change datatype of a column

what is the best (and fast) why to change a column's datatype from varchar to decimal ?
the table has 3 million records and the column is filled with data (no problem with converting the data to numeric).alter table tablename
alter column columnname float null|||tnx

change clustered index

Hi,
I have a table with 1.5 million records. It has the primary key as the clustered index now, I would like to change the create_dt as clustered index. When I do reindex, will it block the table? How long will it take? Can I do it in EM from the Design able? ThanksYes you can do it from EM and yes it will block all access to the table for
the entire duration of the process. How long this takes depends mainly on
your hardware configuration.
--
Andrew J. Kelly
SQL Server MVP
"Jen" <anonymous@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A0F7FA2F-77F0-486B-99C2-31B2DD2E1409@.microsoft.com...
> Hi,
> I have a table with 1.5 million records. It has the primary key as the
clustered index now, I would like to change the create_dt as clustered
index. When I do reindex, will it block the table? How long will it take?
Can I do it in EM from the Design able? Thanks|||Hi,
This operation has to be done when there is no activity in this table.
Execute the below statements from Query Analyzer, Replace the table name ,
constraint name and column name with yours.
ALTER TABLE dbo.tablename
DROP CONSTRAINT Pkey_constraintname
go
ALTER TABLE dbo.tablename ADD CONSTRAINT
Pkey_constraintname PRIMARY KEY NONCLUSTERED
(
columnname
)
go
Create Clustered index IDX_name on tablename(newcolumn)
Thanks
Hari
MCDBA
"Jen" <anonymous@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A0F7FA2F-77F0-486B-99C2-31B2DD2E1409@.microsoft.com...
> Hi,
> I have a table with 1.5 million records. It has the primary key as the
clustered index now, I would like to change the create_dt as clustered
index. When I do reindex, will it block the table? How long will it take?
Can I do it in EM from the Design able? Thanks

change clustered index

Hi,
I have a table with 1.5 million records. It has the primary key as the clust
ered index now, I would like to change the create_dt as clustered index. Whe
n I do reindex, will it block the table? How long will it take? Can I do it
in EM from the Design able?
ThanksYes you can do it from EM and yes it will block all access to the table for
the entire duration of the process. How long this takes depends mainly on
your hardware configuration.
Andrew J. Kelly
SQL Server MVP
"Jen" <anonymous@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A0F7FA2F-77F0-486B-99C2-31B2DD2E1409@.microsoft.com...
> Hi,
> I have a table with 1.5 million records. It has the primary key as the
clustered index now, I would like to change the create_dt as clustered
index. When I do reindex, will it block the table? How long will it take?
Can I do it in EM from the Design able? Thanks|||Hi,
This operation has to be done when there is no activity in this table.
Execute the below statements from Query Analyzer, Replace the table name ,
constraint name and column name with yours.
ALTER TABLE dbo.tablename
DROP CONSTRAINT Pkey_constraintname
go
ALTER TABLE dbo.tablename ADD CONSTRAINT
Pkey_constraintname PRIMARY KEY NONCLUSTERED
(
columnname
)
go
Create Clustered index IDX_name on tablename(newcolumn)
Thanks
Hari
MCDBA
"Jen" <anonymous@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A0F7FA2F-77F0-486B-99C2-31B2DD2E1409@.microsoft.com...
> Hi,
> I have a table with 1.5 million records. It has the primary key as the
clustered index now, I would like to change the create_dt as clustered
index. When I do reindex, will it block the table? How long will it take?
Can I do it in EM from the Design able? Thanks