Microsoft SQL Server 2005—Implementation and Maintenance

Audience Profile

Candidates for this exam are professionals who typically pursue careers as database administrators, database developers or business intelligence developers. Additionally, they can be people who do not work with Microsoft SQL Server as a part of their primary job functions, but who want to show their breadth of technology experience, such as developers, systems administrators, and others.

Candidates have sought out knowledge and experience with Microsoft SQL Server 2005 to enhance their technical expertise, and they can implement and maintain databases by using specific instructions and specifications.

Candidates for this exam should be an expert in following areas:

• Tools usage

• UI navigation

• Wizards usage

• Writing code in the appropriate language (Transact-SQL, CLR language, and other scripting languages)

• Code debugging or syntactic issue resolution

• Troubleshooting

• Accomplishing specific focused tasks by using code or UI navigation.

Credit Toward Certification

When you pass Exam 431: TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2005—Implementation and Maintenance exam, you complete the requirements for the following certification:

• Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: SQL Server 2005

Instructor-led Courses for This Exam

• Course 2779: Implementing a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Database

• Course 2780: Maintaining a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Database

Microsoft Certified Practice Tests

• MeasureUp: Visit the MeasureUp Web site to take a practice test.

Skills Being Measured

This certification exam measures your ability to implement and maintain a SQL Server 2005 database. Before you take the exam, you should be proficient in the job skills listed below:

Installing and Configuring SQL Server 2005

• Install SQL Server 2005.

• Verify prerequisites.

• Upgrade from an earlier version of SQL Server.

• Create an instance.

Configure SQL Server 2005 instances and databases.

• Configure log files and data files.

• Configure the SQL Server DatabaseMail subsystem for an instance.

• Choose a recovery model for the database.

Configure SQL Server security.

• Configure server security principals.

• Configure database securables.

• Configure encryption.

Configure linked servers by using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).

• Identify the external data source.

• Identify the characteristics of the data source.

• Identify the security model of the data source.

Implementing High Availability and Disaster Recovery

• Implement database mirroring.

• Prepare databases for database mirroring.

• Create endpoints.

• Specify database partners.

• Specify a witness server.

• Configure an operating mode.

Implement log shipping.

• Initialize a secondary database.

• Configure log shipping options.

• Configure a log shipping mode.

• Configure monitoring.

Manage database snapshots.

• Create a snapshot.

• Revert a database from a snapshot.

Supporting Data Consumers

• Retrieve data to support ad hoc and recurring queries.

• Construct SQL queries to return data.

• Format the results of SQL queries.

• Identify collation details.

Manipulate relational data.

• Insert, update, and delete data.

• Handle exceptions and errors.

• Manage transactions.

• Manage XML data.

• Identify the specific structure needed by a consumer.

• Retrieve XML data.

• Modify XML data.

• Convert between XML data and relational data.

• Create an XML index.

• Load an XML schema.

• Implement an HTTP endpoint.

• Create an HTTP endpoint.

• Secure an HTTP endpoint.

Implement Service Broker components.

• Create services.

• Create queues.

• Create contracts.

• Create conversations.

• Create message types.

• Send messages to a service.

• Route a message to a service.

Import and export data from a file.

• Set a database to the bulk-logged recovery model to avoid inflating the transaction log.

• Run the bcp utility.

• Perform a Bulk Insert task.

• Import bulk XML data by using the OPENROWSET function.

• Copy data from one table to another by using the SQL Server 2005 Integration Services (SSIS) Import and Export Wizard.

Manage replication.

• Distinguish between replication types.

• Configure a publisher, a distributor, and a subscriber.

• Configure replication security.

• Configure conflict resolution settings for merge replication.

• Monitor replication.

• Improve replication performance.

• Plan for, stop, and restart recovery procedures.

Maintaining Databases

• Implement and maintain SQL Server Agent jobs.

• Set a job owner.

• Create a job schedule.

• Create job steps.

• Configure job steps.

• Disable a job.

• Create a maintenance job.

• Set up alerts.

• Configure operators.

• Modify a job.

• Delete a job.

• Manage a job.

Manage databases by using Transact-SQL.

• Manage index fragmentation.

• Manage statistics.

• Shrink files.

• Perform database integrity checks by using DBCC CHECKDB.

Back up a database.

• Perform a full backup.

• Perform a differential backup.

• Perform a transaction log backup.

• Initialize a media set by using the FORMAT option.

• Append or overwrite an existing media set.

• Create a backup device.

• Back up filegroups.

• Restore a database.

• Identify which files are needed from the backup strategy.

• Restore a database from a single file and from multiple files.

• Choose an appropriate restore method.

• Move a database between servers.

• Choose an appropriate method for moving a database.

Monitoring and Troubleshooting SQL Server Performance

Gather performance and optimization data by using the SQL Server Profiler.

• Start a new trace.

• Save the trace logs.

• Configure SQL Server Profiler trace properties.

• Configure a System Monitor counter log.

• Correlate a SQL Server Profiler trace with System Monitor log data.

• Gather performance and optimization data by using the Database Engine Tuning Advisor.

• Build a workload file by using the SQL Server Profiler.

• Tune a workload file by using the Database Engine Tuning Advisor.

• Save recommended indexes.

• Monitor and resolve blocks and deadlocks.

• Identify the cause of a block by using the sys.dm_exec_requests system view.

• Terminate an errant process.

• Configure SQL Server Profiler trace properties.

• Identify transaction blocks.

• Diagnose and resolve database server errors.

• Connect to a nonresponsive server by using the dedicated administrator connection (DAC).

• Review SQL Server startup logs.

• Review error messages in event logs.

• Monitor SQL Server Agent job history.

• Identify the cause of a failure.

• Identify outcome details.

• Find out when a job last ran.

Gather performance and optimization data by using DMVs.

Creating and Implementing Database Objects

Implement a table.

• Specify column details.

• Specify the filegroup.

• Assign permissions to a role for tables.

• Specify a partition scheme when creating a table.

• Specify a transaction.

Implement a view.

• Create an indexed view.

• Create an updateable view.

• Assign permissions to a role or schema for a view.

Implement triggers.

• Create a trigger.

• Create DDL triggers for responding to database structure changes.

• Identify recursive triggers.

• Identify nested triggers.

• Identify transaction triggers.

Implement functions.

• Create a function.

• Identify deterministic versus nondeterministic functions.

Implement stored procedures.

• Create a stored procedure.

• Recompile a stored procedure.

• Assign permissions to a role for a stored procedure.

Implement constraints.

• Specify the scope of a constraint.

• Create a new constraint.

Implement indexes.

• Specify the filegroup.

• Specify the index type.

• Specify relational index options.

• Specify columns.

• Specify a partition scheme when creating an index.

• Disable an index.

• Create an online index by using an ONLINE argument.

Create user-defined types.

• Create a Transact-SQL user-defined type.

• Specify details of the data type.

• Create a CLR user-defined type.

Implement a full-text search.

• Create a catalog.

• Create an index.

• Specify a full-text population method.

• Implement partitions