Comments on: A Look at Missing Indexes

By: subash

subash — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 17:29:49 +0000

Hi Michelle,
I am using SSMS 2008 (Standard Edition), and I do not see “Missing Index Option…”. Does it require different edition of sql server?

By: Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:03:06 +0000

Hi Michelle,

Tried to run you routine in our environment and received this error. Any idea what the cause would be?

Msg 102, Level 15, State 1, Procedure dba_missingIndexStoredProc_sp, Line 118
Incorrect syntax near ‘.’.

By: Michelle Ufford

Michelle Ufford — Wed, 20 May 2009 13:46:30 +0000

@Joe I’m not sure what the code is that supports the SSMS feature. There’s some information in MSDB: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms345524.aspx

If you want to take a code-based approach, you can use the sys.dm_db_missing_index_details DMV to return similar information. I have a script that you can use in another blog post, http://sqlfool.com/2009/01/index-clean-up-scripts/.

By: joe tigeleiro

joe tigeleiro — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:56:01 +0000

SSMS 2008 – missing index detail. What is the code behing this option. If i have captured query plans from cache that contain this info, I want to generate the create index statement just like you would when you click on the plan

By: Michelle Ufford

Michelle Ufford — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:31:31 +0000

@Jim you must be using SSMS 2008 to get the missing index options. This works even if you’re connecting to a SQL Server 2005 instance.

As for the diagram, it’s hard to quantify the “estimated impact” of an index because every system and every environment is different. In my world, creating a _narrow_ index on a table with less than 10mm records is “low,” 10mm to 100mm is “medium,” and > 100mm starts to get expensive. Everything changes when the index starts to get wide or when the table is very busy. So to borrow a line from Paul Randal, “it depends.”

By: Jim Peabbles

Jim Peabbles — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:30:45 +0000

Can you quantify “low,medium,high and expensive” from your diagram or since they would differ on each database, maybe explain what you would do to define these initial values?

By: Jim Peabbles

Jim Peabbles — Mon, 11 May 2009 12:16:20 +0000

Clicking the XML link only shows me the full XML. If I save this into a .sqlplan, management studio will display the graphical view, but I don’t have a right click -> missing index details option. Is this available for 2005 or are you referencing 2008?

By: Log Buffer #144: a Carnival of the Vanities for DBAs | Pythian Group Blog

Log Buffer #144: a Carnival of the Vanities for DBAs | Pythian Group Blog — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:19:42 +0000

[...] Ufford give us some tips on how to find and deal with missing indexes. Obviously, Michelle and Ward Pond have too much time on their hands, but I am not sure even [...]

By: Alexander Gladchenko

Alexander Gladchenko — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:23:20 +0000

Tips for DBA: Missing indexes recommendations (SQL Server 2005)…

Вы, наверное, уже заметили, какую полезную информацию об индексах и о статистике использования существующих…