Query Engine and Execution Plans in Microsoft SQL Server

In this Precon (Level 300-400), Dean Vitner (former Microsoft Premium Field Engineer and long-time MVP) and Torsten Strauß (MVP, MCT, MSCE) will provide deep insights into the mystery of Query Optimizer and how to interpret execution plans to optimize query performance in SQL Server. Course will take place on June 3th 2022 at Hotel International, Miramarska 24, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.

Session abstract

In this Precon (Level 300-400), Dean Vitner (former Microsoft Premium Field Engineer and long-time MVP) and Torsten Strauß (MVP, MCT, MSCE) will provide deep insights into the mystery of Query Optimizer and how to interpret execution plans to optimize query performance in SQL Server.

We will also cover in this session the impact of stale statistics and parameter sniffing, how some prominent iterators work, and the downside of parallelism to better understand and ultimately fix the root causes of performance issues.

This session will be code-based to prove and disprove theory in practice if necessary.

Torsten Strauß

Torsten (MVP, MCSE, MCT) has been working with Microsoft SQL Server since the turn of the millennium and is specialized in performance optimization for large SQL Server environments.

He has been with bp as a database engineer for over two decades and collaborates closely with Sarpedon Quality Lab as a Principal Microsoft SQL Server Consultant.

Torsten is the founder of inside-sqlserver.com and has given more than 130 presentations on Microsoft SQL Server performance optimization at national and international conferences and user groups.

Torsten has been recognized as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for Data Platform since 2018.

Dean Vitner

After being an SQL Server MVP for 10 years, and another 4 years I spent working for Microsoft as a customer engineer (PFE), I started my own business this spring, doing database architecture and development on both SQL Server and some other database platforms.