SQLShack SQL Server training Español

Follow us!
SQL Performance Tuning tips for newbies
April 15, 2024 by Esat Erkec   

The purpose of this article is to give newbies some basic advice about SQL performance tuning that helps to
improve their query tuning skills in SQL Server.

Introduction
The performance tuning aims to optimize and reduce the response time of the queries so that we can provide fast
and reliable access to data for the end users. Popular
SQL PARTITION BY Clause overview
We will cover topics such as indexing, statistics, and query optimization to help you get the most out of your SQL
SQL Convert Date functions and formats
Server. By following these tips, you can improve the performance of your SQL Server and provide a better
SQL Variables: Basics and usage
experience for your end users.
Different ways to SQL delete duplicate rows from a
SQL Table

Measure the Query Statistics SQL WHILE loop with simple examples

How to UPDATE from a SELECT statement in SQL

Server
In this part, we will look at the oldie‐but‐goodie tools which are very beneficial for SQL performance tuning :
SELECT INTO TEMP TABLE statement in SQL Server

TIME STATISTICS SQL Server table hints – WITH ﴾NOLOCK﴿ best

practices
IO STATISTICS
Understanding the SQL MERGE statement

How to identify and resolve SQL Server Index

TIME STATISTICS is a feature in SQL Server that allows us to collect and view statistics about the amount of time
Fragmentation
that is spent executing a query. We can enable time statistics by using the SET STATISTICS TIME ON statement,
The Table Variable in SQL Server
and we can view the time statistics by looking at the messages that are returned by SQL Server after executing a
Overview of SQL RANK functions
query
SQL Server functions for converting a String to a Date

Database table partitioning in SQL Server

SET STATISTICS TIME ON
How to backup and restore MySQL databases using
SELECT P.Name AS [Product Name], the mysqldump command
SOH.OrderDate AS [Order Date]
FROM Sales.SalesOrderHeader AS SOH Implementing Slowly Changing Dimensions ﴾SCDs﴿ in
INNER JOIN Sales.SalesOrderDetail AS SOD Data Warehouses
ON SOH.SalesOrderID = SOD.SalesOrderDetailID
INNER JOIN Production.Product AS P ON SOD.ProductID = P.ProductID SQL CROSS JOIN with examples

SET STATISTICS TIME OFF

SQL Lag function overview and examples

SQL multiple joins for beginners with examples

We can find the time statistics report on the Message tab of the SQL Server Management Studio. SQL Boolean Tutorial

CPU time: The total time which is spent by the CPU

Elapsed time: The total time which is spent by SQL Server.

Parse and compile time and SQL Server Execution Times. The parse and compile time statistics show how much
time is spent to parse and compile a query. If we see these times as zero, it indicates that the optimizer has found
Trending
a cached query plan for the executed query.
SQL Server Transaction Log Backup, Truncate and
Shrink Operations
IO STATISTICS shows the physical and logical activity of a query. We can enable the IO statistics like time
Six different methods to copy tables between
statistics. databases in SQL Server

How to implement error handling in SQL Server

SET STATISTICS IO ON Working with the SQL Server command line
﴾sqlcmd﴿
SELECT P.Name AS [Product Name],
SOH.OrderDate AS [Order Date] Methods to avoid the SQL divide by zero error
FROM Sales.SalesOrderHeader AS SOH
INNER JOIN Sales.SalesOrderDetail AS SOD Query optimization techniques in SQL Server: tips
ON SOH.SalesOrderID = SOD.SalesOrderDetailID and tricks
INNER JOIN Production.Product AS P ON SOD.ProductID = P.ProductID
How to create and configure a linked server in SQL
SET STATISTICS IO OFF Server Management Studio

SQL replace: How to replace ASCII special

characters in SQL Server

How to identify slow running queries in SQL Server

 SQL varchar data type deep dive

How to implement array‐like functionality in SQL

Server

Scan count: Number of index or table scans performed. All about locking in SQL Server

SQL Server stored procedures for beginners

Logical reads: Number of pages read from the data cache. Database table partitioning in SQL Server

How to drop temp tables in SQL Server

Physical reads: Number of pages read from disk.
How to determine free space and file size for SQL
Server databases
Read‐ahead reads: Number of pages placed into the cache for the query Using PowerShell to split a string into an array

KILL SPID command in SQL Server

It is important to note that when time statistics are enabled, they will be included in the output of each query,
How to install SQL Server Express edition
which can impact the performance of the system, so it is recommended to use it only when needed and turn it off
SQL Union overview, usage and examples
when not in use.

Learn to Interpret Query Execution Plans

Learning to interpret the query plans are the most important point to figuring out how the query optimizer is
decided to access the data and which steps are performed during this process. An execution plan is a very good
pathfinder for SQL performance tuning because, through the execution plan of a query, we can identify the
bottlenecks and inefficiencies of the query. There are two types of the execution plan:

The Estimated Execution Plan shows the estimated steps and information of a query and it does not
include runtime statistics about the query. We can generate this plan without executing the query
The Actual Execution Plan includes all runtime statistics, warnings, and steps after the execution of the
Solutions
query.
Read a SQL Server transaction log

We can enable the query plans easily in SQL Server Management Studio with help of the Include Actual SQL Server database auditing techniques
Execution Plan or Actual Execution Plan buttons which are located in the Query Menu toolbar. How to recover SQL Server data from accidental
UPDATE and DELETE operations

How to quickly search for SQL database data and

objects

Synchronize SQL Server databases in different

remote sources

Recover SQL data from a dropped table without

backups
The first thing to know when interpreting a query plan is, the graphical query plans should read top to bottom
How to restore specific table﴾s﴿ from a SQL Server
and right to left. database backup

Recover deleted SQL data from transaction logs

How to recover SQL Server data from accidental

updates without backups

Automatically compare and synchronize SQL Server

data

Open LDF file and view LDF file content

Quickly convert SQL code to language‐specific client

code

How to recover a single table from a SQL Server

database backup

Recover data lost due to a TRUNCATE operation

without backups

How to recover SQL Server data from accidental

DELETE, TRUNCATE and DROP operations

Reverting your SQL Server database back to a

specific point in time

How to create SSIS package documentation

Follow up on the Novelties of the SQL Server Query Tuning Migrate a SQL Server database to a newer version
of SQL Server

How to restore a SQL Server database backup to an

Many new SQL performance tuning features are added to SQL Server in each new version. In some cases, these older version of SQL Server
features might boost our query performance dramatically. For this reason, it will always be useful for us to be
informed about these new features. Such as the following features are very outstanding:
Helpers and best practices
BI performance counters
Adaptive Joins ﴾SQL Server 2017﴿ dynamically decide to join type on the runtime according to the actual
SQL code smells rules
number of rows
Parameter Sensitivity Plan Optimization ﴾SQL Server 2022﴿ allows us to keep multiple execution plans for the SQL Server wait types

parameters of the parameterized queries. So that, this feature may help to resolve parameter sniffing issues.
Batch Mode ﴾SQL Server 2019﴿ in Rowstore allows fetching multiple rows at once without the need for
columnstore indexes.

Knowing about SQL Server’s new features will always put us one step ahead in our SQL performance tuning
processes.

Learn the Usage Details of the sp_whoisactive

The sp_whoisactive is a stored procedure that allows us to view information about currently running queries and
ongoing processes in the database engine. It provides a wealth of information about what is happening on your
SQL Server, including details about active queries, blocked processes, and resource usage. It also allows you to
filter the results by various criteria, such as database, username, and program name. Therefore, knowing about
sp_whoisactive will always give us an advantage in SQL performance tuning operations. After installing the
sp_whoisactive we can easily monitor the activities in the database engine.
Learn to Usage Details of the Extended Events
The Extended Event is a lightweight SQL performance tuning tool that helps to collect and monitoring of the
database engine activities. Through the Extended Events, we can capture various activities of the database engine.
Such as, we can use extended events to observe what activities an application is performing on SQL Server. To
create an extended event session in SQL Server Management Studio ﴾SSMS﴿, follow these steps:

In the Object Explorer, navigate to the “Management” folder and expand the “Extended Events” folder.
Right‐click on the “Sessions” folder and select “New Session Wizard…”

In the “New Session Wizard” dialog box, give the session a name.

Click on the “Event sessions” tab and select the sql_statement_completed event. Then click the right arrow
and add it to the Selected events list
Select the client_app_name on the Capture Global Fields screen

Applying the filter to the client_app_name on the Set Session Event Filters screen, which application is
wanted to monitor the activities. As a last step, we click the Finish button to create the extended event
session.

On the Create Event Session, we check the Start the event session immediately after session creation and
Watch live data on screen as it is captured
After completion of these steps, the Extended Event Watch Live data screen will be launched.

As we can see the Extended Events can always help to resolve SQL performance tuning issues.

Learn to Usage Details of the Query Store

Query Store is a feature in Microsoft SQL Server 2016 and later versions that allows you to track, report and
analyze executed query performance over time. It captures a history of executed queries, their execution plans,
runtime statistics, and query wait statistics, and stores all these data in a repository called the Query Store. This
allows you to easily identify and troubleshoot SQL performance tuning issues. Additionally, Query Store includes a
set of built‐in reports and tools to help you analyze and optimize your queries. The Query Store reports various
reports that help SQL query tunning operations:

Regressed Queries
Overall Resource Consumption
Top Resource Consuming Queries
Queries With Forced Plans
Queries With High Variation
Query Wait Statistics
Tracked Queries

Such as, we use the Top Resource Consuming Queries report to identify the queries which are consuming more
resources. After navigating to the Query Store folder in the SSMS, we can open this report.
In this report screen, we can view a sorted list of queries according to selected metrics, and also we can view the
execution plan and query text of the top resource‐consuming.

Summary
SQL performance tuning operations can be very tough for beginners and they might not guess which tools can
be needed. In this article, we took a glance at some useful tools which can be very useful for performance tuning.

See more
ApexSQL Complete is a SQL code complete tool that includes features like code snippets, SQL auto‐replacements,
tab navigation, saved queries and more for SSMS and Visual Studio

An introduction to ApexSQL Complete

Watch on
 Esat Erkec
Esat Erkec is a SQL Server professional who began his career 8+ years ago as a Software
Developer. He is a SQL Server Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert.

Most of his career has been focused on SQL Server Database Administration and Development.
His current interests are in database administration and Business Intelligence. You can find him
on LinkedIn.

View all posts by Esat Erkec

Related Posts:
1. Una guía para Administradores de Bases de Datos para resolución de problemas de SQL Server –
Parte 1 – Métricas de problemas y desempeño
2. SQL Server 2017: How to Get a Parallel Plan
3. SQL Server 2017: Columnstore Indexes and Trivial Plan
4. Centralizing data validation with domains in Azure Database for PostgreSQL
5. SQL Server data compression using the SSMS Data Compression Wizard

Monitoring, Performance

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site and/or clicking the "Accept" button you Accept
168 Views are providing consent

Quest Software and its affiliates do NOT sell the Personal Data you provide to us either when you
register on our websites or when you do business with us. For more information about our
© 2025
Privacy Policy and our data Quest Software
protection efforts,Inc. ALL RIGHTS
please RESERVED. | GDPR | Terms of Use | Privacy
visit GDPR‐HQ