Best tool for Performance Tuning

Which is the best third party tool for SQL Server 2005 Performance Tuning/Optimization.

We purchased the Toad for SQL Server from Quest sofwater but it works only with dbo schemas....So if ur users were in schema xyz then it would not recognize it because they develop the tool for 2005 based on SQL Server 2000 where the schema ownesrhip is tied to the users.

Have you tried the Database Engine Tuning Advisor in Management Studio? I've not used it a great deal but what I have done seemed quite good. It also doesn't require an extra purchase.

sql

best approach

I have two tables with same datatypes. I need to view all the rows
from both tables and check to see if they exist in a third table while
viewing the data. My plan thus far is to use a union query and a
function that returns a bit showing if they are in third table. Should
I use this approach (shown below) or should this be a join query
between the union portion and third table with consideration to speed
and viability?
select chemical, fncExist(cid) as exist
from table1
union all
select chemical, fncExist(cid) as exist
from table2
where:
CREATE FUNCTION dbo.fncExist
(
@.cid int
)
RETURNS bit
AS
BEGIN
declare @.exist int
declare @.bln bit
select @.exist =Count(id) from table3 where vid = @.cid
if @.exist>0
begin
@.bln=1
end
else
begin
@.bln=0
end
RETURN @.bln
ENDUsing a scalar function like this can really bring performance down to
snail-on-glue speed.
Try something like this:
select <column list>
,exist
= case when <third table>.<unique key> is null
then 0
else 1
end
from (
select chemical
,cid
from table1
union all
select chemical
,cid
from table2
) Both
left join <third table>
on <third table>.cid = Both.cid
ML
http://milambda.blogspot.com/|||Thanks thats what I needed to know.