Chapter 3. Query Execution

Craig Freedman

In this chapter:
Query Processing and Execution Overview103
Reading Query Plans107
Analyzing Plans115
Summary198

The SQL Server query processor consists of two components: the query optimizer and the query execution engine. The query optimizer is responsible for generating good query plans. The query execution engine takes the query plans generated by the query optimizer and, as its name suggests, runs them. Query execution involves many functions, including using the storage engine to retrieve and update data from tables and indexes and implementing operations such as joins and aggregation.

The focus of this chapter is on understanding query behavior by examining the details of your query execution ...

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