Level: Introductory to Intermediate

Chris Bell

Data Platform MVP

Consultant and Speaker

WaterOx Consulting, Inc

Are your statistics up to date? Yes, it's that dreaded phrase you hear all the time when it comes to performance tuning your SQL Server. What does it matter? Why should I care about statistics? Aren't they automatic or something like that?

This session will cover why statistics matter, how they are generated, how they impact performance, and even how to maintain them. Once we have that all settled, you will take a quick look at how the cardinality estimator uses statistics to determine a "good enough" plan to use. The session closes with a look at the performance impact a simple upgrade of your SQL Server to 2014 and the new cardinality estimator can have.

You will learn:

• What SQL Statistics really are
• How statistics are generated
• How statistics and cardinality work together to find data efficiently