Partition-Aligned indexes in SQL Server 2008

Question

How can I find if an index on a table in SQL 2008 is partition aligned or not?

Answer 1

If is on the same partition scheme as the clustered index or as the base heap, then it is aligned. If it is on a different partition scheme but based on the same partition function, then it is aligned. If it is on a partition scheme based on a different partition function then you have to look at the properties of the two partition functions involved and compare them.

To see what partition scheme is an index created on, that depends on the tools you have. SSMS shows this in the table/index properties, SMO expose this programatically, and you can also query the catalog views in T-SQL (data_space_id in sys.indexes).