Missing Indexes in SQL Server 2005

Determining which columns to index in a table used to be a very time consuming process that was as much art as science. New author Ranga Narasimhan brings us an article that shows how SQL Server 2005 makes this much easier.

Moving Indexes

Working with filegroups and managing the location of your various objects can be a cumbersome task in SQL Server. New author Thom Bolin brings us a technique and some code that worked well for one of his clients.

2005 unused indexes v3

shows index usage.

Should I Use a UNIQUE Constraint or a Unique Index in SQL Server?

I am modifying a table and I need to add a column that must be defined as being unique. I see that SQL Server allows you to define a UNIQUE constraint on a column but I also see that you can create a unique index on a column. Which one should I use?

Index covering

Update Stats with Reindex

disable/enable indexes for table

This procedure disables or rebuilds indexes for a given tablename

Index Metadata and Statistics Update Date for SQL Server

Statistics update date is stored as metadata on the SQL instance, but after a great deal of research against the system tables and DMVs I realized that this information is not readily exposed to the DBA via any other method than the STATS_DATE() function or the SQL Server Management Studio graphical user interface (GUI).

The Ultimate Missing Index Finder

Reports stats on what the query optimizer records in the DMVs as missing indexes and what it says the cost savings will be if they were present. Can limit by table / schema name patterns.

The Ultimate Prospective-Index Column(s) Selectivity Analyzer

Gets single-column and cumulative-column selectivity stats and @Top largest dupe sets for each cumulative column stepping for a set of one or more columns for a table.