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When I try to create indexes on a temporary table in SQL Server when using the SNAPSHOT transaction isolation, I get this error:

Transaction failed because this DDL statement is not allowed inside a snapshot isolation transaction. Since metadata is not versioned, a metadata change can lead to inconsistency if mixed within snapshot isolation.

Why is it not allowed to create indexes on temporary tables in SQL Server when using snapshots?

I don't understand this, if I'm allowed to create temporary tables, why am I not allowed to add indexes to them?

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  • How can adding of index lead to inconsistency? Is there some way to add the indexes when I'm creating the temp table that wouldn't lead to these inconsistencies?
    – Tom Pažourek
    Commented May 15, 2018 at 18:58
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    Why do you have to create the #temp table inside the transaction?
    – Aaron Bertrand
    Commented May 15, 2018 at 19:08
  • @AaronBertrand It's how my application is structured at the moment. It didn't occur to me, but I suppose I don't really need to create it inside the transaction. Good point. It might be better to create it outside, after all, it's good to have the transactions as short as possible.
    – Tom Pažourek
    Commented May 15, 2018 at 19:12

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In modern versions of SQL Server (2014+) you can create the indexes when you create the table, e.g.:

create table #t(id int primary key, a int, index ix_a nonclustered(a))

Also you can create the temp table before the snapshot transaction starts.

Almost all DDL is prohibited within a SNAPSHOT transaction. ALTER TABLE and TRUNCATE TABLE are obviously not allowable. CREATE TABLE is whitelisted. CREATE INDEX could be whitelisted, but simply isn't.

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    And even more specifically, I think CREATE INDEX is just not whitelisted in general - the engine doesn't check to see if that is applying to a #temp table or something else. It could, potentially, whitelist CREATE INDEX ON # but not on ## or permanent. But it doesn't, today.
    – Aaron Bertrand
    Commented May 15, 2018 at 19:50
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    Yes CREATE INDEX on #temp would be simpler, as sessions see their own changes, so you wouldn't have to "fix up" the version store for the new index.
    – David Browne - Microsoft
    Commented May 15, 2018 at 19:58
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This is still not supported as of SQL Server 2019, but there is an open feedback forum issue for this that is worth up-voting to allow CREATE INDEX on temp tables to be allow-listed as david-browne-microsoft suggests . https://feedback.azure.com/forums/908035-sql-server/suggestions/40970308-allow-index-creation-for-tables-within-a-snapshot

In particular having this feature would be valuable for SELECT ... INTO #TempTable scenarios where there is currently no way to add an index to the resulting temp table when in snapshot isolation without restructuring the query to create the temp table and indexes in advance.

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