Review - Free SQL Server Training Videos - Part 1
I like a variety of learning materials and I've recently come across a few sites that offer free SQL Server videos. I have found that video material is helpful in initial learning of various procedures via the GUI, which we are expected to know these days. Of course to gain the most benefit you should actually use the product yourself once you've seen the video ;-) The first two sites I will be looking at are tempting you to subscribe to further videos, but free is free :-)
In this post will I look at LearnSqlServer.com which has a number of free videos which changes monthly. To play the downloadable videos (zipped avi files) you need to download and install the TSCC Codec, but this is also free. You can download and play the free content without parting with any personal information or creating an account which is always nice these days! The picture quality of the free videos is the same as that you would receive as a full subscriber. Much of the free (and subscriber) material is SQL Server 2000 specific, or in some cases is applicable to both versions, but it would appear that more and more SQL Server 2005 specific videos are being added as time passes. A few of the videos relate to both versions. The Videos are graded (a bit like the MS webcasts) 100, 200 up to 500, but I suspect there is not an exact equivalence between the grading scheme for learnsqlserver.com and Microsoft, where I don't recall see any material above 400 (correct me if I'm wrong).
LearnSqlServer.com is part of a web of interconnected sites that fall under the banner of http://www.learnitfirst.com/ which also includes LearnIntegrationServices.com, LearnTransactSQL.com, LearnDTS.com and LearnWindows2003.com. There is some overlap between the sites.
At the time of writing, there were 5 free videos:
- Part 1 - An Overview of the AdventureWorks Database part 1 of a 2 part series, at skill level 100 (Beginner), introducing the AdventureWorks database. SQL Server 2005 specific. Duration: 17:24 minutes.
- SQL Server 2005 Services and Service Accounts - What They Do and What's New at skill level 200 (Beginner - Intermediate). SQL Server 2005 specific. Duration: 14:35 minutes.
- JOINs and UNIONs - How Do I Know When to Use a JOIN or a UNION? at skill level 300 (Intermediate) which I noticed is also on LearnTransactSql.com. Duration: 7:12 minutes.
- Enterprise Manager - Put Table On Filegroup at skill level 400 (Intermediate - Advanced). SQL Server 2000 specific. Duration: 14:47 minutes.
- Reason to Install SP3 - Buffer Overflow Attack using OPENROWSET at skill level 500 (Advanced). Again SQL Server 2000 specific. Duration: 11:43 minutes.
The file sizes ranged from about 5.5 to 12.5 MBytes depending on length, so you will probably want to download this material over a fast Internet connection.
This was the December 2006 collection. The site states that on 1 January 2006, the selection of videos will change. Because I am focusing my efforts on passing the 70-431 exam, I just viewed the first three of this selection. All three videos were of excellent visual quality and quite pacey, teaching the topic as described. The presenter was actually working with the SQL interface as they spoke. The presenter, who I believe may have been the same person on all three videos, had an easily understood clear male US accent. There were one or two mistakes in the first video, that were corrected although this slightly marred the flow of an otherwise useful video. I found all three videos were excellent short introductions to the topics described. They certainly imparted enough information with which to encourage me to delve into the interface myself or look up further details in a textbook or Books Online.
The thing that I particularly liked about this site is that, rather than streaming the videos, the avi files are downloaded before viewing, so that they can easily be viewed offline. I would also note that looking at the entire collection of videos as it stands, in my opinion it is still definitely a growing collection with some notable gaps rather than a complete collection of every topic for SQL Server 2005. In fairness, it doesn't claim to cover every topic, even for the 70-431 exam. Of course this is something you would doubtless investigate for yourself before parting with any cash.
Technorati tags:
Review Free SQL Server Training Videos
