Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Choose the Right Training PTR Associates Ltd www.ptr.co.uk
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 1 Contents Contents... 1 SQL Server Training With PTR... 3 Which SQL Server Course Is Right For Me?... 4 Curriculum Guide... 4 SQL Server Database Design... 5 PTR Courses Of Interest... 5 SQL Server Database Querying... 6 PTR Courses Of Interest... 6 SQL Server Database Development... 7 Structured Query Language (SQL)... 7 PTR Courses Of Interest... 8 Transact SQL (TSQL)... 8 PTR Courses Of Interest... 8 Common Language Runtime (CLR)... 9 PTR Courses Of Interest... 9 XML exports and XML shredding... 10 PTR Courses Of Interest... 10 Service Broker... 11 PTR Courses Of Interest... 11 SQL Server Database Administration... 12 Day To Day Administration... 12 PTR Courses Of Interest... 12 Advanced Administration... 12 PTR Courses Of Interest... 13 Performance & Tuning... 13 PTR Courses Of Interest... 13 Audit & Security... 13 PTR Courses Of Interest... 13 Business Intelligence... 14 Course Synopses... 15 Synopsis for Generic Relational Database Design Course... 15 Synopsis for Creating Databases in SQL Server Course... 16 Synopsis for SQL Server Database Querying Course... 17
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 2 Synopsis for Advanced SQL for SQL Server Course... 18 Synopsis For Transact SQL Programming Course... 19 Synopsis for SQL Server Essential Administration Course... 20 Synopsis for SQL Server Advanced Administration Course... 21 Synopsis for SQL Server Performance & Tuning Course... 22 Synopsis for SQL Server Audit & Security Course... 24
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 3 SQL Server Training With PTR If you answer yes to any of the following questions then we have a course for you. Do you need to understand what a relational database is and get to grips with the terminology that goes with a relational database and its applications? Are you responsible for the maintenance of a relational database structure (or schema)? Will you have to cleanse and maintain data stored within a SQL Server database? Do you need to know how to get information out of a SQL Server relational database? Are you a data analyst looking for stories in your data? Do you want to retrieve management information such as sales performance, cost analysis, customer distribution, contact management history from the database behind your applications such as sales, financial or contact management systems? Are you finding that some of your existing queries are running slowly and you need to learn how to restructure or tune them? Are you a developer who will be writing a front end application hooking in to a SQL Server relational database? Do you need to centralise some of the business logic behind your SQL Server database applications rather than duplicating it in every client, query or report?
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 4 Which SQL Server Course Is Right For Me? PTR offer a comprehensive SQL Server curriculum covering everything from initial database design through to SQL Server database application development through to administration and performance monitoring and tuning There are essentially 6 tracks: SQL Server Database Design SQL Server Database Querying SQL Server Database Development SQL Server Database Administration SQL Server Database Audit & Security SQL Server Business Intelligence Curriculum Guide For diagrammatic Curriculum Guide showing the flow between the courses and enabling you to see at a glance which courses to do first click on the following image:
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 5 SQL Server Database Design Database design starts with a conceptual design process analysing business data storage needs and business processes. Database Applications will comprise of data storage components (the physical database) and business logic components (the client and server applications/programs). Some business logic can be implemented in the physical database structure, but much of it will be implemented through programming and interaction with the physical database. PTR Courses Of Interest Should you wish to get involved in the database design process then the following courses would be of interest: Generic Relational Database Design Course Creating Databases In SQL Server Course
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 6 SQL Server Database Querying There is a lot of data tucked away in a relational database and much of it can be the source of very useful business information, such as: How many customers have I got? What was the revenue for a particular customer, year, month? Where are my customers? How long does it take to solve a customer query? Many of these types of questions can be satisfied by simple database querying. Database querying enables simple data listings to be produced through to complex data aggregations and groupings. Whether you stop at this stage or go on to get involved with reporting or full blown business intelligence deployments, database querying is your starting point. Database administrators will also need to be proficient in database querying as all the metadata and database configuration information is stored in database system tables, plus administrators are often responsible for the maintenance of application data and will, therefore, need to be able to query the database to fulfil this role. Administrators may need to answer the following types of questions by constructing an appropriate database query: How many users have I got? What permissions and privileges have my users got? What constraints and triggers are in place on database tables? How much system resource are queries consuming? So no matter what the career path everyone needs to start with database querying. PTR Courses Of Interest Should you wish to get involved in the database querying then the following courses would be of interest: SQL Server Database Querying Advanced SQL Server Database Querying
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 7 SQL Server Database Development SQL Server Database Development is anything from automating or centralising tasks by creating Stored Procedures, through to building complete front end applications. SQL Server itself does not come with any front end development tools. Client applications would typically be built using a programming language such Visual Basic or C#, providing a user interface via a windows based application or a web based application. From a development point of view SQL Server offers the following: Structured Query Language (SQL) Transact SQL Common Language Runtime (CLR) XML exports and XML shredding Service Broker Structured Query Language (SQL) The Structured Query Language (SQL) is an ANSI standardised language comprising of statements for creating database schemas, implementing security and privileges, and working with the data content of the database schema. It has three main subsets of statements: Data Definition Language (DDL) Data Control Language (DCL) Data Manipulation Language (DML) DDL statements are all about the physical schema of the database the structural parts of a database. DCL statements are all about security. Granting privileges and permissions to users. DML Statements are all about the data: Inserting records, Updating records, Deleting records and retrieving records.
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 8 PTR Courses Of Interest Should you wish to get involved in SQL development then the following courses would be of interest. The DDL statements are covered in the: Creating Databases in SQL Server Course. The DCL statements are covered in the following courses: SQL Server Administration Essentials Course SQL Server Audit & Security Course The DML statements are covered in the following courses: Creating Databases in SQL Server SQL Server Database Querying Advanced SQL Server Database Querying Courses Transact SQL (TSQL) Transact SQL is a scripting language and can be used for adding business logic to database applications. SQL scripts that live outside a database can be created with TSQL as well as objects stored in the database. Should you be involved with the development or maintenance of any of the following then Transact SQL (TSQL) programming will be required: SQL Scripts Stored Procedures User Defined Functions Triggers TSQL provides standard programming constructs to help implement data integrity, automated processing, auditing, complex calculations and much more: Variables IF statement WHILE Loops Cursors Error Handling Transaction Programming Locking PTR Courses Of Interest Should you wish to get involved in Transact SQL development, then the following courses would be of interest: Transact SQL Programming Course
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 9 Common Language Runtime (CLR) Transact SQL has its limitations. It is not a full blown structured programming language and as such is difficult or impossible to use for some complex business logic or data computation. Common Language Runtime (CLR) allows.net programming languages to be used to handle such situations. The following languages can be used: Visual Basic C# These languages are extremely powerful and allow not just data processing to be carried out, but connectivity to any external services or applications, allowing powerful integration of many different applications and data sources. Exploiting the features of a full and powerful programming environment SQL Server functionality can be extended through the following: Custom data types Sophisticated Stored Procedures o Access external data o Access external processes User Defined Functions o Scalar Functions o Record Set Functions o Aggregate Functions PTR Courses Of Interest Should you wish to get involved in CLR development then the following courses would be of interest: Visual Basic Programming Courses C# Programming Courses Transact SQL Programming Course
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 10 XML exports and XML shredding XML exports and imports a very common exchange format between different applications nowadays. SQL Server enables XML exports in a number of ways: bcp export SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) Packages SELECT FOR XML XML Shredding is where relational datasets are produced from XML data. To achieve this the XML data will need to be read into an XML variable or an XML column. SQL Server 2005 introduced an XML datatype which can be used when: Defining columns to enable XML documents to be stored in tables Defining variables to hold XML documents in scripts and programs The XML datatype provides a set of methods that can be used to manipulate the content of an XML document, or query the content of an XML document. XML Shredding is possible in a couple of ways: XQuery methods OPENXML function XML Imports are possible in a number of ways: XML Shredding bcp OPENROWSET function SQL Server increasingly uses XML messaging within a number of its services, particularly Service Broker based services such as Notification Services. This means that Database Administrators as well as developers will need to get to grips with working with XML data. PTR Courses Of Interest Should you wish to get involved in XML development then the following courses would be of interest: Working With XML Data in SQL Server Course
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 11 Service Broker Many applications that front end SQL Server databases require a more event driven architecture than an architecture relying on events taking place on a schedule. Scheduled events will always result in a degree of latency (delay). One way of implementing event driven actions is through DML and DDL Triggers, but these can result in significant delays to the transactions that fire them. Service Broker offers a Queued architecture enabling messages to be sent to a queue in parallel to a transaction taking place. The queue will continually be polled by a program to process the events placed in the queue so the next step in the business process takes place immediately and without delaying the initiating process. Some of SQL Server s out-of-the-box services, such as Notifcation Service, implement Service Broker, so database administratrors can benefit from an understanding of the Service Broker architecture. Developers can build some very sophisticated distributed applications by implementing Service Broker. PTR Courses Of Interest Should you wish to get involved in SQL development then the following courses would be of interest: Advanced SQL Server Administration Course
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 12 SQL Server Database Administration SQL Server Database Administration is all about installing, configuring, securing and maintaining a SQL Server database deployment. The PTR SQL Server administration curriculum takes delegates from the essential database administration knowledge to provide Database Administrators with the necessary skills to plan for, deploy and support complex SQL Server solutions. Day To Day Administration Basic day to day administration would consist of tasks such as: Installing & Configuring SQL Server Instances Managing Database Storage Managing Users Managing Security Establishing Client Connectivity Backups and Restores Importing and Exporting Data Automating Administrative Tasks Monitoring Activity Troubleshooting and Performance Tuning PTR Courses Of Interest Should you wish to get involved in SQL development then the following courses would be of interest: SQL Server Essential Administration Course. Advanced Administration For larger SQL Server deployments many of the advanced and scalable features and services might be implemented, which require a more in depth knowledge of SQL server and its architecture, along with a knowledge of specific services and deployment strategies such as: Security Planning Service Broker High Availability services Replication Services Centralised Management Resource Management Performance data Management
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 13 PTR Courses Of Interest Should you wish to get involved in SQL development then the following courses would be of interest: SQL Server Advanced Administration Course. Performance & Tuning Hand in hand with larger deployments is the challenge of optimising and maintaining good levels of performance: Server Monitoring Server Tuning Indexing Strategies Locking Strategies Query Optimisation Execution Plan Analysis PTR Courses Of Interest Should you wish to get involved in SQL development then the following courses would be of interest: SQL Server Performance & Tuning Course. Audit & Security Also high on the agenda will be meeting stringent audit and security requirements. Security Threats Risk Assessments Security Policies User Security Data Security Data Integrity Storage Security Audit Trails Audit Plans PTR Courses Of Interest Should you wish to get involved in SQL development then the following courses would be of interest: SQL Server Audit & Security Course.
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 14 Business Intelligence The need to draw information from stored data and read the stories that stored data holds is growing as more and more businesses want to think smart about their target audiences, customer behaviours, fraudulent activities and patterns. All of these requirements fall under the category of Business Intelligence. What type of customer is likely to buy our new product? How is our performance stacking up against our targets? How is this financial period comparing to a previous financial period? What is our forecast sales? Which parts of the country do I have the most profitable customers in? How many customers come back to us? What other products do our customers buy? How do our clients navigate through our websites? What activities are out of the ordinary for our clients? There are so many more questions that we wish to get from our stored data. The challenges that face us are: Our data is scattered across different systems and different locations Our data is in different formats There is so much data and it is too big for an Excel spreadsheet A lot of data is duplicated in many spreadsheets Our reports are static and very time consuming to keep up to date SQL Server provides a solution to address all business information requirements and solve all the infrastructure issues and PTR have a suite of Business Intelligence courses that provide the required skills to implement a solution. See our separate document on the Business Benefits from Microsoft SQL Server Business Intelligence Solutions.
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 15 Course Synopses Synopsis for Generic Relational Database Design Course This course provides an introduction to relational database concepts, terminology and design principles. Through a variety of exercises, you will learn how to model a business enterprise using the entity-relationship approach to relational database design. You will learn data normalisation techniques and how to propose, evaluate, and choose between design alternatives. In addition, you will have hands-on experience creating a simple database and tables using Microsoft Access. This course is aimed at anyone who will need to design and build a database to store their business data and support their business systems. It is also suitable for those who will be working with relational databases to extract information as it provides a very good grounding in the underlying structure of the databases, which is needed to successfully query a relational database. There are no pre-requisites for this course. The next course in the curriculum would be either: Creating Databases in SQL Server Or SQL Server Database Querying See the full course outline for further details.
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 16 Synopsis for Creating Databases in SQL Server Course Delegates attending this course will cover start to finish creation of SQL Server relational databases. They will be introduced to all SQL Data Definition Language (DDL) statements, and will create database storage, tables, data integrity constraints, and indexes. The course is aimed at Database Administrators and Database Developers/Database Designers who will need to create a new database from scratch or will be responsible for maintaining database storage, structures, schemas and design for existing databases on a SQL Server platform. Delegates will be taught how to create and maintain database structures through the graphical Management Studio interface as well as using SQL statements. CREATE/ALTER/DROP DATABASE CREATE/ALTER/DROP TABLE CREATE/ALTER/DROP CONSTRAINT CREATE/ALTER/DROP INDEX Building the fundamental set of tables is one part of the process, but business rules and data integrity need to be built into database designs as well. This course will take delegates through the processes of building robust database designs implementing constraints to ensure that business rules are adhered to and that resulting data input into the database structure is valid, related and of good quality. As application front ends are designed to work with database structures efficient querying will be absolutely key to a successful deployment and this is where careful indexing strategies come in. Delegates will learn about the different types of indexes and how to create and maintain indexes on table columns to ensure the best performance. This course does not address the data manipulation needs in detail. An introduction into the SELECT, INSERT, DELETE and UPDATE statements is provided, but further coverage of these areas can be obtained by attending the PTR SQL Server Database Querying and Advanced SQL Server Database Querying courses. The pre-requisite for this course is a knowledge to the level covered by the PTR Relational Database Design course. See the full course outline for further details.
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 17 Synopsis for SQL Server Database Querying Course This course is aimed at those who need to extract information from a relational database system. Although it provides an overview of relational database design principals it does not cover the teaching of formal database design processes and database/table creation. The course assumes no previous knowledge of SQL and SELECT statements, and takes delegates from simple queries, through to complex queries involving multiple tables, introducing the vast collection of built-in functions along the way. This course is suited to developers, report writers, data analysts and administrators, really anyone who needs to extract information from data stored in a relational database. This course does not address inserting, updating and deleting content, but further coverage of these areas can be obtained by attending the PTR Creating Databases in SQL Server. At the end of the course delegates will have a grasp of the basic building block of SQL querying. They can go on to develop these skills by attending the Advanced SQL Server Database Querying and Transact SQL Programming courses. There are no pre-requisites for this course, but it would be beneficial to have a knowledge of relational databases to the level covered by the PTR Relational Database Design course. See the full course outline for further details.
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 18 Synopsis for Advanced SQL for SQL Server Course The Advanced SQL for SQL Server course is aimed at people who are reasonably comfortable with the basics of SQL queries and pulling relatively simple data sets out of SQL Server databases, but need to move on to carry out more complex data extractions, analysis or updates and deletes. It is aimed at data analysts and developers and focuses on providing real world applications of the SQL language. It will also be helpful to performance analysts who need to understand more about the SQL statements being executed behind the scenes, before moving on to query analysis and tuning skills. During the course delegates will be introduced to a wide range of built in functions provided by SQL Server, which when carefully implemented together can facilitate a variety of tasks from extracting substrings, calculating complex arithmetic functions, generating date extractions through to the more advanced data analysis tasks such as ranking and pivoting data. There are many things that can be done in a single SELECT statement that are often implemented through less efficient programming code when you know how to make the hundreds of available functions work together. Delegates will also be introduced to the many different types of joins, sub queries and data relationships that can be formed between records in relational databases and will work with advanced methods to enable complex and sophisticated data extractions through a combination of inner and outer joins and derived or temporary tables. Grouping data is particularly important today as more businesses try to apply more intelligence to their marketing drawing on the patterns and performance hidden in their data. This course will cover simple grouping of data through group by clauses, through to the newer features such as grouping sets, ranking, tiling and pivot functions. Delegates will also be introduced to Common Table Expressions (CTEs), particularly useful for handling recursive and hierarchical queries, views and temporary tables. In addition to carrying out querying of data the course will draw on the advanced querying techniques to show how complex updates and deletes can be carried out such as making changes in one table based on conditions involving data in other tables. Finally, with advanced querying techniques, complex queries and very large volumes of data often comes performance issues. This course rounds off with an introduction into analysing query execution plans and troubleshooting slow running queries. To extend knowledge further delegates would benefit from attending the PTR Transact SQL Programming. See the full course outline for further details.
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 19 Synopsis For Transact SQL Programming Course This course is aimed at database professionals who wish to build on their SQL Server SQL skills and start to develop scripts, stored procedures and related objects such as user defined functions and triggers. Many tasks can be simplified by wrapping them into an SQL script or a Stored Procedure, or performance can be improved by moving away from ad-hoc SQL queries to stored procedures. Delegates will learn the basics of the Transact SQL programming language and will then utilise those skills to create simple task oriented scripts and stored procedures, through to complex programmed objects that accept input values and output or return calculated and derived values. They will learn how to handle singleton select statements in a Transact SQL program as well as using cursors to handle multiple record sets. User defined functions provide a powerful way to extend the built-in capabilities of the SQL Language to cater for specific business needs. This course covers both user defined scalar functions returning a single value and table-valued functions which return a set of records (a table variable). The course will also show delegates how to utilise Stored Procedures, User defined Functions and cursors within database objects such as triggers, which enable automated tasks, business rules and data auditing to be implemented centrally within the database. For further details see the full course outline for this course.
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 20 Synopsis for SQL Server Essential Administration Course This course is at aimed anyone charged with administering a SQL Server database system. It focuses on only the core administration responsibilities enabling new SQL Server database administrators to build the skills necessary to install, configure and support a simple SQL Server deployment. The objective is to provide the essential skills for managing a single instance system, enabling administrators to get up and running to a basic level fairly quickly, but also to provide an awareness of some of the more advanced services available. This course can be followed by a number of additional courses focussing on different specialisations and services available for SQL Server deployments. This course, along with the SQL Server Advanced Administration course, helps to prepare delegates for the Microsoft 70-462 exam: Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Databases. This exam credits towards MCSA and MCSE certifications. It should be noted, however, that all course attendances should be complemented by reference to the skills measured by the exam, a period of self-study and test exams before sitting the actual exam. This course is suitable for delegates working with all versions of SQL Server from SQL Server 2008 through to SQL Server 2014 For further details see the full course outline for this course.
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 21 Synopsis for SQL Server Advanced Administration Course This course is at aimed at SQL Server database administrators who wish to build on their basic administration skills and learn how to manage multiple SQL Server deployments and implement some of the more advanced administration and management services. Delegates will be introduced to a comprehensive set of maintenance tasks (such as index statistics maintenance, creating and maintaining databases and tables, shrinking databases and files, maintaining database integrity, creating maintenance plans) that will help to keep SQL Server deployments running smoothly at optimum performance. The course covers the importance of indexing and the different types of indexes along with guidance on how to manage fragmentation and growing indexes. They will be introduced to system monitoring tools such as Performance Monitor, SQL Profiler, Extended Events and Dynamic Management Views as well as recommendations for tuning SQL Server instances. In addition to managing and maintaining the core database and services delegates will gain an understanding of the more high end and scalable services such as Policy Based Management, Resource Governor, High Availability techniques (Replication, Log Shipping, Database Mirroring, AlwaysOn Availability Groups). The course also covers authentication, encryption and security best practices. This course along with the SQL Server Essential Administration course helps to prepare delegates for the 70-462 Microsoft MCTS exam: Administering Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Databases. This exam credits towards MCSA and MCSE certifications. It should be noted, however, that all course attendances should be complemented by reference to the skills measured by the exam, a period of self-study and test exams before sitting the actual exam. This course is suitable for delegates working with all versions of SQL Server from SQL Server 2008 through to SQL Server 2014. Delegates attending this course should have SQL Server administration knowledge up to the level provided by the PTR "SQL Server Essential Administration course". For further details see the full course outline for this course.
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 22 Synopsis for SQL Server Performance & Tuning Course Do you have SQL Server database applications that seem to be struggling to keep up with user demand or deliver information as fast as required? Consider the following questions: Are your customers complaining that your system is too slow? Are your users complaining that tasks are taking too long? Are some client applications running slowly or timing out? Are some queries taking forever? Are reports running slowly? Is data entry taking too long? Is the Database Server not responding very well? Are your users and /or customers generally complaining that SQL Server based systems are not performing very well? If the answer to any of the above is Yes, then you could benefit from your database administrators, developers or data analysts attending the SQL Server Performance & Tuning Course. Database applications can perform badly for a number of reasons. Here are just some: Server specification not up to the job Network congestion SQL Server not configured optimally Database Design not perfect for the job Interactive users competing with Reporting/Data analyst users Inefficient programming code in client applications Inefficient Index and Locking strategies Inefficient query design The SQL Server Performance & Tuning course will address all these areas and equip delegates with the internal architectural knowledge and available tools to enable them to identify the cause of performance problems and plan to eliminate such problems leading to an efficient and well performing SQL Server database solution. The course is relevant for all versions up to SQL Server 2014. Delegates will learn about both Windows and SQL Server internal architecture and how memory, processor and IO resources are managed and utilised. Coverage of modern storage solutions such as SSD and SAN tiered storage are covered, as is the complex topic of virtualisation and how that might impact on SQL Server performance. The internals of the SQL Server database Relational and Storage engines are discussed with an in depth look at the internal storage structures and the Query optimizer, and how queries are processed behind the scenes. Delegates will gain extensive hands on experience with performance monitoring tools such as performance monitor, SQL Profiler, Extended Events, DBCC, Dynamic Management Views and Execution Plans.
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 23 The course also covers the database and application performance and design implications of indexing and locking, with comprehensive coverage of index types, internal index structure, index fragmentation, growth and maintenance, locking modes and granularity, isolation levels, blocking and waiting. For developers struggling to write efficient queries or administrators battling with inefficient queries embedded in applications the query optimisation section of this course is invaluable. The pre-requisites for this course are that delegates are proficient with SQL querying (developers) and/or familiar with basic SQL Server concepts and administrative tasks (DBAs). The following PTR courses would be beneficial prior to attending this course: SQL Server Database Querying course SQL Server Essential Administration course Advanced SQL Server Database Querying For further details see the full course outline for this course.
Curriculum Selection for PTR SQL Server Courses Page 24 Synopsis for SQL Server Audit & Security Course Most modern business applications have a relational database behind them and many of those are on a SQL Server Platform. Vast collections of sensitive and confidential data are now held on database servers and if they are not secured adequately that data can be vulnerable to theft, corruption or loss. Most organisations now put a very high value on their data and a very high priority in implementing a security policy. This course is aimed at both Database Auditors and Database Administrators who are responsible for implementing Security Policies. Delegates attending this course will learn about the underlying architecture of a SQL Server database deployment and will be alerted to the many vulnerabilities that can be exploited if a system is not adequately secured and audited. It is important for both auditors and administrators to be aware of security vulnerabilities and weaknesses so that they can work together to ensure their SQL Server systems are safe, secure and running to their optimum performance. Delegates will learn about the audit process from the initial risk assessment phase to the construction of an audit plan and audit checklist. The course is hands on with delegates implementing, testing and reporting on SQL Server security. They will learn about physical and logical storage security, user security (SQL server authentication, Windows authentication, Certificate authentication, authorisation, privileges, permissions, audit trails), data security (encryption of stored data, encryption of entire database, implementation of symmetric keys, asymmetric keys and certificates). Backups and restores provide a fundamental level of protection of databases and this course covers the various backup methods supported as well as High Availability and Disaster Recovery options (Log Shipping, Database Mirroring, Always On Availability Groups, Replication). Testing a security policy is an important task and the auditing section of this course focuses on the tools and methods available for retrieving information about the security configuration of the system (querying system views, audit specification, profiler traces, extended events). All delegates leave the course with a course manual and a sample audit plan. The course covers all versions up to and including SQL Server 2014. There are no specific pre-requisites for this course, DBAs attending should possess a basic understanding of database technology and administrative tasks, and some prior knowledge of SQL. For further details see the full course outline for this course.