My How to Think Like the Engine Class is Now Free – and Open Source

#SQLPass, SQL Server
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You’re a developer or a DBA, and you’re comfortable writing queries to get the data you need. You’re much less comfortable trying to design the right indexes for your database server. You’ve never had a formal database internals class, and you don’t really have the patience to read a book on it – but you want a quick foundation.

In this free 90-minute series of videos, you’ll learn:

  • How clustered index pages are stored on disk and in memory
  • How (and when) to make a covering index
  • The basics of execution plans
  • What determines sargability
  • What SQL Server uses to estimate the memory your query needs
  • What happens when those estimates are wrong
  • When you should get fresh estimates by recompiling the query
  • How to avoid SQL Server’s public toilet, TempDB
  • And it’s all demoed with these Stack Overflow database pages (PDF)

I’m making it free because I’m more proud of it than any other session I’ve ever done, and I think it makes a world of difference in how people understand the mechanics of databases. Over and over again, when I give it in person, people say, “Wow! I had no idea it was really this simple!” I end up starting most of my in-person training classes with it, to get everybody on the same page, and I started thinking: “What if I could just get everybody out there on the same page, period?”

And what if I could make it easier for you to get your coworkers, developers, and ISVs all on that same page? What if I could move the community knowledge forward, and help jump start new presenters? The only way to do it was to make it completely free.

So watch the video class to learn how to present it, and then download the open source slide deck and give it at your user group or company’s lunch-and-learn.

I hope you enjoy it, and if you present it, I’d love to hear how it goes!

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