The performance of enterprise database systems depends on an effective configuration of physical design structures in the databases that compose those systems. These physical design structures include indexes, clustered indexes, indexed views, and partitions, whose purpose is to enhance performance and manageability of databases. SQL Server provides Database Engine Tuning Advisor, a tool that analyzes the performance effects of workloads (a set of Transact-SQL statements that executes against databases you want to tune) on one or more databases.

This section introduces Database Engine Tuning Advisor, describes how you can use it, and provides troubleshooting information.