I have some questions about relational indexes and statistics in   
   Microsoft SQL Server 2005, mainly Standard or Enterprise Editions.   
      
   This is in the context of improving indexes and statistics in many   
   copies of a database that wasn't designed by me, and in which many   
   tables are dropped and re-created by stored procedures overnight,   
   that I can change, after which users run various reports at will.   
      
   1. A nonclustered index can "include" columns that are not part of   
      the index key: can this be done with a nonclustered primary key   
      constraint index?   
      
   I think the answer is "No", and I don't particularly want to do it   
   anyway, but the workaround might be to /not/ have a primary key,   
   but have a unique nonclustered index with included columns, which   
   does everything except display that it is the table's primary key,   
   /or/, to create and then /disable/ the primary key index (if you   
   can do that), /and/ create the unique nonclustered index.   
      
   If you can do it, and if someone already has in my databases,   
   then I want to be able to reproduce it.   
      
   2. Will SQL Server ever automatically create a separate statistics group   
      on columns that are already the key of a clustered or nonclustered   
      index?  And, if so, should I consider improving the index so that   
      it provides a satisfactory statistics group, and, how can I do that?   
      
   I think the answer is "No" in the first place, but that I may find   
   cases where (1) an index was created later than when the table was   
   created, and a statistics group was already auto-created on the   
   columns before the index was; (2) one copy of a table has an index,   
   and another copy does not have the index, but has the statistics;   
   (3) an index and a statistics group are on more than one column   
   and have some of the same columns, or have columns in a different order;   
   (4) a user-created statistics group has the same columns as an index.   
   Maybe all at the same time.  All I know now is, they're there,   
   and I think they're a bad sign.   
      
   Thanks for advice,   
      
   Robert Carnegie   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)