dbreindex vs index defrag question

Does anyone know if dbreindex and index defrag ideally perform the same function? I have been told that index defrag does not hold locks on a table when executed and dbreindex does. Other than this is there any difference between the two functions? My understanding was that dbreindex reindexes the data stored in a table for faster reads and index defrag removes purged data. Am I correct? I am currently running both functions on my SQL server and was advised that I really only need to run the index defrag job. Is this advise correct?http://www.mssqlcity.com/Articles/Adm/index_fragmentation.htm

You can reduce fragmentation and improve read-ahead performance by using one of the following:

Dropping and re-creating an index
=================================
Best performance, but places an exclusive table lock on the table, preventing any table access by users and shared table lock on the table, preventing all
but SELECT operations to be performed on it.

OR

Rebuilding an index by using the DBCC DBREINDEX statement
================================================== =======
Faster than dropping and re-creating, but during rebuilding a clustered index, an exclusive table lock is put on the table, preventing any table access by
users. And during rebuilding a nonclustered index a shared table lock is put on the table, preventing all but SELECT operations to be performed on it

OR

Defragmenting an index by using the DBCC INDEXDEFRAG statement
================================================== ============
It does not hold locks (or only for very shot time) [i.e. online operation], but takes longer time - works little by little. It is not suggested to use for
very fragmented indexes

Hope it helps ...|||Thanks for the info. So basically running both index defrag and dbreindex is redundant because they perform the same function. I will disable my dbreindex job.

Thanks|||http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/2000/maintain/ss2kidbp.mspx

Remember these are deprecated in 2005. It is also not correct to say that they perform the same function - they perform similar functions.

HTH|||http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/2000/maintain/ss2kidbp.mspx

Remember these are deprecated in 2005. It is also not correct to say that they perform the same function - they perform similar functions.

HTHWow Pootie...thanks! I read this just in time for it to help me solve the sqlservercentral Question Of The Day!!!
Question: You are writing a new stored procedure to perform maintenance on your SQL Server 2005 databases that defragments the indexes in an online manner. What command should you use?

Correct Answer: ALTER INDEX with the REORGANIZE option

You Answered: ALTER INDEX with the REORGANIZE option

Total Participants: 466

Total Correct Answers: 196 or 42.1% of participants

Explanation:
You should use the ALTER INDEX with the REORGANIZE option because the DBCC commands have been deprecated.|||Wow - you are in the top 42.1% of respondants. Congratulations :beer:|||Hi dsmbwoy,

DBCC DBREINDEX and DBCC INDEXDEFRAG are not one and the same. DBREINDEX sorts the both internal and external fragmantation, whereas INDEXDEFRAG only assists with internal fragmentation. You might want to take a look at the following link, which explains the differences: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/2000/maintain/ss2kidbp.mspx?pf=true