What maintenance process should a database administrator undertake to address slow response times from database queries?

• A. Backup and restore
• B. Optimize the indexes
• C. Data cleansing
• D. Schema redesign

Answer: (B)

Optimizing the indexes is a critical maintenance process for addressing slow response times from database queries. Indexes play a fundamental role in how efficiently a database can retrieve and sort data. When queries are executed, the database engine uses indexes to locate the data more quickly, rather than scanning entire tables. If indexes are not properly maintained or optimized, it can lead to inefficient data retrieval, resulting in slower performance.

By focusing on optimizing indexes, the database administrator can improve query execution times significantly. This may involve creating new indexes, modifying existing ones, or removing unused indexes to reduce overhead. The overall goal is to ensure that the indexes are aligned with the queries being run, which can greatly enhance the efficiency of data access and management.

While other processes, such as backup and restore, data cleansing, and schema redesign, are important for database maintenance, they do not directly address the immediate issue of slow query response times in the same way that optimizing indexes does. Backup and restore primarily deal with data protection and recovery, data cleansing focuses on ensuring data quality, and schema redesign might be a more substantial change that is unnecessary for simply improving query performance.