How to Find Corrupt Indexes in SQL Server
This is the very common query asked by the SQL server users. Data is stored in a particular pattern in the database. Data get affected by many external factors like fetching of records through a query, delays transaction, etc. Due to these overtime changes, the performance of SQL Server slows down which can create panic among employees. To overcome this issue, professional users go for the solutions to check whether the index is corrupted or not. By doing so, important client and customer information can be easily accessed. Here in this blog, we will be going to tell you how to identify corrupt indexes in SQL server and how to resolve that corruption.
How to Find Corrupt Indexes in SQL Server
There are two ways by which you can check whether your SQL Server has bad indexes or not. Use any of the following methods to be sure fetch some rows from your database, if the database is corrupted then it will have different values or deleted values. Just simply run the ROWID command to find some missing entries in the rows of your database.
The second method is by checking the log report. If there are more than one editing of the records without a single DELETE command, the index is corrupted.
As an Administrator, it is the sole responsibility of yours to maintain the data. Corruption in indexes can create many problems for you. The employees will get the issues in managing their work, especially in an IT infrastructure. The situation can become quite tedious if the appropriate actions are not taken on time to fix corrupt indexes in SQL Server. Follow the next section to know the method to resolve the issue.
Manual Solution to Fix Bad SQL Server’s Index
We have already discussed how to find corrupt indexes in SQL Server. Moving on to the solution of the problem, there is two manual technique which can be used to repair SQL Server corruption. We will be discussing each method in detail in the upcoming section.
Method 1 By Running DBCC Check
Before moving to the command, first let us understand about DBCC Check
What is DBCC Check?
This is the database console command which is used to check the internal structure of the SQL database and find corrupt indexes in SQL Server. It checks the data integrity by scanning and checking all the possible changes in the records. The technique is the most preferable technique. Many consultants perform this procedure to identify the minor level corruption. To perform the method, the syntax is:
Syntax
DBCC CHECKDB (database name) with NO_INFOMSGS, All_ErrorMsgs, TableResults;
GO
After running the command, the number of issues will be displayed on your screen. These are problems which are preventing you from accessing your SQL server data. Apart from checking, this inbuilt utility also suggest two possible methods to repair the Microsoft SQL Server and they are:
REPAIR_REBUILD
REPAIR_ALLOW_DATA_LOSS
Let us discuss this utility one by one.
REPAIR_REBUILD: This command is used to recover minor issues and restore missing rows in the non-clustered index. It will provide you with the complete index by making a comparison between the old structure with the new one. This command comes with a limitation too. The biggest disadvantage is that it takes a lot of time to fix the corruption in the SQL Server. But there is no chance of major data loss in this technique.
REPAIR_ALLOW_DATA_LOSS: After running the DBCC command, if there are many numbers of allocation error, use this utility. There are some chances of data loss in this method. Microsoft itself does not recommend this method but if you are ok with some of your information loss, then go for this method. The best part is it can be used for high-level corruption.
Method 2 Restore From a Backup
This method can be used if the above method does not work to find corrupt indexes in SQL Server. The SQL files can be recovered by using the old records of the recent backup file but any of the last changes or edits you have done will be lost.
Intelligent Way to Repair SQL Server Database
The above discussed manual method is not reliable and does not maintain the data integrity. There are high chances of data loss and information mismatch.
If the file does not restore in a proper way, it can create legal or compliance issue. To avoid this issues, go for the third party solution which is basically designed to fix the corruption of the SQL Server database. One such tool is SQL Recovery software which is specifically designed in keeping all the requirements of users. This utility can recover deleted SQL Server database in one go and fix any level of corruption. If you want to try the Demo Version, just click on the Download button.
Time to Wind Up
In this post, we have ways on how to find corrupt indexes in SQL Server and the solution to overcome it. It is completely your choice to go for any of the solutions. But we recommend using the professional solution as they are more trustworthy and no chance of data loss is there.