The Microsoft Data Warehouse Toolkit : With SQL Server 2005 and the Microsoft Business Intelligence Toolset

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services 2005

Delivering Business Intelligence with Microsoft SQL Server 2005

Professional SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services

Databases

Professional SQL Server 2005 Integration Services (Programmer to Programmer)

Format: Paperback
Author: Brian Knight
ReleaseDate: 31 January, 2006
Publisher: Wrox
Rating:

A good starting Point

However the book does give you a feeling that it was hurried, and the case study really does not adress the challenges you will face in real projects. The book provides a good starting point to learn SSIS, especially if you never worked with DTS.

But for the Novice, this is a great book to get started with Integration Services. .

A Good Introduction That Covers About Everything
SQL Server has been a well known, well respected data base product for many years. Microsoft has been changing the way we think of a lot of their applications. Now they are expanding the ancillary programs that go around the basic database to provide much greater functionality than just a database.

SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is a new data integration application in SQL Server 2005. The function of SSIS is to enable the developer to pull data from disparate sources that were not designed to work together into one managable storage area.

SSIS is a greatly expanded, script driven, successor to the earlier Data Translation Services. DTS was first used by most of us to translate the file formats from our previous data base to SQL Server. That program which was basically a point and click translator has now been made into an application with far more utility. So much utility that you might want to forget DTS except as part of your past.

You can still use Integration Services (SSIS) to import and export data between different databases. There's even an Import and Export Wizard still in SSIS, it's still what you need for data in different formats.

The Microsoft philosophy is to make everything GUI driven. SSIS uses the Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS), a light version of Visual Studio. (If you have a full blown version of Visual Studio, you can use it with SSIS. ) Most of the book is centered around BIDS, and it discusses just about everything you can do with SSIS. If you're going to be using it, this is a good place to start.

helpful, informative, good tutorials
Too many books go for one extreme or another, making it difficult to wade through information out of context, or cookbook solutions that don't cover my real world problems. This book, for me, struck a good balance of reference text and tutorial.