Indexes
Improving Query Performance in SQL Server
Dean Smith
Founder, Atamai Analytics
What is an index?
- Structure to improve speed of accessing data from a table
- Used to locate data quickly without having to scan the entire table
- Useful for improving performance of queries with filter conditions
- Applied to table columns
- Typically added by a database administrator
Clustered and nonclustered indexes
Clustered Index
- Analogy : dictionary
- Table data pages are ordered by the column(s) with the index
- Only one allowed per table
- Speeds up search operations
Clustered and nonclustered indexes
Clustered Index
- Analogy : dictionary
- Table data pages are ordered by the column(s) with the index
- Only one allowed per table
- Speeds up search operations
Non-clustered Index
- Analogy: text book with an index at the back
- Structure contains an ordered layer of index pointers to unordered table data pages
- A table can have more than one
- Improves insert and update operations
Clustered index: B-tree structure
- ROOT NODE
- BRANCH NODES
- PAGE NODES
Clustered index: B-tree structure
ROOT NODE:
A G O W
BRANCH NODES:
A B E F G H J K O P S T
PAGE NODES:
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4
Index Column |... Index Column |... Index Column | ... Index Column | ...
A | ... E | ... I | ... M | ...
B | ... F | ... J | ... N | ...
C | ... G | ... K | ... O | ...
D | ... H | ... L | ... P | ...
... ... ... ...
Customers table without clustered index
SELECT *
FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerID = "PARIS"
PAGE NODES:
Page 1
CustomerID |...
ALFKI | ...
ANATR | ...
BLONP | ...
BSBEV | ...
...
Customers table without clustered index
SELECT *
FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerID = "PARIS"
PAGE NODES:
Page 1 Page 2
CustomerID |... CustomerID|...
ALFKI | ... FOLIG | ...
ANATR | ... FRANK | ...
BLONP | ... GALED | ...
BSBEV | ... GREAL | ...
... ...
Customers table without clustered index
SELECT *
FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerID = "PARIS"
PAGE NODES:
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3
CustomerID |... CustomerID|... CustomerID | ...
ALFKI | ... FOLIG | ... LILAS | ...
ANATR | ... FRANK | ... LINOD | ...
BLONP | ... GALED | ... MEREP | ...
BSBEV | ... GREAL | ... MORGK | ...
... ... ...
Customers table without clustered index
SELECT *
FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerID = "PARIS"
PAGE NODES:
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4
CustomerID |... CustomerID|... CustomerID | ... CustomerID | ...
ALFKI | ... FOLIG | ... LILAS | ... OCEAN | ...
ANATR | ... FRANK | ... LINOD | ... PARIS | ...
BLONP | ... GALED | ... MEREP | ...
BSBEV | ... GREAL | ... MORGK | ...
... ... ... ...
Customers table with clustered index
SELECT *
FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerID = "PARIS"
ROOT NODE:
ALFKI FOLIG OLDWO WOLZA
BRANCH NODES:
ALFKI BONAP DRACD FISSA FOLIG GALED LILAS NORTS OCEAN OLDWO QUICK WOLZA
PAGE NODES:
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4
CustomerID |... CustomerID|... CustomerID | ... CustomerID | ...
ALFKI | ... FOLIG | ... LILAS | ... OCEAN | ...
ANATR | ... FRANK | ... LINOD | ... PARIS | ...
BLONP | ... GALED | ... MEREP | ... PICCO | ...
BSBEV | ... GREAL | ... MORGK | ... QUICK | ...
... ... ... ...
Customers table with clustered index
SELECT *
FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerID = "PARIS"
ROOT NODE:
OLDWO WOLZA
BRANCH NODES:
ALFKI BONAP DRACD FISSA FOLIG GALED LILAS NORTS OCEAN OLDWO QUICK WOLZA
PAGE NODES:
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4
CustomerID |... CustomerID|... CustomerID | ... CustomerID | ...
ALFKI | ... FOLIG | ... LILAS | ... OCEAN | ...
ANATR | ... FRANK | ... LINOD | ... PARIS | ...
BLONP | ... GALED | ... MEREP | ... PICCO | ...
BSBEV | ... GREAL | ... MORGK | ... QUICK | ...
... ... ... ...
Customers table with clustered index
SELECT *
FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerID = "PARIS"
ROOT NODE:
OLDWO WOLZA
BRANCH NODES:
OLDWO QUICK
PAGE NODES:
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4
CustomerID |... CustomerID|... CustomerID | ... CustomerID | ...
ALFKI | ... FOLIG | ... LILAS | ... OCEAN | ...
ANATR | ... FRANK | ... LINOD | ... PARIS | ...
BLONP | ... GALED | ... MEREP | ... PICCO | ...
BSBEV | ... GREAL | ... MORGK | ... QUICK | ...
... ... ... ...
Customers table with clustered index
SELECT *
FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerID = "PARIS"
ROOT NODE:
OLDWO WOLZA
BRANCH NODES:
OLDWO QUICK
PAGE NODES:
Page 4
CustomerID | ...
OCEAN | ...
PARIS | ...
PICCO | ...
QUICK | ...
...
Customers table with clustered index
SELECT *
FROM Customers
WHERE CustomerID = "PARIS"
ROOT NODE:
OLDWO WOLZA
BRANCH NODES:
OLDWO QUICK
PAGE NODES:
Page 4
CustomerID | ...
PARIS | ...
Clustered index: example
SET STATISTICS IO ON
SELECT *
FROM PlayerStats
WHERE Team = 'OKC'
PlayerStats table with no index
Table 'PlayerStats'. ..., logical reads 12, ...
PlayerStats table with clustered index on Team
Table 'PlayerStats'. ..., logical reads 2, ...
Let's practice!
Improving Query Performance in SQL Server
