How to Get a SQL Server Query Execution Plan?

Mastering SQL Server Query Execution Plans: A Comprehensive Guide

Understanding how SQL Server executes your queries is vital for performance tuning. This guide outlines several methods to obtain query execution plans, helping you pinpoint bottlenecks and optimize your code.

Method 1: Leveraging SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)

SSMS offers a straightforward approach. Simply enable "Include Actual Execution Plan" under the "Query" menu before running your query. The execution plan will then be displayed in the results pane's "Execution plan" tab.

Method 2: Utilizing SHOWPLAN Options

Alternatively, use the following SHOWPLAN statements:

SET SHOWPLAN_TEXT ON;  -- Basic text-based plan
SET SHOWPLAN_ALL ON;   -- Text-based plan with cost estimates
SET SHOWPLAN_XML ON;   -- XML-based plan
SET STATISTICS PROFILE ON; -- Text-based actual plan
SET STATISTICS XML ON;  -- XML-based actual plan

Method 3: Employing SQL Server Profiler

Configure a trace in SQL Server Profiler to capture "Showplan XML" events. Execute your query while the trace is active, then extract and save the resulting XML plan.

Method 4: Examining the Query Cache

Directly query SQL Server's Dynamic Management Views (DMVs) to access the query plan cache:

SELECT UseCounts, Cacheobjtype, Objtype, TEXT, query_plan
FROM sys.dm_exec_cached_plans
CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_sql_text(plan_handle)
CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_query_plan(plan_handle);

Important Considerations:

• Always obtain the execution plan from the database experiencing performance issues.
• Encrypted stored procedures prevent plan capture.
• Actual execution plans, providing detailed execution information, are more informative than estimated plans.

Further Reading:

• Execution Plan Basics
• SHOWPLAN Permissions and Transact-SQL Batches
• SQL Server 2008 – Using Query Hashes and Query Plan Hashes
• Analyzing the SQL Server Plan Cache

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