An Interview with Bill Hamilton, Author of the Book 'Programming SQL Server 2005'

What are some of the security enhancements, from a developer's perspective, in SQL Server 2005?

New security enhancements include:

• Separation of roles and schemas allows multiple users or roles to administer database objects.
• Encryption mechanisms include certificates, asymmetric keys, and symmetric keys — data is encrypted with a hierarchical (Windows, SQL Server, and database level) encryption and key management infrastructure.
• The execution context of user-defined modules (e.g., stored procedures, queues, triggers, and functions other than inline table-valued functions) can be implicitly specified using the EXECUTE AS clause.
• SQL Server Surface Area configuration tool lets you easily start/stop or enable/disable features, services, and remote connectivity of SQL Server 2005 installations.

What's missing in SQL Server 2005, from a developer's perspective, that Microsoft should have included?

I can't really think of anything significant at this time.

If a person is new to SQL Server 2005 development, other than reading your book, do you have any tips or suggestions on how to become a better SQL Server 2005 developer?

An understanding of T-SQL, ADO.NET 2.0 (to access data from a .NET application), and the SQL Server 2005 programming model and APIs is all that's needed.

What other thoughts would you like to share about SQL Server 2005?

SQL Server 2005 is a significant enhancement over SQL Server 2000. I would simply suggest that developers and administrators get a copy (eval if necessary) and see for themselves what a great job Microsoft did with SQL Server 2005. Migration from SQL Server 2000, is for the most part straightforward, and I encourage migration as soon as possible