Where is the SSAS 2008 Book?
Readers have been asking about a revised edition of my Applied Microsoft Analysis Services book for version 2008. First of all, I’d like to thank all my readers who bought and liked the book. This book has been a great success and it really exceeded my expectations in any way! It has great reviews on Amazon and it has sold over 10,000 copies to date, which is not a bad sales record for a technical book. I am still supporting my readers on the book discussion list and more than likely will continue doing so for foreseeable future. At the same time, I decided not to write a revision for SSAS 2008 or R2 for two main reasons:
- I just need a break from book writing. It took me several months to write the Applied Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services and BI toolkit. I am not ready to start a new book and … face a divorce. Seriously, writing books is not easy and it takes a lot of time away from the family. And I just can’t write small.
- Version 2008 of Analysis Services has been an incremental and stabilization release. The theme was “don’t rock the boat” since the boat was rocked big time in SSAS 2005, which was essentially a re-write of Analysis Services from ground up. The major 2008 enhancements were in the area of performance and manageability. So, hardly enough material to write a revision from a feature standpoint although I definitely have plenty of real-life experience to contribute. So, Applied Microsoft Analysis Services 2005 is still not outdated and I hope you won’t go wrong reading it. Speaking of this book, since it looks like the demand for it waned in the past months (everyone jumped on the 2008 bandwagon, and this is what you should do) I’m not planning a new print. Instead, I lowered the price of the e-book version to $29.95, so the book is still available in e-book format if you decide to buy it.
Although I am not planning a new SSAS book anytime soon, I am committed to Analysis Services, which I like very much and use heavily in real-life projects. Looking forward, I am planning a new SSAS revision for SQL Server 11, which is next major release of SQL Server after R2. Meanwhile, I offer an Analysis Services 2008 training class if you are looking for instructor-led online training.
What Analysis Services 2008 books would I recommend?
Novice User
- Professional Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services 2008 with MDX – written by members of the SSAS team
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services Step by Step – a good introduction to Analysis Services
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 MDX Step by Step – I’ve heard good things about this book from my co-workers who used it to learn MDX basics
- MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-448): Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Business Intelligence Development and Maintenance – if you plan to take the 70-448 BI exam, we wrote this book for you. My contribution was the SSAS chapters.
Experienced User
- Expert Cube Development with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services – You won’t go wrong with the fellow MVPs: Marco Russo, Alberto Ferrari, and Chris Webb. I reviewed this book here.
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services – if you really want to get under the hood, you won’t get disappointed by the folks who implemented Analysis Services
- MDX Solutions: With Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services 2005 and Hyperion Essbase – Bring your MDX knowledge to the next level.
Speaking of books and writing, I have an exciting announcement which I’ll make soon in another blog. Stay tuned…
