As I wrote my post about installing the latest version of SSDT I realized that my homework posts missed something important at the start. It’s pointless to ask someone to create a table when they don’t have someplace to do it.

There is no need to go as far as David Klee (b/t) and his home lab. For our purposes a cheap laptop (mine cost me $300 about 3 years ago) with one or more SQL Server instances and of course SSMS and SSDT is good enough.

So no grade this month but it’s time to set up your home lab.

• Install SSDT (SQL Server Data Tools)
• Install SSMS (SQL Server Management Studio)
• Install SQL Server Developer Edition (I generally recommend a case sensitive environment.

 
There is no cost for any of this, other than as I said, the cost of a cheap laptop and maybe a few hours of labor.

You can, of course, go the other direction and build something like David (and this is an old picture, it’s gotten more impressive since).

Or you can go somewhere in between. It’s entirely up to you.

One of the best things you can do for your career is to set yourself up a home lab. So while there is no grade on this assignment it’s still vitally important.