SQL Server Indexing for Developers and DBAs

SQL Server indexes not working as expected? Learn how they really work and how to design effective ones.

Course Summary

Need to know any of the following? Need to fix the situation fast?

How SQL Server indexes work
How to design SQL Server indexes
Why SQL Server seems to be ignoring the indexes that you designed
How data type choices affect indexes
If filtered indexes would work better in your application
How to check whether or not SQL Server “likes” your index
How to avoid having too many indexes
Which indexes you can remove

If so, this course is for you! And as well as detailed instruction, the course also offers optional practical exercises and quizzes to reinforce your learning.

Enroll now for $195 USD !

Modules and Lessons

Module 0: Getting started

Who is this course for?
Who is Greg?
Why focus on indexing?
What will I learn in this course?
Configuring your lab environment

Module 1: Core indexing concepts

Why index at all?
Most common index types
Specialty index types
Introduction to PopkornKraze

Module 2: Table and index structures

Files, extents, and pages
What is a heap?
Tables as heaps
What is a clustered index?
Tables with clustered indexes
Non-clustered indexes
Non-clustered indexes over heaps
Non-clustered indexes over clustered indexes
Lab 2: Table and index structures
Lab 2: Answers
Quiz 2: Table and index structures

Module 3: Indexing for constraints

Primary keys
Default structure for primary keys
Unique constraints
Foreign keys
Lab 3: Indexing for constraints
Lab 3: Answers
Quiz 3: Indexing for constraints

Module 4: Covering queries with indexes

Lookups
Cost of lookups
Covering indexes
Included columns
Notes on included columns
Clustering key as an included column
Indexes for queries that join multiple tables
Lab 4: Covering queries with indexes
Lab 4: Answers
Quiz 4: Covering queries with indexes

Module 5: Clustering keys and data types

Choosing a clustering key
Integers and big integers
Identity columns
Sequences
String values
Bits (boolean values)
Filtered indexes
Unique identifiers (GUIDs)
Lab 5: Clustering keys and data types
Lab 5: Answers
Quiz 5: Clustering keys and data types

Module 6: Index characteristics

Index selectivity and density
Column order within an index
Ascending vs descending
Index uniqueness
Index depth
Statistics
Index fragmentation
Heap fragmentation
FILLFACTOR and PAD_INDEX
Lab 6: Index characteristics
Lab 6: Answers
Quiz 6: Index characteristics

Module 7: Indexing design strategies

Reasonable starting point
Tracing and analyzing workloads
Missing indexes - DTA
Missing indexes - DMVs
Indexed views
Lab 7: Index design strategies
Lab 7: Answers
Quiz 7: Index design strategies

Module 8: Rationalizing indexes

Unused indexes
Duplicate and subset indexes
Merge covering indexes
Lab 8: Rationalizing indexes
Lab 8: Answers
Quiz 8: Rationalizing indexes

Module 9: Next steps

Summary and further steps

Enroll now for $195 USD !