In the previous episode we discussed the basics of using indexes, what they are, how to use them, along with some common problems and solutions. One of the problems you will certainly face as time passes is index fragmentation. While indexes will certainly help your database perform well, they do require care and feeding--meaning there is some administrative overhead.

In this episode, we continue our conversation with Randolph West and discuss what we can do to take care of indexes and keep them well maintained over time. There is an option to use default maintenance plans and to do fragmentation and updating statistics, but should you use them? What are the alternatives? We didn’t forget to consider strategies for deciding which indexes to keep and which can be dropped.

The shownotes for today’s episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2017/02/08/episode-82-indexes-part-2/ and have fun on the SQL trail.

Cosmic Threads: Discovering the Universe's Hidden Matter in Hot Gas Filaments