A poorly performing database application not only costs users time, but also has an impact on other applications running on the same computer or the same network. SQL Tuning provides an essential next step for SQL developers and database administrators who want to extend their SQL tuning expertise and get the most from their database applications. There are two basic issues to focus on when tuning SQL: how to find and interpret the execution plan of an SQL statement and how to change SQL to get a specific alternate execution plan. SQL Tuning provides answers to these questions and addresses a third issue that's even more important: how to find the optimal execution plan for the query to use. Author Dan Tow outlines a timesaving method he's developed for finding the optimum execution plan--rapidly and systematically--regardless of the complexity of the SQL or the database platform being used. You'll learn how to understand and control SQL execution plans and how to diagram SQL queries to deduce the best execution plan for a query. Key chapters in the book include exercises to reinforce the concepts you've learned. SQL Tuning concludes by addressing special concerns and unique solutions to "unsolvable problems." Whether you are a programmer who develops SQL-based applications or a database administrator or other who troubleshoots poorly tuned applications, SQL Tuning will arm you with a reliable and deterministic method for tuning your SQL queries to gain optimal performance.

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Absolute needed book for a SQL tuning specialist - Highly recommended,  April 29 2005
Submitted by Ertugrul Bayindir   [Respond | View]

As a senior data warehousing specialist, I used several tools and books for tuning SQL so far and none of is giving the methodology needed. Most of them giving information about facilities of the databases but not real life examples of how to use them. Now after reading this book I can tune SQL statements longer than 5 pages in length in just 2-3 hours. I did tuning for SQL statements having more than 20 tables in 2 hours. I am getting 4 to more than 10 times better run time performance regularly. I think this book turns black art of tuning to an engineering method.

I know it will be seem to like I am working for Oreilly but definetely not. I should also recommend another Oreilly book "Optimizing Oracle Performance" together with this book.
If you read both books I am sure you can do a great job.

For anyone interested, I created a small perl script which generates the tree like structures needed to tune SQL statements. It works on top of Business Objects repository(QM) to get the metadata needed. Therefore it is a BO only solution.



Great coverage, an essential reference,  June 25 2004
Submitted by Douglas Rowe from the Columbia Java Users Group   [Respond | View]

If you are a DBA or developer, working daily with databases that support SQL, you need this book. It covers in better detail than any other book I've seen, all the behind the scenes aspects of SQL. What happens when you join, union or correlate queries? How do you know you're hitting your indexes? What new indexes do you need? Unlike most IT reference books, this one should be read cover to cover but it holds up well as a quick reference on a topic as well. Together with O'Reilly's SQL pocket guide by Jonathan Gennick, you have a formidable tool for creating and refining good SQL statements.



SQL Tuning Review,  February 27 2004
Submitted by Brian Blades   [Respond | View]

For many years the process of SQL Tuning has been considered an "art". SQL tuning books written to date have presented guidelines and "things to try" but "SQL Tuning" by Dan Tow is different. This is the first book I have seen that presents a clear methodology to attack the problem in a scientific/mathematical way and includes a diagramming technique to visualize the components of a query that affect performance. Dan's book has gone a long way in helping to transform SQL tuning from an art to a science.

The first four chapters of the book cover some of the subjects that are found in other SQL tuning books, and focus on the important points without delving too deeply into database internals. The really "good stuff" is covered in chapters 5 through 10, which includes how to "draw" a query diagram, and the procedures to follow to derive an optimal join order. The problems/examples presented and resolved in these chapters help the reader get a start on understanding the methodology, which can then be applied to actual tuning problems as they are encountered.

So far I have applied this technique to about 20 tuning problems I have encountered on the job using the Oracle RDBMS. I still consider myself a relative novice in using the methodology, but for each of the 20 problems I have been able to significantly reduce elapsed time and resource consumption (gets/reads). Also, these results were achieved in a matter or hours, rather than days. The query diagram has even facilitated finding "missing joins" in some of the queries without having a knowledge of the particular application.

This book is a "must have" for DBA's and developers and I highly recommend it.

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