On Friday, we published a new version of our free query plan analysis tool, SQL Sentry Plan Explorer. As noted in the change list, we've added a couple of important features.
SQL Server 2012 support
With a whole slew of changes to the showplan schema in Denali, we've added operators and columns to reflect these changes. For example, you will notice the new Window Spool operator:
As well as the ColumnStore index scan operator, and details about the new batch execution mode:
And while we don't add all new columns by default, you can also optionally show data for new items such as the FORCESCAN hint (also added in SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1).
Table-level I/O metrics
When you generate an Actual Plan from Plan Explorer, we collect additional runtime metrics you won't get from Management Studio's showplan - duration, CPU, and I/O. While it is easy to show the total reads for a query, it is not always easy or intuitive to decipher which object(s) those reads came from. We've added a Table I/O tab that breaks it down by object, making it very easy to see where the majority of your I/O is coming from:
Note that this and other runtime information is not available with an estimated plan of any kind, or with an actual plan generated by Management Studio - the information simply isn't there. We can only show runtime metrics when you generate an actual plan within Plan Explorer (or if you've captured plans using SQL Sentry Performance Advisor).
We hope you find these enhancements useful and, as always, please let us know if you have any issues or questions.
As a side note, the SSMS add-in hasn't changed.