Clustered Columnstore Indexes

Overview

Clustered Columnstore indexes are a SQL Server feature that can significantly increase query performance and data compression. The Clustered Columnstore Index accepts DML, so records can be inserted, updated and deleted. This is different from the Non-Clustered Columnstore index that was introduced in SQL Server 2012.

Note: The feature is only available on SQL Server 2014 (and higher) Enterprise Edition.

Process

You can enable the Columnstore index on a table-to-table basis.

1. Right click a table, navigate to Advanced and click Indexes.
2. The Index Settings window appears. Click Add Index
3. (Optional) Enter a name for the index in Friendly Index Name
4. Under Index Type , choose Clustered Columnstore Indexes
5. Click OK to add the index and close the dialog. Click Close to close the Index Settings window that appears.
6. Deploy and execute the table for the index to be added.

Note: If you build a Clustered Columnstore Index on a table then no further indexes are allowed.