Understanding Page Linkage

After a page has been allocated to a table of an indexed partition, it is linked with other pages that are used for the same object.

Each page contains a header that includes the number of the page that precedes it (“prev”) and of the page that follows it (“next”). When a new page is allocated, the header information on the surrounding pages changes to point to that page. dbcc checktable and dbcc checkdb check page linkage. dbcc checkalloc, tablealloc, and indexalloc compare page linkage to information on the allocation page.

How a newly allocated page is linked with other pages
Graphic showing a new allocation page being created between two existing pages.