FILL FACTOR in SQL Server

[ragav...@gmail.com]

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FILL FACTOR in SQL Server
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Use the fill factor option to specify how full Microsoft® SQL
Server™ should make each page when it creates a new index using
existing data. The fill factor percentage affects performance because
SQL Server must take time to split pages when they fill up.
The fill factor percentage is used only at the time the index is
created. The pages are not maintained at any particular level of
fullness.
The default for fill factor is 0; valid values range from 0 through
100. A fill factor value of 0 does not mean that pages are 0 percent
full. It is treated similarly to a fill factor value of 100 in that SQL
Server creates clustered indexes with full data pages and nonclustered
indexes with full leaf pages. It is different from 100 in that SQL
Server leaves some space within the upper level of the index tree.
There is seldom a reason to change the default fill factor value
because you can override it with the CREATE INDEX statement.

Regards,
V.R.Ragavan
Analyst Programmer-SQL
Shakti InfoSolutions Pvt Ltd.,
Chennai,INDIA