Leeland (9/21/2012)
Also, based on BOL, it says that sp_udatestats won't re-update the same stats just updated when a ALTER INDEX - REBUILD command occurs...but I can't find that same claim against UPDATE STATISTICS...Would you say it is safe to assume that the same logic would hold true for UPDATE STATISTICS?
No, it is not.
If that is the case would it be advisable to:
Blanket run UPDATE STATISTICS WITH FULLSCAN, ALL (which I would presume would do a full scan against each column in the table that had NOT already had the stats updated with the index rebuild)
UPDATE STATISTICS WITH FULLSCAN, ALL will update every single statistic regardless of when it was last updated. There's no checks for staleness at all (and all sp_updatestats does is check to see if a single row has changed)
As for what to do, depends on the size of the database and the size of the maintenance windows. If you have the time to blanket rebuild every single index and blanket update every single statistic, go ahead. It's when you don't that you have to get smart about selective rebuilds and selective stats updates.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability