Fastest way for this query (What is the best strategy) given a date range

Question

I have a table A that has a startDate and an end dateDate as 2 datetime columns besides some more other columns. I have another table B that has one datetime column call it

Answer 1

A little more information is needed. How many other columns are in the tables? Are these existing tables with lots of queries already going against them, or all new tables? What kind of performance issue are you seeing that lead you to ask the question?

I'm assuming that all three columns are NOT NULL (not just for the query syntax, but for the index usefulness).

I would start with a compound index on A.startDate + A.endDate, and another index on B.dates (but this is likely not needed). Unless these dates are the primary purpose of the tables, I would avoid creating clustered indices on these columns. This is doubly true if these tables are existing tables with other queries running against them. Previous queries may be written expecting the existing clustered indices.