SolarWinds Enhances Plan Explorer to Help Database Pros Improve Operations, Performance, and Business Outcomes

SolarWinds (NYSE:SWI), a leading provider of simple, powerful, secure observability and IT management software, recently announced enhancements to Plan Explorer, its tool for analyzing query performance in Microsoft SQL Server environments. This free product helps database professionals analyze query execution plans to improve database performance and drive better technical efficiency in their data ecosystems.

The Plan Explorer tool helps database teams find the root of query problems in Microsoft SQL Server. Plan Explorer provides insights by graphically delivering query execution plans in helpful plan comparisons, as well as color and layout options for diagrams. It also has a number of performance-tuning capabilities:

- Runtime metrics unavailable in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
- Index scoring and histogram analysis
- Live query profile with resource charts
- Wait statistics with links to the SQLskills wait type library
- Full query call stack for dynamic SQL and iterative queries
- Session history, versioning, and comments
- Unique analysis and visualization of deadlocks

Plan Explorer is also natively built into the SolarWinds SQL Sentry product. By combining the Plan Explorer tool's detailed query plan analysis with the comprehensive monitoring and diagnostics of SQL Sentry, database administrators and developers can achieve a more effective approach to managing SQL Server performance. This dual approach helps ensure immediate query performance improvement and long-term SQL Server performance, stability, and efficiency.

"Plan Explorer is a much-beloved free product in the modern DBA’s toolbox,” says Suril Jasani, SQL Sentry Product Manager. “SolarWinds is committed to investing in the products that make the lives of DBAs a little easier.”

The powerful new SolarWinds Plan Explorer upgrades enable teams to optimize query performance and resolve deadlocks more swiftly and efficiently and include:

• Compatibility with SQL Server 2022: Plan Explorer has expanded its performance analysis capabilities to fully support SQL Server 2022. With this support, Plan Explorer maintains its high standard of performance analysis, helping ensure users can maximize the benefits of the latest SQL Server features.
• Enhanced visibility with plan guide indication: Plan Explorer now provides insights into query execution. The feature demystifies the often complex execution plans, making it easier to identify potential performance bottlenecks and apply targeted optimizations.
• Streamlined deadlock investigation: Users can now dissect deadlock events, understand their root causes, and implement corrective measures more efficiently.
• Revamped start page: The start page of Plan Explorer has been redesigned to offer a more intuitive user experience and encourage community engagement with easy access to documentation, industry events, and information about other SolarWinds solutions.

SolarWinds has continued to innovate its powerful database management solutions to provide customers with amplified visibility, more seamless integrations, and the ability to redefine the capabilities of the database environment as it becomes increasingly complicated. The company recently announced major enhancements to its comprehensive database performance monitoring and DataOps solution, SQL Sentry. These include introducing query-level wait statistics and a revamped Environmental Health Overview dashboard that enables organizations to identify and prevent database performance issues.