Expert Performance Indexing in Azure SQL and SQL Server 2022: Toward Faster Results and Lower Maintenance Both on Premises and in the Cloud

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to APress Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2023

E. Pollack, J. StrateExpert Performance Indexing in Azure SQL and SQL Server 2022https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-9215-0_5

5. Index Metadata and Statistics

Edward Pollack¹   and Jason Strate²

(1)

Albany, NY, USA

(2)

Hugo, MN, USA

 

With an understanding of the logical and physical fundamentals of indexes, the metadata that describes how indexes function can be discussed. These statistics provide insight into how SQL Server manages and uses indexes. It also provides the information needed to determine why an index may or may not be selected and how it is behaving. This chapter will provide a deeper understanding about where and how this information is collected. ...