Is it good practice to drop the Search Optimization Service before re-clustering and re-adding it after?

• A. False
• B. Not applicable
• C. True
• D. It depends on workload

Answer: (C)

Search Optimization Service accelerates certain queries by maintaining an optimization structure tied to a table’s data layout. When you recluster and reorganize the data, the underlying micro-partitions shift, so the old optimization data can become stale or misaligned. Dropping the service before the recluster and re-adding it afterward prompts the system to rebuild the optimization against the updated layout, ensuring that future queries benefit from fresh, accurate optimization. This alignment often yields better performance after the operation and avoids carrying over potentially inefficient optimization artifacts. If you skip dropping and re-adding, you risk relying on outdated optimization, which may not perform as well until the service autonomously rebuilds. The other options don’t capture this practical need for refreshing the optimization state in tandem with data layout changes.