Index Design Guidelines
SQL Server indexes are mostly transparent to end users and T-SQL developers. Indexes are typically not specified in queries unless the user uses table hints to force the optimizer to use a particular index (although this is not advised—optimizer table hints will be covered in more detail in Chapter 35). Normally, based on the index key histogram values, the SQL Server cost-based optimizer chooses the index that is least expensive from an I/O standpoint.
Chapter 35 goes into greater detail on how the optimizer estimates I/O and determines the most efficient query plan. In the meantime, this section presents some of the main guidelines to follow to create useful indexes within your environment that the optimizer can use ...
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