Parallel Plans

A Spectacular Case of 100% CPU Caused by Online Reindexing

An investigation of a serious performance issue during online re-indexing on a production server leads us to

interesting discoveries and solutions.

Differences In Native Compiled Procedures Execution Plans

All the wonderful functionality that in-memory tables and natively compiled procedures provide in SQL Server 2014 is pretty cool. But, changes to core of the engine results in changes in things that we may have developed a level of comfort with. Grant Fritchey explains.

Understanding Graphical Execution Plans - Part 3: Analyzing the Plan

Learn how to examine and read a SQL Server execution plan in this article. This is the third part of a short series from Darren White that examines execution plans and imparts the basics on an important skill for DBA's and SQL developers alike.

Understanding Graphical Execution Plans - Part 2: How to Create One

Learn how to create a SQL Server execution plan. This article explains the basics used in performance tuning, an important skill for DBA's and SQL developers alike.

Understanding Graphical Execution Plans - Part 1: Explaining the Plan

Understanding execution plans is a good basic skill for all DBA's and SQL developers. Darren White gives us an overview of what execution plans are in SQL Server and how they are used.

Execution Plan Cursors

Exporting Execution Plans - SQL Spackle

A short SQL Spackle article to fill in your knowledge of SQL Server. In this one, Jason Brimhall shows how to export execution plans when you ask for query tuning help.

Free eBook: SQL Server Execution Plans, Third Edition

If a query is performing poorly, and you can't understand why, then that query's execution plan will tell you not only what data set is coming back, but also what SQL Server did, and in what order, to get that data. It will reveal how the data was retrieved, and from which tables and indexes, what types of joins were used, at what point filtering, sorting and aggregation occurred, and a whole lot more. These details will often highlight the likely source of any problem.

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