- SQL Server Management Studio
- SQL Server 2005 Infrastructure Management
- Operations Management Tools
- SQL Server 2005 Remote Management Features
- SQL Server Monitoring
- Managing Very Large Databases
- SQL Server Replication Enhancements
- High Availability for the Masses
- General Data Availability
- Indexed View
- Common Language Runtime and Database Administrator
- Business Intelligence and the Database Administrator
- Summary
Business Intelligence and the Database Administrator
Chapter 5, "Overview of Business Intelligence," covers the new features of the SQL Server business intelligence (BI) platform. For the average DBA, BI seems like fancy reporting, and actually, it is. But here’s the twist: Many of the new functions in Analysis Services, SQL Server Integration Services, and Reporting Services will creep into the DBA’s workload. First, I recommend that DBAs read Chapter 5. Many DBAs will find the new Reporting Services functionality exciting and useful, especially those who generate reports for executives. I want to pose some questions for you and your coworkers to think about:
- What impact does Reporting Services (especially the new ad hoc reporting tool, Report Builder) have on your server’s security and performance? How much RAM should the server have?
- Should we use 32-bit or 64-bit platforms?
- How many applications do we run in one instance of SQL Server?
- How should we include and manage Analysis Services, Integration Services, and Reporting Services in our disaster recovery plan? With inclusion of these features in high availability, how do we manage complexity?
- With the ability to have an extraction, Transformation, and Loading Server via SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), how do you build an infrastructure that uses best-of-breed technologies across the company?
Organizations will have to grapple with these types of questions (and many more) as they move to SQL Server 2005.