Introduction to SQL Databases

The primary audience for this course is people who are moving into a database role, or whose role has expanded to include database technologies. Developers that deliver content from SQL Server databases will also benefit from this material.

• Describe key database concepts in the context of SQL Server
• Describe database languages used in SQL Server
• Describe data modelling techniques
• Describe normalization and denormalization techniques
• Describe relationship types and effects in database design
• Describe the effects of database design on performance
• Describe commonly used database objects

Module 1: Introduction to databases

This module introduces key database concepts in the context of SQL Server.

• Introduction to Relational Databases
• Other Databases and Storage
• Data Analysis
• SQL Server Database Languages

Lab of Module 1:

• Exploring SQL Server Databases and Tables
• Explore SQL Server
• Query Databases and Tables

After completing this module 1, students will be able to:

• Describe what a database is
• Understand basic relational aspects
• Describe database languages used in SQL Server
• Describe data analytics

Module 2: Data Modeling

This module describes data modelling techniques.

• Data Modelling
• Designing a Database
• Relationship Modeling

Lab of Module 2:

• Identify Components in Relationship Modeling
• Modeling a database

After completing this module 2, students will be able to:

• Understand the common data modeling techniques
• Describe the ANSI/SPARC database model
• Describe entity relationship modeling

Module 3: Normalization

This module describes normalization and denormalization techniques.

• Fundamentals of Normalization
• Normal Form
• Denormalization

Lab of Module 3:

• Normalizing Data
• Normalizing Tables

After completing this module 3, students will be able to:

• Describe normalization benefits and notation
• Describe important normalization terms
• Describe the normalization levels
• Describe the role of denormalization

Module 4: Relationships

This module describes relationship types and effects in database design.

• Introduction to Relationships
• Planning Referential Integrity

Lab of Module 4:

• Planning and Implementing Referential Integrity
• Implementing Referential Integrity

After completing this module 4, students will be able to:

• Describe relationship types
• Describe the use, types, and effects of referential integrity

Module 5: Performance

This module introduces the effects of database design on performance.

• Indexing
• Query Performance
• Concurrency

Lab of Module 5:

• Performance Issues
• Using Indexes

After completing this module 5, students will be able to:

• Discuss the performance effects of indexing
• Describe the performance effects of join and search types
• Describe the performance effects of concurrency

Module 6: Database Objects

This module introduces commonly used database objects.

• Tables
• Views
• Stored Procedures, Triggers and Functions

Lab of Module 6:

• Using SQL Server Objects
• Using Tables
• Using Views
• Using Stored Procedures

After completing this module 6, students will be able to:

• Describe the use of tables in SQL Server
• Describe the use of views in SQL Server
• Describe the use of stored procedures in SQL Server
• Describe other database objects commonly used in SQL Server

This is a foundation level course and therefore only requires general computer literacy.