One 400GB table, One query - Need Tuning Ideas (SQL2005)

Question

I have a single large table which I would like to optimize. I\'m using MS-SQL 2005 server. I\'ll try to describe how it is used and if anyone has any suggestions I would appreci

Answer 1

Partition and parallelize - check the query plan, if its not showing that the query is parallelized then find out why it isn't. You may need to break the query into a couple of steps and then bring the results together.

If it is then parition the data across multiple physical disks, add more cores. Its got lots of work to do, once you've indexed the hell out of it raw, physical power is all thats left.

Don't assume that SQL Server will just use all your cores. Generally you have to design your query just right so that multiple cores can be used. Check the properties of the first node in the query plan to see the DOP (degree of parallelizm). If its 1 you're wasting cores...