The Handbook for Reluctant DBAs is a helpful manual targeted to those (un)fortunate programmers who find themselves in the (un)enviable position of having to manage a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 database along with their other development responsibilities. Working from the ground up, the author covers just about everything you might need to know to get you on your way to SQL server administration.

The book begins with a discussion of database history and some relational database concepts. This is good information, but as a rule I'd recommend anybody interested in relational database to consult the works of C.J. Date, to get the theoretical picture right. But Mr. Finsel does a pretty good job, nonetheless.

Continuing on, the book progresses in a logical manner, beginning with a step-by-step walk-through of installing SQL Server, creating a database, and managing the various database objects available to you (e.g., tables, indexes, etc.). The author walks you through setup of maintenance plans to help in the smooth operation and reliability of your database. Backup and recovery methods available for SQL server are also covered.

The next portion of the book focuses on database development and covers the basics of good database design, teaching the reader about the various data types available, how to manage tables, data intergrity, views and how to use indexes to help performance. Discussion of the Query analyzer will help the reader understand query execution plans and query optimization. The focus here is mainly on using the GUI tools available from SQL server to perform these tasks, but the author encourages the reader all along the way to learn Transact-SQL for full development flexibility.

Following, the author discusses topics including stored procedures, transactions, error handling, and security topics. The focus here is development-centric, but that's the intended target readership, so the author does well in staying with his audience. Overall, to this point in the book, the author has laid a very good foundation for any developer new to SQL server.

At this point we're about two-thirds of the way through the book, but there is still a lot of good information for the 'Reluctant DBA'. Continuing, the book covers automating tasks with SQL Server Agent, SQL Server's XML capabilities, some very useful utilities for moving data in and out of the database with Data Transformation Services (DTS), and SQL Profiler. Finishing out are discussions on System Monitor and Performance Monitor to help you be aware of your server's health, and coverage of .NET topics related to SQL server.

Provided on an accompanying CDROM are all the code listings from the book as well as a number of sample databases you can use to follow along with the examples in the book. In many cases, the examples provided in the book (and there are plenty of them) are step-by-step explanations that take you through the various procedures and code you'll need to effectively manage a database.

Overall, the author hit his target very well. This definitely isn't a complete reference or the definitive guide to the subject matter, but is a very good introduction to database concepts and database administration and provides a good foundation from which you could build if needed.

Overall Rating: 8/10