No Clustered Index

Tables without a clustered index are known as heaps, and they often suffer from inefficient data access and increased fragmentation. Aireforge helps by identifying tables that could benefit from promoting an existing index (e.g., a primary key, identity column, or unique index) to a clustered index, which improves performance for both read and write operations.

How Aireforge Detects the Need for a Clustered Index

Aireforge scans tables and indexes to recommend promoting to clustered index in the following scenarios:

  1. Primary Key: If the table has a primary key but no clustered index, Aireforge recommends converting it to a clustered primary key.
  2. Identity Column: If the table contains an identity column, Aireforge suggests creating a clustered index on that column.
  3. Unique Index: If a unique index is found, Aireforge recommends converting it into a clustered unique index.

If none of these conditions apply, Aireforge will flag the table as having no clustered index but may not provide a specific recommendation.

Suggested Action

  • Primary Key Detected: Convert the primary key to a clustered index.
  • Identity Column Detected: Create a clustered index on the identity column.
  • Unique Index Detected: Convert the unique index to a clustered unique index.
  • No Index Detected: Consider reviewing the table for an appropriate candidate for a clustered index.

How to Create a Clustered Index in SQL Server

CREATE CLUSTERED INDEX IX_ClusteredIndexName
ON TableName (ColumnName);
GO

This will help organize the data physically and improve performance.

Further Reading

SQL Server and Azure SQL Index Architecture and Design Guide | Microsoft Docs

SQL Server Index Optimization | Aireforge