It depends on the degree of fragmentation of Indexes. DBCC DBReIndex – 356610 ms (357 secs or just under 6 minutes to complete). The defragmentation schedule must be created manually in all versions. SQL Defrag Manager is described as 'Find and Fix SQL Fragmentation' and is a Defrag tool in the development category. index : will run only index. This schema modification lock blocks all other concurrent access to the table, but it is only held for a very short period of time while the old index is dropped and the statistics updated. To correct index fragmentation, you can reorganize an index or rebuild an. So let’s take one thing at a time. 1 Answer. @tblName specifies if you only want to defrag indexes for a specific table. It has its own disk space and is arranged in a B-tree structure. I've been tasked with performing defragmentation on all of the tables. I have been trying to defrag indexes in SQL Server 2005 and nothing seems to work. Also look at defragmenting the tables and indexes using DBCC commands. Like SQL Server Management Studio, you run Tuning Advisor from a client computer that connects to your Amazon. 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. OBJECT_ID) AS TableName, fq. This is other myth which needs attention. You can also change this threshold via parameters. The maintenance plan. MDF is contiguous on disk. 3. Try this code, This will defragment your all indexes based on the fragmentation level. Monthly – 17% fragmented. To create a linked server to azure, you can see this SO link:I need to add a linked server to a MS Azure SQL Server SQL SERVER – Fragmentation – Detect Fragmentation and Eliminate Fragmentation SQL SERVER – 2005 – Display Fragmentation Information of Data and Indexes of Database Table SQL SERVER – De-fragmentation of Database at Operating System to Improve Performance. page_count FROM sys. The method (not a trick), therefore, is to Create Clustered Index only for the purpose of de-fragmenting the Heap, and drop it afterward. 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. As data is added to the table, the free space fills because the fill factor isn't maintained. The DBCC SHOWCONTIG statement traverses the page chain at the leaf level of the specified index when index_id is specified. MyTable. Fortunately, like Windows 7, Server 2008 can on a schedule defrag. Try one of the queries below and see if that is what you are looking for: SELECT OBJECT_NAME(OBJECT_ID) AS DatabaseName, last_system_update,* FROM sys. Consequently, the fragmentation adversely affects the performance of SQL Server. Value : 1. There are two types of fragmentation: Internal Fragmentation and External Fragmentation. SELECT CASE WHEN indexstats. SQL Sentry Fragmentation Manager helps you make intelligent decisions about index management based on the table and index information collected. The issue was not enough contiguous free space inside the database to arrange the index consecutively. The wise use of indexes is a proven method of improving database performance. 0. It will do: Nothing if the fragmentation level is below 5%;. Since we updated from SQL Server 2008 to 2019, the queries have become much slower. Reorganizing an index defragments the leaf level of an index by physically re-ordering pages to match the logical order. Hello Marcos, I can't confirm this. In a perfect world our C drive would be optimally configured, almost static, but in the real world we often have many files on the C drive including system databases, log files, BCP files etc. . The execute sql task should contain the index rebuild code along with stats rebuild . Expand the table on which you want to reorganize an index. 4 Answers. 2 (X64). Index defragmentation is a part of Microsoft SQL Server maintenance where the index of database engine indexes of insert, update and delete operations is optimized to reduce fragmentation. create table dbo. Heaps will show up in your contig reports, and you can see the fragmentation percentage along with the other index frag stats. The datafile. 1. With both SQL 2000 and SQL 2005 and later versions you can get the fragmentation information by using the DBCC SHOWCONTIG command. It does exactly that if ON. Mar 8, 2021, 2:47 PM. For database optimization, we recommend using an index and statistics maintenance script. The requirement is that we defragment indices (on SS2K tables that are log ship destination). You can specify a location where you'd like to store the results of the stats check off indexes. Everything worked fine. 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. SQL Server then swaps these pages in a discrete transaction. Reorganize: Reorganize indexes with between 11-30 percent fragmentation. In this article, I will provide a mechanism for automating SQL Server index defragmentation implemented in a database used in the company I work for. In our previous blog post, we got to know, how to find out all fragmented indexes in a database. VLF Fragmentation inside of SQL Log files. Index names must be unique within a table or view but don't have to be unique within a database. From what we can tell, SQL Server does not conduct any internal maintenance on the system base tables, meaning that they can become very fragmented over time and bloated in size. I teach the MS 2073 class quite a bit and the course material just. Kalman, When you use keyword ALL you do not specify particular index name instead you just specify table name. dm_db_partition_stats and sys. But this takes. Fragmentation causes issues where it takes SQL Server more time to traverse the index tree to find the necessary records. Having said that, fragmented data can produce unnecessary reads thereby. Yes, this is due to low page count. This should not be a problem. In addition,. There are two types of fragmentation: Internal Fragmentation and External Fragmentation. indexes. We do create indexes to improve the search performance of our queries. Improve this answer. This article shows an example of how to manually perform defragmentation on an index using SQL Management Studio. I want to defrag tables in sql server, I used this code to know the fragmented indexes: sELECT dbschemas. If your table has a clustered index, the state of the index reflects the state of the table. On the right panel, right-click SQL Server Agent. It shrinks the size of a database file, either to a specific size or as small as it can. These commands are great, but you really need to collect the information and then. When you create a clustered index, it reorders the rows of a table in addition to creating the CIX (a table with no CIX is a heap). From what we can tell, SQL Server does not conduct any internal maintenance on the system base tables, meaning that they can become very fragmented over time and bloated in size. Heavily fragmented Indexes - SQL Server 2005. Burt King. Review Using SQL Server DMVs to Identify Missing Indexes tip. @dbScope specifies a database name to defrag. Otherwise, nothing special. Rebuild does not drop and recreate the clustered index. Indexes with small number of pages (<1000) will usually. dm_db_index_physical_stats system function. Heaptest default values go 50 select index_type_desc,avg_fragmentation. 16. 31 and later, this feature is enabled by default for all targets. [object_id] = [idx]. To reorganize index SQL Server, right-click it & choose Reorganize. 1. Miscellaneous tasks such as enabling trace flags or removing a DLL. Apart from disk space you should not be too worried. Make sure to thick the Enabled checkbox. Q2: Generally you do not need to run anything for reindex/update stats. I made them up. As of version 2020. Below is a simple query that will provide a list of indexes, fragmentation percentage, and record counts for each table in a database. Logical fragmentation happens when an index leaf page is full and space is required on it, either for an insert or to make an existing record longer (from updating a variable-length column). That's why as a rule of thumb, for fragmentation greater than about 30%. One other item. It is compatible with all versions of SQL Server 2005 , 2008 , 2012 , 2014 and 2016. He shows how to analyze indexes and, if necessary, how to go about reorganizing or rebuilding indexes. Yes, rebuilding indexes will take a toll on your transaction log file. We are constrained to use Indexdefrag as we may not take down servers UNLESS there is a breakage that. Paul Randal. It’s a tool that simplifies the management of SQL Server indexes across your organization. Defragmenting an Index. He shows how to analyze indexes and, if necessary, how to go about reorganizing or rebuilding indexes. Try to use another defrag tool that let you defrag the free space (I use Defraggler from Piriform. Now SQL have 4 threads to the database and not one. The following query ran for ten minutes on version 2008. Indexing. Sorted by: 2. [index_id] , idx. So we defragment and build indexes twice a week. In Update Statistics they mention one of the solutions:. [index_id] The name of the index. But it is not recommended. database_id = 6. Copy the detached database file to a different drive on the server. The link points to SQL Server 2014 docs, but the syntax should work on 2005 and 2008 as well. dm_db_index_physical_stats(DB_ID(N'XXXMYDATABASEXXX'),. 2. index_type_desc AS IndexType, qs. 0). Now understand that logical fragmentation is not introduction of free space or some kind of space between rows present in index. Enabling Fragmentation Manager. 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. [avg_fragmentation_in_percent] FROM sys. Our Production instance is running SQL Server 2014. This causes a lot of free space or, as you call it, fragmentation. The database will be shrunk leaving it. 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. While index reorganization is a pure cleanup. The reason why too many page splits can decrease the performance of SQL Server is because of the large number of I/O operations. In order to begin, proceed to Manage Index. April 29, 2010. However, over time and especially when heavy. We defrag if the index is large, otherwise reindex. Index fragmentation occurs when SQL Server must split a page to allow for the insertion of a new row. Two types of fragmentation can afflict SQL Server indexes and consequently the performance of your databases. If it does not, the table is considered a HEAP. dm_db_index_physical_stats to filter on db instead of the where clause ips. INDEX DEFRAG on SQL SERVER 2005. 11,485 questionsHow to monitor the status of index defragmentation jobs. In the heap tables, the absence of the clustered index means that the data. Artemakis Artemiou. The ALTER INDEX statement shown does not explicitly mention the FILLFACTOR, and hence the rebuilt is done on the basis of the current fillfactor value, leaving a fragmentation that should. SELECT OBJECT_NAME (fq. To rebuild or reorganize indexes manually, head over to the Fragmentation tab. SQL Defrag Manager is a powerful solution that automates and optimizes your SQL Server database defragmentation. Particularly if you are in full recovery. It does exactly that if ON. index_type_desc AS IndexType, qs. Reorganize or rebuild an index SQL Server Management Studio. Michelle Ufford (a. Identify Skewed and Outdated Index and Column Statistics and Ensure they are Representative and Up-to-DateAs stated though you would need to shutdown SQL Server, or at least take the DB offline to do an OS Defrag. SQL index fragmentation reports. Index fragments occur when any transaction takes place in database table. This might be due to MAXDOP setting on your server instance. Two types of fragmentation can afflict SQL Server indexes and consequently the performance of your databases. Weekly – 3% fragmented. Share This: As the data in the database tables of Microsoft SQL Server changes, their indexes change. Also even though SQL allocates in 8K blocks having to move the disk head all over the place leads to much slower access times. Here is a. indexes AS [idx] ON [ips]. The other thing you can do, for when you do need to defragment indexes (if for example you have deleted a large amount of data), is using SQL Server's Service Broker to set up the maintenance plan for multiple tables in a batch. If no results are returned it may be because you are running the script against the wrong SQL database or that there are no indexes with fragmentation above 15%. This is great if the . Failing that (ie Standard Edition etc), look at re-organizing indexes - these will keep them online. From this tab, select a SQL Server instance in the server explorer on the left and choose database (s) as a target of index operation. This procedure automatically chooses. August 1, 2013 at 3:52 pm. You also can create a linked server to SQLAZURE and create a sql agent job. 2. 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. There's a general consensus that you should reorganize ("defragment") your indices as soon as index fragmentation reaches more than 5 (sometimes 10%), and you should rebuild them completely when it goes beyond 30% (at least that's the numbers I've heard advocated in a lot of places). Locking. Now, all you have to do is download the T-SQL script, execute it on your Azure SQL DB and execute the maintenance procedure. MadhuQ1: There is no good way to check for all forms of fragmentation in either the data or the secondary indexes. 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. One solution is to deploy a faster I/O subsystem, where page splits would be less of an issue. Resolution: Reorganize and rebuild indexes. SELECT OBJECT_NAME (fq. 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. In a nutshell, SQL Server’s performance can be most improved by focusing on its internals. There are two main ways to defragment a Heap Table: Create a Clustered Index and then drop it. After Defragmentation - Once the Azure non-clustered index has been. Index Rebuild operation first drops and then recreates the index. Automatic index and statistics management. "SQL Fool") has an automated index. On versions prior to SQL Server 2005 you can defrag standard indexes using the DBCC INDEXDEFRAG command:For a linked list (a B-tree index), than can cause SQL Server to "jump back and forth" in the database file when it read lots of pages (a scan or partial scan). Internal fragmentation means there is free space inside the data pages rather than having them fully packed with row data. the filegroup of the index. Here are the options that I came up with: Expand the 1st file in the PRIMARY filegroup by ~28GB (7 files x 4GB) Move the data off each of the successive files and mark them for deletion. Select the Compact large object column data checkbox to specify that all pages that contain large object (LOB) data are also compacted. 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. Reports index length stats for indexes who's lengths exceeding parametrized thresholds (defaults to 0 - get all) for total length and seek length. Analysing the results of both the DBCC DBReIndex and the Alter Index Rebuild the percentage of fragmentation after the command was run is the same but there is a big difference in the amount of time to complete the operation, nearly 1/3. The only way to get rid of this fragmentation is to rebuild both the non-clustered index and the clustered index. It gives you the flexibility to reduce the SQL fragmentation immediately or during off-peak hours, all. OBJECT_ID) AS TableName, fq. 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. Online vs offline SQL Server index rebuild in SQL Server. SELECT OBJECT_SCHEMA_NAME(ips. The answer to this is simple, Shrinking causes Logical fragmentation. It can be turned on by using the in-app wizard in any version. Click OK. Columnstore Online Index Rebuilds – Columnstore indexes need more attention to maintenance. Creating a SQL Server Maintenance Plan. In this article, I will provide a mechanism for automating SQL Server index defragmentation implemented in a database used in the company I work for. With the SQL performance analyzer in DPA, DBAs can check SQL index fragmentation on the server and get pinpointed advice about wait times, SQL statements, and the actual workload—across the past five seconds or five years—they. If you have fragmentation, you need to REBUILD or REORGANIZE. Within sql not only is there file fragmentation, but also fragmentation on the underlying objects, tables and indexes. Just a reminder that index reorganize is always online (all indexes are available during defrag) and index rebuild can be made also online (WITH (ONLINE=ON) as long as the index does not contain BLOB columns. It doesn’t work on the intermediate pages between the root and the leaf. I have some fragmented indexes on my production databases. It automates the time-consuming process of finding fragmented indexes based on policies for the targeted databases. Image is no longer available. This white paper provides information to help you determine whether you should defragment table indexes to benefit workload performance. sqrt"(2. Chad Boyd. To check for index fragmentation using SSMS, open Object Explorer and navigate to the index you want to check. You can verify that by doing an "edit" on the page and. SQL Server Agent job alert configuration. while exists (select top 1 Reorganize_SQL from @fragmented_indexes) begin. Terrific work Michelle! The script rivals Ola Hallengren's broader maintenance scripts that I use often. There are four alternatives to SQL Defrag Manager for Windows and SQL Server Management Studio. You’d have to set this up on your own. Why, when and how to rebuild and reorganize SQL Server indexes. It's a. What is Fragmentation. If not specified, all non-system databases plus msdb and model will be defragmented. Basically, do the minimum commensurate with your fragmentation levels. The DB restore may de-fragment (physically) at the disk level, but there will still be the same internal fragmentation at the page level. On the fourth pass, SQL Server swaps the next physical page (5) with the next logical page (4). The index on my RDS 2012 R2 server is growing out of control. Let’s say N […] How Fragmentation Hurts SQL Server Performance. You have the option LOB_COMPACTION. First of all you need to find the fragmentation percentage for the indexes in a database or table. If only table_id is specified or if index_id is 0, the data pages of the specified table are scanned. the filegroup of the index. That article is in-depth and difficult to summarise in this reply, but it comes down to creating an asynchronous. For this example, the defragmentation reduces the size of the index by more than 3x (from 25 pages to 7 pages) and the table consumes just over 50% less space. Leverage solutions such as Adaptive Index Defrag to automatically manage index defragmentation and statistics updates for one or more databases. Next Steps This is a simple base script that could be modified into a stored procedure and also allow you to pass other parameters such as. They are also configured from SSMS. Your primary concern is getting your SQL Server back online. These scripts are widely tested in the community and are much flexible so that you. It automates the time-consuming process of finding fragmented indexes based on policies for the targeted databases. To create a linked server to azure, you can see this SO link:I need to add a linked server to a MS Azure SQL ServerSQL SERVER – Fragmentation – Detect Fragmentation and Eliminate Fragmentation SQL SERVER – 2005 – Display Fragmentation Information of Data and Indexes of Database Table SQL SERVER – De-fragmentation of Database at Operating System to Improve Performance. object_id) AS object_name, i. We have a SQL 2016 database that has a 1. DBCC INDEXDEFRAG (AdventureWorks2022, 'Production. Microsoft recommends Index Rebuild operation to defrag indexes if the fragmentation level of your index is greater. This new DMF ( sys. Daily – 6% fragmented. It's. For partitioned indexes, sys. avg_fragmentation_in_percent. Particularly if you are in full recovery. record_count > 0 AND o. It was noticed that the data has high fragmentation. 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. 4 Answers. 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. For the SQL Servers we manage for our clients, we use. The other thing you can do, for when you do need to defragment indexes (if for example you have deleted a large amount of data), is using SQL Server's Service Broker to set up the maintenance plan for multiple tables in a batch. 2. " ALTER INDEX MyIndex ON MyTable REORGANIZEThe more keys and included columns, the bigger the indexes get and the longer SQL Server will hold locks to insert, update, and delete data. Sc (Comp Sci) SQL In The Wild : Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability We walk in the dark places no others. Reorganizing only works on the leaf pages. The scripts has some cool features like. 1. There are three options to remove fragmentation in heaps: Create a clustered index and drop it once it is completed. This is because the doc set was reorganized for the SQL Server 2012 release, and not all topics/categories made it. It creates a thread that runs periodically to detect when the database has more than 25% free disk space allocated to it. This is done by reorganizing or rebuilding an index on an entire index or a single partition. 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. Let the internal health rule which takes care of index fragmentation run. DBCC SHRINKFILE does what the name implies. To rebuild or reorganize indexes manually, head over to the Fragmentation tab. February 6, 2019. You can use SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) or T-SQL to get started managing index fragmentation. Also, DBCC INDEXDEFRAG will not help if two indexes are interleaved on the disk because INDEXDEFRAG shuffles the pages in place. For more information, see sys. On the right panel, right-click SQL Server Agent. When using EXECUTES to rebuild and exclude indexes from the defrag SP, I receive the following errors: Msg 50000, Level 16, State 1, Procedure IndexOptimize, Line 918 The value for the parameter @Indexes is not supported. This white paper compares two of those statements: DBCC DBREINDEX and DBCC INDEXDEFRAG. Reorganize indexes in a table using Transact-SQL. Maintenance. 0. Q2, Q3: OPTIMIZE TABLE rebuilds the table by CREATEing a new table and INSERTing all the rows, then RENAMEing and DROPping. In the CREATE INDEX to can tell SQL Server to sort in TempDB vs. Select * from sys. When you dig down through my computer to the properties for the drives, and hit the "defragment" button on. Custom SQL Server Index Defrag and Rebuild Procedures. If an index is between 10% and 30% fragmented, I will REORGANIZE the index and UPDATE the statistics. SQL Defrag Manager is a unique solution for defragmenting indexes for SQL Server. We have several databases in which a large number of tables are created and dropped. The execute sql task should contain the index rebuild code along with stats rebuild . SQL Defrag Manager is a unique SQL Server index defragmentation solution that automates the time-consuming process of finding index fragmentation in SQL Server based on parameters that you define within a policy for the targeted database. 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. In order to begin, proceed to Manage Index. 3. The following example defragments all partitions of the PK_Product_ProductID index in the. In addition, you can use the dynamic management view sys. Yup. The DBCC Defrags will put the data in better order. dm_db_index_usage_stats WHERE database_id = DB_ID( 'YourDb') AND OBJECT_ID=OBJECT_ID('YourTable') select name as index_name, stats_date(. They’re better than yours (trust me), and they give you more flexibility than built-in maintenance plans. . Then, choose New, Job to create a SQL agent job. Identify this using DBCC SHOWCONTIG (in SQL 2000) or sys. Sql server 2005 needs daily index defrag. dm_db_index_physical_stats in SQL Server 2005 and later. Clearing the plan cache causes recompilation of all later execution plans and may cause a sudden, temporary decrease in query performance. dm_db_index_physical_stats ‘ Dynamic Management View (DMV). Defaults to 480m (8h). You have the options in the Plan for shrinking the database and defragging existing indexes. If avg_fragmentation_in_percent value is > 5% and < = 30% then you should Reorganize Index. [DEFRAG ]; Closes the database files, rewrites the script file, deletes the log file and opens the database. ALTER DATABASE [Inter3112] SET OFFLINE GO. dm_db_index_physical_stats function is the preferred tool to use to check index fragmentation on any CA or DA database table. Stats will not be updated if you perform a rebuild. dm_db_index_physical_stats to get information about your index fragmentation (see the avg_fragmentation_in_percent column). @operation: {all, index, statistics} (no default) statistics : will run only statistics update. In 2016, auto update of stats have been enabled for most databases. Coworker started REBUILD on both tables. To check for index fragmentation using SSMS, open Object Explorer and navigate to the index you want to check. Compression enabled on both. dm_ db_ index_ physical_ stats (in 2005+). SQL - defragmenting an index on a compressed table. A. Delete the other 7 files. index_id] ,SI. Greater than 30% – rebuilding the index with the REBUILD option is probably the best option. 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. On smaller databases it ran quite quickly and with the correct and desired effects. Check indexes from the index grid and click desired defragment operation from the ribbon. Working this way is usually optimal, since SQL Server does not have to update the NCIs while the data is being imported. Let it autogrow with at least 200 MB at the time. Fairly easily, you can use my sp_RebuildIndexes procedures as a base and then change the code to DEFRAG instead of rebuild. Before SQL Server 2005 (9. SQL DEFRAG MANAGER. A starting point for you could be to run a maintenance plan against this database. 19. Fragmentation. A proper query analysis plan has to be built and followed. 7, on any database context you choose to create the usp_AdaptiveIndexDefrag and its supporting objects, open the attached script, and. A starting point could be looking at the queries being executed on your server. For SQL Server, I wouldn't recommend defragmenting the data files or log files unless the server is at low load, but it can help. Rebuild Index using ApexSQL Defrag ApexSQL Defrag Overview. When I got the stats from dm_db_index_physical_stats , there were still 27 records which needed defrag and all of theses were NON CLUSTERED Indexes. "The ALTER INDEX rebuild and reorganize options cannot be used to defragment and reclaim space in a heap (but they can used to defragment non-clustered indexes on a heap). How Defragmentation Improves Performance. It is designed. Review Deeper insight into unused indexes for SQL Server tip. There are several types of fragmentation that can occur. 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. Reference: Pinal Dave (had some indexes on a table with around 700m rows that I couldn't defragment below around 30%. physical defragmentation by orders of magnitude. This REBUILD option is available in SQL Server 2008 onwards. 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. This article shows an example of how to manually perform defragmentation on an index using SQL Management Studio. Not so much if the file is spread out all over the disk. 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. 8. 1.