SQL. For those unfamiliar with this object, it defragments indexes in SQL Server 2005 using the ALTER INDEX command. Fragmented indexes will primarily slow down ‘search’ performance. Now we will see how to defrag indexes. Some things I've tried: Rebuilding the indexes: ALTER INDEX ALL ON dbo. index_type_desc AS IndexType, qs. Our Production instance is running SQL Server 2014. When auto-index defragmentation is enabled in Orion, databasemaintinence will sometimes fail to defragment highly fragmented indexes will get defragmented during the Orion database maintenance, which runs at 2:15 AM by default. These pages can get empty space on them and become out of order over time as well. He shows how to analyze indexes and, if necessary, how to go about reorganizing or rebuilding indexes. Review SQL Server script to rebuild all indexes for all tables and all databases tip. 0. While you are at it, by all means, use. avg_fragmentation_in_percent > 5 AND indexstats. The T-SQL below will shrink the data file to 3GB. If. We also checked the indexes of the tables that are accessed sequentially on process overview. For an example, see the SQL Server index and statistics. Leverage solutions such as Adaptive Index Defrag to automatically manage index defragmentation and statistics updates for one or more databases. 0. I've been tasked with performing defragmentation on all of the tables. SQL Defrag Manager offers a totally new way to identify, optimize, manage and automate SQL Server defragmentation. LesterDove, the problem may be your . Expand the Indexes. To reduce tempdb contention, divide the database file into multiple files of equal size. Database Console Command statements are grouped into the following categories. The procedure CommandExecute also has to be installed in order to use the index optimize. SQL Server 2000 introduces a new DBCC INDEXDEFRAG statement to defragment clustered and nonclustered indexes on tables and views. SQL Defrag Manager is a unique SQL Server index defragmentation solution that automates the time-consuming process of finding fragmented indexes based on parameters that you define within a policy for the targeted database. This mechanism allows defragmenting required indexes on a regular basis since index fragmentation takes place constantly in the 24/7 system. Only indexes with > 10,000 pages will be touched. You can use SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) or T-SQL to get started managing index fragmentation. Double Click on one of the SQL Statements. No matter how many times I run the script to defrag these records, I still have the same indexes to be defraged and most of them with the same. Reorganize/Rebuild SQL Server database indexes using ApexSQL Defrag ApexSQL Defrag is a 3rd party tool made specifically to automatically fix index fragmentation in SQL Server databases. Over time these indexes become fragmented so that ordered data retrieval becomes less efficient. HeapTest ( Id INT not NULL Default (1), Col1 char (5000) Not null Default ('Heaps Are Cool') ) SET NOCOUNT ON Insert into dbo. SQL Defrag Manager is a unique solution for defragmenting indexes for SQL Server. Thanks for the info on Showcontig and Index Defragmentation. Reference: Pinal Dave (I had some indexes on a table with around 700m rows that I couldn't defragment below around 30%. 0 databases. August 1, 2013 at 3:52 pm. For more information, see ALTER DATABASE (Transact-SQL). ) Then rerun the above free-space query again to see how the shrink worked: Free space after. Share. 1. Lock durations are short and will cause minimal blocking of queries. indexes. – Dave Mason. go. In order to test this scenario, we could use the other table we created earlier - Product_B. index_type_desc ,IPS. [name] as 'Schema', dbtables. To create SQL Server agent that will defragment specified indexes automatically, perform the following steps: Expand SQL Server Agent in Object explorer, right click on Jobs, and select New Job…: In General tab, specify the name and description for the job. I know that there are really three kinds of fragmentation that I need to be concerned about as a DBA: Index Fragmentation in the SQL data files, including clustered index (table) fragmentation. In that case, the Storage Engine creates a new, empty page and moves 50 % of the rows (usually, but not always) from the full page to the new page. DBCC INDEXDEFRAG (AdventureWorks2022, 'Production. Locking. It can be done with online option in enterprise edition. SQL Server A family of Microsoft relational database management and analysis systems for e-commerce, line-of-business, and data warehousing solutions. Between 10% and 30% – defragging the index with the REORGANIZE option is recommended. You have the option LOB_COMPACTION. dm_db_index_usage_stats WHERE database_id = DB_ID( 'YourDb') AND OBJECT_ID=OBJECT_ID('YourTable') select name as index_name, stats_date(. 00 am - Index defrag' : Step 1, 'run index defrag' : Began Executing 2012-06-27 02:00:05 DBCC: Defrag phase of index 'table1_pk_index' is 27% complete. Missed Connection: Employer Seeking Employee. List the Indexes. December 16, 2013 10:03 am. I took a look at its log and it looks like it hadn't even finished with the indices from the first table by the time I cancelled the job: Job '02. Like Ola's scripts, mine only defrag indexes that need it. What is Fragmentation. Clearing the plan cache causes recompilation of all later execution plans and may cause a sudden, temporary decrease in query performance. Here's one from MSDN:--This example shows a simple way to defragment all indexes in a database that is fragmented above a declared threshold. In this case Reorganize option is selected:Databases with no index defragmentation were an average of 5% fragmented. In 2016, auto update of stats have been enabled for most databases. #1637994. SQL Server then swaps these pages in a discrete transaction. Reorganizing an index only deals with the fragmentation that exists, and the more fragmentation there is, the longer a reorganize will take. After Defragmentation - Once the Azure non-clustered index has been. INSERT INTO [dbo]. Daily – 6% fragmented. It is very common to see big increase in performance after optimizing your SQL indexes. Azure SQL Database is a PaaS solution for migrating your on-premises databases to the Azure cloud infrastructure. I have created multiple. But only if the index is bigger than a small-thing (I forget exactly, but some really small tables appeared frag'd immediatly after reindex), and is more than 20% fragmentated. dm_db_index_physical_stats function is the preferred tool to use to check index fragmentation on any CA or DA database table. You have the options in the Plan for shrinking the database and defragging existing indexes. Example: Name: Indexrebuild_job; Description: RDS for SQL server agent job for index rebuild. Defragment indexes on your SQL SCCM database every night. 8. The above query is database specific. It's. Compression enabled on both. According to. SQL Server locks acquired with SQL Server online index rebuilds. 2 (X64). 11,485 questionsHow to monitor the status of index defragmentation jobs. dm_db_partition_stats and sys. Yup. On the right panel, right-click SQL Server Agent. Because you cannot make schema or data changes on the secondary databases, create indexes in the primary databases and allow the changes to transfer to the secondary database through. 16. For more details, we could refer to the following articles:I think you need index_id in the joins against sys. Larger indexes have more intermediate levels and pages. Having said that, fragmented data can produce unnecessary reads thereby reducing. ApexSQL Defrag can be easily used to connect to your SQL Server instance and analyze the index fragmentation percentage at the instance, database, or table levels. To optimize read-only workloads on the readable secondary replicas, you may want to create indexes on the tables in the secondary databases. The data of partitioned tables and indexes is divided into units that may be spread across more than one filegroup in a database or stored in a. alter index ci on t_ci reorganize -- measure the fragementation select avg_fragmentation_in_percent, avg_fragment_size_in_pages, fragment_count, avg_page_space_used_in_percentAWS Improving database optimization doc article provides information about Rebuild Indexes and Update Statistics. However I want advice whether it is required to setup the SQL Server Index and Statistics Maintenance scripts, because my SQL server is running on a SAN. Reorganizing an index defragments the leaf level of an index by physically re-ordering pages to match the logical order. Index fragments occur when any transaction takes place in database table. Custom SQL Server Index Defrag and Rebuild Procedures. The SQL Server Index and Statistics Maintenance part of Ola Hallengren’s solution consists of IndexOptmize stored procedure and IndexOptimize – USER_DATABASES agent job, that are created during the installation process. The method (not a trick), therefore, is to Create Clustered Index only for the purpose of de-fragmenting the Heap, and drop it afterward. SQL - defragmenting an index on a compressed table. dm_db_index_physical_stats system function. This index uses column-based data storage and query processing to achieve gains up to 10. The requirement is that we defragment indices (on SS2K tables that are log ship destination). There are three options to remove fragmentation in heaps: Create a clustered index and drop it once it is completed. However, over time, indexes will get fragmented, which can severely impact server performance. SQL Server allows us to create only one Clustered index per each table, as the data can be sorted in the table using one order criteria. Speaking for SQL Server, I tend to choose a index size and index fragmentation level at which point I begin performing index maintenance. Maintaining indexes is an ongoing and very responsible job assignment. Index names must follow the rules of identifiers. If you're looking for whenif the index was ever rebuilt, the Ola sp does have the ability to log to a table and the previous DBA hopefully utilized this feature. In the SQL Server index defrag Job Properties window, browse to the Notifications tab and check the box beside the Email to send email notification using the created Database Mail when the job failed or completed successfully to the operator, based on your requirements, then click OK to apply the change on the job, as below:. If the data isn't ordered inside the data (SQL) pages / extent, then that will result in more reads from the SQL Server side and SSD side of the equation. In this blog post, I’m going to discuss index fragmentation, several ways you can identify it, and why a more granular approach. The following example defragments all partitions of the PK_Product_ProductID index in the. SQL Server will by default perform a NOTRUNCATE which will move data pages from the end of the file to any free space at the beginning of the database data file. [name] as 'Index', indexstats. Failing that (ie Standard Edition etc), look at re-organizing indexes - these will keep them online. If you’re a production database administrator responsible for backups, corruption checking, and index maintenance on SQL Server, try Ola Hallengren’s free database maintenance scripts. 1. The length of time the rebuild takes is related to the size of the index, not the amount of fragmentation in it. As data is added to the table, the free space fills because the fill factor isn't maintained. A new window. -- Compute fragmentation information for all full-text indexes on the database SELECT c. Monthly – 17% fragmented. Index names must follow the rules of. Reorganize or rebuild an index SQL Server Management Studio. 2. We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. avg_fragmentation_in_percent, ips. Niko Neugebaeur is the go-to for in-depth columnstore tips, and in this post, he analyzes the online. Index reorg only shuffles around leaf-level pages of your index and will try to compact those - but it doesn't completely rebuild the index structure. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to start with analyzing the index and evaluating the degree of its fragmentation. SQL Defrag Manager enables database teams to be more productive while eliminating one source of potential performance problems. If you truly want to REBUILD, and you want to do it for ALL indexes on a given table, then the command would be (straight from the official docs that npe pointed you at): For more instructions see the official docs. Using SQL Server Managed Lock Priority for Online Index Rebuilds. select object_name(IPS. Rob Sheldon tackles the subject of Index Defragmentation in SQL Server 2005 and 2008, using the sys. 2. Make complete backup to a different partition. Link: Microsoft SQL. SQL Server 2005 and later provides a dynamic management function (DMF) to determine index fragmentation level. and a weekly rebuilding of indexes. The Ultimate Index Width Stats Reporter. This reversed the defragmentation step and gave them a database with nearly 100% fragmentation. dm_db_index_physical_stats ‘ Dynamic Management View (DMV). Google led me to discover a practice to defrag all indexes per table, but I can't figure out how to do it on all tables. If you truly want to REBUILD, and you want to do it for ALL indexes on a given table, then the command would be (straight from the official docs that npe pointed you at): For more instructions see the official docs. 2. Burt King. SQL Defrag Manager offers a totally new way to identify, optimize, manage and automate SQL Server defragmentation. One other item. So we defragment and build indexes twice a week. DBREINDEX = rebuild a copy of the index (es) from scratch. It's not free, so if you're. I'd consider doing a LOB_COMPACTION less frequently but both options comes down to your maintenance windows duration pretty much. Results still shows high fragmentation, even the application is only used for 2 to 3 days after defragmentation. If a particular index has been nominated as the clustering index for a table, then psql's d command will indicate the clustered index, e. create table dbo. Automate defragmentation policies to multiple databases, tables, and indexes. It can be turned on by using the in-app wizard in any version. SELECT CASE WHEN indexstats. record_count > 0 AND o. Yes, this is due to low page count. (Look in the Misconceptions blog category for the rest of the month’s posts and check out the 60-page PDF with all the myths and misconceptions blog posts collected together when you join our Insider list, plus my online Myths and Misconceptions. SQL will order its data file, but that is still subject to the OS's allocation of physical space for that file. On version 2019 it runs for over 30 minutes. According to the index performance value, users can take the indexes in maintenance by revising the fragmentation percentage with the help of Rebuild or Reorganize operation. This should be part of our SQL Server Maintenance jobs. Artemakis Artemiou. Select the Compact large object column data checkbox to specify that all pages that contain large object (LOB) data are also compacted. Kalman Toth, SQL Server & BI Training; SQL 2008 GRAND SLAM. This should not be a problem. Otherwise you could just reindex the lot, but you'll. The database will be shrunk leaving it. INDEXDEFRAG = defragments page by page. August 1, 2013 at 3:52 pm. An SQL index is a small and organized lookup table, allowing the SQL Server engine to quickly locate the requested rows of a database table without scanning the entire table. The SAMPLED mode returns statistics based on a 1 percent sample of all the pages in the index or heap. I want to defrag tables in sql server, I used this code to know the fragmented indexes: sELECT dbschemas. Everything worked fine. A starting point could be looking at the queries being executed on your server. However, each records will be updated at least 3 times afterwards. Lines 469-480 set up the dynamic SQL to rebuild the specified index for. If your table has a clustered index, the state of the index reflects the state of the table. This clause is equivalent to DBCC INDEXDEFRAG. (Look in the Misconceptions blog category for the rest of the month’s posts and check out the 60-page PDF with all the myths and misconceptions blog posts collected together when you join our Insider list, plus my online Myths and. Identify and remove index fragmentation – this is obviously what we have been talking until now and the biggest part of the SQL index maintenance. If you have fragmentation, you need to REBUILD or REORGANIZE. Any indexes above 50% in fragmentation percentages that affect more than 4000 rows are bad, and the system performance can significantly benefit from defragmenting the indexes. The application allows detailed index fragmentation analysis on server, database and table level. dm_ db_ index_ physical_ stats (in 2005+). In the heap tables, the absence of the clustered index means that the data. Defragment Indexes. With ApexSQL Defrag you can rebuild or reorganize fragmented indexes in real time, as well as create policies and apply them to multiple databases or servers. Basically, an index rebuild copies the index to another place. This setting is known as the fill factor. I'd consider doing a LOB_COMPACTION less frequently but both options comes down to your maintenance windows duration pretty much. We need to drag and drop tasks from the Toolbox (to open the toolbox use Ctrl + Alt + X) into the gray workspace area on the bottom as shown in the below screenshot. While you are at it, by all means, use FILLFACTOR, to reduce future fragmentation. Now understand that logical fragmentation is not introduction of free space or some kind of space between rows present in index. Hi @Boopathi Subramaniam , Thanks for posting in Microsoft Q&A forum. Then we can use contig [Filename] as shown below to defragment. Check indexes from the index grid and click desired defragment operation from the ribbon. As of version 2020. The next thing to know about index recommendations has to do with the keys in the index. Pre-allocate space for tempdb (approximately 20-25% of the size of MEM’s database) Set the file growth increment to a reasonable size. Leverage solutions such as Adaptive Index Defrag to automatically manage index defragmentation and statistics updates for one or more databases. Auto shrink is a database option that is used to conserve disk space. Improve this answer. Review Using SQL Server DMVs to Identify Missing Indexes tip. DM_DB_INDEX_PHYSICAL_STATS DMV displays fragmentation information for the data and indexes of the specified object. fulltext_index_fragments to query for the number of queryable fragments (status = 4 or 6) in the full-text index, as follows: SELECT table_id,. txt","contentType. Usage involves setting the following five parameters (technically, variables) at the top of the script: @DATABASE_NAME: set to whatever database you want to check for fragmented indexes. 1. Use DBCC INDEXDEFRAG to defragment an index. To work around a very large index that won't defragment, the BEST solution is to pre-size a new database and move all your objects to that DB. The operation only requires an intent-shared (IS) table lock. Here I use 4 conditions : 1. In enterpise edition of SQL server you can also rebuild index online (which is better than index defrag for performance) Yes. Now SQL have 4 threads to the database and not one. SQL DEFRAG MANAGER. This is great if the . This script does basic maintenance tasks on SUSDB: Identifies indexes that are fragmented, and defragments them. Now we will see how to defrag indexes. Azure Automation: Automate Azure SQL Database indexes and statistics maintenance. Microsoft recommends Index Rebuild operation to defrag indexes if the fragmentation level of your index is greater. name AS IndexName, qs. This to me would be a sign that constant rebuilds of that index actually aren't a good help. Hi, The widely used thresholds are: Reorganize if fragmentation is between 10-30%. Paul Randal. And if it is a clustered index, the entire table is copied. Defragment indexes on your SQL SCCM database every night. If it grows often, it could concievably become fragmented. Note that the time limit is checked BEFORE an index defrag begins, thus a long index defrag can exceed the time limit. 8. These commands are great, but you really need to collect the information and then. First of all you need to find the fragmentation percentage for the indexes in a database or table. Let’s use DBCC SHRINKDATABASE to reclaim the empty space. g. Note that PostgreSQL uses the term "clustered index" to use something vaguely similar and yet very different to SQL Server. You also can create a linked server to SQLAZURE and create a sql agent job. name AS IndexName, qs. The "index optimize" job created by Ola's install script focuses on defragmentation, not statistics update. You should always do some form of intelligent rebuilding - i. Yes, this means you implementing things such as the built in index maintenance tasks in SQL Server 2014+, Adaptive Index Defrag, and Ola’s Maintenance Scripts are pretty much worthless at best and downright disastrous at worst. Our DBs are 24/7, so we need a minimally-invasive strategy. Chad Boyd. There are two types of fragmentation: Internal Fragmentation and External Fragmentation. Fortunately, like Windows 7, Server 2008 can on a schedule defrag. name AS [IndexName] ,IPS. avg_fragmentation_in_percent <= 30 THEN 'ALTER INDEX [' + ind. Daily – 6% fragmented. dm_db_index_physical_stats. Option 1: [/u] You can either perform rebuild/defrag indexes on existing box before do the full backup. Based on the query analysis output, rebuilding or reorganization of indexes must be done. There are several options that allow you to specify the level of. A non-clustered index is the other main type of index used in SQL Server. dm_db_index_physical_stats there you can detect fragmentation in a specific index, all indexes on a table or indexed view, all indexes in a database, or all indexes in all databases. It has been proven that Online Index Rebuild – Can Cause Increased Fragmentation when it is allowed to run with MAX DOP > 1 and ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS = OFF directives. In addition,. Hello Marcos, I can't confirm this. The best recommendation I have is to create your own procedure which loops through the tables of the database and runs DBCC INDEXDEFRAG. It’s advisable to remove those often. This puts unnecessary pressure on the buffer pool and also negatively impacts. Reorganize indexes in a table using Transact-SQL. He makes the point that, by analyzing indexes effectively, you can save a lot of. I would run it every night, personally, as a general rule. SELECT ips. This job needs to be scheduled and ran on a weekly basis due to large data load. SQL Server index. alloc_unit_type_desc FROM sys. Coworker started REBUILD on both tables. Otherwise, nothing special. You can use SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) or T-SQL to get started managing index fragmentation. For more, read my post: Stop Worrying About Index Fragmentation. dm_db_index_physical_stats in SQL Server 2005 and later. physical defragmentation by orders of magnitude. This script has been tested and will work with SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008, SQL Server 2008R2, SQL Server 2012, SQL Server 2014, SQL Server 2016, SQL Server 2017 and SQL Server 2019. Veritas now uses the heavily debated command DBCC SHOWCONTIG WITH ALL_INDEXES,or DBCC SHOWCONTIG WITH ALL_INDEXES,tableresults (Table results will give you a table format to read) to. Below is the output of database data file size and. ApexSQL Defrag is an enterprise SQL Server tool which is used for monitoring, analyzing and managing SQL Server index defragmentation which works down to a single index. Enter a Name and Description for the agent job, and then select OK. 3. Select * from sys. 7, on any database context you choose to create the usp_AdaptiveIndexDefrag and its supporting objects, open the attached script, and. Dropping the clustered index turns the table into a. Indexes with small number of pages (<1000) will usually. The method (not a trick), therefore, is to Create Clustered Index only for the purpose of de-fragmenting the Heap, and drop it afterward. This should be part of our SQL Server Maintenance jobs. A SQL Server DBA myth a day: (29/30) fixing heap fragmentation. I figured, the reason was because of the page_count, which was lower than 1000 for each of the indexes that were still very fragmented. It creates a thread that runs periodically to detect when the database has more than 25% free disk space allocated to it. SQL will order its data file, but that is still subject to the OS's allocation of physical space for that file. This job needs to be scheduled and ran on a weekly basis due to. There are two types of fragmentation: Internal Fragmentation and External Fragmentation. 8. This tool provides index analysis to manage index defragmentation, including rebuild and reorganize fragmented indexes . Often, this is not enough to perform index. dm_db_index_physical_stats system function. Expand the table on which you want to reorganize an index. 1. Paul’s answer to the question was very practical and dealt with the wasted space utilization that excessive index fragmentation can cause in a database that uses a uniqueidentifier column with newid () as the primary key, and given the cost per gigabyte for SSD storage this could be quite significant. DON’T: Update records to make them longer. To improve the clustering of pages, rebuild the index. Although possibly related with a very small database as suggested in other response, the problem is more likely tied to the FILLFACTOR. A proper query analysis plan has to be built and followed. Enter single user mode. In addition, SQL Server offers several different ways to perform index defragmentation. Indexes play a critical role in SQL Server query performance. Right click the index, click Properties, then click Fragmentation to see the fragmentation and page fullness percentages. Veritas now uses the heavily debated command DBCC SHOWCONTIG WITH ALL_INDEXES,or DBCC SHOWCONTIG WITH ALL_INDEXES,tableresults (Table results will give you a table format to read) to monitor the health of the table indexes when the use of the sys. Creating a SQL Server Maintenance Plan. HSQLDB version 1. 0The Transact-SQL programming language provides DBCC statements that act as Database Console Commands for SQL Server. It can be turned on by using the in-app wizard in any version. Monthly – 17% fragmented. Sc (Comp Sci) SQL In The Wild : Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability We walk in the dark places no others. Fragmentation may become significant in tables with more than 1000 pages in them. When the rebuild is finished, SQL Server deletes the original clustered columnstore index. In the CREATE INDEX to can tell SQL Server to sort in TempDB vs. Or with other fill factors I tested: - Setting a Fill factor of 80 on the clustered index (Fragmentation > 98%. dm_db_index_physical_stats in SQL Server 2005 and later. 2005, but if you read around the 'net you'll find many more references to choose to rebuild your indexes via the ALTER INDEX command, which is new for SQL Server 2005. The minimum permission to create/alter index can be easily found in corresponding BOL articles CREATE INDEX (Transact-SQL) and ALTER INDEX (Transact-SQL):. Expand the specific table. There's a Runbook in the Gallery just for that:Hi any body help to tell me how to create a Procedure to defrag index on a daily basis in MS SQL Server 2000. Between 10% and 30% – defragging the index with the REORGANIZE option is recommended. if the index has: less than 5% logical fragmentation, don’t do anything. (You could even go with 0% if you want. [index_id] , idx. [name] , ips. SQL Server 2005 Index Fragmentation. Check the comment header block for its documentation. SELECT OBJECT_NAME (fq. In SQL 2005, you can query DMV sys. Rebuild does not drop and recreate the clustered index. SELECT OBJECT_NAME (fq. This article serves as a guide as to how to automate and schedule SQL Server index defragmentation, and covers three different ways of doing it. 16 years ago. It was noticed that the data has high fragmentation. Index fragmentation is when the pages are not contiguous, and thus the disk access requires more operations. The database is using the SIMPLE recovery model. You can also change this threshold via parameters. I'd rebuild stats every night at least. @dbScope specifies a database name to defrag. It is designed. mdf file size: your disk have to have space to re-allocate a 35-gig file, in order to defragment it. Index automation Job script. Defragmentation utilities may lock sections of the file, preventing SQL Server from completing a read or write operation. avg_fragmentation_in_percent as Fragmentation, indexstats. He makes the point that, by analyzing indexes effectively, you can save a lot of unnecessary rebuilding of indexes. Coworker started REBUILD on both tables. The only way to get rid of this fragmentation is to rebuild both the non-clustered index and the clustered index. Similar to its clustered index counterpart, the index key columns are stored in a B-tree structure except in this case the actual data is not stored in the leaf nodes. When creating a SQL Server index, there is an option to create the index with a certain amount of free space on each data page. 0. The best SQL Defrag Manager alternative is dbForge Index Manager for SQL Server. This is because the doc set was reorganized for the SQL Server 2012 release, and not all topics/categories made it. page_count FROM sys. I have a plan that I am not sure will work: Normally defrag the partition while the service is still running until the only fragmented files are the database files. between 5% and 30% logical fragmentation, reorganize it (using DBCC INDEXDEFRAG. ApexSQL Defrag tool is a 3 rd party SQL index defragmentation tool that you can easily use to perform number of operations related to the SQL Server indexes. USE DatabaseName –Need to Specify the User Database Name. This REBUILD option is available in SQL Server 2008 onwards. Remarks. Two additional methods to defragment physical database and log files are backup/restore or detach-move-attach, and both require down-time. 1. If avg_fragmentation_in_percent value is > 5% and < = 30% then you should Reorganize Index. Sure, the database files are still in access by the running Sql Server service, but it is possible to defrag them and it takes effect. 4 Answers. The maintenance plan. Over time these indexes become fragmented so that ordered data retrieval becomes less efficient. Online vs offline SQL Server index rebuild in SQL Server. How Defragmentation Improves Performance. Database size was ~66GB. NAME + '] ON [' + Object_name(ind. You can't do online index rebuilds. #1637994. Hi, The widely used thresholds are: Reorganize if fragmentation is between 10-30%. If it grows often, it could concievably become fragmented.