How can I remove an index in a good way?

[jden123]

Hello!

I want to manage indexes based on index folder. I will add file based on template provided in Anytimescripts page(https://github.com/chucknorris/roundhouse/wiki/Anytimescripts).

Could you please suggest how to remove index in a good way?
Should I have file with delete index statement or I can just remove the index file?

[erikbra]

This is of course a matter of preference, but I would change the script that creates the index to just check if it exists, and delete it if it does. After a while, you might delete the script altogether, of course, if you know that no deployment has the index anymore.

Say you had a script that was (SQL server syntax):

DROP INDEX IF EXISTS IX_Table_Column ON [schema].[Table] 

CREATE NONCLUSTERED INDEX [IX_Table_Column]
ON [schema].[Table] 
(
  [Column1],
  [Column2]
)
GO

I would change the script to be just:

DROP INDEX IF EXISTS IX_Table_Column ON [schema].[Table] 

And then, after a while, when you know this change has been deployed to all DBs containing the index, I would delete the file altogether.

[jden123]

Thank you

[erikbra]

My pleasure :)