In this article, we’ll discuss about the difference between clustered indexes and nonclustered indexes with SQL Server.
The clustered index is an internal data structure that stores all the records in a table. It is also called the primary key because each record has its unique identifier stored in the first column of the row. By the end of this article hopefully I will have answered the question of the difference of the clustered index vs nonclustered index with sql server.
When I am performing local development, on occasion I need a lot of data populated in attempt to test certain features with – what I consider – an insane amount of data in my MSSQL database. During this process I often create the data then proceed to delete the data. When perform mass inserts and deletes, it is easy for your database indexes to become fragmented. Here is a handy tool that will rebuild all database indexes on your database. In case you need a refresher, I’ve previously written about the importance of database indexing.
If you are not familiar with database indexes or even if you are, but not sure when to use them, this article will be perfect for you.
In this article, I will show you an example of a simple query without an index and then that same query again with the index. I am certain that you will be shocked by the difference.