Plan Explorer

Release notes for SentryOne Plan Explorer.

Plan Explorer is a FREE lightweight .NET-based tool that builds upon and supplements the capabilities of SSMS for execution plan analysis.

Instructions for installing, enabling, and using the FREE SentryOne Plan Explorer Extension for Azure Data Studio (ADS).

Plan Explorer is designed to make query plan analysis fast and intuitive. This is a general overview of the layout and features in Plan Explorer.

This includes an overview of the primary features and information about the different tabs found within Plan Explorer.

Plan Explorer Sessions are designed to help you manage a historical record as you fine tune queries. By default, a historical entry is generated as part of the Plan Explorer Session during Estimated and Actual Plan retrieval.

The Statement section represents one of the biggest differences between Plan Explorer and SSMS. Its function is critical when navigating multi-statement plans. It shows a logical breakdown of the entire plan tree, including all control structures, nested procedure calls, and estimated and/or actual metrics for each statement, including operation counts.

The Plan Explorer Index Analysis tab provides a sandbox environment for planning indexing strategy relative to a specific operation in a query.

Live Query Profiling allows for the capture and replay of live query execution data. When this setting is enabled, live query execution data is captured along with the actual plan.

Plan Explorer allows you to open deadlock files. Deadlock (.xdl) files can be captured or collected from a number of places.