About This Course
Microsoft SQL Server remains one of the world's most widely deployed relational database management systems, powering mission-critical applications across banking, healthcare, government, telecommunications, and retail. As organisations accumulate ever-larger volumes of transactional and analytical data, the demand for skilled database administrators who can ensure availability, performance, and security has never been greater.
This ten-day programme, delivered by TrainingComplex, provides a comprehensive, structured pathway through all core disciplines of SQL Server database administration. From initial installation and instance configuration through to advanced performance tuning, high availability architectures, and disaster recovery planning, every topic is grounded in practical, hands-on laboratory exercises that mirror real enterprise scenarios.
Participants will work directly with SQL Server Management Studio, T-SQL scripting, SQL Server Agent, and monitoring tools, building a portfolio of practical skills they can apply immediately on returning to their organisations. The course also addresses database security hardening, compliance auditing, and capacity planning — competencies that are increasingly critical as regulatory environments tighten across Africa and the Gulf region.
Whether you are stepping into a DBA role for the first time or consolidating years of experience into a structured knowledge base, this programme provides the depth, breadth, and practical rigour required to administer SQL Server environments with professional confidence.
Who Should Attend
- Junior and mid-level database administrators seeking to formalise and deepen their SQL Server skills
- Systems administrators transitioning into dedicated database administration roles
- IT infrastructure engineers responsible for database servers within their organisations
- Application support engineers who manage or interact with SQL Server back-end databases
- Business intelligence professionals who need to understand and maintain the underlying database platform
- IT managers overseeing database teams who want a thorough understanding of DBA responsibilities and best practices
Learning Objectives
- Install and configure SQL Server instances, services, and linked servers in enterprise environments
- Design and implement effective database storage architecture, file groups, and data compression strategies
- Write and optimise Transact-SQL (T-SQL) scripts for data manipulation, stored procedures, functions, and triggers
- Implement comprehensive database security, including logins, roles, schemas, row-level security, and auditing
- Design and execute reliable backup and restore strategies aligned with Recovery Point and Recovery Time Objectives
- Monitor SQL Server performance using Dynamic Management Views, Extended Events, and SQL Server Profiler
- Diagnose and resolve performance bottlenecks through indexing strategies, query plan analysis, and statistics management
- Configure and manage high availability solutions including Always On Availability Groups, Failover Clustering, and database mirroring
- Automate administrative tasks using SQL Server Agent jobs, alerts, and maintenance plans
- Implement and manage SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) pipelines for data import and export
- Plan and execute SQL Server upgrades, patches, and migrations with minimal downtime
- Apply disaster recovery planning principles and test recovery procedures under simulated failure conditions
- Interpret capacity planning metrics and make informed recommendations for scaling database infrastructure
Course Modules
Module 1: SQL Server Architecture and Installation
- SQL Server editions, components, and service architecture overview
- Pre-installation planning: hardware sizing, OS configuration, and service accounts
- Step-by-step SQL Server installation, instance configuration, and post-installation hardening
- Introduction to SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) and Azure Data Studio
- Configuring SQL Server network protocols, port settings, and the SQL Server Browser service
- Understanding the SQL Server startup process, system databases, and their administrative roles
Module 2: Database Storage and File Architecture
- Understanding data files, log files, filegroups, and tempdb management
- Designing database storage layouts for performance and manageability
- Data compression techniques: row, page, and columnstore compression
- Managing database growth, autogrowth settings, and space monitoring
- Configuring multiple tempdb data files and optimising tempdb contention for high-concurrency workloads
- Implementing Instant File Initialisation and its security trade-offs to reduce data file allocation latency
Module 3: Transact-SQL Fundamentals and Advanced Scripting
- DML, DDL, and DCL statement review and best practices
- Writing stored procedures, user-defined functions, and triggers
- Error handling with TRY-CATCH, transactions, and XACT_ABORT
- Dynamic SQL, Common Table Expressions (CTEs), and window functions
- Using MERGE statements, OUTPUT clauses, and set-based techniques to replace row-by-row cursor logic
- Query hints, plan guides, and the USE PLAN hint for stabilising problematic execution plans
Module 4: Database Security and Access Control
- Authentication modes, logins, users, roles, and schema ownership
- Implementing least-privilege access with server and database roles
- Row-Level Security, dynamic data masking, and column-level encryption
- Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) and certificate management
- Managing cross-database ownership chains, application roles, and module signing for secure context switching
- Auditing permission assignments and automating periodic access reviews using system catalog queries
Module 5: SQL Server Auditing and Compliance
- Configuring SQL Server Audit objects and audit specifications
- Tracking login activity, DDL changes, and data access events
- Managing audit logs, retention policies, and compliance reporting
- Aligning SQL Server audit configurations with GDPR and ISO 27001 requirements
- Using Change Data Capture (CDC) and SQL Server Audit together to maintain a comprehensive data change history
- Implementing audit log protection: securing audit file destinations, restricting access, and detecting log tampering
Module 6: Backup and Restore Strategies
- Understanding recovery models: Full, Simple, and Bulk-Logged
- Designing backup schedules aligned to RPO and RTO objectives
- Performing full, differential, transaction log, and filegroup backups
- Restore scenarios: point-in-time recovery, piecemeal restores, and disaster recovery drills
- Verifying backup integrity using RESTORE VERIFYONLY, DBCC CHECKDB post-restore, and checksum validation
- Implementing backup compression and encryption to reduce storage footprint and protect sensitive data at rest
Module 7: Performance Monitoring and Diagnostics
- Using Dynamic Management Views (DMVs) to identify bottlenecks and resource contention
- Configuring and interpreting Extended Events sessions and SQL Server Profiler traces
- Monitoring wait statistics, memory pressure, CPU utilisation, and I/O performance
- Baseline creation and threshold-based alerting using SQL Server Agent and Performance Monitor
- Analysing Query Store data to identify regressed queries, force execution plans, and track performance over time
- Diagnosing blocking chains and deadlocks using the deadlock graph XML event and system health session data
Module 8: Index Management and Query Optimisation
- Clustered, non-clustered, covering, and filtered index design principles
- Reading and interpreting execution plans: operators, costs, and plan regressions
- Identifying missing indexes, duplicate indexes, and fragmentation using DMVs
- Statistics management: auto-update settings, manual updates, and cardinality estimation
- Designing and maintaining columnstore indexes for analytical and hybrid OLTP/OLAP workloads
- Using the Database Engine Tuning Advisor and Query Store recommendations to validate and prioritise index changes
Module 9: High Availability and Disaster Recovery
- Always On Availability Groups: configuration, listeners, and automatic failover
- Windows Server Failover Clustering for SQL Server FCI setup and management
- Log shipping and database mirroring as legacy HA options
- Disaster recovery planning: testing failover, RTO validation, and documentation
- Configuring readable secondary replicas for reporting offload and monitoring synchronisation health with DMVs
- Implementing stretch availability groups across multiple subnets and integrating with Azure for hybrid DR scenarios
Module 10: SQL Server Agent and Automation
- Creating and scheduling SQL Server Agent jobs, steps, and job chains
- Configuring operators, alerts, and notifications for proactive incident response
- Building and managing database maintenance plans for integrity checks, backups, and index rebuilds
- Automating administrative scripts using PowerShell with the SqlServer module
- Implementing multi-server administration with a Central Management Server (CMS) and SQL Server Agent master jobs
- Using Policy-Based Management to define, evaluate, and enforce configuration compliance across SQL Server instances
Module 11: SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)
- SSIS architecture: packages, control flow, data flow, and connection managers
- Designing ETL packages for data import, transformation, and export
- Error handling, logging, and package deployment in the SSIS Catalog
- Scheduling and monitoring SSIS package execution via SQL Server Agent
- Implementing parameterisation, environments, and project references in the SSIS Catalog for deployment flexibility
- Optimising data flow performance using buffer tuning, parallel execution paths, and appropriate pipeline component selection
Module 12: SQL Server Upgrades, Patching, and Migration
- Planning SQL Server version upgrades: compatibility levels and deprecated features
- Applying Cumulative Updates and Service Packs with minimal downtime
- Migration strategies: backup/restore, detach/attach, and the Database Migration Assistant (DMA)
- Post-migration validation: compatibility testing, performance benchmarking, and user acceptance
- Using the Query Store upgrade workflow to capture pre-upgrade baselines and force stable plans after a version change
- Migrating SQL Server workloads to Azure SQL Managed Instance: assessment, cutover planning, and hybrid connectivity
Module 13: Capacity Planning and DBA Operational Runbook
- Capacity planning frameworks: growth forecasting, storage trending, and licensing considerations
- Documenting database environments: instance inventory, configuration baselines, and change management
- Developing a DBA runbook: daily checks, weekly maintenance, and incident response procedures
- Capstone project review: presenting operational runbooks and peer evaluation of DBA design decisions
- Establishing SQL Server health dashboards using custom DMV queries, SSRS reports, or third-party monitoring tools
- Defining escalation paths, on-call procedures, and post-incident review processes as part of a mature DBA operations model
Requirements & Prerequisites
Participants should have a working knowledge of relational database concepts, including tables, primary keys, foreign keys, and basic SQL queries. Familiarity with Windows Server administration — including services, file systems, and user accounts — is recommended. Prior exposure to any version of Microsoft SQL Server is helpful but not strictly required, as the course begins with foundational installation and configuration topics before progressing to advanced content.
Training Methodology
- Guided laboratory sessions in which each participant installs and configures a personal SQL Server instance on a dedicated virtual machine, ensuring hands-on engagement from day one
- Scenario-based troubleshooting exercises drawn from real-world production incidents — including disk space crises, blocking chains, corrupted databases, and failed agent jobs — to sharpen diagnostic reasoning
- Query performance workshops using execution plan analysis, index tuning advisors, and DMV-based diagnostics on realistic sample databases
- Live demonstrations of high availability configurations, including Always On Availability Group failover testing, followed by participant-led replication of the same setup
- Structured T-SQL coding challenges with instructor review, covering stored procedures, error handling, dynamic SQL, and set-based query optimisation
- Group case studies examining real organisation database architecture decisions — including a financial institution's backup strategy review and a retail company's index fragmentation resolution
- Daily knowledge consolidation quizzes to reinforce retention and identify areas needing additional instructor attention
- A capstone project completed over the final two days in which participants design and document a complete DBA operational runbook for a fictitious organisation, covering backup schedules, security policies, monitoring thresholds, and maintenance windows
Organisational Benefits
- Reduced database downtime through professionally implemented high availability and failover configurations
- Stronger data security posture resulting from properly hardened SQL Server instances and audited access controls
- Faster incident resolution as DBAs gain structured diagnostic and troubleshooting methodologies
- Improved application performance through proactive indexing, query optimisation, and statistics management
- Reduced risk of data loss with robust, tested backup and recovery procedures aligned to business SLAs
- Greater organisational self-sufficiency in database management, reducing reliance on expensive external consultants
- Increased confidence in regulatory compliance through implemented auditing and data protection controls
- A measurable return on investment as trained DBAs optimise resource utilisation and server licensing costs
Where Is Database Administration using Microsoft SQL Server Training Offered?
This course runs in-person across: Zanzibar, Mombasa, Abuja, Nakuru, Addis Ababa, Arusha, Kisumu, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, Dubai, Pretoria, Riyadh, Accra, Lagos, Kampala, Naivasha, Johannesburg, Kigali, Cape Town, plus Live Virtual (online) cohorts. Browse live dates for your city below.
Upcoming Schedules
| Location | Format | Dates | Price |
|---|
| Zanzibar, Tanzania |
In-Person |
28 Sept 2026 – 9 Oct 2026 |
USD 5,000 |
| Mombasa, Kenya |
In-Person |
5 Oct 2026 – 16 Oct 2026 |
KES 230,000 |
| Abuja, Nigeria |
In-Person |
5 Oct 2026 – 16 Oct 2026 |
USD 5,600 |
| Nakuru, Kenya |
In-Person |
12 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
KES 230,000 |
| Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
In-Person |
12 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
USD 4,800 |
| Live Virtual |
Online |
17 Oct 2026 – 6 Dec 2026 |
KES 160,000 |
| Arusha, Tanzania |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 28 Oct 2026 |
USD 4,200 |
| Kisumu, Kenya |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 28 Oct 2026 |
KES 240,000 |
| Dar es Salaam, Tanzania |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 30 Oct 2026 |
USD 4,600 |
| Nairobi, Kenya |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 28 Oct 2026 |
KES 230,000 |
| Live Virtual |
Online |
19 Oct 2026 – 28 Oct 2026 |
KES 160,000 |
| Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 28 Oct 2026 |
USD 8,200 |
| Zanzibar, Tanzania |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 28 Oct 2026 |
USD 5,000 |
| Pretoria, South Africa |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 28 Oct 2026 |
USD 6,600 |
| Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 30 Oct 2026 |
USD 9,000 |
+238 more dates — view live schedule →
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need prior SQL Server experience to attend this course?
A basic understanding of relational database concepts and Windows Server administration is recommended. While prior SQL Server exposure is helpful, the programme begins with foundational installation and architecture topics before advancing to more complex subjects, making it accessible to motivated beginners with a solid IT background.
Will participants receive a certificate upon completion?
Yes. All participants who attend the full programme and complete the capstone project will receive a Certificate of Completion from TrainingComplex. This certificate documents the competencies covered and can be used to support professional development portfolios and employer recognition.
What tools and software will be used during the course?
Participants will work with Microsoft SQL Server (2019/2022 edition), SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), Azure Data Studio, SQL Server Integration Services, and PowerShell with the SqlServer module. TrainingComplex provides preconfigured virtual machine environments for each delegate, so no prior software installation is required.
Is this course aligned to any Microsoft certification?
The content of this programme closely aligns with the knowledge domains tested in the Microsoft DP-300 (Administering Relational Databases on Microsoft Azure) and legacy MCSA: SQL Server certifications. While TrainingComplex's certificate is independent, the skills gained provide a strong foundation for candidates preparing for official Microsoft examinations.
How many participants are in each cohort?
Cohorts are kept to a maximum of 16 participants to ensure each delegate receives adequate hands-on time with the laboratory environments and meaningful interaction with the instructor. This small-group format supports a high-quality, personalised learning experience throughout the ten days.
