SQL Server Community Tools: Changing The Output Of sp_WhoIsActive In Different Ways

But Why?


As a procedure, sp_WhoIsActive is pretty perfect. It’s not all things to all people, but it does what it’s supposed to do really well.

One thing I really like about it is that you can change a couple things about the way it returns data to you (or to a logging table) in different ways:

  • The set of columns
  • The sorting of columns

There are definitely good uses for these options, especially when you’re beyond the “what the hell is going on here?” phase and on to the “troubleshooting a specific problem” phase.

Just as a couple examples, if you were specifically troubleshooting:

  • tempdb issues, you’d wanna sort and focus on tempdb related columns
  • blocking issues, you’d wanna sort and focus on blocking related columns

Let’s take a look at how to do that.

Focus On tempdb


If you want to focus on just what’s using a lot of tempdb without any other noise, and you want to find out what’s using the most tempdb right at the top, you can do this:

EXEC sp_WhoIsActive
    @sort_order = '[tempdb_current] DESC',
    @get_plans = 1,
    @output_column_list = '[start_time][session_id][sql_text][query_plan][wait_info][temp%]';

It will:

  • Sort the results by what currently has the most stuff in tempdb
  • Only output columns related to tempdb use with some other identifying details

What’s nice about this is that not only does it help you totally focus right in on what you care about.

And if you’re taking screenshots to document what hellish things are happening, you don’t have to spend a bunch of time editing them to cut distractions out.

Focus On Blocking


This is one I use a whole bunch when clients are hitting blocking issues.

EXEC sp_WhoIsActive
    @sort_order = '[blocked_session_count] DESC',
    @find_block_leaders = 1,  
    @get_plans = 1,
    @get_task_info = 2,
    @get_additional_info = 1,
    @output_column_list = '[start_time][session_id][sql_text][query_plan][wait_info][block%][additional_info]';

Here’s what it does:

  • Finds which queries have the most blocked sessions under them
  • Sort the results by which sessions are doing the most blocking
  • Gets additional information about the session, like isolation level, locks, etc.
  • Only outputs columns you need to see relevant blocking details

If you don’t have an extended event session set up to capture blocking and stuff like that, this is a great way to get a lot of the same information on the fly.

What You Do


There are probably other variations on this that would be useful to you at various times. These are just to get you started.

You can sort by any one of these columns:

session_id, physical_io, reads, physical_reads, writes, tempdb_allocations,

tempdb_current, CPU, context_switches, used_memory, physical_io_delta, reads_delta,

physical_reads_delta, writes_delta, tempdb_allocations_delta, tempdb_current_delta,

CPU_delta, context_switches_delta, used_memory_delta, tasks, tran_start_time,

open_tran_count, blocking_session_id, blocked_session_count, percent_complete,

host_name, login_name, database_name, start_time, login_time, program_name

Meaning, if you were troubleshooting high CPU, it might make sense to sort by that descending or something.

Thanks for reading!

Going Further


If this is the kind of SQL Server stuff you love learning about, you’ll love my training. I’m offering a 75% discount to my blog readers if you click from here. I’m also available for consulting if you just don’t have time for that, and need to solve database performance problems quickly. You can also get a quick, low cost health check with no phone time required.

Even If SQL Server Table Variables Were Always In Memory, It Wouldn’t Make Them Better Than Temp Tables

Past Perfect


You know all those pesky developer myths that never go away?

  • CTEs and Views can’t use indexes: WRONG
  • Subqueries are slower than joins: WRONG
  • Temp tables are bad for performance: WRONG
  • Table Variables are always in memory: WRONG

Okay, that’s not a complete list, but a complete list would fill the internet to its very brim and cause all sorts of overflow errors.

My job as a performance tuning consultant is to teach folks when they’ve been lead astray.

To confuse things a bit further, Microsoft allows for in-memory @table variables, but you have do a lot of work to get set up to use them.

They’re not the ones you get out of the box.

Future Mediocre


Let’s say for the sake of argument that @table variables were always more “in-memory” than #temp tables (they’re not). They’d still have a lot of the same fundamental problems:

With all that stuff in mind: who cares if they’re only in memory? There are so many downsides for most query patterns, they could all happen in quantum space and performance would still stink.

I know, they have their uses:

But most of y’all aren’t using them that wisely.

And here’s the other thing: Most of y’all don’t have enough memory to begin with, and the memory you do have you misuse in a million ways. Why do you wanna make that worse?

Thanks for reading!

Going Further


If this is the kind of SQL Server stuff you love learning about, you’ll love my training. I’m offering a 75% discount to my blog readers if you click from here. I’m also available for consulting if you just don’t have time for that, and need to solve database performance problems quickly. You can also get a quick, low cost health check with no phone time required.

How #Temporary Tables Can Cause Plan Cache Pollution In SQL Server

I Love #Temp Tables


I solve a lot of problems with #temp tables, indeed I do. And I hate people who are reflexively anti-#temp table.

If you’re into jokes (I’m definitelyĀ not into jokes; SQL is serious business), you could even call them #foolish.

Get it?

Ahem šŸŽ¤šŸ‘ˆ

However (!) I learned a lesson recently about how using them in certain ways can cause weird plan cache pollution. When you’re hitting the issue, the optional_spid column in dm_exec_plan_attributesĀ  will be populated with a non-zero value. You can use this query to quickly check for that happening on your system:

SELECT 
    pa.attribute, 
    pa.value, 
    decp.refcounts,
    decp.usecounts,
    decp.size_in_bytes,
    decp.memory_object_address,
    decp.cacheobjtype,
    decp.objtype,
    decp.plan_handle
FROM sys.dm_exec_cached_plans AS decp
CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_plan_attributes (decp.plan_handle)  AS pa
WHERE pa.attribute = N'optional_spid'
AND   pa.value > 0;

Let’s talk about those!

Creating Across Stored Procedure Executions


Check out this piece of code:

CREATE OR ALTER PROCEDURE
    dbo.no_spid
AS
BEGIN
    SET NOCOUNT ON;

    CREATE TABLE #t (id int);
    INSERT #t (id) VALUES (1);

    EXEC dbo.a_spid; --Hi

END;
GO 


CREATE OR ALTER PROCEDURE
    dbo.a_spid
AS
BEGIN
    SET NOCOUNT ON;

    CREATE TABLE #t (id int);
    INSERT #t (id) VALUES (2);

END;
GO

In the first proc, we create a #temp table, and insert a row, then execute another proc, where we create a #temp table with the same name and definition and insert a row.

Using the above query, we’ll see this:

polluted

And if we run sp_BlitzCache, we’ll indeed see multiple plans for a_spid, though no_spidĀ seems to get plans associated with it because the plans are hashed to the same value. Heh. That plan cache… šŸ™„

diamonds are forever

Referencing Across Stored Procedure Executions


Check out this code:

CREATE OR ALTER PROCEDURE
    dbo.internal
(
    @c bigint
)
AS
BEGIN
SET NOCOUNT ON;

    CREATE TABLE #t(id int);
    INSERT #t (id) VALUES (1);

    SELECT 
        @c = COUNT_BIG(*)
    FROM #t AS t
    WHERE 1 = (SELECT 1);

    EXEC dbo.not_internal 0; --Hi

END;
GO 

CREATE OR ALTER PROCEDURE
    dbo.not_internal
(
    @c bigint
)
AS
BEGIN

    INSERT #t (id) VALUES (2);

    SELECT 
        @c = COUNT_BIG(*)
    FROM #t AS t
    WHERE 1 = (SELECT 1);

END;
GO

We’re creating a #temp table in one stored procedure, and then executing another stored procedure that references theĀ same #temp table this time.

Just like above, if we execute the procs across a couple different SSMS tabs, we’ll see this:

scope

And from the plan cache:

heearghh

Same thing as last time. Multiple plans forĀ not_internal. In both cases, theĀ outer stored procedure has anĀ optional_spid of 0, but theĀ inner procedure has the spid that executed it attached.

Dynamic SQL


My fellow blogger Joe Obbish came up with this one, which is really interesting. It’s necessary to point out that this is Joe’s code, so no one asks me why the formatting is so ugly šŸ˜ƒ

CREATE OR ALTER PROCEDURE no_optional_spid AS
BEGIN
    CREATE TABLE #obj_count (
    [DB_NAME] SYSNAME NOT NULL,
    OBJECT_COUNT BIGINT NOT NULL
    );

    DECLARE @db_name SYSNAME = 'Crap';

    DECLARE @sql NVARCHAR(4000) = N'SELECT @db_name, COUNT_BIG(*)
    FROM ' + QUOTENAME(@db_name) + '.sys.objects';

    INSERT INTO #obj_count
    EXEC sp_executesql @sql, N'@db_name SYSNAME', @db_name = @db_name;
END;
GO 

CREATE OR ALTER PROCEDURE has_optional_spid AS
BEGIN
    CREATE TABLE #obj_count (
    [DB_NAME] SYSNAME NOT NULL,
    OBJECT_COUNT BIGINT NOT NULL
    );

    DECLARE @db_name SYSNAME = 'Crap';

    DECLARE @sql NVARCHAR(4000) = N'INSERT INTO #obj_count
    SELECT @db_name, COUNT_BIG(*)
    FROM ' + QUOTENAME(@db_name) + '.sys.objects';

    EXEC sp_executesql @sql, N'@db_name SYSNAME', @db_name = @db_name;

END;
GO 

In this case, we have two procs that create a #temp table with theĀ same definition, and insert into them with dynamic SQL. I have a feeling that this would also occur under other circumstances where you use the INSERT…EXEC paradigm, e.g. a stored procedure.

Same deal here, if we look at the same things, except that it’s more helpful to look at the execution_count column in sp_BlitzCache.

BOBBY

And…

SUZIE

Everything has 200 executions, except the internal parameter table scan that does the #temp table insert:

fodder

5k Finisher


This post explores a few scenarios where the *optional_spid* cache pollution does happen. There are likely more, and I’m happy to add scenarios if any readers out there have them.

There are plenty of scenarios where this scenario doesn’t happen, too. I don’t want you to think it’s universal. Using #temp tables with the same name but different definitions, or without the cross-referencing, etc. won’t cause this issue to happen.

I tried a bunch of stuff that I thought would cause the problem, but didn’t.

So yeah. Love your #temp tables, too.

Thanks for reading!

Going Further


If this is the kind of SQL Server stuff you love learning about, you’ll love my training. I’m offering a 75% discount to my blog readers if you click from here. I’m also available for consulting if you just don’t have time for that and need to solve performance problems quickly.

LOB Data, Recompile, And Too Much tempdb Usage In SQL Server

Stumper


I got a very interesting issue about sp_HumanEvents recently, and I couldn’t quite figure out why things were going wonky.

The problem was that at some point when monitoring blocking long-term, something was taking up a whole lot of tempdb.

I’m gonna say up front that the problem was using a recompile hint with LOB variable assignment in a loop. That doesn’t mean you should avoid any one of those things, but be careful when you use them in concert.

This post wouldn’t be possible without my friends Joe and Paul, who helped me track down the issue and with the internals of it.

Thumper


Rather than make you go through running and causing blocking, the issue is reproduced through this demo:

DECLARE @lob nvarchar(max) = N'x';
DECLARE @x xml = N'<x>' + REPLICATE(@lob, 1024 * 1024) + N'</x>';
DECLARE @loop integer = 0;
DECLARE @t table (x nvarchar(1));

WHILE @loop < 5
BEGIN

    INSERT 
        @t
    (
        x
    )
    SELECT 
        x = @x.value('(./x/text())[1]', 'nvarchar(1)')
    OPTION (RECOMPILE);

    DELETE @t;

    SELECT 
        ddtsu.internal_objects_alloc_page_count, 
        ddtsu.internal_objects_dealloc_page_count,
        internal_object_reserved_page_count = 
        (
            SELECT 
                SUM(internal_object_reserved_page_count)
            FROM tempdb.sys.dm_db_file_space_usage
        )
    FROM sys.dm_db_task_space_usage AS ddtsu
    WHERE ddtsu.session_id = @@SPID;

    SET @loop += 1;
END;

The trick here is to run it with the recompile hint available, and then quoted out.

Jumper


With recompile available, this is the result:

denial

The internal objects keep going up, except the deallocated number. That’s the column in the middle.

With recompile quoted out, the numbers are a lot different.

reprisal

All numbers stay stable.

Lumper


As Mr. White points out in his post, assigning to a variable prevents parameter embedding.

  • When it’s allowed, tempdb objects get cleaned up at the end of the statement.
  • When it’s not, it gets cleaned up at the end of the batch.

This has been reported to Microsoft for some analysis. Hopefully there’s some remedy for it in the future.

Thanks for reading!

Going Further


If this is the kind of SQL Server stuff you love learning about, you’ll love my training. I’m offering a 75% discount to my blog readers if you click from here. I’m also available for consulting if you just don’t have time for that and need to solve performance problems quickly.

Azure Managed Instance Doesn’t Manage tempdb Well

Update!


You can now configure size and autogrowth settings for tempdb, but the article doesn’t mention anything about in-memory settings.

Twelve Angry Files


This post is admittedly short, but since we’re short of First Party Solutionsā„¢ to gripe to Microsoft with… I need to save this stuffĀ somewhere.

  1. You get 12 tempdb files, even if your instance has 16, 24, 32, 40, 64, or 80 cores
  2. There’s no way to turn on in-memory tempdb
death of auto tune

If your workload is tempdb-heavy, and you have a special configuration for it on-prem, you might have a tough time moving it to Managed Instance. Also consider that disk performance (even though tempdb is “local”) is garbage, and you can’t do anything about it.

I think the lack of in-memory tempdb is odd too, since many features are cloud-first. One may wonder aloud why a performance feature that’s a couple years old now still isn’t available in flagship business critical cloud offerings.

It was only recently (September 2021) that scalar UDF inlining became available up in Azure SQL DB and Managed Instance.

Who’sĀ really on the cutting edge? All those stodgy holdouts hanging about in their earthly garb.

Thanks for reading!

Going Further


If this is the kind of SQL Server stuff you love learning about, you’ll love my training. I’m offering a 75% discount to my blog readers if you click from here. I’m also available for consulting if you just don’t have time for that and need to solve performance problems quickly.

When Query Spills Cause tempdb Contention And Performance Issues In SQL Server

Temptables


I was helping a client troubleshoot a scalability issue recently, where during one point in their workload tempdb went out of control.

What was puzzling them was that nothing in the stored procedure did anything with temporary objects, cursors, or any of the other obvious things that go to el baƱo pĆŗblico. And the query plan itself was a pretty simple little loopy thing.

It wasn’t until I grabbed a quick sample of actual execution plans with Extended Events that the problem became more obvious.

Despite the fact that the query was only passing around 7 rows, we were getting a one row estimate, and there was a spilling Sort operator.

Chance Of Cloudballs


There were a couple compounding issues here, of course, like that their database is hosted in the cloud.

It doesn’t matter which cloud you talk about, this is a problem they all have and I see people face constantly.

I/O sucks, up there.

It was a lot harder to get this to repro on my local hardware, because I have very nice drives.

Let’s take a look!

Bleak


If I run this query, it’ll spill a little bit. I have the MAXDOP 1 hint on there to artificially slow it down. Without that, the fast query and I/O make the contention harder to hit.

SELECT TOP (1000) 
    u.Id 
FROM dbo.Users AS u
ORDER BY u.Reputation
OPTION(MAXDOP 1);
SQL Server Query Plan
just like me

I stuck it in a stored procedure to make calling it from ostress a little bit easier.

No Return


After running for a bit, eventually we hit GAM contention:

SQL Server tempdb Contention
tuesday

We can see all theĀ classic signs of tempdb contention, arising from spills.

It’s worth noting that enabling in-memory tempdb seems to alleviate this issue for the most part.Ā I’d show you a picture of that, but it’s not worth 1000 words.

Fixing The Spill


Normally, I wouldn’t bother fixing a spill of that size, but in this case it was worthwhile because it was harming concurrency.

The quick fix was to add a MIN_GRANT_PERCENT hint. The long-term fix is to add an index to support the Sort operation.

Good ol’ indexes, putting data in order.

There are many reasons why a spill may occur. Poor estimates are quite common, but the reason for that poor estimate has about a billion potential root causes.

Even if your query gets enough memory, sometimes you may still see spills because certain operators had to share memory.

It’s a wild world.

Thanks for reading!

Going Further


If this is the kind of SQL Server stuff you love learning about, you’ll love my training. I’m offering a 75% discount to my blog readers if you click from here. I’m also available for consulting if you just don’t have time for that and need to solve performance problems quickly.

Temporary Object Concurrency With In-Memory tempdb Metadata In SQL Server 2019

Moisty



 

Thanks for watching!

Going Further


If this is the kind of SQL Server stuff you love learning about, you’ll love my training. I’m offering a 75% discount to my blog readers if you click from here. I’m also available for consulting if you just don’t have time for that and need to solve performance problems quickly.

When Should You Use Table Variables In SQL Server? When Queries Execute Thousands Of Times A Minute

Screech



Links:

Going Further


If this is the kind of SQL Server stuff you love learning about, you’ll love my training. I’m offering a 75% discount to my blog readers if you click from here. I’m also available for consulting if you just don’t have time for that and need to solve performance problems quickly.

USE StackOverflow2013;
EXEC dbo.DropIndexes;
SET NOCOUNT ON;
DBCC FREEPROCCACHE;
GO 

CREATE INDEX whatever 
ON dbo.Posts
    (OwnerUserId) 
INCLUDE
    (Score);
GO 

CREATE OR ALTER PROCEDURE dbo.TempTableTest (@Id INT)
AS
BEGIN
SET NOCOUNT, XACT_ABORT ON;
    
    CREATE TABLE #t(i INT NOT NULL);

    INSERT 
        #t ( i )
    SELECT 
        p.Score
    FROM dbo.Posts AS p
    WHERE p.OwnerUserId = @Id;

END;
GO 

CREATE OR ALTER PROCEDURE dbo.TableVariableTest (@Id INT)
AS
BEGIN
SET NOCOUNT, XACT_ABORT ON;
    
    DECLARE @t TABLE (i INT NOT NULL);

    INSERT 
        @t ( i )
    SELECT 
        p.Score
    FROM dbo.Posts AS p
    WHERE p.OwnerUserId = @Id;

END;
GO 


CREATE OR ALTER PROCEDURE dbo.TempTestWrapper (@TestProc sysname)
AS
BEGIN
SET NOCOUNT, XACT_ABORT ON;

DECLARE @rando int = 
    ((ABS(CHECKSUM(NEWID())) % 21195018) + 1); /*this is the max id in posts for SO2013*/

IF @TestProc = N'TempTableTest'
    BEGIN
        EXEC dbo.TempTableTest @rando;
    END;

IF @TestProc = N'TableVariableTest'
    BEGIN
        EXEC dbo.TableVariableTest @rando;
    END;

END;
GO 

/*Testing*/
EXEC dbo.TempTestWrapper @TestProc = 'TempTableTest';
EXEC dbo.TempTestWrapper @TestProc = 'TableVariableTest';

/*

ostress -SSQL2019S -d"StackOverflow2013" -Q"EXEC dbo.TempTestWrapper @TestProc = 'TempTableTest';" -U"ostress" -P"ostress" -q -n300 -r1000 -o"C:\temp\crap"

ostress -SSQL2019S -d"StackOverflow2013" -Q"EXEC dbo.TempTestWrapper @TestProc = 'TableVariableTest';" -U"ostress" -P"ostress" -q -n300 -r1000 -o"C:\temp\crap"

*/

SQL Server Spool Operators Are Just Crappy Temp Tables

But My Tempdb


Using the scenario from yesterday’s post as an example of why you might want to think about rewriting queries with Table Spools in them to use temp tables instead, look how the optimizer chooses a plan with an Eager Table Spool.

The “Eager” part means the entire set of rows is loaded into a temporary object at once.

SQL Server Query Plan
drugas

That’s a lot of rows, innit? Stick some commas in there, and you might just find yourself staring down the barrel of a nine digit number.

Worse, we spend a long time loading data into the spool, and doing so in a serial zone. There’s no good way to know exactly how long the load is because of odd operator times.

If you recall yesterday’s post, the plan never goes back to parallel after that, either. It runs for nearly 30 minutes in total.

Yes Your Tempdb


If you’re gonna be using that hunka chunka tempdb anyway, you might as well use it efficiently. Unless batch mode is an option for you, either as Batch Mode On Rowstore, or tricking the optimizer, this might be your best bet.

Keep in mind that Standard Edition users have an additional limitation where Batch Mode queries are limited to a DOP of 2, and don’t have access to Batch Mode On Rowstore as of this writing. The DOP limitation especially might make the trick unproductive compared to alternatives that allow for MOREDOP.

For example, if we dump that initial join into a temp table, it only takes about a minute to get loaded at a DOP of 8. That is faster than loading data into the spool (I mean, probably. Just look at that thing.).

SQL Server Query Plan
sweet valley high

The final query to do the distinct aggregations takes about 34 seconds.

SQL Server Query
lellarap

Another benefit is that each branch that does a distinct aggregation is largely in a parallel zone until the global aggregate.

SQL Server Query
muggers

In total, both queries finish in about a 1:45. A big improvement from nearly 30 minutes relying on the Eager Table Spool and processing all of the distinct aggregates in a serial zone. The temp table here doesn’t have that particular shortcoming.

In the past, I’ve talked a lot about Eager Index Spools. They have a lot of problems too, many of which are worse. Of course, we need indexes to fix those, not temp tables.

Thanks for reading!

Going Further


If this is the kind of SQL Server stuff you love learning about, you’ll love my training. I’m offering a 75% discount to my blog readers if you click from here. I’m also available for consulting if you just don’t have time for that and need to solve performance problems quickly.

SELECT
    v.PostId,
    v.UserId,
    v.BountyAmount,
    v.VoteTypeId,
    v.CreationDate
INTO #better_spool
FROM dbo.Votes AS v
JOIN dbo.Posts AS p
    ON p.Id = v.PostId;

SELECT
    PostId = COUNT_BIG(DISTINCT s.PostId),
    UserId = COUNT_BIG(DISTINCT s.UserId), 
    BountyAmount = COUNT_BIG(DISTINCT s.BountyAmount), 
    VoteTypeId = COUNT_BIG(DISTINCT s.VoteTypeId), 
    CreationDate = COUNT_BIG(DISTINCT s.CreationDate)
FROM #better_spool AS s;

 

What’s Really Different About In-Memory Table Variables In SQL Server?

Kendra, Kendra, Kendra


My dear friend Kendra asked… Okay, look, I might have dreamed this. But I maybe dreamed that she asked what people’s Cost Threshold For Bloggingā„¢ is. Meaning, how many times do you have to get asked a question before you write about it.

I have now heard people talking and asking about in-memory table variables half a dozen times, so I guess here we are.

Talking about table variables.

In memory.

Yes, Have Some


First, yes, they do help relieve tempdb contention if you have code that executes under both high concurrency and frequency. And by high, I mean REALLY HIGH.

Like, Snoop Dogg high.

Because you can’t get rid of in memory stuff, I’m creating a separate database to test in.

Here’s how I’m doing it!

CREATE DATABASE trash;

ALTER DATABASE trash 
ADD FILEGROUP trashy 
    CONTAINS MEMORY_OPTIMIZED_DATA ;
     
ALTER DATABASE trash 
ADD FILE 
(
    NAME=trashcan, 
    FILENAME='D:\SQL2019\maggots'
) 
TO FILEGROUP trashy;

USE trash;

CREATE TYPE PostThing 
AS TABLE
(
    OwnerUserId int,
    Score int,
    INDEX o HASH(OwnerUserId)
    WITH(BUCKET_COUNT = 100)
) WITH
(
    MEMORY_OPTIMIZED = ON
);
GO

Here’s how I’m testing things:

CREATE OR ALTER PROCEDURE dbo.TableVariableTest(@Id INT)
AS
BEGIN

    SET NOCOUNT, XACT_ABORT ON;
    
    DECLARE @t AS PostThing;
    DECLARE @i INT;

    INSERT @t 
        ( OwnerUserId, Score )
    SELECT 
        p.OwnerUserId,
        p.Score
    FROM Crap.dbo.Posts AS p
    WHERE p.OwnerUserId = @Id;

    SELECT 
        @i = SUM(t.Score)
    FROM @t AS t
    WHERE t.OwnerUserId = 22656
    GROUP BY t.OwnerUserId;

    SELECT 
        @i = SUM(t.Score)
    FROM @t AS t
    GROUP BY t.OwnerUserId;

END;
GO

Hot Suet


So like, the first thing I did was use SQL Query Stress to run this on a bunch of threads, and I didn’t see any tempdb contention.

So that’s cool. But now you have a bunch of stuff taking up space in memory. Precious memory. Do you have enough memory for all this?

Marinate on that.

Well, okay. Surely they must improve on all of the issues with table variables in some other way:

  • Modifications can’t go parallel
  • Bad estimates
  • No column level stats

But, nope. No they don’t. It’s the same crap.

Minus the tempdb contetion.

Plus taking up space in memory.

But 2019


SQL Server 2019 does offer the sameĀ table level cardinality estimate for in-memory table variables as regular table variables.

If we flip database compatibility levels to 150, deferred compilation kicks in. Great. Are you on SQL Server 2019? Are you using compatibility level 150?

Don’t get too excited.

Let’s give this a test run in compat level 140:

DECLARE @i INT = 22656;
EXEC dbo.TableVariableTest @Id = @i;
SQL Server Query Plan
everything counts in large amounts

Switching over to compat level 150:

SQL Server Query Plan
yeaaahhhhh

Candy Girl


So what do memory optimized table variables solve?

Not the problem that table variables in general cause.

They do help you avoid tempdb contention, but you trade that off for them taking up space in memory.

Precious memory.

Do you have enough memory?

Thanks for reading!

Going Further


If this is the kind of SQL Server stuff you love learning about, you’ll love my training. I’m offering a 75% discount to my blog readers if you click from here. I’m also available for consulting if you just don’t have time for that and need to solve performance problems quickly.