Find Ad Hoc Plan Cache Bloat with sys.dm_exec_cached_plans
Not every plan in SQL Server's cache earns its place. A query compiled once — because its literal values were hard-coded into the text instead of passed as parameters — gets a full compiled plan cached right alongside plans an application reuses thousands of times a day. sys.dm_exec_cached_plans is where that …
Read MoreRank Top Memory Consumers with sys.dm_os_memory_clerks
Jul 20, 2026 / · 8 min read · sql server sys.dm_os_memory_clerks memory clerks memory pressure plan cache xtp query store dmv performance monitoring scripts ·Buffer pool counters explain data cache pressure but go silent the moment memory trouble comes from somewhere else. sys.dm_os_memory_clerks lists every active memory clerk — buffer pool, plan cache, In-Memory OLTP, Query Store, query memory grants, Extended Events — and reports pages_kb per clerk. Grouping those rows …
Read MoreSQL Server DBCC Commands Guide
Jun 8, 2026 / · 10 min read · sql server dbcc commands database maintenance database administration maintenance scripts sql scripts consistency checks dbcc checkdb dbcc shrinkfile plan cache sys.dm_exec_requests sys.dm_db_log_space_usage sys.dm_exec_cached_plans sys.dm_exec_input_buffer sys.dm_exec_sql_text ·An incident rarely announces which DBCC statement it needs. A log file stops truncating, a query slows after a plan changes, an identity column runs ahead of its table, and each one has a Database Console Command that answers it, sitting next to a few that can make the same situation worse. The DBCC statements are …
Read MoreA stored procedure that returned in 20 milliseconds yesterday is timing out today, and nothing in the code changed. Indexes are intact and statistics look current, yet the query now takes a different, slower path. One cause worth checking is a cached plan that was compiled for an unrepresentative set of parameter …
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