Tag Archives: Missing Indexes

Missing indexes and Create Index command from the procedure cache

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Recently I was working on a performance issue for SQL Server where I needed to identify the missing indexes on the database instance. This was quite easy since I have a T-SQL script to do this which I have already blogged about before. Now the next task was to identify the SQL statements for which these indexes were suggested. Now this was also easy since my friend Jonathan Kehayias [B | T] had already blogged about this. The next ask now was to get the Create Index command for the list of missing indexes received! Well…. this time I ended up with a strike as I didn’t have any options with me. So I got down to modifying Jonathan’s T-SQL script to add to new commands to provide the CREATE INDEX statement in a separate column of the temporary table #MissingIndexInfo which his script creates.

ALTER TABLE #MissingIndexInfo ADD CreateIndexStatement varchar(8000)

UPDATE #MissingIndexInfo
SET CreateIndexStatement = ‘CREATE INDEX <index name>’ + ‘ ON ‘ + statement + ‘ (‘ + ISNULL (equality_columns,”) + CASE WHEN equality_columns IS NOT NULL AND inequality_columns IS NOT NULL THEN ‘,’ ELSE ” END + ISNULL (inequality_columns, ”) + ‘)’ + ISNULL (‘ INCLUDE (‘ + include_columns + ‘)’, ”)

 

Before you go ahead and start deploying these scripts to your environments, you need to be cognizant of the fact that the procedure cache may or may not have all the cached plans for all the queries that you want to examine. You would want to find out the missing indexes using the query here and compare it with the list that you retrieved using Jonathan’s query with the modification listed above. This sample script is an attempt to provide you with a list of indexes which may prove beneficial for your queries based on the Missing Indexes feature which was introduced in SQL Server 2005 and above. As always, you would still need to test before implementing these indexes onto a production server instance.

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How to find out the missing indexes on a SQL Server 2008 or 2005 instance along with the CREATE INDEX commands

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I had previously blogged on Missing Indexes and how useful a feature this is for troubleshooting query performance issues. Here is a script for identifying the missing indexes currently on your instance. However, you would definitely need to show prudence in implementing the indexes reported by these DMVs after a due round of testing. You would also need to make sure that nothing else is broken by implementing new indexes.  

 SELECT CONVERT (decimal (28,1), migs.avg_total_user_cost * migs.avg_user_impact * (migs.user_seeks + migs.user_scans)) AS improvement_measure, 'CREATE INDEX missing_index_' + CONVERT (varchar, mig.index_group_handle) + '_' + CONVERT (varchar, mid.index_handle) + ' ON ' + mid.statement + ' (' + ISNULL (mid.equality_columns,'') + CASE WHEN mid.equality_columns IS NOT NULL AND mid.inequality_columns IS NOT NULL THEN ',' ELSE '' END + ISNULL (mid.inequality_columns, '') + ')' + ISNULL (' INCLUDE (' + mid.included_columns + ')', '') AS create_index_statement, migs.*, mid.database_id, object_name(mid.[object_id],mid.database_id) as objectname 

FROM sys.dm_db_missing_index_groups mig 

INNER JOIN sys.dm_db_missing_index_group_stats migs ON migs.group_handle = mig.index_group_handle 

INNER JOIN sys.dm_db_missing_index_details mid ON mig.index_handle = mid.index_handle 

WHERE CONVERT (decimal (28,1), migs.avg_total_user_cost * migs.avg_user_impact * (migs.user_seeks + migs.user_scans)) > 10 

ORDER BY migs.avg_total_user_cost * migs.avg_user_impact * (migs.user_seeks + migs.user_scans) DESC

Missing Indexes Feature in SQL Server 2005

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Indexes are essential in making sure that your queries have efficient query plans and for SELECTS, you don’t end up doing searches on HEAPS.

One of the biggest improvements in SQL Server 2005 is that it tracks all the transactions happening on the server and makes a list of indexes which could prove beneficial for those queries. Of course, one index might be beneficial for one query but detrimental to another. So, it is highly essential that we test the feasibility of implementing these indexes on a production environment before rolling out changes to our indexes.

The missing indexes feature is on by default. No controls are provided to turn the feature on or off, or to reset any of the tables returned when the dynamic management objects are queried. When SQL Server is restarted, all of the missing index information is dropped. This feature can only be disabled if an instance of SQL Server is started by using the -x argument (one of the startup parameters) with the sqlservr command-prompt utility. However, along with the missing indexes, a lot of other useful events for performance troubleshooting will not be captured which is why this startup option is not recommended.

So, the first thing I would do if a query or a set of queries are running slowly in SQL Server, I would query the DMVs related to these missing indexes and find out if there are an indexes related to the tables on which those slow running queries are executing. This feature becomes highly useful when the following conditions are true:
1. NO CPU bottleneck
2. NO Blocking on the server
3. NO Disk bottleneck

You can view a list of all the missing indexes using Performance Dashboard which can be used with SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2 and above.

You can get the CREATE INDEX commands for the missing indexes recommended on your instance using the query mentioned here.

If you want to test an automatic determination of the index candidates for your workload, then have a look at the post below:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/queryoptteam/archive/2006/06/01/613516.aspx

Related Links for Missing Indexes
About Missing Indexes
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms345524.aspx
Finding Missing Indexes
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms345417.aspx
Limitations of this feature
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms345485.aspx