Indexing is a technique to optimize our performance or processing speed of querying records in the database by minimizing the number of searches or scans required. It is a data structure technique that is used to quickly locate and access the data in a database. Users cannot see the indexes, they are just used to speed searches and queries.
Why Database Management System?
As mentioned before indexing is needed to optimize our processing time. We can experience it once we are handling millions of data. It is nothing but like our book indexes, it does not totally scan our entire rows, it just searches for an index range and finds the result within the index. No worries we can understand clearly once we continue this article.
Advantage of Indexing
CREATE INDEX statement in SQL is used to create indexes in tables. The indexes are used to retrieve data from the database more quickly than others. The user can not see the indexes, and they are just used to speed up queries /searches.
Disadvantage of Indexing
Updating the table with indexes takes a lot of time than updating a table without indexes. It is because the indexes also need an update. So, only create indexes on those columns that will be frequently searched items.
In this article, we will discuss how indexes actually work and help improve the performance of our SQL queries. We will discuss how both the index types work — Clustered and Non-clustered.
A clustered index is an index that stores the actual data & a non clustered index is just a pointer to a data. This data is available in its leaf nodes. A table can only have one clustered index and up to 249 non clustered indexes. If a table does not have a clustered index it is referred to as a heap.
Clustered Index Structure
Lets look into the following Employee Table.
The media shown in this article is not owned by Analytics Vidhya and is used at the Author’s discretion.
A verification link has been sent to your email id
If you have not recieved the link please goto
Sign Up page again
Loading...
Please enter the OTP that is sent to your registered email id
Loading...
Please enter the OTP that is sent to your email id
Loading...
Please enter your registered email id
This email id is not registered with us. Please enter your registered email id.
Don't have an account yet?Register here
Loading...
Please enter the OTP that is sent your registered email id
Loading...
Please create the new password here
We use cookies on Analytics Vidhya websites to deliver our services, analyze web traffic, and improve your experience on the site. By using Analytics Vidhya, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.Accept
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.