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When Online Index Rebuilds Aren’t

Kendra Little finds a bug:

I found a nasty bug in SQL Server and Azure SQL Managed Instance recently: sometimes an “online” index rebuild of a disk-based rowstore clustered index (basically a normal, everyday table) isn’t actually “online”. In fact, it’s very OFFLINE, and it blocks both read and write queries against the table for long periods.

If you manage to make it through a rebuild successfully, the problem goes away for future rebuilds of that clustered index – likely leaving you bruised and bewildered.

Click through for the details, including repo scripts and explanation of what should happen in this case.