Question:

What training to do you recommend for new MS SQL Server users? DoYou provide training as a service yourselves?

GRE-SQLSERVER-SOLUTIONS.COM Answer:

Hi Gareth, thanks for your question, in terms training there are a number of options open to you including attending official Microsoft courses, you can buy books and �teach yourself� and you can learn on the job from your colleagues and peers. In reality I would recommend combining all three, as a DBA there will always be new skills to learn, courses can be a good introduction, the books will provide you with reference material and working examples and you cannot beat learning from colleagues with experience.

Check out the article �Becoming a DBA� written by our very own JHD for some excellent tips and best practices for up and coming database professionals.

Although we don�t provide traditional classroom based training we can offer one to one sessions at your place of work, we will work with you to ensure we �teach� you all the skills you need and we can even help solve some of your day to day problems, contact us for more information.

Check out our e-store for a list of books that could be useful to you.

I hope this answers your question, please contact us to discuss your training requirements further.

Posted by Alan on 4/1/2008

Question

We still use SQL 2000 at the moment, is it worth upgrading to SQL2005 or should we wait for SQL 2008?

GRE-SQLSERVER-SOLUTIONS.COM Answer:

Hi Alan, that�s a good questions and as with answer to most questions in SQL Server �it depends� but with SQL Server 2008 RTM due for release in February 2008 under two months now, it could be argued that you might as well wait for SP1 of the 2008 version, unless of course there is some underlying business driver forcing you to upgrade, like the need to refresh your hardware or a software vendor will only support their software on the 2005 platform then perhaps the decision will be made for you. If you want help or assistance in upgrading to SQL Server 2005 or 2008 then please let us know.