Introducing SQL Server 2019 Revealed

by Bob Ward

After authoring my first book Pro SQL Server on Linux, the last thing I thought I would do is write another one. However, after the launch of the first community preview of SQL Server 2019 in the fall of 2018, I thought that perhaps someone should tell the story of SQL Server 2019 from the perspective of the engineering team. Therefore, I found myself throughout calendar year 2019 writing up chapters and getting the details and scripts working for a new book called SQL Server 2019 Revealed.

The biggest challenge for this book was making sure I got the story as accurately as possible to line up with the final product of SQL Server 2019. Just about every aspect of SQL Server 2019 that is in the final release is in the book. There are a few exceptions where I had to tell the story as of the “release candidate” of SQL Server 2019. Therefore, be sure to keep up with any updates for supplemental information and code examples on my GitHub site.

This book contains just about everything you need to learn about the capabilities of SQL Server 2019 “end-to-end”. Starting with the history of the release with Project Seattle and Aris, every major functionality of SQL Server 2019 is in the book including Intelligent Performance, Security, and Mission Critical Availability in the first several chapters. Be sure to check out the amazing story of Accelerated Database Recovery in Chapter 4. Your journey learning SQL Server 2019 continues including new developer features and SQL Server on Linux enhancements.

In the heart of the book, you will learn by example how to deploy SQL Server containers including on the Kubernetes platform. I’ve had great feedback for these chapters as they are topics not understood by many in the SQL community. Then learn the breakthrough technology of Polybase and Data Virtualization. Armed with this knowledge, you will learn the details and internals of SQL Server Big Data Clusters. Finish your learning of SQL Server 2019 with other enhancements based on customer feedback and strategy and tools for migration.

This book has plenty of easy to use examples, screenshots, and references to dive deeper. I’ve already seen positive feedback from readers of this book. I’ve seen comments like, "It is certainly the best book I read in SQL Server 2019," and "Bob has an amazing way of delivering extremely deep technical content in a manner that is not just approachable, but also interesting and engaging."

I had a lot of help authoring this book. You will love the foreword by Microsoft Vice President Rohan Kumar to get you started. You will enjoy reading about all the members of the engineering team in their journey to build the product. And powering the book behind the scenes was technical reviewer SQL MVP Aaron Bertrand.

I hope you enjoy reading and experiencing SQL Server 2019 Revealed. I’m never one to be afraid of feedback, good or bad, so don’t hesitate to drop me a note about the book at bobward@microsoft.com.

About the Author

Bob Ward is Principal Architect for the Microsoft Azure Data SQL Server team, which owns the development for all SQL Server releases. He has worked for Microsoft for more than 26 years on every version of SQL Server shipped from OS/2 1.1 to SQL Server 2019 including Azure. Bob is a well-known speaker on SQL Server, often presenting talks on new releases, internals, and performance at events such as PASS Summit, SQLBits, SQLIntersection, Red Hat Summit, Microsoft Inspire, and Microsoft Ignite. You can follow him at @bobwardms or linkedin.com/in/bobwardms.

This article was contributed by Bob Ward, author of SQL Server 2019 Revealed.