Featured resource
2026 Tech Forecast
2026 Tech Forecast

Stay ahead of what’s next in tech with predictions from 1,500+ business leaders, insiders, and Pluralsight Authors.

Get these insights
  • Course

SQL Server: Index Fragmentation Internals, Analysis, and Solutions

Index fragmentation is an inescapable part of any SQL Server environment, no matter which version of SQL Server you're using or what hardware or I/O subsystem you have, and this comprehensive course will give you all the information you need to properly understand and deal with it, applicable to anyone responsible for SQL Server, from SQL Server 2005 onward.

Intermediate
2h 39m
(292)

Created by Paul Randal

Last Updated Nov 01, 2023

Course Thumbnail
  • Course

SQL Server: Index Fragmentation Internals, Analysis, and Solutions

Index fragmentation is an inescapable part of any SQL Server environment, no matter which version of SQL Server you're using or what hardware or I/O subsystem you have, and this comprehensive course will give you all the information you need to properly understand and deal with it, applicable to anyone responsible for SQL Server, from SQL Server 2005 onward.

Intermediate
2h 39m
(292)

Created by Paul Randal

Last Updated Nov 01, 2023

Get started today

Access this course and other top-rated tech content with one of our business plans.

Try this course for free

Access this course and other top-rated tech content with one of our individual plans.

This course is included in the libraries shown below:

  • Data
What you'll learn

You cannot escape index fragmentation in any SQL Server environment, no matter which version of SQL Server you're using or what hardware or I/O subsystem you have, and it can be detrimental to performance in many ways. In this comprehensive course, you will learn everything you need to know about index fragmentation, including why it's a problem, how it happens, how to detect it, how to avoid it, and how to remove it. The course is applicable to anyone responsible for SQL Server performance, including developers, DBAs, and architects. All course demos are shown on SQL Server 2014 with references to behaviors (where different) on all versions. Strategies for index fragmentation prevention, mitigation, and removal that you will learn in the course apply to SQL Server 2005 onward.

SQL Server: Index Fragmentation Internals, Analysis, and Solutions
Intermediate
2h 39m
(292)
Table of contents

About the author
Paul Randal - Pluralsight course - SQL Server: Index Fragmentation Internals, Analysis, and Solutions
Paul Randal
9 courses 4.7 author rating 3219 ratings

Paul is the CEO of SQLskills.com, a Microsoft Regional Director and a SQL Server MVP. He worked on the SQL Server Storage Engine team at Microsoft from 1999 to 2007. Among other things, he wrote DBCC CHECKDB/repair for SQL Server 2005 and was responsible for the Core Storage Engine during SQL Server 2008 development.

Get started with Pluralsight