Improve SQL Server query performance - sql

I would like to know if there is any tool which will give me the optimized SQL query for which ever query I specify. So that I can improve my DB as well as query performance. I use SQL Server 2008.
Thanks in advance.

The old Rule of DBs still applies, don't try to optimize sql statements, since the DB query parser will do its own optimizations anyway, instead do right away what we all do in the end:
Create indexes to increase performance
Don't get me wrong of course sql queries can be written stupidly and will therefore perform badly, but as long as you created a sensable 'normal' query, the query optimizer will do the rest together with the indexes.
SQL Server will even tell you if a query will clearly benefit from an index when you look at the execution plan. It will even generate the DDL statement to create the index, so all you have to do is copy/paste and run it to have the index your query needs.

You can already watch the execution plan that gives you SQL Server Management Studio.

You can try Redgate, they have evaluation versions for most of their products:
Redgate Website

SQL Server 2005 and up comes with a Query Optimizer. This can help, but tools can't really do too much optimization suggesting for you because they don't know what you are trying to accomplish.
You might try taking a look instead at some ways in which you can optimize your queries. Here are some links to get you started.
Tips, Tricks, and Advice from the MS SQL Query Optimization Team
SQL Server Rules for Optimizing Queries, best practices
Statistics Used by the Query Optimizer in SQL Server 2008

SQL Server 7.0 / 2000 came with 'index tuning wizard' this functionality has been around for a long time.
I'd reccomend having a look at 'select * from sys.dm_db_missing_index_details'
It tells you which indexes are 'missing', it's trivial to look in that table and then create indexes

Related

very slow oracle sql fast after explain plan for

Hello i have SQL with few left joins and cases. Time on postgres is around one second and on oracle is 20minuts! (390 row postgres, 300 rows oracle). Configuration of tables are the same in both db. If i run in oracle EXPLAIN PLAN FOR for this sql first, then when i run SQL (without EPF) it is fast as on postgres. I can even make some changes, add colums etc and it still run nice and fast.
Is here someone who understand what is this and what solution i can use in java where query is used?

Measuring the Performance of SQL Queries

Let me say ahead of time, that I have very little understanding of the algorithms that SQL queries go through, so please excuse my ignorance.
My question is: How do you go about evaluating the performance of a particular SQL query? And what metrics are considered?
For example,
SELECT * FROM MyTable;
and
SELECT * FROM MyTable UNION SELECT * From MyTable;
I'm guessing the second one is a lot slower even though both queries return the same results. But, how could someone evaluate the two and decide which one is better and why?
Are there tools to do this? Is there any type of SQL stack trace? Etc...
Thanks.
Assuming you're talking about SQL Server (you didn't specify...):
You need to look into SQL Server Profiler - and the best intro around is a six-part webcast series called
Mastering SQL Server Profiler
in which Brad MacGehee walks you through how to start using Profiler and what to get from it.
Red-Gate Software also publishes a free e-book on Mastering SQL Server Profiler (also by Brad)
Also assuming you are talking about SQL Server, if you are using SQL Server Management Studio, then you can try 'Display Estimatesd Execution Plan' and/or 'Include Actual Execution Plan' (from the Query menu).
The difference is that the first one doesn't execute the query, while the second does. So the second is more accurate, but the first is useful if you only want to execute the 'lighter' query.
Both of them display the execution tree. You can hover over each node and see statistics.
The one to use to compare is 'Estimate Subtree Cost' (the higher the worse).
Hope this was helpful.

how to know whether a sql query is optimal or not

i have four queries, all of which are valid and they do the same work.
how to find out which one is the most optimal?
i'm using oracle 10g.
is there any method like finding time complexity of a program?
One of the parameters to measure is the performance of the query. For oracle you can use Explain Plan. Check out the details below -
http://www.adp-gmbh.ch/ora/explainplan.html
http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B10500_01/server.920/a96533/ex_plan.htm
If you use MySQL, i think that most practical method to compare queries efficiency is BENCHMARK() query.
If you're using Microsoft SQL Server you could use SQL Management Studio to look at the queries' Execution Plans, or even run a SQL Profiler trace.
Generate the execution plan (e.g. using EXPLAIN PLAN) and compare the costs of the different statements.

Mysql to SQL Server: is there something similar to query cache?

I'm trying to optimize a SQL Server. I have some experience with Mysql and one of the things that usually help is to enable query cache, that will basically cache query results as long as you are running the same query.
Is there something similar to this on SQL Server? Could you please point what is the name of this feature?
Thanks!
SQL Server doesn't cache result sets per se, but it does cache data pages which have been read, in addition to caching query execution plans. This means that if it has to read the same data pages again to answer a query, it will be faster since there are fewer physical reads (from disk) but you should still see the same amount of logical reads.
Here is an article with more details.
SQL Server will cache query results, but it's a little more complicated than in MySQL's case (since SQL Server provides ACID guarantees that MySQL does not - at least, not with MyISAM). But you'll definitely find that the second time you execute a query on SQL Server, it'll be faster than the first time (as long as no other changes have happened).
There's no specific name for this feature, that I'm aware of. It's more a combination of caches...

SQL Server 2008 - Bit Param Evaluation alters Execution Plan

I have been working on migrating some of our data from Microsoft SQL Server 2000 to 2008. Among the usual hiccups and whatnot, I’ve run across something strange. Linked below is a SQL query that returns very quickly under 2000, but takes 20 minutes under 2008. I have read quite a bit on upgrading SQL server and went down the usual paths of checking indexes, statistics, etc. before coming to the conclusion that the following statement, found in the WHERE clause, causes the execution plan for the steps that follow this statement to change dramatically:
And (
#bOnlyUnmatched = 0 -- offending line
Or Not Exists(
The SQL statements and execution plans are linked below.
A coworker was able to rewrite a portion of the WHERE clause using a CASE statement, which seems to “trick” the optimizer into using a better execution plan. The version with the CASE statement is also contained in the linked archive.
I’d like to see if someone has an explanation as to why this is happening and if there may be a more elegant solution than using a CASE statement. While we can work around this specific issue, I’d like to have a broader understanding of what is happening to ensure the rest of the migration is as painless as possible.
Zip file with SQL statements and XML execution plans
Thanks in advance!
We experienced similar problems a few years back in our migration from 2000 to 2005. The error we were seeing was actually an invalid cast error. I think I found the thread here
The query optimiser has much more freedom in SQL Server >=2005. The CASE solution is probably the best route.