Database Training

I’ve seen other database training but it hasn’t really been the sort of training that would work for me, it’s usually so rigid and you have to sit through loads of bits that you either already know or don’t care about, nobody wants that. So I thought I’d build a full training course that you can dip in and out of if necessary or you can follow fully along the way.

I’ve designed this training to be a weekly training session, it’s on demand, I’m not going to force you to do this, you’re a grown up. But you will also be able to drop into any specific week and just do that one (you may be missing some foundational knowledge, but you can always go and do any preceeding weeks too).

If you’re following along while I write these, be aware that upcoming weeks are likely to be adapted as I write them and find fun cool things as I’m writing the training.

Phase 1: Foundations (Weeks 1–8)

Theme: Understand the basics of databases, SQL, and IT infrastructure.

• Week 1 – What is a Database? Intro to relational databases.

• Week 2 – Installing SQL Server Developer Edition + SSMS. Step-by-step setup guide.

• Week 3 – Your First Database. Creating tables, inserting sample data.

• Week 4 – SQL Basics. SELECT, FROM, WHERE, ORDER BY

• Week 5 – Relationships. Primary/foreign keys, normalization basics.

• Week 6 – Joins Made Easy. INNER, LEFT, RIGHT, FULL.

• Week 7 – Aggregate Queries. GROUP BY, HAVING, COUNT, SUM, AVG.

• Week 8 – System Databases. Exploring master, msdb, model, tempdb.

Phase 2: Core SQL Skills (Weeks 9–16)

Theme: Build strong query-writing and schema design skills.

• Week 9 – Data Types & NULLs. Avoiding common pitfalls.

• Week 10 – Constraints & Rules. PK, FK, CHECK, UNIQUE.

• Week 11 – Indexes Demystified. Clustered vs. non-clustered.

• Week 12 – Views & Stored Procedures. Encapsulating logic.

• Week 13 – Triggers & Functions. When and how to use them.

• Week 14 – Execution Plans. Reading query performance hints.

• Week 15 – Mini Project. Build an e-commerce DB, query sales trends.

• Week 16 – Review & Quiz Post. Challenge readers with practice queries.

Phase 3: SQL Server Administration Basics (Weeks 17–28)

Theme: Start thinking like a DBA.

• Week 17 – Installing SQL Server (Advanced Options). Collation, instance types.

• Week 18 – Security 101. Logins, users, roles.

• Week 19 – Backups Explained. Full, diff, log.

• Week 20 – Restore Strategies. Point-in-time recovery.

• Week 21 – SQL Server Agent. Automating jobs.

• Week 22 – TempDB Setup Best Practices. Why it matters.

• Week 23 – Monitoring Basics. Activity Monitor & DMVs.

• Week 24 – Maintenance Plans. Index rebuilds, stats updates.

• Week 25 – Mini Project. Schedule backups + test restores.

• Week 26 – Security Deep Dive. Row-level permissions.

• Week 27 – Error Logs & Alerts. Detecting problems early.

• Week 28 – Review & Lab Challenges. Simulate outages.

Phase 4: Intermediate DBA Skills (Weeks 29–44)

Theme: Tuning, monitoring, and automation.

• Week 29 – Index Maintenance in Depth. Scripts + automation.

• Week 30 – Statistics Explained. Cardinality estimator.

• Week 31 – Performance Tuning 101. Bottleneck analysis.

• Week 32 – Query Store. Tracking slow queries over time.

• Week 33 – Wait Statistics. Diagnosing performance at scale.

• Week 34 – Deadlocks. Causes, detection, resolution.

• Week 35 – Extended Events. Lightweight monitoring.

• Week 36 – PowerShell for DBAs. Automating routine tasks.

• Week 37 – Automated Maintenance with Ola Hallengren Scripts.

• Week 38 – Security Hardening. Encryption, auditing.

• Week 39 – Capacity Planning. CPU, memory, disk considerations.

• Week 40 – Mini Project. Optimize a poorly performing database.

• Week 41 – SQL Profiler (legacy) vs. Extended Events.

• Week 42 – Index Tuning Hands-On. Query rewrites + covering indexes.

• Week 43 – Automation Lab. Schedule maintenance jobs via PowerShell.

• Week 44 – Review & Mock Exam. DBA “day in the life” test.

Phase 5: Advanced DBA / HA & DR (Weeks 45–64)

Theme: Enterprise availability, disaster recovery, and scalability.

• Week 45 – High Availability 101. Why it matters.

• Week 46 – Log Shipping Setup. Step-by-step lab.

• Week 47 – Database Mirroring. Pros/cons.

• Week 48 – Replication Overview. Snapshot vs. transactional.

• Week 49 – Always On Availability Groups (Part 1). Setup.

• Week 50 – Always On (Part 2). Failover & monitoring.

• Week 51 – Failover Clustering. Windows Server Cluster integration.

• Week 52 – Partitioning Tables. Scaling big databases.

• Week 53 – In-Memory OLTP. Benefits and limitations.

• Week 54 – Disaster Recovery Planning. RTO vs. RPO.

• Week 55 – Mini Project. Build HA lab + simulate disaster recovery.

• Week 56 – Security Advanced. TDE, row-level security.

• Week 57 – Auditing for Compliance. HIPAA, GDPR, SOX.

• Week 58 – Storage Optimization. TempDB, compression.

• Week 59 – SQL Server on Linux. Intro for DBAs.

• Week 60 – Advanced Performance Lab. Tuning 100M+ row tables.

• Week 61 – Case Study. Real-world HA/DR success & failure stories.

• Week 62 – Automation at Scale. Centralized job management.

• Week 63 – Mini Project. Architect full HA + DR solution.

• Week 64 – Review & Knowledge Check.

Phase 6: Becoming an Expert (Weeks 65–96)

Theme: Cloud, internals, leadership.

• Week 65 – SQL Server Internals 101. Pages, extents, buffer pool.

• Week 66 – Query Optimizer Internals. How execution plans are built.

• Week 67 – Locks, Latches, and Deadlocks (Advanced).

• Week 68 – Azure SQL Database. Deployment basics.

• Week 69 – Azure Managed Instance vs. On-Prem SQL Server.

• Week 70 – AWS RDS for SQL Server. Cloud DBA tasks.

• Week 71 – Migrating to the Cloud. Tools & planning.

• Week 72 – CI/CD for Databases. SSDT + pipelines.

• Week 73 – Infrastructure as Code.

• Week 74 – Enterprise Monitoring.

• Week 75 – Compliance in Practice. Case studies.

• Week 76 – Leading a DBA Team. Standards, mentoring.

• Week 77 – Post-Mortems. Writing RCA documents.

• Week 78 – Cost Optimization in the Cloud. Azure vs. AWS.

• Week 79 – Hybrid Cloud SQL. On-prem + cloud architectures.

• Week 80 – Advanced Internals. TempDB contention, memory grants.

• Week 81 – Automation Frameworks. Central scripts repo.

• Week 82 – Mini Project. Migrate SQL Server → Azure Managed Instance.

• Week 83 – Writing DBA Policies. Backup, recovery, monitoring standards.

• Week 84 – Cloud HA/DR. Geo-replication, failover groups.

• Week 85 – Tuning in the Cloud. DTUs vs. vCores.

• Week 86 – Scaling Globally. Multi-region SQL deployments.

• Week 87 – Teaching Others. Writing docs, onboarding juniors.

• Week 88 – Publishing Technical Content. Blogs, talks.

• Week 89 – DBA Career Paths. Architect, cloud engineer, consultant.

• Week 90 – Mini Project. Lead a “mock DBA team” scenario.

• Week 91 – Case Study. A Fortune 500 SQL migration.

• Week 92 – Case Study. Outage and root cause analysis.

• Week 93 – Final Performance Lab. Optimize enterprise-scale DB.

• Week 94 – Final HA/DR Lab. Full simulation.

• Week 95 – Certifications Roadmap. DP-300 + others.

• Week 96 – Graduation Post. From beginner to expert DBA.