23Jun 2008 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Breaking Down Complex Execution Plans

SQL Server, T-SQL
Peter Ward, the editor at SQL Server Performance, has published an article of mine on Breaking Down Complex Execution Plans. I go way beyond the blog entry below and show how the estimated costs in execution plans can mess you up, how to use the XML in execution plans to search through them for costly operations or operations that have mismatched estimated rows & actual rows and some other tips and tricks. Hopefully it's worth a read.
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28May 2008 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

XML Showplan in 2008

SQL Server, T-SQL
I just found my first fundamental difference between execution plans in SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008. In 2005 when you run an query and have it display an XML execution plan by issuing the statement "SET STATISTICS XML ON" you get a second result set that includes a URL. The same thing happens in 2008. When you click on that URL in 2005 it opens the XML file in a new window. If you want to look at the graphical plan, you have to save the file with  a "*.SQLPLAN" exentension. In 2008 if you click on the URL, it opens a new window, but it shows the graphical plan. What happened to the XML? The developers at Microsoft are smart, that's what happened. If you then right click…
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