Wednesday, August 1, 2012

What is the difference between Clustered and Non-Clustered Index?

Clustered Index
 - describes the order wherein the records are physically stored
 - only one per table
 - faster to read as data is physically stored in index order
 - to enhance insert & update, clustered indexes should be set on a field that is normally incremental i.e. Id or Timestamp

Non Clustered Index
 - defines a logical order that does not match the physical order on disk
 - can be used many times per table
 - quicker for insert and update operations than a clustered index

No comments :