Chapter 14Indexing Your Database

WHAT'S IN THIS CHAPTER?

  • Getting to know the index-related features available in SQL Server 2014 and previous versions
  • Understanding how partitioned tables and indexes enable your databases to be more manageable and scalable
  • Implementing partitioned tables and indexes
  • Maintaining and tuning indexes

One of the most important functions of Production DBAs is to ensure that query times are consistent with Service-Level Agreements (SLAs) or within user expectations. One of the most effective techniques to improve query performance is to create indexes.

Query performance is generally measured by the amount of time the query takes to run, and the amount of work and resources it consumes. Long-running and expensive queries consume resources over an extended period of time, and may slow down or cause applications, reports, and other database operations to time out.

For this reason, understanding what indexing features are available in SQL Server 2014 and how to implement them is essential to any Production DBA.

This chapter offers an overview of the indexing-related features available in SQL Server 2014, including the newest features for columnstore indexes (clustered and updatable), which can greatly enhance the features introduced in SQL Server 2012.

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