many "or" operation make system choose incorrect index

[lsllcm]

Hi All,

I have one question about many "or" operation make system choose
incorrect index

There is one table TT (
C1 VARCHAR(15) NOT NULL,
C2 VARCHAR(15) NOT NULL,
C3 VARCHAR(15) NOT NULL,
C4 VARCHAR(15) NOT NULL
C5 VARCHAR2(200),
)

Primary Key TT_PK (C1, C2, C3, C4)

SELECT C1, C2, C3, C4 FROM TT WHERE C1 = 'TEST' AND ((C2 =
'07RES' AND C3 = '00000' AND C4 = '02383') OR (C2 = '07RES' AND
C3 = '00000' AND C4 = '02382') OR (C2 = '07RES' AND C3 = '00000'
AND C4 = '02381') OR (C2 = '07RES' AND C3 = '00000' AND C4 =
'02380') OR (C2 = '07RES' AND C3 = '00000' AND C4 = '02379') OR
(C2 = '07RES' AND C3 = '00000' AND C4 = '02378') OR (C2 = '07RES'
AND C3 = '00000' AND C4 = '02377') OR (C2 = '07RES' AND C3 =
'00000' AND C4 = '02376') OR (C2 = '07RES' AND C3 = '00000' AND
C4 = '02375') OR (C2 = '07RES' AND C3 = '00000' AND C4 =
'02374') OR (C2 = '07RES' AND C3 = '00000' AND C4 = '02373') OR
(C2 = '07RES' AND C3 = '00000' AND C4 = '02372')
.... about 100 or operations
OR (C2 = '07COM' AND C3 = '00000' AND C4 = '00618') OR (C2 =
'07COM' AND C3 = '00000' AND C4 = '00617') OR (C2 = '07COM' AND
C3 = '00000' AND C4 = '00616') OR (C2 = '07COM' AND C3 = '00000'
AND C4 = '00608') )

The system choose index prefix, and query all index leaf with
C1='TEST'

Prefix: [dbo].[TT].C1 = 'TEST'

After I reduce the OR operators to 50, it use choose

Prefix: [dbo].[TT].C1, [dbo].[TT].C2,[dbo].[TT].C3,[dbo].[TT].C4=
'TEST, '07RES', '00000', '02383'
Then Merge Join, it is very quick,

Can anyone help on this, do I have to reduce the OR operator to 50?

Thanks in advance!

[Gert-Jan Strik]

lsllcm,

Is there a join in the query? I get the feeling you did not post all
relevant parts of the query. Why would you get a merge join? And what
does "The system choose index prefix" mean?
There is no hard or fast rule for this. Although I could imagine that
too many predicates would disqualify index seeks, in general it is all
about selectivity. During compilation the optimizer will try to
determine whether index seeks (followed by bookmark lookups) are faster
than (partially) scanning the (clustered) index, based on the estimate
of the number of qualifying rows.

Please note that there is a certain point at which the compilation time
grows a lot for each addition predicate you add to the WHERE clause. If
the compilation time exceeds the estimated gains, the optimizer will
stop compilation and simply choose a "good enough" plan.

If the performance of this query is very important to you, and the
structure of the predicates is as "simple" and predictable as your
example, then you could consider rewriting the query as below:

SELECT C1, C2, C3, C4
FROM TT
WHERE C1 = 'TEST'
AND C2 = '07RES'
AND C3 = '00000'
AND C4 IN ('02383','02382','02381','02380','02379', ...)
UNION ALL
SELECT C1, C2, C3, C4
FROM TT
WHERE C1 = 'TEST'
AND C2 = '07COM'
AND C3 = '00000'
AND C4 IN ('00618','00617','00616', ...)

--
Gert-Jan

lsllcm wrote:

>
Hi All,

I have one question about many "or" operation make system choose
incorrect index

There is one table TT (
C1 VARCHAR(15) NOT NULL,
C2 VARCHAR(15) NOT NULL,
C3 VARCHAR(15) NOT NULL,
C4 VARCHAR(15) NOT NULL
C5 VARCHAR2(200),
)

Primary Key TT_PK (C1, C2, C3, C4)

SELECT C1, C2, C3, C4 FROM TT WHERE C1 = 'TEST' AND ((C2 =
'07RES' AND C3 = '00000' AND C4 = '02383') OR (C2 = '07RES' AND
C3 = '00000' AND C4 = '02382') OR (C2 = '07RES' AND C3 = '00000'
AND C4 = '02381') OR (C2 = '07RES' AND C3 = '00000' AND C4 =
'02380') OR (C2 = '07RES' AND C3 = '00000' AND C4 = '02379') OR
(C2 = '07RES' AND C3 = '00000' AND C4 = '02378') OR (C2 = '07RES'
AND C3 = '00000' AND C4 = '02377') OR (C2 = '07RES' AND C3 =
'00000' AND C4 = '02376') OR (C2 = '07RES' AND C3 = '00000' AND
C4 = '02375') OR (C2 = '07RES' AND C3 = '00000' AND C4 =
'02374') OR (C2 = '07RES' AND C3 = '00000' AND C4 = '02373') OR
(C2 = '07RES' AND C3 = '00000' AND C4 = '02372')
... about 100 or operations
OR (C2 = '07COM' AND C3 = '00000' AND C4 = '00618') OR (C2 =
'07COM' AND C3 = '00000' AND C4 = '00617') OR (C2 = '07COM' AND
C3 = '00000' AND C4 = '00616') OR (C2 = '07COM' AND C3 = '00000'
AND C4 = '00608') )

The system choose index prefix, and query all index leaf with
C1='TEST'

Prefix: [dbo].[TT].C1 = 'TEST'

After I reduce the OR operators to 50, it use choose

Prefix: [dbo].[TT].C1, [dbo].[TT].C2,[dbo].[TT].C3,[dbo].[TT].C4=
'TEST, '07RES', '00000', '02383'
Then Merge Join, it is very quick,

Can anyone help on this, do I have to reduce the OR operator to 50?

Thanks in advance!

[Erland Sommarskog]

Gert-Jan Strik (so***@toomuchspamalready.nl) writes:

Please note that there is a certain point at which the compilation time
grows a lot for each addition predicate you add to the WHERE clause. If
the compilation time exceeds the estimated gains, the optimizer will
stop compilation and simply choose a "good enough" plan.

Indeed. Many OR clauses, or many values in IN can result in horrendeous
compilation times. SQL 2005 fare a lot better than SQL 2000, but the cost
is still high.

One thing I've notice that when there are more than 63 values (I think
that was the value), SQL Server stashes all the constants into a work
table, and you get the same result as you had the values in a temp table.
At least that was what I saw in a test that I ran.

--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, es****@sommarskog.se

Books Online for SQL Server 2005 at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pro...ads/books.mspx
Books Online for SQL Server 2000 at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/prodinf...ons/books.mspx

[lsllcm]

Hi Gert-Jan,

Is there a join in the query? I get the feeling you did not post all
relevant parts of the query. Why would you get a merge join? And what
does "The system choose index prefix" mean?

There is no join in the query, I think the merge join is to merge the
results of different OR.

The system choose run the partial index of beginning "SERV_PROV_CODE".

Thanks
Jacky

[lsllcm]

Thank you

[lsllcm]

The version mssql 2005 sp1