SQL Server Index Checklist

Indexing a SQL Server database in some respects is considered both an art and a science. Since this is the case, what are some considerations when designing indexes for a new database or an existing one in production? Are these the same types of steps or not? Do any best practices really exist when it comes to indexing? Where does indexing fall in the priority list from an application or production support perspective?

Statistics and Indexes

When is it okay to let SQL Server to make a statistic for columns in your queries, and when should you take those statistics and make an index out of them? What I do is to test all of my procs, and if they generate system statistics (_WA_SYS%), then I add an index to the table for the column in the statistic. But is this a good practice?

SQL Server non-clustered indexes for query optimization

Optimize SQL Server non-clustered indexes and queries by considering index fields, compound indexes and SQL Server statistics' impact on non-clustered indexes.

IndexProperty

Using Included Columns in SQL Server 2005

One of the new features found in SQL Server 2005 is the ability to add additional columns, called Included Columns, to a non-clustered index. This article will explain the advantages of using included columns and what impact they will have on your database.

Generate index on foreign key columns

Script find all foreign key without index in database and create new one for them.

SQL Server clustered index design for performance

Find why SQL Server clustered index design should be narrow and static and how clustered indexes affect many-to-many tables to improve database performance.

SQL Server Indexes: The Basics

Indexes directly affect the performance of database applications. This article uses analogies to describe how indexes work. The estimated execution plan feature of the Query Window is utilized to compare the performance of two queries in a batch.

Generate Create FK-indexes

Generate create statements for missing FK indexes, based on DRI

Prioritize Missing Index Recommendations 2 (2005)

This is an enhanced version of my previous script: Prioritize Missing Index Recommendations (2005).To aid in evaluation of whether the recommended index is reasonable, I have added :1. counts for key columns and the total columns of the recommended index  2. the length/bytes for both key and all columns  Note this is 'per row', not […]