Clustered vs Non-Clustered Index

• In a table, there can be only one clustered index or one or more than one non_clustered index.
• In Clustered index, there is no separate index storage but in Non-Clustered index, there is separate index storage for the index.
• Clustered index offers faster data access, on the other hand, the Non-clustered index is slower.

Clustered and non-clustered indexes in SQL Server can provide significant performance benefits when querying large tables. Here are some examples of SQL queries and the advantages of using clustered and non-clustered indexes:

SELECT Queries with WHERE Clause

• Clustered Index: When a SELECT query with a WHERE clause is executed on a table with a clustered index, SQL Server can use the clustered index to quickly locate the rows that match the WHERE condition. This can be very efficient for large tables, as it allows the database engine to minimize the number of disk reads required to retrieve the desired data.
• Non-Clustered Index: If there is no clustered index on the table or the WHERE clause references columns that are not part of the clustered index, SQL Server can use a non-clustered index to find the matching rows. However, this may require additional disk reads if the non-clustered index does not include all the columns required by the query.

UPDATE Queries

• Clustered Index: When an UPDATE query is executed on a table with a clustered index, SQL Server can use the index to quickly locate and modify the rows that match the query criteria. This can be very efficient for large tables, as it allows the database engine to minimize the number of disk writes required to modify the data.
• Non-Clustered Index: If the UPDATE query references columns that are not part of the clustered index, SQL Server may need to perform additional disk writes to update the non-clustered index as well.

JOIN Queries

• Clustered Index: When performing a JOIN operation between two large tables, SQL Server can use the clustered index on the join column(s) to efficiently match the rows from both tables. This can significantly reduce the time required to complete the query.
• Non-Clustered Index: If the JOIN operation references columns that are not part of the clustered index, SQL Server can use a non-clustered index to find the matching rows. However, this may require additional disk reads and slow down the query.
• In general, the advantage of using clustered indexes is that they can provide very efficient access to large tables, particularly when querying on the index columns. The advantage of using non-clustered indexes is that they can provide efficient access to columns that are not part of the clustered index, or when querying multiple tables with JOIN operations. However, non-clustered indexes can also require additional disk reads or writes, which can slow down queries. It is important to carefully design and tune indexes based on the specific query patterns and data access patterns of your application.

Indexing is a procedure that returns your requested data faster from the defined table. Without indexing, the SQL server has to scan the whole table for your data. By indexing, the SQL server will do the exact same thing you do when searching for content in a book by checking the index page. In the same way, a table’s index allows us to locate the exact data without scanning the whole table. There are two types of indexing in SQL.

• Clustered index
• Non-clustered index