DataGinger.com

DBAs most often face scenarios where they need to capture graphical execution plan of a query currently running on a live production instance because of multiple reasons like:

• why a particular SPID is causing blocking
• why is my query running slow
• why isn’t the index getting used
• which operator is costing more and why

While there are multiple ways to retrieve the execution plan, below is the query I always keep handy as I can run this safely on a live production server with minimal effort.

SELECT CONVERT(XML, c.query_plan) AS ExecutionPlan
FROM sys.dm_exec_requests a with (nolock)
OUTER APPLY sys.dm_exec_sql_text(a.sql_handle) b
OUTER APPLY sys.dm_exec_text_query_plan (a.plan_handle, a.statement_start_offset, a.statement_end_offset) c
LEFT JOIN sys.dm_exec_query_memory_grants m (nolock)
ON m.session_id = a.session_id
AND m.request_id = a.request_id
JOIN sys.databases d
ON d.database_id = a.database_id
WHERE  a.session_id = @@SPID --replace @@SPID with the SPID number for which you want to capture query plan
ORDER BY a.Start_Time
 

Hope this will be a good addition to your query bank.