Chapter 10. Query execution

Craig Freedman and Benjamin Nevarez

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.

This chapter focuses on understanding query behavior by examining the details of your query execution plans. It explains how the SQL Server query processor works, beginning with the basics of query plans and ...

Get Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Internals now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.