SQL Performance Tuning: Understanding Execution Plans

Analyze a Query Execution Plan

Run a query on your database and obtain its execution plan. Identify any table scans and suggest index improvements.

Expected output: A report identifying costly operations and recommended index changes.

Hint: Look for operators labeled 'Table Scan' and consider creating indexes on filtered columns.

An execution plan is a detailed description of how the database engine executes a SQL query, showing the sequence of operations and resource usage.

Execution plans help identify inefficient operations like table scans or expensive joins, guiding developers to optimize queries through indexing or rewriting.

An estimated execution plan predicts query execution steps without running the query, while an actual execution plan includes runtime statistics after query execution.