Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Internals (Developer Reference)

Delve inside the core SQL Server engine—and put that knowledge to work—with guidance from a team of well-known internals experts. Whether database developer, architect, or administrator, you’ll gain the deep knowledge you need to exploit key architectural changes—and capture the product’s full potential. Discover how SQL Server works behind the scenes, including:

• What happens internally when SQL Server builds, expands, shrinks, and moves databases
• How to use event tracking—from triggers to the Extended Events Engine
• Why the right indexes can drastically reduce your query execution time
• How to transcend normal row-size limits with new storage capabilities
• How the Query Optimizer operates
• Multiple techniques for troubleshooting problematic query plans
• When to force SQL Server to reuse a cached query plan—or create a new one
• What SQL Server checks internally when running DBCC
• How to choose among five isolation levels and two concurrency models when working with multiple concurrent users

Conor Cunningham is principal architect of the SQL Server Core Engine Team at Microsoft.