SQL Server Monitoring Week – SQL Plan Warnings

5 years ago

Today I am starting a week-long series where I will be discussing various SQL Server Monitoring Tools. My primary aim is to help people with my consulting workshop Comprehensive Database Performance Health Check. While I help customers with their various SQL Server performance issues, I often see them struggling to monitor their SQL Server’s health. One of the primary discussions at the end of the consultation is about which tool is the best for their situation and how it can prevent them from encountering more trouble in the future. Today we will briefly talk about SQL Plan Warnings.

Query Plan Warning

I often say SQL Server Performance Tuning is very easy but honestly, when it is about tuning queries, it can be very difficult and complex. DBAs and Developers often struggle when they are tasked to improve query performance. However, there are some bad smells in the code which we can all sense to help tune our queries. Microsoft by default provides some warnings when the query plan is sub-optimal, and some warnings can be identified by SQL Experts. The tool SQL Plan Warnings is a blessing to many DBAs and Developers who have to work with the Query. It identifies queries with warnings for you about your server and gives you clear actional guidance about what you can do to fix it.

My Top 3 Favorites of SQL Plan Warnings

There are many reasons for liking this tool, however, I would love to expand on 3 of the reasons I like it.

Reason 1: Look Deeper into Execution Plans

There are not many good FREE tools out there that look into your execution plan and give you useful actionable advice. SQL Plan Warnings looks into all the execution plans for your server after you make a connection and lists all the queries with its execution plan warnings. Along with the warning, it also gives you a deeper insight into what you should do to fix the warnings. This tool is very effective and quick for implementing suggestions to improve your query performance.

Reason 2: No Installation

My biggest challenge when I am on the client’s server is that they do not want to install any third-party software but they do want to improve their SQL Server Performance. I think it is fair to request if they are not familiar with the product. This is where I like the way SQL Plan Warnings works as we do not have to install it anywhere. We can just download the client tool and connect with SQL Server or upload our own execution plans and it works.

Reason 3: Absolutely FREE – No Catch

There is no reason to debate the cost of this product. There are no strings attached, it is absolutely free and no installation required. You can just go ahead and download the product and get going in less than 2 minutes. Trust me, every time I have demonstrated this product to a client, they were surprised at the number of warnings their query plans had without them having any idea.

When SQL Plan Warnings is Best For You?

It is a unique product that identifies your SQL Query Plan Warnings and gives you actional guidance without installing the software for FREE. I believe it is a must-have product for everyone.