Acknowledgments

First of all, I want to thank all my family, friends, and co-workers, all of whom made this book possible. I wish I could name each and every one of you who contributed directly or indirectly to this book.

To my family, Carlos, Yumaira, Jesús Eduardo, and María Angélica. You were a great source of motivation for this book. Also, a special gratitude to my uncle and aunt, José and María; the CD you gave me helped me relax during those endless nights writing the book.

To all my teachers, professors, and classmates from high school and university— I'll never forget those wonderful years of my life and all the moments we shared. Special thanks to Juan Carlos Guzmán, who, since then, has been a great source of support.

Thanks to all the teachers at the English Language Institute (ELI), University of Pittsburgh, for helping me improve my writing skills, especially Stephanie Maietta-Pircio, Dorolyn Smith, Holly Stark, and Lois Wilson. Also, thanks to Professor Janusz Szczypula from Carnegie Mellon University for all his help and support during my time in Pittsburgh.

During my work experience, I've met a lot of exciting people who, in one way or the other, have helped me grow in my professional career. Thanks to all of you in Database ACCESS, NetPeople, Manapro, and Planeta Networks. Special thanks to José Alberto Nuñez, Carlos Guanchez, and María Dolores Nardi. Also, thanks to the extraordinary Planeta Networks team, especially Rodolfo Tancredi, who always has been willing to guide me since I began to work for Planeta Networks.

I want to express special gratitude to the group of SQL Server MVPs for honoring me as a new member. This has been one of the most important awards in my professional career. In particular, thanks to Fernando Guerrero, a great friend and very talented professional, for taking the time to review all the chapters of the book.

Thanks to Holly Allender for making my dream of writing a book a reality. The editorial team at Que Publishing also deserves my gratitude, in particular Michelle Newcomb for her patience and understanding throughout the whole process of writing the book, and for her dedication and persistence to meet the deadlines. Thanks to all the editorial team: Sean Dixon, Vincent Mayfield, Tonya Simpson, and Kay Hoskin.

Last, but not least, my most sincere thanks to those who believed in me, and to those who, by reading this book, will inspire me for future publications.

Carlos Eduardo Rojas

January 2001

My life has had plenty of amazing opportunities and challenges, and I was very fortunate to meet amazing people along the way. Each one of them has contributed to what I am now, and what I will be in the future. I would like to pay tribute to them, as an honest gratitude gesture, for all the help that they generously gave me. In chronological order:

To my father, Fernando, the intelligent, honest, and caring person, who gave me his love, dedication, and help and taught me the importance of quality at work. To my mother, Maruja, who gave me her love, optimism, and unbreakable happiness. They both are responsible for most of the good values that guide my life. They built a great family, and I only hope to live long enough to enjoy their company. To my brothers and sisters: Ana, Inmaculada, Carlos, Rocío, and José Ignacio, I hope you know how important you are to me. I wish I could spend more time with all of you.

To Professor Manuel Chueca, excellent professor and amazing human being, who gave me the opportunity to teach on his team and helped me beyond any reasonable limit. To Dr. José Herráez, who generously gave me his full support and friendship. To Dr. Luis Angel Alonso, who always helped me move forward. It was for me an honor learning from all of you the joy of teaching. I miss you and the years we spent together.

To Tom Peters, whose books have inspired me for almost 15 years.

To Bernardo Cebolla and Vicente Cebolla, excellent friends and partners. We lived together an unforgettable business and human experience, during the first years of the personal computing market. Our friendship will remain forever.

Inypsa, one of the best Spanish engineering firms, gave me the opportunity to work on important international projects around the world for almost eight years. I'd like to thank specially Juan Hernández, Casimiro del Pozo, and José Luis Muñoz, for their trust, professionalism, and friendship. I wish you all the best.

During those years in Inypsa, I had the privilege of meeting excellent professionals and friends along the way. To Reynaldo Barbosa, who continuously encouraged me and wisely advised me to join Inypsa; to Javier Gras, excellent engineer and friend; to José María Pastor, my brother-in-law, dear friend, and excellent engineer; to the amazing professionals and friends who worked with me during those years: Esther Pineda, Poernomo Widrobo, Alvaro Chucatiny, Ludwing Céspedes, David Plaza, José Luis Sacristán, Samuel Sánchez, Oscar Rocha, Víctor Hugo Durán, and Anil Pillai.

I want to thank Patrick Beasley, Jonathan Finch, Mike Shammas, and Barbara Savage for giving me the opportunity to work in the best learning environment in the world: QA. I wish to thank Bill Walker for his continuous support. To Patrick Beasley and Aaron Johal, you both offered me your hand from the very first day, when I needed it most. Working for QA represents for me the possibility to learn from the greatest training team you can ever imagine.

As a SQL Server MCT, I spend some time with other SQL Server MCTs in an amazing private newsgroup where we share our experiences, fears, challenges, and achievements. Among these great MCTs, I would want to express my gratitude to Dejan Sarka, one of the best SQL Server trainers of this galaxy and an excellent and generous friend. I will always remember the excitement I felt when I finally met Itzik Ben-Gan. Itzik is one of the most recognized SQL Server experts, an excellent friend, and the one who makes me work at warp speed many Fridays with his puzzles. One sunny day at San Diego, Dejan and Itzik, by surprise, introduced me to Kalen Delaney, and I felt like a novice actor meeting John Ford. I cannot forget other great SQL Server MCTs, such as Ted Malone, Chris Randall, Robert Vieira, Tibor Karaszi, Victor Isakov, Aaron Johal, and many others.

Last year I was honored with the SQL Server MVP award. My most sincere gratitude to Juan T. Llibre (ASP and IIS MVP), Carlos Sánchez (Microsoft Spain), and Alberto Borbolla (VB MVP) for generously proposing me as an MVP, and to the other SQL Server MVPs for accepting me on their team. I still cannot believe that I am part of the amazing SQL Server MVP group. It is easy to feel small being surrounded by Bob Pfeiff, B.P. Margolin, Brian Moran, Carlos Eduardo Rojas, Darren Green, Dejan Sarka, Gianluca Hotz, Itzik Ben-Gan, Kalen Delaney, Michael Hotek, Neil Pike, Olivier Matrat, Ron Talmage, Roy Harvey, Russell Fields, Sharon Dooley, Tibor Karaszi, Tony Rogerson, Trevor Dwyer, Umachandar Jayachandran, and Wayne Snyder. Together we try to help the SQL Server community in different ways, mainly providing free user support in the SQL Server newsgroups. We share ideas, wishes, and experiences in the most challenging newsgroup you could imagine, together with a selected group of Microsoft support engineers and members of the SQL Server developer team.

From the SQL Server group at Microsoft, I wish to thank Gert Drapers, Euan Garden, Lubor Kollar, Jim Gray, Tom Barclay, Hal Berenson, Don Vilen, Adam Shapiro, Margo Crandall, Karl Dehmer, LeRoy Tutle, Rick Byham, Shawn Aebi, Steve Dibbing, and Peter Kalbach. Their SQL Server courses, presentations, white papers, classes, messages, and continuous support helped me understand this technology a little bit more every day. And especially to Richard Waymire, the most knowledgeable SQL Server professional I ever met—attending any of your speeches was a tremendous learning experience for me.

I wish to express my gratitude to the great professionals who made the Spanish SQL Server newsgroup one of the best public SQL Server newsgroups. Among them: Antonio Soto, Carlos Paz, Carlos Sacristán, Claudio Alabarce, Deman Thierry, Eladio Rincón, Emilio Bocau, Jesús López, Jorge López, Julián Valencia, Mariano Melgar, Miguel Ángel Sanjuán, Miguel Egea, Norman Armas, Rodrigo Estrada, and Salvador Ramos.

I wish to thank Michelle Crocket, Kathy Blomstrom, Carol Martin, and the amazing technical edit team at SQL Server Magazine for their continuous support. Writing for SQL Server Magazine is nothing but a pleasure when you're surrounded by these great professionals.

To Carlos Rojas, the generous friend who gave me the opportunity to co-write this book, I will always thank you for this great opportunity. Your continuous support to the SQL Server users'community, and especially to the Spanish SQL Server newsgroup, proves your tremendous generosity and incredible knowledge level.

Writing a book like this would be impossible without the continuous help and support from the Que Publishing editorial team: Vincent Mayfield, Sean Dixon, Kay Hoskin, Tonya Simpson, and especially Michelle Newcomb. I am really impressed by their review process. However, if you still find any mistakes, or something you don't like, in this book, you can blame only the authors.

Thanks to Ian Dolan, who helped me correct the style on my first chapters of this book.

Finally, I want to thank my wife, Manuela, and my daughters, Rocío, Marta, and Marina. They were extremely supportive during these months that I've been working full time, day and night, writing this book. They came to my room from time to time to give me a big smile, a kiss, a hug, and to tell me how much they love me, despite the fact that I could not spend much time with them. Thank you for helping me fulfill this dream. Now you can have your revenge— I promise to spend more quality time with you from today.

Fernando G. Guerrero

January 2001