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Mastering SQL Performance Tuning

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0 views

Mastering SQL Performance Tuning

Uploaded by

D Pavan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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🧠 Mastering SQL Performance Tuning: Practical Tips to

Optimize Every Query


✍️ By Jashuva Reddy
🚀 Whether you're dealing with Oracle, PL/SQL, or any RDBMS — tuning SQL is essential for
achieving blazing-fast, reliable, and scalable performance. Here’s your ultimate playbook for

🔧 Core SQL Tuning Techniques


smart and effective SQL tuning:

●​ Avoid SELECT * – Always mention the exact columns. Improves performance and
reduces network I/O.
●​ Use indexes wisely – High-selectivity columns benefit most. Bitmap indexes
work great for gender/status fields.
●​ Replace IN with EXISTS – Helps with correlated subqueries and large data
volumes.
●​ Prefer UNION ALL over UNION – Eliminates expensive sorting/duplication
checks.
●​ Use inline views instead of correlated subqueries – Boosts performance,
especially in analytical queries.
●​ Leverage CASE or DECODE – Simplify complex filters or conditional
aggregations.
●​ Avoid OR conditions – Use UNION, CASE, or indexed logic for better execution
paths.
●​ Bind variables – Prevents SQL injection and reduces hard parsing for similar
queries.
🚀 Advanced SQL Performance Strategies
●​ Optimize join order – Put the most selective (smallest result set) tables last to
reduce join cost.
●​ Use optimizer hints only when needed – /*+ INDEX */, /*+ LEADING */, /*+
USE_HASH */ can help guide execution plans if the optimizer fails.
●​ Function-based indexes – Essential when using functions like UPPER(),
TO_CHAR(), etc.
●​ Avoid implicit conversions – e.g., WHERE num_col = '100' disables index scan.
●​ Replace NOT IN – Use NOT EXISTS, LEFT JOIN ... IS NULL, or MINUS.
●​ Pin critical packages – Using DBMS_SHARED_POOL.KEEP prevents reloading in
shared pool.
●​ Avoid SQL parsing issues – Minor syntax changes can create duplicate child
cursors. Stick to templates and bind variables.
●​ Track recursive SQL – Use tools like tkprof, AWR, SQL Trace to identify inefficient
background queries.
●​ Use partitioning on large tables and indexes – Break large data sets into
manageable chunks for parallel access.
●​ Leverage table caching – Use ALTER TABLE ... CACHE; for small
lookup/reference tables.
●​ Avoid IS NULL in WHERE – Indexes are skipped. Use NVL, bitmap indexes, or
redesign.
🔍 Rare & Expert Tuning Insights
●​ Use parallel hints selectively – /*+ PARALLEL(n) */ boosts speed, but overuse
leads to contention.
●​ Monitor buffer cache hit ratios – Helps identify whether queries are I/O bound
or CPU bound.
●​ Use materialized views for expensive joins/aggregations – Pre-compute
heavy workloads.
●​ Analyze and gather stats regularly – Use DBMS_STATS instead of ANALYZE,
and schedule frequent updates for volatile tables.
●​ Avoid Cartesian joins unintentionally – Always validate join conditions in
multi-table queries.
●​ Trim VARCHARs with trailing spaces – Can break index matches in Oracle due
to space padding.
●​ Identify high-CPU SQLs – Use views like v$sqlarea, v$sql_monitor, or
dba_hist_sqlstat.
●​ Use EXPLAIN PLAN and SQL Tuning Advisor – Don’t guess — trust the data.
●​ Enable Adaptive Query Optimization (12c+) – Helps Oracle fine-tune
execution paths dynamically.
●​ Avoid storing images/files in DB directly – Use external LOBs or storage links
instead.
💡 Final Thought
👉 “Tune the query before tuning the database.”
Most bottlenecks are logic-based. Understanding your data distribution, access paths, and

📢
execution plans gives you real power over performance.
Which trick has saved your queries in production? Share your tuning secrets below!

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