Exam 70-458:

Transition Your MCTS on SQL Server 2008 to MCSA: SQL Server 2012, Part 2

Published:June 11, 2012
Language(s):English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Chinese (Simplified)
Audience(s):IT Professionals
Technology:Microsoft SQL Server 2012
Type:Proctored Exam

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Audience Profile
This exam is intended for candidates who have already earned any one of the MCTS certifications on SQL Server 2008 and who wish to transition their skills to MCSA: SQL Server 2012.
Credit Toward CertificationExam 70-458: Transition Your MCTS on SQL Server 2008 to MCSA: SQL Server 2012, Part 2: counts as credit toward the following certification(s):
  • MCSA: SQL Server 2012
Note This preparation guide is subject to change at any time without prior notice and at the sole discretion of Microsoft. Microsoft exams might include adaptive testing technology and simulation items. Microsoft does not identify the format in which exams are presented. Please use this preparation guide to prepare for the exam, regardless of its format.
Skills Being MeasuredThis exam measures your ability to accomplish the technical tasks listed below.The percentages indicate the relative weight of each major topic area on the exam.The higher the percentage, the more questions you are likely to see on that content area on the exam.

The information after “This objective may include but is not limited to” is intended to further define or scope the objective by describing the types of skills and topics that may be tested for the objective. However, it is not an exhaustive list of skills and topics that could be included on the exam for a given skill area. You may be tested on other skills and topics related to the objective that are not explicitly listed here.
Manage Data
  • Configure and maintain a backup strategy.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: manage different backup models, including point in time recovery; protect customer data even if backup media is lost; perform backup/restore based on proper strategies including backup redundancy; recover from a corrupted drive; manage a multi-terabyte database; implement and test a database implementation and a backup strategy (multiple files for user database and tempdb, spreading database files, backup/restore); back up a SQL Server environment; back up system databases
  • Restore databases.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: restore a database secured with TDE; recover data from a damaged DB; restore to a point in time; file group restore; page level restore
  • Implement and maintain indexes.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: inspect physical characteristics of indexes and perform index maintenance; identify fragmented indexes; identify unused indexes; implement indexes; defrag/rebuild indexes; set up a maintenance strategy for indexes and statistics; optimize indexes (full, filter); statistics (full, filter) force or fix queue; when to rebuild vs. reorg and index; full text indexes; column store indexes
  • Import and export data.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: transfer data; bulk copy; bulk insert
Implement Security
  • Manage logins and server roles.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: configure server security; secure the SQL Server using Windows Account/SQL Server accounts, server roles; create log in accounts; manage access to the server, SQL Server instance, and databases; create and maintain user-defined server roles; manage certificate logins
  • Manage database permissions.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: configure database security; database level permissions; protect objects from being modified
  • Manage users and database roles.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: create access to server/database with least privilege; manage security roles for users and administrators; create database user accounts; contained logins
  • Troubleshoot security.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: manage certificates and keys; endpoints
Implement High Availability
  • Implement AlwaysOn.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: implement a mirroring solution using AlwaysOn; failover
  • Implement database mirroring.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: set up mirroring; monitor the performance of database mirroring
  • Implement replication.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: troubleshoot replication problems; identify appropriate replication strategy
Design and Implement a Data Warehouse
  • Design and implement dimensions.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: design shared/conformed dimensions; determine whether you need support for slowly changing dimensions; determine attributes; design hierarchies; determine whether you need star or snowflake schema; determine the granularity of relationship with fact tables; determine the need for auditing or lineage; determine keys (business transactional or your own data warehouse/surrogate keys); implement dimensions; implement data lineage of a dimension table
  • Design and implement fact tables.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: design a data warehouse that supports many to many relationships; appropriately index a fact table using columnstore indexes; partitioning; additive measures; semi-additive measures; non-additive measures; implement fact tables; determine the loading method for the fact tables; implement data lineage of a fact table; design summary aggregation tables
Extract and Transform Data
  • Design data flow.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: define data sources and destinations; distinguish blocking and non-blocking transformations; use different methods to pull out changed data from data sources; determine appropriate data flow components; determine the need for supporting Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD); determine whether to use SQL Joins or SSIS lookup or merge join transformations; batch processing vs. row by row processing; determine the appropriate transform to use for a specific task; determine the need and method for identity mapping and deduplicating; fuzzy lookup, fuzzy grouping, and Data Quality Services (DQS) transformation; determine the need for text mining; determine the need for custom data sources, destinations, and transforms; determine what to do with erroneous rows; determine auditing needs; determine sampling needs for data mining; trusted/authoritative data sources, including warehouse metadata
  • Implement data flow.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: debug data flow; use the appropriate data flow components; SQL/SSIS data transformation; create SSIS packages that support slowly changing dimensions; use the Lookup task in SSIS; map identities using SSIS Fuzzy Lookup; specify a data source and destination; use data flows; different categories of transformations; read, transform, and load data; understand which transforms to use to accomplish a specific business task; data correction transformation; performance tune an SSIS dataflow; optimize Integration Services packages for speed of execution; maintain data integrity, including good data flow
  • Implement script tasks in SSIS.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: determine whether it is appropriate to use a script task; extend the capability of a control flow; perform a custom action as needed (not on every row) during a control flow
Load Data
  • Design control flow.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: determine control flow; determine containers and tasks that are needed; determine precedence constraints; design an SSIS package strategy with rollback, staging, and transaction control; decide between one package or multiple packages; determine event handlers; determine variables; determine parameters on package and project level; determine connection managers and whether they are package or project level; determine the need for custom tasks; determine how much information you need to log from a package; determine the need for checkpoints; determine security needs
  • Implement package logic by using SSIS variables and parameters.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: user variables; variable scope, data type; implement parameterization of properties using variables; use variables in precedence constraints; refer to SSIS system variables; design dynamic SSIS packages; package configurations (file or SQL tables); expressions; package and project parameters; project level connection managers; implement dynamic package behavior; configure packages in SSIS for different environments, package configurations (xmlconfiguration file, SQLServer table, registry entry; parent package variables, environment variable); parameters (package and project level); project connection managers; property expressions (use expressions for connection managers)
  • Implement control flow.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: checkpoints; debug control flow; implement the appropriate control flow task to solve a problem; data profiling; use sequence containers and loop containers; manage transactions in SSIS Packages; manage parallelism; use precedence constraint to control task execution sequence; create package templates; use the execute package task
  • Implement data load options.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: implement a full and incremental data load strategy; plan for an incremental update of the relational Data Mart
Configure and Deploy SSIS Solutions
  • Troubleshoot data integration issues.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: performance issues; connectivity issues; execution of a task or transformation failed; logic issues; demonstrate awareness of the new SSIS logging infrastructure; troubleshoot a failed package execution to determine the root cause of failure; troubleshoot SSIS package failure from an invalid datatype; implement break points; data viewers; profile data with different tools; batch cleanup
  • Implement auditing, logging, and event handling.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: audit package execution by using system variables; propagate events; use log providers; log an SSIS execution; create alerting and notification mechanisms; use Event Handlers in SSIS to track ETL events and errors; implement custom logging
  • Deploy SSIS solutions.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: create and configure an SSIS catalog; deploy SSIS packages by using the deployment utility; deploy SSIS packages to SQL or file system locations; validate deployed packages; deploy packages on multiple servers; install custom components and tasks; deploy SSIS packages by using DTUTIL
Build Data Quality Solutions
  • Install and maintain Data Quality Services.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: installation prerequisites; use Data Quality Server Installer; add users to the DQ roles; identity analysis, including data governance
  • Implement master data management solutions.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: install Master Data Services (MDS); implement MDS; create models, entities, hierarchies, collections, and attributes; define security roles; import/export; subscriptions
  • Create a data quality project to clean data.
    • This objective may include but is not limited to: profile Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) and other source systems; data quality knowledge base management; create a data quality project; use Data Quality Client; improve data quality; identity mapping and deduplicating; handle history and data quality; manage data quality/cleansing
Preparation Tools and ResourcesTo help you prepare for this exam, Microsoft Learning recommends that you have hands-on experience with the product and that you use the following training resources. These training resources do not necessarily cover all of the topics listed in the "Skills Measured" tab.
Learning Plans and Classroom Training There is no classroom training currently available.
Microsoft E-Learning There is no Microsoft E-Learning training currently available.
Microsoft Press Books There are no Microsoft Press books currently available.
Practice Tests There are no practice tests currently available.
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