SQL Server query hints execution plan – Part3

Hi Geeks,

Welcome to the Part3 of SQL Server query hints execution plan. You can read last two posts by clicking Part1 and Part2. Today we are going to see how we can control union operations in execution plan.

USE [AdventureWorks2012]

SELECT PR1.Name, PR1.Class, PR1.ModifiedDate
FROM Production.Product PR1
UNION
SELECT PR2.Name, PR2.Class, PR2.ModifiedDate
FROM Production.Product PR2

QueryHintsExPlan_1

ConcatToolTipSortToolTip

From above figures, though Concatenation operation (read here Part1, Part2, Part3) is cheap but Sort (read here Part1, Part2) is not and slightly expensive. What if we want to force HASH JOIN instead of query optimizer’s default choice? Let’s try that out.

USE [AdventureWorks2012]

SELECT PR1.Name, PR1.Class, PR1.ModifiedDate
FROM Production.Product PR1
UNION
SELECT PR2.Name, PR2.Class, PR2.ModifiedDate
FROM Production.Product PR2
OPTION (HASH UNION)

HashMatchUnion_Plan

   

HashMatchToolTip

We are able to remove SORT operations but Hash Union is bit costlier than query optimizers default choice. Now, let us try MERGE UNION and see if this adds any benefit over default choice.

USE [AdventureWorks2012]

SELECT PR1.Name, PR1.Class, PR1.ModifiedDate
FROM Production.Product PR1
UNION
SELECT PR2.Name, PR2.Class, PR2.ModifiedDate
FROM Production.Product PR2
OPTION (MERGE UNION)

MergeUnionPlan

MergeUnionTT

From above plan and ToolTip, SORT is back but Merge Union is still costly than optimizers default choice of Concatenation and Sort. So, we can say though we are able to control the way query works, but this does not help us to improve query performance.

You can find index to the execution plan series here and click on One operator a day to visit exclusive page for this series.

Happy Learning!

Regards,

Kanchan

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About Kanchan Bhattacharyya

Kanchan is an astute IT professional, a seasoned SQL Database Administrator with 13+ years of industry experience. A calculated risk taker with deep technical knowledge and has gained proficiency in database consulting and solutions across different environments. Kanchan holds MBA degree in IT and an International Executive MBA in Project Management. He is very passionate about SQL Server and holds MCSE (Data Platform), MCSA – SQL 2012, MCITP – SQL 2008 certifications. Currently he is focusing on cloud and latest releases of SQL Server. When not working, Kanchan likes to spend his time reading on new technical developments specifically on SQL Server and other related technologies.

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