SQL 70-228 For begginer

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Hi people,

Im currently studying for my MCSA/E and was having trouble finding an elective. I saw the 70-228 for SQL and thought it would be an interesting challenge.

However, reading some posts and some other websites, it sounds like this may be a little daunting.

About ten years ago I studied Databases with A-Level computing, packages such as Foxpro, and MS Access. I have a little grounding, but obviously nothing up to date, and nothing as far as servers are concerned.

Am I getting myself in too deep with this one?

Any advice would be much appreciated guys, and gals.

Many thanks In Advance.

 

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It really depends on how much hands on you are able to get with SQL.

SQL is a hard topic if you have no hands on experience with it, and not something you can simply read up on.

I spent a good few months reading up and playing with SQL databases once but ended up giving up because I simply couldn't get enough hands on with it, and struggled to grasp the SQL language.

If this is an elective that you really want to do, but don't have any prior dealings with it I'd recommend trying to do a hands on course with a training provider.

 

Excellent, thanks for the reply simon.

I think i will go ahead for it, but will try and lay my hands on a copy of SQL server and some learnkey or CBT nuggets too.

Thanks again.

 

Luddy,

I would appreciate any feedback on SQL stuff. If you don't mind PM'ing me when you do as this thread will probably be gone............

 

On a Windows platform other than paying serious money for MSSQL there is always MySQL and PostgreSQL.

The latter is a very good RDBMS, while MySQL is OKish.

Under Unix/Linux then these two are the standard choice, with one or both being installed by default quite often.

The great thing about both is that they are free. In the case of Postgres this is unconditional, for MySQL there are weird licensing rules, but personal use is OK.

Harry. (Who uses and admins both on a daily basis)

 

Thanks for that Harry, appreciated`

 

I agree. While I know SQL Server 2000 better than I know MySQL or PostgreSQL it's been my experience that PostgreSQL is the better of the two, at least for what I've been using it for. It has a capabilities that MySQL just doesn't have.

 

Thanks for the replies guys.


Just a thought, If I learnt MySql (I already have the book, and have had for quite some time) would it help me with MS SQL and the SQL Exam?


Boyce, as soon as I start it, I will definately let you know about the stuff.

 

228 goes hand in hand with 229 quite well.
I've done 229, but not 228 yet.

It might be a bit odd to do 'installing and configuring' then not the 'using'.

 

Thanks, appreciated

 

The main problem with SQL is that while there is a standard many products don't follow that standard very well. There are many reasons for this, some of them historical, and some because the standard is lacking in some areas.

The result of this is that while use of MySQL may help with some basics, if you are doing a M$ exam you need to know Microsofts take on things, so you *may* wind up confused by the differences.

Harry.

 

oh, i was under the impression was like learning English...

 

Really?

The trouble with SQL is that it may have english-like appearance in parts, but many words have very precise meanings which is unlike ordinary language where imprecision rules!

A small sample:
create view ic_bill_summary as select refday, class_id, sub_class, call_categ, chargeband_id, mins, call_count, rate from rate join (select refday, class_id, sub_class, call_categ, chargeband_id, mins, call_count, id from ic_day_summary join rate_selector using (class_id, sub_class, call_categ) where ratesetid = 2) as part1 on id = rate_selector_id and chargeband_id = chargeband and refday between rate_date_start and rate_date_end;

This is two nested inner joins. I have other examples with even more nested joins. English-like perhaps, but readable.....

Harry.

 

Luddym since you doing the MCSE doing the 228/229 aswell will give you the MCDBA cert.. but like the guys have said SQL will be hard work!

 

Yeah.
I did an MCSD, so if I can do 228 and 290 I'll have an MCDBA too, so that's my next project.
I love SQL, and it has a fairly gentle learning curve.
You think to yourself 'this is quite easy', but it turns into a monster quite quickly.

 

Luddym

I took 70-228 as one of my electives when I did my MCSE and it is not the easiest option if you've never used SQL before. If you're going to be dealing with DBs on SQL Server it is a useful option but as some of the others have pointed out SQL is skill you have to use on a fairly regular basis in order to stay proficient.
The main thing to note is that from my recollection of taking the exam (now 2 years ago) was that it focuses heavily on administering the SQL Server itself in terms of backups, restores, database sizes etc. The sql used for a lot of this is transact-sql that is used on SQL Server.
A basic understanding of sql in terms of data manipulation is useful (such as SELECT, INSERT etc as well as Joins) but otherwise a lot of it was understanding how to use the stored proceedures (pre written sql script) as an alternative to the GUI driven wizards available through SQL Server's Enterprise Manager.
I hope this is helpful for you in making your decision

 

Well it sort of is like that Boyce. It's just which version of English do you want to learn, American, Australian, Queen's or Zimbabwe?

 

LOL Anyhow, English is supposed to be one of the hardest languages to learn After SQL that is!

 

Hey Bosox,

Thanks for the detail info, much appreciated. It does help, sort of puts my mind at ease.

My 'All in one' SQL 2000 book dropped through the door today, for the 70-228 and 70-229. It had really bad reviews from Amazon, but to me, that is only a good thing. (Stay with me here, I have strange reasoning.) Now I know that the content of the book needs a lot to be desired, I won't read the book, partake the examples and test, pass those with flying colours and then think I'm ready to take on the world . . . uhm, Exam.

So this way, I will be forced to learn the book, then explore other manuals to try to find bits that were missed, thus filling in the gaps AND reiterating the bits I'd already learn't. See, some method in my madness.

Thanks again everyone for your posts.

 

Too right!

And Harry, it's a little unfair putting no structure whatsoever into that SQL statement...