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Rodney Landrum "SQL Server Tacklebox"
August 2009 | English | ISBN-13: 978-1-906434-24-3 | 240 Pages | PDF | 6.59 MB
As a DBA, how well-prepared are you to tackle issues such as backup failure due to lack of disk space, or locking and blocking that is preventing critical business processes from running, or data corruption due to a power failure in the disk subsystem? If you have any hesitation in your answers to these questions, then Rodney Landrum's SQL Server Tacklebox is a must-read.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=L84SIDZI

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Jaap Wesselius "Exchange 2010: A Practical Approach"
October 2009 | English | ISBN-13: 978-1-906434-31-1 | 188 Pages | PDF | 9.43 MB
Simple-Talk is renowned for providing high quality, practical and accessible technical content for IT professionals who work with Microsoft technologies. With that in mind, we've been working with Exchange MVP Jaap Wesselius to bring you a quick and easy Practical Approach to the new Exchange Server 2010 platform.

Jaap's Practical Approach draws upon 14 years of Exchange Server experience to deliver an easy-to-use, slim and distilled guide to 2010, full of useful examples and top tips for SysAdmins, both new and experienced.

We've teamed up with Jaap to offer you a free digital copy of his new book, "Exchange 2010 - A Practical Approach", comprised of 5 chapters (180 pages) of carefully chosen Exchange knowledge. An excellent way to get yourself up-to-speed on the latest incarnation of Exchange Server, complete with how-to walkthroughs for installation and co-existence.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8Q2OYSO2

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Joe Celko "Joe Celko's Data, Measurements and Standards in SQL"
October 2009 | English | ISBN-13: 978-0-12-374722-8 | 299 Pages | PDF | 5.89 MB

Joe Celko has looked deep into the code of SQL programmers and found a consistent and troubling pattern - a frightening lack of consistency between their individual encoding schemes and those of the industries in which they operate. This translates into a series of incompatible databases, each one an island unto itself that is unable to share information with others in an age of internationalization and business interdependence. Such incompatibility severely hinders information flow and the quality of company data.

Data, Measurements and Standards in SQL reveals the shift these programmers need to make to overcome this deadlock. By collecting and detailing the diverse standards of myriad industries, and then giving a declaration for the units that can be used in an SQL schema, Celko enables readers to write and implement portable data that can interface to any number of external application systems!

This book doesn't limit itself to one subject, but serves as a detailed synopsis of measurement scales and data standards for all industries, thereby giving RDBMS programmers and designers the knowledge and know-how they need to communicate effectively across business boundaries.

* Collects and details the diverse data standards of myriad industries under one cover, thereby creating a definitive, one-stop-shopping opportunity for database programmers.

* Enables readers to write and implement portable data that can interface to any number external application systems, allowing readers to cross business boundaries and move up the career ladder.

* Expert advice from one of the most-read SQL authors in the world who is well known for his ten years of service on the ANSI SQL standards committee and Readers Choice Award winning column in Intelligent Enterprise.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AEL895XC

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Grant Fritchey "SQL Server Execution Plans"
June 2008 | English | ISBN-13: 978-1-906434-04-5 | 251 Pages | PDF | 10.6 MB
Execution plans show you what's going on behind the scenes in SQL Server. They can provide you with a wealth of information on how your queries are being executed by SQL Server, including:

* Which indexes are getting used and where no indexes are being used at all.
* How the data is being retrieved, and joined, from the tables defined in your query.
* How aggregations in GROUP BY queries are put together.
* The anticipated load, and the estimated cost, that all these operations place upon the system.

All this information makes the execution plan a fairly important tool in the tool belt of database administrator, database developers, report writers, developers, and pretty much anyone who writes TSQL to access data in a SQL Server database.

Given the utility and importance of the tool, you'd think there'd be huge swathes of information devoted to this subject. To be sure, fantastic information is available from various sources, but there really isn't any one place you can go to for focused, practical information on how to use and interpret execution plans.

This is where my book comes in. My goal was to gather as much useful information on execution plans as possible into a single location, and to organize it in such as way that it provided a clear route through the subject, right from the basics of capturing plans, through their interpretation, and then on to how to use them to understand how you might optimize your SQL queries, improve your indexing strategy, and so on.

Specifically, I cover:

* How to capture execution plans in graphical, as well as text and XML formats
* A documented method for interpreting execution plans, so that you can create these plans from your own code and make sense of them in your own environment
* How SQL Server represents and interprets the common SQL Server objects – indexes, views, derived tables etc – in execution plans
* How to spot some common performance issues such as bookmark lookups or unused/missing indexes
* How to control execution plans with hints, plans guides and so on, and why this s a double-edged sword
* How XML code appears in execution plans
* Advanced topics such as parallelism, forced parameterization and plan forcing.

Along the way, I tackle such topics as SQL Server internals, performance tuning, index optimization and so on. However, my focus is always on the details of the execution plan, and how these issues are manifest in these plans. If you are specifically looking for information on how to optimize SQL, or build efficient indexes, then you need a book dedicated to these topics. However, if you want to understand how these issues are interpreted within an execution plan, then this is the place for you.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7C32QOT8

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Brad M. McGehee "Brad’s Sure Guide to SQL Server Maintenance Plans"
October 2009 | English | ISBN-13: 978-1-906434-33-5 | 278 Pages | PDF | 6.24 MB
Millions of SQL Server instances run in the offices of small and medium-sized organizations and there are many "accidental" DBAs out there whose job it is to maintain them. Often, they find that they don't have the knowledge, experience, or critically the time, to perform the correct level of maintenance on their SQL Server databases, much as they might like to. This can mean poor performance and reduced availability. Regardless of the size of your organization, if your mission critical data becomes unavailable, then business will suffer greatly.

The Maintenance Plan Wizard and Designer allow you to configure and schedule eleven core database maintenance tasks, ranging from integrity checks, to database backups, to index reorganizations and rebuilds. Brad walks through every one of these tasks covering:

* The intent of each task and why it's important
* How to configure each task and what all the options mean
* Scheduling considerations: when and how often should you run the task?
* Customizing and extended your Maintenance Plans using the Designer

Used carefully, these Maintenance Plan tools represent powerful time-saving devices for any DBA. At each stage of the book, Brad explains clearly the correct and incorrect uses for the tool, and indicates where more advanced solutions, using T-SQL or PowerShell scripting, would be more appropriate.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RVNB41MX

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Robert Lair "Beginning Silverlight 3: From Novice to Professional"
Dec 2009 | English | ISBN-13: 978-1-4302-2377-1 | 358 Pages | PDF | 5.37 MB
Silverlight design tools have important differences compared to those used to create Ajax and javascript functionality. Robert Lair takes you on a tour of all the tools, including Microsoft Expression Design, which plays an important part in creating Silverlight assets; Microsoft Expression Blend, which is used to build user interaction for Silverlight elements; and Microsoft Visual Studio, which manages the interaction between designers and developers, providing the coding environment for "nuts and bolts" wiring.

Once you've mastered the basics, you'll move on to gaining a more in-depth knowledge of some of the groundbreaking new features of the Silverlight technology.

The growing popularity of Web 2.0 applications is increasing user expectations for high-quality web site design, presentation, and functionality. It is into this climate that Microsoft is releasing Silverlight 3, the third iteration of its cross-browser web presentation technology and the second to ride on top of the .NET platform. Beginning Sliverlight 3 brings you to the cutting-edge of Web 2.0 application design and includes plenty of practical guidance to get you started straightaway.

What you'll learn

* Discover the tools needed for Silverlight 3 development, the roles each plays, and how they interact to produce a seamless result.
* Understand the fundamental concepts and techniques that lie at the heart of every successful Silverlight application and how to apply them to your own projects.
* Explore the new features and coding practices Silverlight gives to you as a developer that sets it apart from other web-development tools.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PW26T1FL

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Rob Cameron, .. "Silverlight Recipes: A Problem Solution Approach (With Source Code)"
Nov 2009 | English | ISBN-13: 978-1-4302-2435-8 | 993 Pages | PDF | 23.8 MB
Silverlight Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach is your practical companion to developing rich, interactive web applications with Microsoft's latest technology. This book tackles common problems and scenarios that on-the-job developers face every day by revealing code and detailed solutions. You’ll quickly be able to integrate real-world, functioning code into your applications—and save hours of coding time.

The recipes included in Silverlight Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach have been carefully selected and tested with the professional developer in mind. You'll find problems stated clearly and succinctly, artful solutions explored, and ample discussion of the code and context so you're immediately clear how the solution will support your project.

Enjoy practical coverage of Silverlight development in many projects and contexts, including:

* Designing complete, rich, interactive user experiences
* Manipulating content and the runtime environment through the Silverlight Plug-in Runtime API
* Consuming, transforming, and displaying content in your Silverlight web application through XML, LINQ-based data access, and isolated storage
* Building custom controls for your Silverlight project
* Integrating rich media, including audio and video, to create a very dynamic user interface and experience
* Using new Silverlight features, including .NET Framework integration, the use of dynamic languages like Python and Ruby in Silverlight development, and digital rights management support

Find instant solutions, comprehensive Silverlight coverage, and time-saving expert advice, all in Silverlight Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FT581RQ9

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Daniel Solis "Illustrated WPF (With Source Code)"
Dec 2009 | English | ISBN-13: 978-1-4302-1910-1 | 529 Pages | PDF | 19.3 MB
Windows Presentation Foundation is Microsoft’s newest API for creating Windows applications. It gives the programmer the ability to produce dazzling, graphics–rich programs easily without having to delve into the messy details of the graphics subsystem.

To use this power, however, the programmer must learn new concepts for laying out pages and displaying graphics. Illustrated WPF presents these concepts clearly and visually—making them easier to understand and retain.
What you’ll learn

* The important new concepts underlying programming in WPF, including the visual tree, the logical tree, dependency properties, and routed events.
* The XAML markup language and how it is used to create and initialize objects in WPF. You’ll also learn how XAML and C# code work together to producing stunning programs.
* How to lay out screens and graphics using WPF’s various panel types, and how to achieve a consistent visual appearance throughout a program, using resources, styles, and templates.
* How to bind visual elements to data sources.
* How to perform graphics transformations to produce eye–catching displays, and how to use animation to produce pages that are alive with action.
* How to use the WPF document types for text layout and navigation.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9GP6XSO4

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Tejaswi Redkar "Windows Azure Platform (With Source Code)"
Dec 2009 | English | ISBN-13: 978-1-4302-2479-2 | 626 Pages | PDF | 20.8 MB
The Azure Services Platform is a brand-new cloud-computing technology from Microsoft. It is composed of four core components—Windows Azure, .NET Services, SQL Services, and Live Services—each with a unique role in the functioning of your cloud service. It is the goal of this book to show you how to use these components, both separately and together, to build flawless cloud services.

At its heart Windows Azure Platform is a down-to-earth, code-centric book. This book aims to show you precisely how the components are employed and to demonstrate the techniques and best practices you need to know to use them to best effect. That said, author Tejaswi Redkar regularly takes time out to provide a thorough overview of the architectural concepts that underpin Windows Azure. Without this understanding, you will find it hard to use the platform to its full potential.

By the time you've read this book, you will be comfortable building high-quality end-to-end Azure services of your own.

What you'll learn

* Know everything you need to about the Azure Services components—from Access Control to SQL Services, from the Service Bus to Workflow Services
* Understand both the architectural thinking behind Azure and the nuts-and-bolts code that binds your service together
* Design, build, and deploy an Azure service with the assistance of a fully worked template for end-to-end application design that mimics a real-world scenario and gives you a rock-solid example of the design and development processes that you need to work through

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=U9VVWEHM

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David M. Levine, .. "Even You Can Learn Statistics: A Guide for Everyone Who Has Ever Been Afraid of Statistics, 2nd Edition"
August 2009 | English | ISBN-13: 978-0-13-701059-2 | 385 Pages | PDF | 5.43 MB

Even You Can Learn Statistics, 2nd Ed. is the easiest guide to using statistics in your everyday work or study. Experienced educators David Levine and David Stephan teach statistics hands-on, in plain English, with as little math and as many revealing examples as possible. Levine and Stephan define each concept and technique in plain English, and then explain why it's important, when it's used, and how you can apply it yourself. This Second Edition is fully-updated with new examples that designed to be easily worked with Microsoft Excel, the free OpenOffice.org Calc spreadsheet program, or any TI-83 compatible calculator. This new edition also adds detailed problems and worked solutions at the end of every chapter, along with a library of updated multiple choice questions that help you quickly test and build your knowledge.

It contains more Excel and OpenOffice.org guidance, as well as an entirely new chapter on multiple regression, the powerful statistical tool for understanding the relationship between several independent variables in applications ranging from business to science. If you do want to understand statistics' deeper mathematical foundations, optional "Equation Blackboard" sections illuminate the equations at work beneath many of today's most crucial statistical techniques. Along the way, Levine and Stephan also help you overcome common misconceptions about statistics, so you can use any statistical method more confidently and successfully.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2WV9S328