If you are new to the database and have access to the Database Engine Tuning Advisor, you can heuristically configure your database.
Basically, you execute SQL queries that run from your database in SQL Profiler, and then send them to DETA. DETA effectively launches queries (without changing your data), and then finds out what information is missing from your database (views, indexes, sections, statistics, etc.) to make queries better.
Then he can apply them for you and track them in the future. I'm not saying that assuming DETA is always right, or doing something without understanding, but I found that it is definitely a good way to see what your queries do, how much time they take and how you can index the DB accordingly.
PS: Based on the foregoing, it is much better to invest in a good database administrator at the beginning of the project so that you have good structures and indexing to begin with. But this is not the position in which you are now ...
Spence
source share