Load

Key to the interoperability of Microsoft SQL Server 2000--its ability to exchange information with other database management systems and with client applications--is its support of Extensible Markup Language (XML). Regardless of whether you're a database administrator charged with designing and maintaining databases or a software developer who uses SQL Server at the back end of a multitiered application, you need to understand what XML is all about, and how SQL Server goes about reading and writing it. Professional SQL Server 2000 XML uses an approach typical of Wrox Press--liberal commentary interspersed with plenty of examples that build on one another--to help its readers learn about its subject.

This book was written by a team of authors, each of whom wrote a few chapters in his or her specialty area. Like any book written by several people, this one displays different writing styles throughout, but the effect is not striking if you use the book mainly as a reference. Each author typically takes on the capabilities of SQL Server and XML one at a time, explaining what each is all about before launching into examples (complete with code) that reveal the mechanisms at work. It's a lot of information to absorb, but the authors do a fine job of presenting it logically. Case studies present big projects that each employ several of SQL Server's XML capabilities. --David Wall

Topics covered: The XML capabilities of Microsoft SQL Server 2000, including the FOR XML clauses in Transact-SQL, the OpenXML specification, XDR and XSD schemas, templates, views, and updategrams.

An increasing number of shops are putting clustering and load-balancing technologies into place so as to provide high availability and an economic way to scale server capacity. The slender Server Load Balancing explains the state of the art in multiple-server technologies implemented at Layers 4 and 5 on the OSI network model. Though author Tony Bourke includes a fair bit of good information on configuring four commercial load-balancing solutions, the most valuable part of his work is his high-level discussions of how load balancing fits into a larger network environment, and his explanations of the relative merits of alternative approaches to the problem. A comparison of flat-based solutions with designs based on Network Address Translation (NAT) is part of this book's value; further appeal takes the form of dozens of network diagrams that document typical working solutions.

Bourke shows his familiarity with real-life design constraints by documenting various load-balancing solutions and pointing out what each can do for an organization--he points out that a host that implements a NAT-based balancing solution can double as a firewall, thereby saving some money that would have been required for a dedicated security device. He also provides introductory material on the competing solutions' administration interfaces, enabling implementers to get a head start on their work without wading into vendor documentation. --David Wall

Topics covered: The problems presented by requirements for high availability and failover, and the solutions that server load balancing can provide. In addition to general information on flat- and NAT-based load balancing solutions, this book documents strategies for implementing Alteon WebSystems, Cisco CSS, F5 BIG-IP, and Foundry ServerIron.