curious_sqldba (7/23/2013)
i) if a table has no clustered index and has non-clustered indices, do i need to compress the table first and then the nc indices?
Depends. Do you want the table and the nonclustered indexes compressed? If so, you have to compress the table and the nonclustered indexes. Order is irrelevant, but to be honest it's probably fastest to disable the nonclustered indexes, compress the table then rebuild the nonclustered indexes with compression. Otherwise they all get rebuilt twice.
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