Tips, Tricks, and Advice from the SQL Server Query Optimization Team
Renaming/Moving Blog
After a few months, we're pretty happy with the content and readership we have created. This is a...
Date: 09/20/2006
SQL Customer Advisory Team
I've been busy reading the SQL Customer Team's blog. Lots of good data on how to build a good...
Date: 09/14/2006
How to Read Statistics Profile
(2006-09-01 added a paragraph on parallel query plans) In SQL Server, “Statistics Profile” is a mode...
Date: 08/29/2006
Locking Backgrounder
A quick post for today. It's actually more of a storage engine concept, but you'd be surprised how...
Date: 08/01/2006
UPDATE STATISTICS undocumented options
If you read the Books Online page describing the UPDATE STATISTICS command, you will see that there...
Date: 07/21/2006
Hints for DML queries
Not everyone knows that query level hints (like loop join) will impact the entirety of a DML query...
Date: 07/14/2006
Non updating updates
A question we are frequently asked is what happens when an update statement assigns a column to its...
Date: 07/07/2006
Fun for the day - Automated Auto-Indexing!
We've been hard at work up here on a little prototype for you guys to try. This attachment is a...
Date: 06/01/2006
Row Goals revisited - FAST hint guidance
A question came in about when to use the FAST hint. If you remember from the row goals post...
Date: 05/03/2006
Ordering Guarantees in SQL Server 2005
SQL is a declarative language that returns multi-sets (sets allowing duplicates) of rows. The...
Date: 05/02/2006
Local-Global Aggregation
Today's topic is a general primer on something that is called "local-global aggregation"....
Date: 04/18/2006
T-SQL Procedural Blog
I ran into one of my colleagues in the hallway the other day from another part of the product, and...
Date: 04/12/2006
Sorted Seeks
The Optimizer model makes several assumptions when making plan choice decisions. These decisions can...
Date: 04/12/2006
Indexed Views in SQL Server 2005
I'd like to point you to a white paper that Eric, one of our program managers, did on Indexed Views...
Date: 04/11/2006
Optimizing Distributed Queries
I saw a post in one of the newsgroups today that referenced a piece of information Microsoft...
Date: 04/06/2006
Why should I create an index?
There are many cases where the database administrator does not control the queries being submitted...
Date: 04/06/2006
I Smell a Parameter!
Parameters are a useful way to improve overall system performance when there are many common queries...
Date: 03/31/2006
Row Goals in Action
Today, we'll talk about row goals. The optimizer in SQL Server has a feature that can bias plan...
Date: 03/30/2006
Migrating Cardinality Eestimation Posts from Previous Blog
Ian had a blog that contains a number of interestig tips/tricks, mostly about cardinality estimation...
Date: 03/27/2006
TOP 100 Percent ORDER BY Considered Harmful.
(Updated 2006-27-03 9:00am Pacfiic Time - at the bottom) SQL is a declarative language. That means...
Date: 03/24/2006
Using Computed Columns to Fix Scalar Expression Estimation Errors
(Ok, let's try something a bit more involved now. Here's a tip on how you can use computed columns...
Date: 03/24/2006
Query Recompilation Details
SQL Server contains self-tuning functionality that will recompile your query as the source data...
Date: 03/24/2006
Statistics in SQL Server 2005 White Paper
Statistics is one of the most challenging areas of our product. While we have automated a number of...
Date: 03/24/2006
Greetings!
On behalf of the Query Optimization Team for Microsoft's SQL Server product, welcome to our humble...
Date: 03/24/2006