SRE, DBRE

Index Selectivity

What selectivity is really means ?

  • It’s not about how unique each row is by itself.
  • It’s about your query, and how small a percentage of the table you’re searching for.
  • When evaluating column order for indexes, don’t think about how unique each column is. Think about what percentage you’re searching for.
    (from Brent Ozar - Fundamental Index Tuning)