database management systems

You'd think an 880-page tome from Wrox on something as specialised as DTS would pretty much have you covered anytime you need a reliable DTS reference to get you through your Data Transformation tasks. I have found myself looking to this book for guidance on many occasions during development, only to be consistently disappointed. For a start, the Index is downright useless, since I was never able to find words I would expected to, such as delimiter, lineage, disconnected edit, parameterised query, identity insert, but it has an entry for DNS?? (which, btw refers to a 3-line explanation of URLs when using Internet Explorer!) The book is so large mainly because every other page is a GUI snapshot, most of which are unnecessary. I don't need a whole page dedicated to the "Syntax check was successful" message box.

I give it 3 stars because they do a good job of at least mentioning probably every concept that relates to DTS, but coverage is mostly shallow and out of focus. There does seem to be heavy emphasis on data warehousing, which I haven't used so far, so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt regarding coverage there. Overall I still think I might find something good when I need a reference but so far I have mostly found SQL Books Online equally, or sometimes more useful.

I'm a new DBA and an ex-ASP developer. When I found myself needing to import flat files exported from an AS400 into a new SQL Server 2K database, I turned to this book for guidance. I'm glad I did.

I've used the DTS wizard a million times, and I thought I knew DTS's capabilities. I had no idea it was as powerful as it is. Due to the usual downtime the first week of a new job, I was able to run through every example in the first four chapters. All worked flawlessly and were extremely enlightening.

The first 4 chapters essentially explain the DTS Designer (very different and more powerful than the wizard) and the 17 built in tasks that DTS can perform. By the end of the week, I was importing data from all over the place, scrubbing it with VBScript built into the job, and capturing any errors in logs.

The remaining chapters deal with more specialized topics, and I expect to refer to them as needed. There is a very good introduction to VBScripting for those that might need the basics or just a syntax reference. Other topics include creating custom tasks, error handling, and data warehouse loading.

However, if you are looking for a guide to using the DTS object model, this is not the text for you. The book limits its scope to the GUI. It provides an excellent introduction to using DTS, and I know that the jobs I have been able to create have saved me a ton of time at work, even if they are heavily dependant on embedded VBScript.

Four Stars

-HawkeyeGK

I have used dts for a long time but only got to grips with the
dts deseigner recently. This is book is very good for the
dba who has never tried manipulating dts packages.
Good job by the authors.