How do I obtain a Query Execution Plan in SQL Server?

You can also do it via powershell using SET STATISTICS XML ON to get the actual plan. I've written it so that it merges multi-statement plans into one plan;

########## BEGIN : SCRIPT VARIABLES #####################
[string]$server = '.\MySQLServer'
[string]$database = 'MyDatabase'
[string]$sqlCommand = 'EXEC sp_ExampleSproc'
[string]$XMLOutputFileName = 'sp_ExampleSproc'
[string]$XMLOutputPath = 'C:\SQLDumps\ActualPlans\'
########## END : SCRIPT VARIABLES #####################

#Set up connection
$connectionString = "Persist Security Info=False;Integrated Security=true;Connection Timeout=0;Initial Catalog=$database;Server=$server"
$connection = new-object system.data.SqlClient.SQLConnection($connectionString)

#Set up commands
$command = new-object system.data.sqlclient.sqlcommand($sqlCommand,$connection)
$command.CommandTimeout = 0
$commandXMLActPlanOn = new-object system.data.sqlclient.sqlcommand("SET STATISTICS XML ON",$connection)
$commandXMLActPlanOff = new-object system.data.sqlclient.sqlcommand("SET STATISTICS XML OFF",$connection)

$connection.Open()

#Enable session XML plan
$result = $commandXMLActPlanOn.ExecuteNonQuery()

#Execute SP and return resultsets into a dataset
$adapter = New-Object System.Data.sqlclient.sqlDataAdapter $command
$dataset = New-Object System.Data.DataSet
$adapter.Fill($dataSet) | Out-Null

#Set up output file name and path
[string]$fileNameDateStamp = get-date -f yyyyMMdd_HHmmss
[string]$XMLOutputFilePath = "$XMLOutputPath$XMLOutputFileName`_$fileNameDateStamp.sqlplan"

#Pull XML plans out of dataset and merge into one multi-statement plan
[int]$cntr = 1
ForEach($table in $dataset.Tables)
{
if($table.Columns[0].ColumnName -eq "Microsoft SQL Server 2005 XML Showplan")
{

[string]$fullXMLPlan = $Table.rows[0]."Microsoft SQL Server 2005 XML Showplan"

if($cntr -eq 1)
{

[regex]$rx = "\<ShowPlanXML xmlns\=.{1,}\<Statements\>"
[string]$startXMLPlan = $rx.Match($fullXMLPlan).Value
[regex]$rx = "\<\/Statements\>.{1,}\<\/ShowPlanXML\>"
[string]$endXMLPlan = $rx.Match($fullXMLPlan).Value

$startXMLPlan | out-file -Append -FilePath $XMLOutputFilePath

}

[regex]$rx = "\<StmtSimple.{1,}\<\/StmtSimple\>"
[string]$bodyXMLPlan = $rx.Match($fullXMLPlan).Value

$bodyXMLPlan | out-file -Append -FilePath $XMLOutputFilePath

$cntr += 1
}
}

$endXMLPlan | out-file -Append -FilePath $XMLOutputFilePath

#Disable session XML plan
$result = $commandXMLActPlanOff.ExecuteNonQuery()

$connection.Close()

Estimated execution plan
========================

The estimated execution plan is generated by the Optimizer without running the SQL query.

In order to get the estimated execution plan, you need to enable the `SHOWPLAN_ALL` setting prior to executing the query.

SET SHOWPLAN_ALL ON

Now, when executing the following SQL query:

SELECT p.id
FROM post p
WHERE EXISTS (
SELECT 1
FROM post_comment pc
WHERE
pc.post_id = p.id AND
pc.review = 'Bingo'
)
ORDER BY p.title
OFFSET 20 ROWS
FETCH NEXT 10 ROWS ONLY

SQL Server will generate the following estimated execution plan:

| NodeId | Parent | LogicalOp | EstimateRows | EstimateIO | EstimateCPU | AvgRowSize | TotalSubtreeCost | EstimateExecutions |
|--------|--------|----------------------|--------------|-------------|-------------|------------|------------------|--------------------|
| 1 | 0 | NULL | 10 | NULL | NULL | NULL | 0.03374284 | NULL |
| 2 | 1 | Top | 10 | 0 | 3.00E-06 | 15 | 0.03374284 | 1 |
| 4 | 2 | Distinct Sort | 30 | 0.01126126 | 0.000504114 | 146 | 0.03373984 | 1 |
| 5 | 4 | Inner Join | 46.698 | 0 | 0.00017974 | 146 | 0.02197446 | 1 |
| 6 | 5 | Clustered Index Scan | 43 | 0.004606482 | 0.0007543 | 31 | 0.005360782 | 1 |
| 7 | 5 | Clustered Index Seek | 1 | 0.003125 | 0.0001581 | 146 | 0.0161733 | 43 |

After running the query we are interested in getting the estimated execution plan, you need to disable the `SHOWPLAN_ALL` as, otherwise, the current database session will only generate estimated execution plan instead of executing the provided SQL queries.

SET SHOWPLAN_ALL OFF

SQL Server Management Studio estimated plan
-------------------------------------------

In the SQL Server Management Studio application, you can easily get the estimated execution plan for any SQL query by hitting the `CTRL+L` key shortcut.

[![SQL Server Management Studio estimated plan][2]](

[To see links please register here]

)

Actual execution plan
=====================

The actual SQL execution plan is generated by the Optimizer when running the SQL query. If the database table statistics are accurate, the actual plan should not differ significantly from the estimated one.

To get the actual execution plan on SQL Server, you need to enable the `STATISTICS IO, TIME, PROFILE` settings, as illustrated by the following SQL command:

SET STATISTICS IO, TIME, PROFILE ON

Now, when running the previous query, SQL Server is going to generate the following execution plan:

| Rows | Executes | NodeId | Parent | LogicalOp | EstimateRows | EstimateIO | EstimateCPU | AvgRowSize | TotalSubtreeCost |
|------|----------|--------|--------|----------------------|--------------|-------------|-------------|------------|------------------|
| 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | NULL | 10 | NULL | NULL | NULL | 0.03338978 |
| 10 | 1 | 2 | 1 | Top | 1.00E+01 | 0 | 3.00E-06 | 15 | 0.03338978 |
| 30 | 1 | 4 | 2 | Distinct Sort | 30 | 0.01126126 | 0.000478783 | 146 | 0.03338679 |
| 41 | 1 | 5 | 4 | Inner Join | 44.362 | 0 | 0.00017138 | 146 | 0.02164674 |
| 41 | 1 | 6 | 5 | Clustered Index Scan | 41 | 0.004606482 | 0.0007521 | 31 | 0.005358581 |
| 41 | 41 | 7 | 5 | Clustered Index Seek | 1 | 0.003125 | 0.0001581 | 146 | 0.0158571 |

SQL Server parse and compile time:
CPU time = 8 ms, elapsed time = 8 ms.

(10 row(s) affected)
Table 'Worktable'. Scan count 0, logical reads 0, physical reads 0, read-ahead reads 0, lob logical reads 0, lob physical reads 0, lob read-ahead reads 0.
Table 'post'. Scan count 0, logical reads 116, physical reads 0, read-ahead reads 0, lob logical reads 0, lob physical reads 0, lob read-ahead reads 0.
Table 'post_comment'. Scan count 1, logical reads 5, physical reads 0, read-ahead reads 0, lob logical reads 0, lob physical reads 0, lob read-ahead reads 0.

(6 row(s) affected)

SQL Server Execution Times:
CPU time = 0 ms, elapsed time = 1 ms.

After running the query we are interested in getting the actual execution plan, you need to disable the `STATISTICS IO, TIME, PROFILE ON` settings like this:

SET STATISTICS IO, TIME, PROFILE OFF

SQL Server Management Studio actual plan
----------------------------------------

In the SQL Server Management Studio application, you can easily get the estimated execution plan for any SQL query by hitting the `CTRL+M` key shortcut.

[![SQL Server Management Studio actual plan][3]](

[To see links please register here]

)

[2]:

[3]:

In SQL Server Management Studio:

“Ctrl + M” will generate the Actual Execution Plan

“Ctrl + L” will generate the Estimated Execution Plan

"Shift + Alt + S" for Client Statistics

"Ctrl + Alt + P" for tracing query in SQL Server Profiler.

My favourite tool for obtaining and deeply analyzing query execution plans is [**SQL Sentry Plan Explorer**][1]. It's much more user-friendly, convenient and comprehensive for the detail analysis and visualization of execution plans than SSMS.

Here is a sample screen shot for you to have an idea of what functionality is offered by the tool:

[![SQL Sentry Plan Explorer window screen shot][2]][2]

It's only one of the views available in the tool. Notice a set of tabs to the bottom of the app window, which lets you get different types of your execution plan representation and useful additional information as well.

In addition, I haven't noticed any limitations of its free edition that prevents using it on a daily basis or forces you to purchase the Pro version eventually. So, if you prefer to stick with the free edition, nothing forbids you from doing so.


[1]:

[To see links please register here]

[2]: