Clustered index compression vs table compression - are they the same thing?
If I set compression (either page or row) on the clustered index of a table, is that the same as setting compression on the table?


Yes.

From MSDN:


  Use the REBUILD WITH syntax to rebuild an entire table including all the partitions in a partitioned table. If the table has a clustered index, the REBUILD option rebuilds the clustered index.





  SQL Server provides options for doing both, which suggests that they are different


The reason why both syntaxes exist is because a table doesn't necessarily have a clustered index. In other words, ALTER INDEX ALL ON ... REBUILD does not affect a heap (though it will touch all nonclustereds), so the other route serves that purpose.

Also, while the documentation doesn't explicitly say so, the ALTER TABLE ... REBUILD syntax does not enable/disable compression of all nonclustered indexes on the table. It only affects the heap or the clustered index.

Finally, if you're testing this through SSMS, be aware that you may get errors when disabling compression -- script things out so you can see what's really going on.