I read some previous threads on unique contraint / index, and want to clarify some things... I understand that constraints are logical and indexes physical, that said...

When a table is altered, and an index created:
ALTER TABLE TAD.BBO ADD CONSTRAINT BBO_UK1
UNIQUE (BBO_ID) USING INDEX
TABLESPACE BBO_INDEX PCTFREE 1
STORAGE ( INITIAL 1M NEXT 1M PCTINCREASE 0 ) ;

The index created is a UNIQUE index, correct ?

1) Then...is it possible to disable the UNIQUE contraint on that column, and do nothing to the index ? Will it need to be rebuilt ?

2) ALSO, do you think that I will see a performance improvement on INSERTS if the column does not have a UNIQUE contraint (since it has to be checked at every insert) ?