Using Multiple Active Result Sets

• Introduction to MARS
• Designing Query Strategies for Multiple Reads
• Designing Query Strategies for Mixing Reads and Writes in the Same Connection
• Concurrency Considerations When Using MARS

Designing Caching Strategies for Database Applications

• Why Caching Is Important
• Data and Query Caching in SQL Server 2005
• Using Caching Technologies Outside of SQL Server
• Custom Caching Techniques

Designing a Scalable Data Tier for Database Applications

• Identifying the Need to Scale
• Scaling Database Applications to Avoid Concurrency Contention
• Scaling SQL Server Database Systems
• Scaling Database Applications Using a Service-Oriented Architecture
• Improving Availability and Scalability by Scaling Out Front-End Systems