Automated Tuning in Azure SQL Database and SQL Server

Abstract

While a lot of query performance tuning involves detailed knowledge of the systems, queries, statistics, indexes, and all the rest of the information put forward in this book, certain aspects of query tuning are fairly mechanical in nature. The process of noticing a missing index suggestion and then testing whether that index helps or hurts a query and whether it hurts other queries could be automated. The same thing goes for certain kinds of bad parameter sniffing where it’s clear that one plan is superior to another. Microsoft has started the process of automating these aspects of query tuning. Further, it is putting other forms of automated mechanisms into both Azure SQL Database and SQL Server that will help you by tuning aspects of your queries on the fly. Don’t worry, the rest of the book will still be extremely useful because these approaches are only going to fix a fairly narrow range of problems. You’ll still have plenty of challenging work to do.