When a query is sometimes fast and sometimes slow, there are a lot of ways you can reduce the effects of parameter sniffing. We’re always going to have parameter sniffing in SQL Server and Azure SQL DB – it’s just the way the product is built – but there are a lot of options to reduce the blast radius.

One of the most powerful ways to do it – especially if you’re stuck with code you can’t change, like code generated by Entity Framework or other ORMs – is to tune indexes. It sounds odd, but by changing the shape of indexes, you can reshape execution plans – either encouraging SQL Server to take the paths you want, or removing paths that result in inefficient plans.

On May 21, I’m doing a free webcast with Idera on How Index Tuning Reduces the Blast Radius. In there, I’ll also be demoing sp_BlitzIndex’s new AI features, which can help you tune indexes across more tables, faster, using whatever LLM you like, hosted or local.

See you there!