Professional SQL Server 2005 Integration Services Programmer to Programmer
Posted by aspnetnerd on 22 Nov 2008 | Tagged as: Book 
Professional SQL Server 2005 Integration Services Programmer to Programmer
This book will help you get past the initial learning curve quickly so that you can get started using SSIS to transform data, create a workflow, or maintain your SQL Server. Offering you hands-on guidance, you’ll learn a new world of integration possibilities and be able to move away from scripting complex logic to programming tasks using a full-featured language.
What you will learn from this book
- Ways to quickly move and transform data
- How to configure every aspect of SSIS
- How to interface SSIS with web services and XML
- Techniques to scale the SSIS and make it more reliable
- How to migrate DTS packages to SSIS
- How to create your own custom tasks and user interfaces
- How to create an application that interfaces with SSIS to manage the environment
- A detailed usable case study for a complete ETL solution
Who this book is for
This book is for developers, DBAs, and users who are looking to program custom code in all of the .NET languages. It is expected that you know the basics of how to query the SQL Server and have some fundamental programming skills.
Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Lots of breadth, good place to start
If you’re needing an SSIS primer, this is a great place to start. There are definitely holes the “how to” part of some sections. However, you really get a good idea of what’s possible in SSIS. If you want script specifics, you may need to search for it on MSDN or the web in general–but, at least you know what to look for.
Buy this before you buy the Expert companion title if you’re new to figuring out how things work in SSIS. I had several years of experience with DTS packages, and this book was a perfect start for me.
3 Stars Good, but where’s the VB sample code?
SSIS only supports scripting in VB. But whenever there’s a custom component or any code outside the mandatory VB realm, the book only presents a C# example. Even the WROX website does not provide VB code. So if I want to code my custom data flow task, or follow their wmi example, I MUST know C#. I can follow along okay, but I don’t like having to interpret/rewrite your code samples to be able to use them and extend upon them.
The general information is good, but don’t think this book will leave mold you into an SSIS Expert. I only bought this book because I first bought the WROX “expert” ssis book, which started by saying they assume you have substantial knowledge of ssis, such as provided by this book.
All in all, the book is a decent introduction to SSIS. I didn’t suffer from the 10 author continuity loss as others did. I just want my examples in VB, especially for a product that only speaks VB for many functions.
3 Stars Too many authors; too little coherence
I originally intended to give this book two (2) stars, just because I was hacked off at the terrible index, but the content is worth at least three stars. The problem is locating the specific content you need.
Example: User-defined package variables are often critical pieces of a SSIS package. Want to find out how to get/set package variable values from an Execute SQL Task? Well, you won’t get anywhere trying to look up “Variables” in the index. Just when you think the text does not address this important issue, you browse the Execute SQL Task section and — lo! — there is an extended discussion on how to access package variables from SQL queries. But none of it is referenced by the “Variables” entry in the index.
Brian Knight, by all accounts, is a good writer who knows his material, but any book that has ten (!) authors can’t help but display a variety of writing styles and competencies. The book is adequate as a learning tool, but not as a reference. If the publisher had been in less of a hurry to get to market, Mr. Knight might have been allowed to take on fewer collaborators and produced a more coherent book. And a more complete index.
5 Stars Everything is good
The book was in perfect condition and delivered promptly. The information contained in the book was very informative and helpful. The writers explained the concepts clearly.
5 Stars Very informative!
So far this book is great for basics. It gives a great overview of all the options you have to create a SSIS package. I had previously purchased the expert version because I had DTS experience and realized SSIS was totally different. So I bought the professional version and it’s filled in a lot of gaps. It’s also got nice tutorials at the end of the chapters that help you to create a basic SSIS package which is incredibly helpful for learning the new tools that are available.
