Documentation forSQL Sentry

Query Plans

Applies to: SQL Server and SSAS targets.

Introduction

The Query Plans tab lists all plans collected for Top SQL completed queries for the specified date range, and provides a detailed chronology of all completed query plan changes. Use Query Plans to look back at any point in time to see when a plan change led to a query performance problem. 

Query Plans

Note:  The Query Plans tab does not currently display collected Top SQL Query Stats or Procedure Stats query plans.

The Show Totals toolbar button controls whether the grid lists plans are grouped by stored procedure.

Show Totals enabled

Jump To > Query Plans tab by highlighting a range on the dashboard as usual. For example, if you see a spike in parallelism waits on the SQL Server Waits chart, highlight the spike, and then select Jump To > Query Plans. Sort by the Parallel Operations column to determine which queries caused the spike.

Note:  The same approach can be used to find queries with key or RID lookups because Lookups are now displayed on the Dashboard, as well as other metrics that correlate, such as I/O and table/index scans.

Display Panes

Display Pane Image 
The Filter pane allows you to filter the Query Plans by SQL Server. Query Plans Filter pane
The Bottom pane lists the records matching the current filters. There are two modes for this pane: Default and Totals. Query Plans Bottom pane
Default lists all events for the active date range in a standard list format, sorted in order by Database name, Object name, and Plan Creation Time (descending). Query Plans default columns
Totals lists all events for the active date range in a standard list format, sorted in order by Database name, Object name, and Plan Creation Time (descending). Query Plans Totals

Controls

Top Pane

After changing the filter, select Refresh , or press F5 to apply the filter.

Query Plans enable filter

Bottom Pane

To open the plan in the Query Plan Analysis window, select the Open button under the Plan column. (If the Show Totals button is selected, you need to expand the Database Name to see the Plan column). Query Plans Launch Query Analysis

Note:  The context menu provides an option to Highlight recompiles in the current date range for a statement by enabling the checkbox. Query Plans Highlight recompiles in the current date range context menu