Table of Contents



This exam is scheduled to retire on July 31, 2013.

Overview

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We recommend that you review this preparation guide in its entirety and familiarize yourself with the FAQs and resources on the Microsoft Certification website before you schedule your exam.

Audience Profile

Candidates for this exam typically work in an enterprise environment that has more than 500 personal computers and more than 100 servers and mostly create solutions for all types of enterprise issues. Candidates should have experience with the following:
  • Writing transact SQL queries
  • Programming the database
  • Troubleshooting programming objects (for example, stored procedures, triggers, user-defined functions [UDFs], user-defined types [UDTs], and queries)
  • Database performance tuning and optimization
  • Designing databases at both the conceptual and logical levels
  • Implementing databases at the physical level
  • Might be involved in designing and troubleshooting the data access layer of the application
  • Gathering business requirements

Credit Toward Certification


Exam 70-451: PRO: Designing Database Solutions and Data Access Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008: counts as credit toward the following certification(s):
Note This preparation guide is subject to change at any time without prior notice and at the sole discretion of Microsoft. Microsoft exams might include adaptive testing technology and simulation items. Microsoft does not identify the format in which exams are presented. Please use this preparation guide to prepare for the exam, regardless of its format.

Skills Being Measured


This exam measures your ability to accomplish the technical tasks listed below.The percentages indicate the relative weight of each major topic area on the exam.The higher the percentage, the more questions you are likely to see on that content area on the exam.

The information after “This objective may include but is not limited to” is intended to further define or scope the objective by describing the types of skills and topics that may be tested for the objective. However, it is not an exhaustive list of skills and topics that could be included on the exam for a given skill area. You may be tested on other skills and topics related to the objective that are not explicitly listed here.
 

Designing a Database Strategy (13 percent)

  • Identify which SQL Server components to use to support business requirements.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: SQL Server Agent, DB mail, Service Broker, Full-Text Search, Distributed Transaction Coordinator (DTC), linked servers
  • Design a database model.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: normalization, entities, entity relationships
  • Design a data model by using the Entity Framework.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: defining and maintaining mapping (query vs. stored proc), defining a data model, entity SQL
  • Design an application strategy to support security.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: application roles, schema ownership, execution context, Windows vs. SQL authentication, permissions and database roles
  • Design a solution by using Service Broker.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: designing services, contracts, activation, routes, message types, queues, remote service binding, priorities
  • Design a Full-Text Search strategy.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: CONTAINS, CONTAINSTABLE, FREETEXT, FREETEXTTABLE

Designing Database Tables (16 percent)

  • Identify the appropriate usage of new data types.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: geography, geometry, hierarchyid, date, time, datetime2, datetimeoffset, varbinary (max) filestream
  • Design tables.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: table width, sizing data types, IN_ROW_DATA (BLOBs), overflow data, sparse columns, computed columns, persisted computed columns
  • Design data integrity.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: primary key, foreign key, check constraint, default constraint, NULL/NOT NULL, unique constraint, DML triggers

Designing Programming Objects (17 percent)

  • Design T-SQL stored procedures.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: execution context (EXECUTE AS), table-valued parameters, determining appropriate way to return data, WITH RECOMPILE/OPTION (RECOMPILE), error handling, TRY/CATCH
  • Design views.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: common table expressions, partitioned views, WITH CHECK OPTION, WITH SCHEMABINDING
  • Design T-SQL table-valued and scalar functions.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: inline table-valued functions vs. views, multi-statement table-valued functions, determinism
  • Design Common Language Runtime (CLR) table-valued and scalar functions.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: assembly PERMISSION_SET, CLR vs. T-SQL, ordered vs. non-ordered
  • Design CLR stored procedures, aggregates, and types.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: assembly PERMISSION_SET, CLR vs. T-SQL, ordered vs. non-ordered, executing static methods on user-defined types, multi-parameter aggregations
  • Evaluate special programming constructs.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: dynamic vs. prepared SQL (CREATE PROCEDURE… WITH EXECUTE AS) procedure, protecting against SQL injection

Designing a Transaction and Concurrency Strategy (14 percent)

  • Design the locking granularity level.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: locking hints, memory consumption
  • Design for implicit and explicit transactions.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: nested transactions, savepoints, TRY/CATCH
  • Design for concurrency.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: hints, transaction isolation level, effect of database option READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT, rowversion and timestamp datatypes

Designing an XML Strategy (8 percent)

  • Design XML storage.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: determining when to use XML for storage, untyped vs. typed (XML schema collection)
  • Design a strategy to query and modify XML data.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: when to use appropriate XPath and XQuery expressions, .query vs. .value, XML indexes for performance, typed vs. untyped, .exist, .modify
  • Design a query strategy by using FOR XML.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: views, FOR XML PATH and EXPLICIT, FOR XML…TYPE
  • Design a strategy to transform XML into relational data.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: .nodes, .value, .query, XQuery and XPath

Designing Queries for Performance (17 percent)

  • Optimize and tune queries.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: optimizer hints, common table expressions (CTEs), search conditions, temporary storage, GROUP BY [GROUPING SETS|CUBE|ROLLUP]
  • Analyze execution plans.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: execution order, logical and physical operators, join operators, minimize resource costs, compare query costs
  • Evaluate the use of row-based operations vs. set-based operations.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: row-based logic vs. set-based logic, batching, splitting implicit transactions

Designing a Database for Optimal Performance (15 percent)

  • Optimize indexing strategies.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: table-valued function, views, filtered indexes, indexed views, clustered and non-clustered, unique
  • Design scalable database solutions.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: scale up vs. scale out, federated databases, distributed partitioned views, scalable shared databases, replication, offloading read-only query (database mirroring)
  • Resolve performance problems by using plan guides.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: object plan guides, SQL plan guides, templates plan guides, dynamic management views
  • Design a table and index compression strategy.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: row vs. page, update frequency, page compression implementation, compressing individual partitions
  • Design a table and index partitioning strategy.

    This objective may include but is not limited to: switching partitions, merging, splitting, staging, creating, schemes and functions

Preparation Tools and Resources

To help you prepare for this exam, Microsoft Learning recommends that you have hands-on experience with the product and that you use the following training resources. These training resources do not necessarily cover all of the topics listed in the "Skills Measured" tab.
 

Learning Plans and Classroom Training
Microsoft E-Learning: There is no Microsoft E-Learning training currently available.
Microsoft Press Books: There are no Microsoft Press books currently available.

Practice Tests

Microsoft Vendor Approved Courseware


Course 50401A: Designing and Optimizing Database Solutions with Microsoft SQL Server 2008
 

Microsoft Online Resources

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2008 – Learning Portal: Find special offers and information on training and certification.
  • Product information: Visit the SQL Server 2008 Web site for detailed product information.
  • Microsoft Learning Community: Join newsgroups and visit community forums to connect with your peers for suggestions on training resources and advice on your certification path and studies.
  • TechNet: Designed for IT professionals, this site includes how-to instructions, best practices, downloads, technical resources, newsgroups, and chats.
  • MSDN: Designed for developers, the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) features code samples, technical articles, downloads, newsgroups, and chats.

Community


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See Also

     Wiki: Training and Certification Portal