A wizard in Microsoft SQL Server version 7 that you can use to select and create an optimal set of indexes and statistics for a database.
The Index Tuning Wizard lets you optimize your database’s indexes even if you do not understand the structure of the database or the internal workings of SQL Server.
The wizard uses a workload to build a recommended optimal set of indexes for your database. A workload is a SQL script or a trace created using SQL Server Profiler. It contains SQL batch or remote procedure call (RPC) event classes and data columns called Event, Class, and Text.
The workload profiles the normal activity of your database and allows the wizard to analyze it to determine which index configuration will optimize performance of your database.
The result of running the wizard is a set of Structured Query Language (SQL) statements that you can use to create new indexes and remove existing ones. You can implement these recommendations immediately, save them to a SQL script for later use, or schedule their execution as a SQL Server job.
The wizard can recommend the best set of indexes to use for a given workload, recommend how you can tune your database for a small group of problem queries, and let you analyze the effects of proposed alterations, such as distributing queries among different tables.
If you don’t have enough data in your database tables or if your existing set of indexes is optimal, the Index Tuning Wizard cannot produce a recommendation for you.