Author: Ka Ming Ng

Using Plan Guides to tune third-party applications SQL in MS SQL Server can be a useful technique when you need to optimize the performance of a specific query or set of queries generated by the application, without making changes to the application’s source code.

Here are the steps to use Plan Guides to tune third-party applications SQL in MS SQL Server without changing the source code:

1. Identify the query or queries that are causing performance issues in the application. You can use SQL Server Profiler or Extended Events to capture and analyze the SQL statements generated by the application.
2. Create a Plan Guide that provides an optimized execution plan for the identified query or queries. This can involve modifying the query text or providing query hints to influence the optimizer’s decisions.
3. Test the Plan Guide to ensure that it provides the desired performance improvements and does not cause any unintended side effects.
4. Deploy the Plan Guide to production and monitor the performance of the application to ensure that the Plan Guide is being used and is providing the desired performance improvements.

Before optimizing an ad-hoc SQL statement executed by an application program without modifying the source code, it is crucial to understand how the SQL statement matches the one specified in the Plan Guide, which includes whitespace and comments. Additionally, it is important to match the source of the SQL statement. The following is the system procedure used to create a Plan Guide.

Today, the focus will be on tuning ad-hoc SQL (@type = N’SQL’) using a Plan Guide. There are two types of SQL: standalone SQL (@module_or_batch = NULL) and SQL within a batch text (@module_or_batch = N’batch_text’). For instance, if an application program sends the following SQL, and it is executed independently without any other code, it falls under standalone SQL.
select top 10 * from  employee;
The example below illustrates a batch text that contains one of the SQL statements listed above, which needs optimization by Plan Guide. This SQL statement is located in the middle of the batch text. Since the same SQL statement can originate from a batch text, we must specify the specific batch text by using the variable @module_or_batch = N’batch_text’. Consequently, two Plan Guides must be created for the same SQL statement, one for ad-hoc SQL and one for batch text. To accurately identify the source of an Ad-hoc SQL, it is recommended to use SQL Profiler to capture the SQL statement that requires optimization by Plan Guide.

select count(*) from employee;
select top 10 * from  employee;
where emp_id in (select emp_id id
                             from emp_subsidiary
                             where emp_dept<‘h’)
order by emp_name;

Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio provides a useful tool that assists users in creating a plan guide for a SQL statement without requiring manual execution of the system stored procedure. However, it is crucial to have knowledge about the type of SQL statement being optimized and the meanings of the corresponding parameters that need to be input.

Although the steps to create plan guide may seem complicated for newcomers, they are worthwhile for improving SQL performance without altering the source code or lacking the permission to modify it. However, the most challenging and time-consuming aspect is finding the optimal query hint for the SQL statement (@hints = N’OPTION(query_hint [ ,…n ])). Unless you have an in-depth knowledge of SQL tuning techniques and enough time to experiment, you may require a product that streamlines the process from capturing SQL, identifying SQL source type, automatically tuning query hints, and facilitates easy deployment of Plan Guides.

Tosska DB Ace Enterprise for SQL Server – Tosska Technologies Limited
DBAS Tune SQL PG Standalone – YouTube
DBAS Tune SQL PG Batch – YouTube