Partitioned tables
As SQL Server is used to store more and more data, management of very large databases becomes a bigger concern for DBAs. First, the time to perform operations such as an index rebuild grows with the data size, and eventually this can affect system availability. Second, the size of large tables makes performing operations difficult because the system is often strained for resources, such as temp space, log space, and physical memory. Table and index partitioning can help you manage large databases better and minimize downtime.
Physically, partitioned tables and indexes are really N tables or indexes that store a fraction of the rows. When comparing this to their nonpartitioned equivalents, the difference in the plan is often that ...
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