💎🏭SQL Reloaded: Microsoft Fabric's SQL Databases (Part VIII: Permissions) [new feature]

Data-based solutions usually target a set of users who (ideally) have restricted permissions to the functionality. Therefore, as part of the process are defined several personas that target different use cases, for which the permissions must be restricted accordingly. 

In the simplest scenario the user must have access to the underlying objects for querying the data. Supposing that an Entra User was created already, the respective user must be given access also in the Fabric database (see [1], [2]). From database's main menu follow the path to assign read permissions:
Security >> Manage SQL Security >> (select role: db_datareader)

Manage SQL Security

Manage access >> Add >> (search for User)

Manage access

(select user) >> Share database >> (select additional permissions) >> Save

Manage additional permissions

The easiest way to test whether the permissions work before building the functionality is to login over SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) and check the access using the Microsoft Entra MFA. Ideally, one should have a User's credentials that can be used only for testing purposes. After the above setup was done, the new User was able to access the data. 

A second User can be created for testing with the maximum of permissions allowed on the SQL database side, which is useful for troubleshooting. Alternatively, one can use only one User for testing and assign or remove the permissions as needed by the test scenario. 

It's a good idea to try to understand what's happening in the background. For example, the expectation was that for the Entra User created above also a SQL user is created, which doesn't seem to be the case, at least per current functionality available. 

 Before diving deeper, it's useful to retrieve User's details: 

-- retrieve current user
SELECT SUser_Name() sys_user_name
, User_Id() user_id 
, USER_NAME() user_name
, current_user [current_user]
, user [user]; 

Output:

sys_user_name	user_id	user_name	current_user	user
JamesClavell@[domain].onmicrosoft.com	0	JamesClavell@[domain].onmicrosoft.com	JamesClavell@[domain].onmicrosoft.com	JamesClavell@[domain].onmicrosoft.com

Retrieving the current User is useful especially when testing in parallel functionality with different Users. Strangely, User's ID is 0 when only read permissions were assigned. However, a valid User identifier is added for example when to the User is assigned also the db_datawriter role. Removing afterwards the db_datawriter role to the User keeps as expected User's ID. For troubleshooting purposes, at least per current functionality, it might be a good idea to create the Users with a valid User ID (e.g. by assigning temporarily the db_datawriter role to the User). 

The next step is to look at the Users with access to the database:

-- database access 
SELECT USR.uid
, USR.name
--, USR.sid 
, USR.hasdbaccess 
, USR.islogin
, USR.issqluser
--, USR.createdate 
--, USR.updatedate 
FROM sys.sysusers USR
WHERE USR.hasdbaccess = 1
  AND USR.islogin = 1
ORDER BY uid

Output:

uid	name	hasdbaccess	islogin	issqluser
1	dbo	1	1	1
6	CharlesDickens@[...].onmicrosoft.com	1	1	0
7	TestUser	1	1	1
9	JamesClavell@[...].onmicrosoft.com	1	1	0

For testing purposes, besides the standard dbo role and two Entra-based roles, it was created also a SQL role to which was granted access to the SalesLT schema (see initial post):

-- create the user
CREATE USER TestUser WITHOUT LOGIN;

-- assign access to SalesLT schema 
GRANT SELECT ON SCHEMA::SalesLT TO TestUser;
  
-- test impersonation (run together)
EXECUTE AS USER = 'TestUser';

SELECT * FROM SalesLT.Customer;

REVERT; 

Notes:
1) Strangely, even if access was given explicitly only to the SalesLT schema, the TestUser User has access also to sys.sysusers and other DMVs. That's valid also for the access over SSMS
2) For the above created User there are no records in the sys.user_token and sys.login_token DMVs, in contrast with the user(s) created for administering the SQL database. 

Let's look at the permissions granted explicitly:

-- permissions granted explicitly
SELECT DPR.principal_id
, DPR.name
, DPR.type_desc
, DPR.authentication_type_desc
, DPE.state_desc
, DPE.permission_name
FROM sys.database_principals DPR
     JOIN sys.database_permissions DPE
	   ON DPR.principal_id = DPE.grantee_principal_id
WHERE DPR.principal_id != 0 -- removing the public user
ORDER BY DPR.principal_id
, DPE.permission_name;

Result:

principal_id	name	type_desc	authentication_type_desc	state_desc	permission_name
1	dbo	SQL_USER	INSTANCE	GRANT	CONNECT
6	CharlesDickens@[...].onmicrosoft.com	EXTERNAL_USER	EXTERNAL	GRANT	AUTHENTICATE
6	CharlesDickens@[...].onmicrosoft.com	EXTERNAL_USER	EXTERNAL	GRANT	CONNECT
7	TestUser	SQL_USER	NONE	GRANT	CONNECT
7	TestUser	SQL_USER	NONE	GRANT	SELECT
9	JamesClavell@[...].onmicrosoft.com	EXTERNAL_USER	EXTERNAL	GRANT	CONNECT

During troubleshooting it might be useful to check current user's permissions at the various levels via sys.fn_my_permissions:

-- retrieve database-scoped permissions for current user
SELECT *
FROM sys.fn_my_permissions(NULL, 'Database');

-- retrieve schema-scoped permissions for current user
SELECT *
FROM sys.fn_my_permissions('SalesLT', 'Schema');

-- retrieve object-scoped permissions for current user
SELECT *
FROM sys.fn_my_permissions('SalesLT.Customer', 'Object')
WHERE permission_name = 'SELECT';

Notes:
1) See also [1] and [4] in what concerns the limitations that apply to managing permissions in SQL databases.

Happy coding!

Previous Post <<||>> Previous Post

References:
[1] Microsoft Learn (2024) Microsoft Fabric: Share your SQL database and manage permissions [link]
[2] Microsoft Learn (2024) Microsoft Fabric: Share data and manage access to your SQL database in Microsoft Fabric  [link]
[3] Microsoft Learn (2024) Authorization in SQL database in Microsoft Fabric [link]
[4] Microsoft Learn (2024) Authentication in SQL database in Microsoft Fabric [link]

[5] Microsoft Fabric Learn (2025) Manage access for SQL databases in Microsoft Fabric with workspace roles and item permissions [link] 

💎🏭SQL Reloaded: Microsoft Fabric's SQL Databases (Part VII: Things That Don't Work) [new feature]

Microsoft does relatively a good job in documenting what doesn't work in Microsoft Fabric's SQL Databases. There's a good overview available already in the documentation, though beyond this the current post lists my finding while testing the previously written code on this blog,

USE Database

The standard syntax allows to change via USE the database context to the specified database or database snapshot. Unfortunately, this syntax doesn't seem to be supported currently and unfortunately many scripts seem to abuse of it. Thus, the following line of code throws an error:

-- changing the context
USE master;
GO
USE tempdb;

"Msg 40508, Level 16, State 1, Line 1, USE statement is not supported to switch between databases. Use a new connection to connect to a different database"

However, one can use the 3-part naming convention to reference the various objects:

-- sys metadata - retrieving the database files

SELECT *

FROM tempdb.sys.database_files dbf

ORDER BY name;

Even if the tempdb is not listed in the sys.databases table, it's still available for querying, which can prove helpful for troubleshooting. 

DBCC commands 

The documentation warns that some DBCC commands won't work, though in some cases there are also alternatives. For example:

-- clearing the procedure cache via DBCC
DBCC FREEPROCCACHE;

Output:

"Msg 2571, Level 14, State 9, Line 1, User '<user>' does not have permission to run DBCC freeproccache."

Alternatively, one can use the following command, which seems to work:

-- clearing the procedure cash via ALTER
ALTER DATABASE SCOPED CONFIGURATION CLEAR PROCEDURE_CACHE;

CHECKDB, which checks the logical and physical integrity of all the objects in the specified database, can't be used as well:

 

-- Checking the logical and physical integrity of a database
DBCC CHECKDB();

Output:

"Msg 916, Level 14, State 2, Line 1, The server principal "..." is not able to access the database "..." under the current security context."

The same error message is received for CHECKTABLE, utility which checks the integrity of all the pages and structures that make up the table (or indexed view):

-- checking a table's integrity
DBCC CHECKTABLE ('SalesLT.Address');

Output:

"Msg 916, Level 14, State 2, Line 2, The server principal "..." is not able to access the database "..." under the current security context."

A similar error messages is received for SQLPERF, which provides transaction log space usage statistics for all databases:

-- retrieving the LOGSPACE information for all databases
DBCC SQLPERF (LOGSPACE);

Output: 

"Msg 297, Level 16, State 10, Line 1, The user does not have permission to perform this action."

There are however DBCC commands like SHOW_STATISTICS or SHRINKDATABASE which do work. 

 

-- current query optimization statistics
DBCC SHOW_STATISTICS('SalesLT.Address','PK_Address_AddressID');

Output:

Name	Updated	Rows	Rows Sampled	Steps	Density	Average key length	String Index	Filter Expression	Unfiltered Rows	Persisted Sample Percent
PK_Address_AddressID	Dec 21 2024 3:02AM	450	450	197	1	4	NO		450	0

SHRINKDATABASE shrinks the size of the data and log files in the specified database:

-- shrinking database
DBCC SHRINKDATABASE([AdventureWorks01-...]) WITH NO_INFOMSGS;

To be updated...

Happy coding!

Previous Post <<||>> Next Post

References:
[1] Microsoft Learn (2024) SQL Server: USE <database> [link]
[2] Microsoft Learn (2024) Database console commands [link]

💎🏭SQL Reloaded: Microsoft Fabric's SQL Databases (Part VI: Index Usage Analysis) [new feature]

There are several system dynamic management views (DMV) available in SQL Server, Azure SQL Server and now in SQL databases that allow to gather more information about indexes' fragmentation and usage. Let's look at the most important information available based on the indexes create in the previous posts. As the data were probably purged from the views, it's needed to run first the select queries based on the SalesLT.Product from the previous post. This step is important, otherwise the DMVs might return no records!

One starting point is to use the sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats DMV to look at the indexes' size and fragmentation information for a given table (or view). The table is used usually as starting point for analyzing indexes' fragmentation and then defragment the indexes with high fragmentation.

-- sys metadata - index & data size and fragmentation information for the data and indexes of the specified table or view
SELECT --db_name() db_name
--, object_name(IND.object_id) table_name
 IND.name index_name
, IND.type_desc
, IPS.page_count
, IPS.record_count
, IPS.index_level
, Cast(IPS.avg_fragmentation_in_percent as decimal(10,2)) avg_fragmentation_perc
, Cast(IPS.avg_page_space_used_in_percent as decimal(10,2)) space_used_perc
--, IPS.*
FROM sys.indexes IND
     CROSS APPLY sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats(DB_ID(), IND.object_id, IND.index_id, NULL, 'DETAILED') IPS
WHERE IND.object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'SalesLT.Product');

Output:

index_name	type_desc	page_count	record_count	index_level	avg_fragmentation_perc	space_used_perc
PK_Product_ProductID	CLUSTERED	101	295	0	0.99	87.90
PK_Product_ProductID	CLUSTERED	1	101	1	0.00	16.20
AK_Product_rowguid	NONCLUSTERED	2	295	0	50.00	74.69
AK_Product_rowguid	NONCLUSTERED	1	2	1	0.00	0.59
AK_Product_ProductNumber	NONCLUSTERED	2	295	0	50.00	85.79
AK_Product_ProductNumber	NONCLUSTERED	1	2	1	0.00	0.49
AK_Product_Name	NONCLUSTERED	3	295	0	33.33	87.32
AK_Product_Name	NONCLUSTERED	1	3	1	0.00	1.67
IX_SalesLT_Product_Color	NONCLUSTERED	1	295	0	0.00	79.24
IX_SalesLT_Product_Color_Size	NONCLUSTERED	1	295	0	0.00	94.12
IX_SalesLT_Product_ListPrice_IC	NONCLUSTERED	4	295	0	0.00	86.60
IX_SalesLT_Product_ListPrice_IC	NONCLUSTERED	1	4	1	0.00	1.01

In a second step one can look at the sys.dm_db_index_usage_stats DMV which provides the counts of the different types of index operations and the time each type of operation was last performed:

-- sys metadata - counts of different types of index operations and the time each type of operation was last performed.
SELECT -- db_name() db_name
--, object_name(IND.object_id) table_name
 IND.name
, IND.type_desc
, IUS.user_seeks 
, IUS.user_scans
, IUS.user_lookups 
, IUS.user_updates
, IUS.last_user_seek
, IUS.last_user_scan 
, IUS.last_user_lookup
, IUS.last_user_update
FROM sys.dm_db_index_usage_stats IUS
     JOIN sys.indexes IND
       ON IUS.index_id = IND.index_id
WHERE IND.object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'SalesLT.Product');

Output:

name	type_desc	user_seeks	user_scans	user_lookups	user_updates	last_user_seek	last_user_scan	last_user_lookup
PK_Product_ProductID	CLUSTERED	0	10	15	0		2025-01-06T14:23:54	2025-01-06T14:23:54
IX_SalesLT_Product_Color_Size	NONCLUSTERED	11	0	0	0	2025-01-06T14:23:54
IX_SalesLT_Product_ListPrice_IC	NONCLUSTERED	8	0	0	0	2025-01-06T13:38:03

Finally, it might be useful to look also at the sys.dm_db_index_operational_stats DMV which returns the current lower-level I/O, locking, latching, and access method activity for each partition of a table or index in the database (see the documentation for the full list of attrbutes):

-- sys metadata - index operations stats
SELECT -- db_name() db_name
--, object_name(IND.object_id) table_name
 IND.name index_name
, IND.type_desc
, IOS.range_scan_count
, IOS.singleton_lookup_count
, IOS.leaf_insert_count
, IOS.leaf_delete_count
, IOS.leaf_update_count
, IOS.nonleaf_insert_count
, IOS.nonleaf_delete_count
, IOS.nonleaf_update_count
FROM sys.indexes IND
     CROSS APPLY sys.dm_db_index_operational_stats(DB_ID(), IND.object_id, IND.index_id, NULL) IOS
WHERE IND.object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'SalesLT.Product')
 AND IOS.range_scan_count<>0
ORDER BY IND.name;

Output:

index_name	type_desc	range_scan_count	singleton_lookup_count	leaf_insert_count	leaf_delete_count	leaf_update_count	nonleaf_insert_count	nonleaf_delete_count	nonleaf_update_count
IX_SalesLT_Product_Color_Size	NONCLUSTERED	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
IX_SalesLT_Product_ListPrice_IC	NONCLUSTERED	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
PK_Product_ProductID	CLUSTERED	10	64	0	0	0	0	0	0

For more information on these DMVs check the documentation.

Happy coding!

Previous Post <<||>> Next Post

References:
[1] Microsoft Learn (2024) SQL Server: sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats [link]
[2] Microsoft Learn (2024) SQL Server: sys.dm_db_index_usage_stats [link]
[3] Microsoft Learn (2024) SQL Server: sys.dm_db_index_operational_stats [link]

💎🏭SQL Reloaded: Microsoft Fabric's SQL Databases (Part V: Manual Index Maintenance) [new feature]

Indexes' maintenance in Microsoft Fabric's SQL databases is supposed to happen automatically in the background via automatic tuning options feature, though the whole functionality is still in its early phases, and therefore many questions regarding the whole process may arise. Probably the most important question is whether indexes can still be created, respectively maintained manually. That's useful for temporary or even periodic workloads, where maybe organizations might still want to maintain indexes manually. 

The tests made below are based on the SalesLT.Product from AdventureWorkds database available in Microsoft Fabric. The target was to create several indexes that could be used for the various testing purposes. Each set of the below scripts was run 5-10 times until records appeared in the sys.dm_db_missing_index_details table for each test case (see further below):

-- batch 1: filter on single column (to be run 5-10 times)
SELECT *
FROM SalesLT.Product 
WHERE Color = 'Red'

SELECT *
FROM SalesLT.Product 
WHERE Color = 'Black'

SELECT *
FROM SalesLT.Product 
WHERE Color = 'White'

-- batch 2: filter on two columns (to be run 5-10 times)
SELECT *
FROM SalesLT.Product 
WHERE Color = 'Red'
  AND Size = '58'

SELECT *
FROM SalesLT.Product 
WHERE Color = 'Black'
  AND Size = '58'

SELECT *
FROM SalesLT.Product 
WHERE Color = 'White'
     AND Size = '58'

-- batch 3: filter with column selection (to be run 5-10 times)
SELECT ProductNumber, Name, Color, ListPrice
FROM SalesLT.Product 
WHERE ListPrice BETWEEN 50 AND 55

SELECT ProductNumber, Name, Color, ListPrice
FROM SalesLT.Product 
WHERE ListPrice BETWEEN 100 and 105

Once the scripts run, one can look at the records created in the above considered dynamic management view:

-- sys metadata -  missing indexes
SELECT MID.statement AS table_name
, MID.equality_columns
, MID.inequality_columns
, MID.included_columns
--, MIG.index_group_handle
--, MIG.index_handle
FROM sys.dm_db_missing_index_details MID 
    JOIN sys.dm_db_missing_index_groups MIG 
     ON MID.index_handle =  MIG.index_handle
ORDER BY MIG.index_group_handle
, MIG.index_handle

Output:

table_name	equality_columns	inequality_columns	included_columns
[AdventureWorks01-...].[SalesLT].[Product]	[Color]
[AdventureWorks01-...].[SalesLT].[Product]	[Color], [Size]
[AdventureWorks01-...].[SalesLT].[Product]		[ListPrice]	[Name], [ProductNumber], [Color]

The next step is to create one of the indexes (please note that database's name must be replaced accordingly or used only the 2-part naming convention - schema & table name ):

-- create index on Color
CREATE INDEX IX_SalesLT_Product_Color 
ON [AdventureWorks01-...].[SalesLT].[Product] (Color);

Once the script was run, all the records related to the SalesLT.Product disappeared from the dynamic management view. Therefore, it might be a good idea to take a snapshot with view's data before creating any indexes manually. Probably the same behavior should be expected when the indexes are created by the system.

-- create index on Color & Size
CREATE INDEX IX_SalesLT_Product_Color_Size
ON [SalesLT].[Product] (Color, Size);

-- create index on ListPrice with included columns
CREATE INDEX IX_SalesLT_Product_ListPrice_IC
ON [SalesLT].[Product] (ListPrice) INCLUDE(ProductNumber, Name, Color);

One can use the following query based on the meta.vIndexes (created in a previous post) to look at the indexes created:

-- sys metadata - index columns
SELECt IND.db_name
, IND.schema_name
, IND.table_name
, IND.index_name
, IND.index_type
, IND.principal_type
, IND.auto_created
FROM meta.vIndexes IND
WHERE IND.schema_name = 'SalesLT'
  AND IND.table_name = 'Product'
  AND IND.index_name IN ('IX_SalesLT_Product_Color ','IX_SalesLT_Product_Color_Size'
,'IX_SalesLT_Product_ListPrice_IC')
ORDER BY IND.table_name
, IND.index_name

Output:

db_name	schema_name	table_name	index_name	index_type	principal_type	auto_created
AdventureWorks01-...	SalesLT	Product	IX_SalesLT_Product_Color	NONCLUSTERED	S	False
AdventureWorks01-...	SalesLT	Product	IX_SalesLT_Product_Color_Size	NONCLUSTERED	S	False
AdventureWorks01-...	SalesLT	Product	IX_SalesLT_Product_ListPrice_IC	NONCLUSTERED	S	False

After this model can be created further indexes as needed. It's always a good idea to take a "copy" of the indexes created (or keep a history of the scripts run for indexes' maintenance). This best practice is now more important, when the system can drop indexes as it considers fit. 

Don't forget to clean up the changes made if the indexes aren't needed anymore:

-- cleaning after
DROP INDEX IF EXISTS SalesLT.IX_SalesLT_Product_Color;
DROP INDEX IF EXISTS SalesLT.IX_SalesLT_Product_Color_Size;
DROP INDEX IF EXISTS SalesLT.IX_SalesLT_Product_ListPrice_IC;

So, after these tests, the standard syntax for index's maintenance seems to work also on SQL databases, with all the implications deriving from this (e.g. porting of scripts, database objects, etc.)

Happy coding!

Previous Post <<||>> Next Post

💎🏭SQL Reloaded: Microsoft Fabric's SQL Databases (Part IV: Automatic Tuning Options) [new feature]

Automatic tuning in SQL databases, respectively in SQL Azure datsbases, is a fully managed performance service that uses built-in intelligence to continuously monitor queries executed and automatically improve their performance [1]. At least in SQL databases the target is to fully automate indexes' maintenance by providing automated tuning, verification of performance gains, rollback and self-correction, respectively tuning history. The future sounds promising, though the question is what's already available. 

The documentation references several objects made available already for this feature. sys.database_automatic_tuning_options returns the tuning options available for the database:

-- SQL databases - automatic tuning options
SELECT ATO.name
, ATO.desired_state
, ATO.desired_state_desc
, ATO.actual_state
, ATO.actual_state_desc
, ATO.reason
, ATO.reason_desc
FROM sys.database_automatic_tuning_options ATO
ORDER BY ATO.name

Output:

name	desired_state	desired_state_desc	actual_state	actual_state_desc	reason	reason_desc
CREATE_INDEX	2	DEFAULT	1	ON	3	INHERITED_FROM_SERVER
DROP_INDEX	2	DEFAULT	1	ON	3	INHERITED_FROM_SERVER
FORCE_LAST_GOOD_PLAN	2	DEFAULT	1	ON	3	INHERITED_FROM_SERVER
MAINTAIN_INDEX	2	DEFAULT	0	OFF	3	INHERITED_FROM_SERVER

For further information see the automatic tuning options in the documentation [2], respectively [1] for an overview of the feature. 

There's a sys.database_automatic_tuning_mode and a sys.database_automatic_tuning_configurations, though on the SQL database instance only the first has records.

-- SQL databases - automatic tuning mode
SELECT ATM.desired_state
, ATM.desired_state_desc
, ATM.actual_state
, ATM.actual_state_desc
FROM sys.database_automatic_tuning_mode ATM

Output:

desired_state	desired_state_desc	actual_state	actual_state_desc
1	INHERIT	3	AUTO

Attempting to modify the above settings at database level via the ALTER DATABASE leads to the following error message: 

-- disabling database properties
ALTER DATABASE [AdventureWorks01]
SET AUTOMATIC_TUNING ( FORCE_LAST_GOOD_PLAN = OFF);

Output:
"Msg 16202, Level 16, State 162, Line 1, Keyword or statement option 'SET' is not supported on the 'Microsoft Fabric' platform."

At least for the moment there seems to be no features available to change these settings. 

The automatic index tab report trom the Performance Dashboard for SQL database shows the history and status of automatically created indexes [5]. See Home toolbar in the Query Editor window >> Performance summary >> Automatic indexes. 

What it's not clear is how the database engine balances between index coverage and performance. How long does it take until the engine identifies the first missing index scenario and index's creation, respectively between the drop of an unused index and reoccurence of the same scenario that lead to index's creation. Moreover, what happens with index fragmentation? The documentation doesn't seem to provide the answers that probably only the hand-on experience can provide. Even if AI-based features are used in indexes' maintenance, it's still hard to grasp what lies beyond the various features. 

Are DBAs comfortable enough to relinquish control over index maintenence? It will be interesting to see their feedback. Probably, more control over what the engine does is needed, as sometimes it's enough to have 2-3 major exceptions for a solution to become not feasible. Usually the devil lies in details. 

Migrating from SQL Server or Azure SQL to SQL databases requires some degree of reengineering, probably with more effort and redesign for the first scenario, given the functionality gap. 

Taking a look at the indexes already available in AdventureWorks database, there seem no new indexes created since database's creation (see the definition of the referenced object):

-- sys metadata - index columns
SELECt IND.db_name
, IND.schema_name
, IND.table_name
, IND.index_name
, IND.index_type
, IND.principal_type
, IND.auto_created
FROM meta.vIndexes IND
WHERE IND.schema_name = 'SalesLT'
  AND IND.auto_created = 1
ORDER BY IND.table_name
, IND.index_name

Stay tuned! More tests on the way... 

Happy coding! 

Previous Post <<||>> Next Post

References:
[1] Microsoft Learn (2024) Automatic tuning [link]
[2] Microsoft Learn (2024) Performance Dashboard for SQL database in Microsoft Fabric [link]
[3] Microsoft Learn (2024) ALTER DATABASE SET options (Transact-SQL) [link]
[4] Microsoft Learn (2024) Enable automatic tuning in the Azure portal to monitor queries and improve workload performance [link]

💎🏭SQL Reloaded: SQL Server Metadata (Part I: Indexes Overview)

There are scenarios in which it's useful to gather information about the available indexes and their definition as a primary step for troubleshooting or index maintenance. Moreover, it's useful to take a baseline of the defined indexes and update it accordingly when indexes change. A minimum of information can be gathered in Excel files or similar repositories, though for the same can be used also metadata tools, at least when they're easy to use and the associated costs aren't neglectable. 

Usually, there are two levels at which the information is needed - at index, respectively at column level. Sometimes it's useful to have an independent query for each level of detail, though in data warehouses and similar use cases it's useful to provide a model on top of the metadata, at least to improve query's maintainability.

The first view encapsulates the logic needed to export the data and it's based on the sys.indexes, sys.objects, sys.schemas and sys.database_principals system objects. 

-- create schema for metadata
CREATE SCHEMA meta;

-- clean after
DROP VIEW IF EXISTS meta.vIndexes

-- create views
CREATE OR ALTER VIEW meta.vIndexes
AS
-- sys metadata - indexes
SELECT OBJ.schema_id
, IND.object_id 
, IND.index_id 
, SCH.name schema_name
, OBJ.name table_name
, IND.name index_name
, IND.type_desc index_type
, IND.is_primary_key
, IND.is_unique_constraint
, IND.fill_factor
, IND.has_filter
, IND.auto_created
, IND.is_unique is_unique_index
, DBP.type principal_type
, DBP.type_desc principal_type_desc
--, INC.*
FROM sys.indexes IND WITH (NOLOCK)
     JOIN sys.objects OBJ WITH (NOLOCK)
       ON IND.object_id = OBJ.object_id
          JOIN sys.schemas SCH WITH (NOLOCK)
            ON OBJ.schema_id = SCH.schema_id
               JOIN sys.database_principals DBP
                 ON SCH.principal_id = DBP.principal_id 
WHERE DBP.type IN ('S', 'E')

Upon case, the needed information can be exported via a query like the one below:

-- sys metadata - index columns
SELECt IND.db_name
, IND.schema_name
, IND.table_name
, IND.index_name
, IND.index_type
, IND.principal_type
FROM meta.vIndexes IND
WHERE IND.schema_name = 'SalesLT'
  AND IND.table_name IN ('Address', 'Customer')
ORDER BY IND.table_name
, IND.index_name

Output:

db_name	schema_name	table_name	index_name	index_type	principal_type
AdventureWorks01...	SalesLT	Address	AK_Address_rowguid	NONCLUSTERED	S
AdventureWorks01...	SalesLT	Address	IX_Address_AddressLine1_AddressLine2_City_StateProvince_PostalCode_CountryRegion	NONCLUSTERED	S
AdventureWorks01...	SalesLT	Address	IX_Address_StateProvince	NONCLUSTERED	S
AdventureWorks01...	SalesLT	Address	PK_Address_AddressID	CLUSTERED	S
AdventureWorks01...	SalesLT	Customer	AK_Customer_rowguid	NONCLUSTERED	S
AdventureWorks01...	SalesLT	Customer	IX_Customer_EmailAddress	NONCLUSTERED	S
AdventureWorks01...	SalesLT	Customer	PK_Customer_CustomerID	CLUSTERED	S

Similarly, on top of the above view can be built a similar object that provides also the column-related information by adding the sys.index_columns and sys.columns system object to the logic:

-- clean after
DROP VIEW IF EXISTS meta.vIndexColumns

-- create 
CREATE OR ALTER VIEW meta.vIndexColumns
AS
-- sys metadata - index columns
SELECT IND.db_id
, IND.schema_id
, INC.object_id 
, INC.index_id 
, INC.index_column_id
, INC.column_id
, IND.db_name
, IND.schema_name
, IND.table_name
, IND.index_name
, COL.name column_name
, INC.key_ordinal
, INC.partition_ordinal
, IND.index_type
, IND.is_primary_key
, IND.is_unique_constraint
, IND.fill_factor
, IND.has_filter
, IND.auto_created
, IND.is_unique_index
, INC.is_descending_key
, INC.is_included_column
, IND.principal_type
, IND.principal_type_desc
FROM sys.index_columns INC
     JOIN sys.columns COL WITH (NOLOCK)
       ON INC.object_id = COL.object_id 
      AND INC.column_id = COL.column_id 
     JOIN meta.vIndexes IND WITH (NOLOCK)
       ON INC.object_id = IND.object_id
      AND INC.index_id = IND.index_id

And, there's an example of the query based on this view:

-- sys metadata - index columns
SELECt INC.schema_name
, INC.table_name
, INC.index_name
, INC.column_name
, INC.key_ordinal
, INC.index_type
, INC.principal_type
FROM meta.vIndexColumns INC
WHERE INC.schema_name = 'SalesLT'
  AND INC.table_name IN ('Address', 'Customer')
ORDER BY INC.table_name
, INC.index_name
, INC.key_ordinal

Output:

schema_name	table_name	index_name	column_name	key_ordinal	index_type	principal_type
SalesLT	Address	AK_Address_rowguid	rowguid	1	NONCLUSTERED	S
SalesLT	Address	IX_Address_AddressLine1_AddressLine2_City_StateProvince_PostalCode_CountryRegion	AddressLine1	1	NONCLUSTERED	S
SalesLT	Address	IX_Address_AddressLine1_AddressLine2_City_StateProvince_PostalCode_CountryRegion	AddressLine2	2	NONCLUSTERED	S
SalesLT	Address	IX_Address_AddressLine1_AddressLine2_City_StateProvince_PostalCode_CountryRegion	City	3	NONCLUSTERED	S
SalesLT	Address	IX_Address_AddressLine1_AddressLine2_City_StateProvince_PostalCode_CountryRegion	StateProvince	4	NONCLUSTERED	S
SalesLT	Address	IX_Address_AddressLine1_AddressLine2_City_StateProvince_PostalCode_CountryRegion	PostalCode	5	NONCLUSTERED	S
SalesLT	Address	IX_Address_AddressLine1_AddressLine2_City_StateProvince_PostalCode_CountryRegion	CountryRegion	6	NONCLUSTERED	S
SalesLT	Address	IX_Address_StateProvince	StateProvince	1	NONCLUSTERED	S
SalesLT	Address	PK_Address_AddressID	AddressID	1	CLUSTERED	S
SalesLT	Customer	AK_Customer_rowguid	rowguid	1	NONCLUSTERED	S
SalesLT	Customer	IX_Customer_EmailAddress	EmailAddress	1	NONCLUSTERED	S
SalesLT	Customer	PK_Customer_CustomerID	CustomerID	1	CLUSTERED	S

Notes:
1) As a DBA it's useful to take a baseline of the indexes defined and reevaluate their usefulness over time. These are one of the checks that should be done when one becomes responsible for the administration of a database server, independently of the vendor.
2) The definitions of the views can be extended as needed, though one should try to keep the overall complexity to a minimum. 
3) There are voices against the use of NOLOCK. Feel free to change the objects accordingly!
4) It's useful to work in a dedicated schema (e.g. meta) and have a different naming convention that deviates slightly from one defined by Microsoft. This should make sure that no confusion with the system objects exists.
5) Azure SQL takes over many of the responsibilities for index maintenance. Even if indexes are managed automatically by the system, a baseline is still needed, at least to evaluate functionality's performance, respectively the changes that occurred in the environment. 
6) Except attributes which were added for specific functionality over time, the queries should work at least starting with SQL Server 2005 forward.
7) See also the notes on clustered vs nonclustered indexes.

Happy coding!

Previous Post <<||>> Next Post