Leftover Databse Tuning Advisor Tables

Tidying Up Your SQL Server: Removing Leftover DTA Tables

SQL Server administrators and developers often use the Microsoft Database Tuning Advisor (DTA) to analyze and enhance database performance. While DTA is an effective tool, it tends to leave behind monitoring tables in the msdb database after its use.

Why Do These Tables Exist?

When you run the Database Tuning Advisor, it creates temporary tables to store analysis data. If DTA doesn’t clean up properly due to an interrupted session or an error, these tables remain in your database. Over time, they can accumulate and take up space unnecessarily.

Identifying Leftover DTA Tables

You can use the following query to identify DTA-related tables in your database:

    SELECT name     FROM sys.tables     WHERE name LIKE 'DTA%' OR name LIKE 'DTATemp%';    

If you see a list of old DTA tables that are no longer needed, it’s safe to remove them.

Cleaning Up Leftover DTA Tables

To drop these tables, you can generate a script dynamically. Use the following query to generate DROP TABLE statements:

    SELECT 'DROP TABLE [' + name + '];'    FROM sys.tables     WHERE name LIKE 'DTA%' OR name LIKE 'DTATemp%';    

Copy and execute the output to remove the leftover tables.

Automating the Cleanup

If you frequently run DTA and want to ensure that these tables don’t pile up, you can automate the cleanup process using the script below:

    DECLARE @sql NVARCHAR(MAX) = '';    SELECT @sql = @sql + 'DROP TABLE [' + name + '];' + CHAR(13)    FROM sys.tables     WHERE name LIKE 'DTA%' OR name LIKE 'DTATemp%';    EXEC sp_executesql @sql;    

Run this script periodically to keep your database free of leftover DTA objects.

More details and a cleanup script located here: https://databasehealth.com/server-overview/quick-scan-report/quick-scan-report-leftover-dta-tables/

Why Clean Up?

Maintaining a clean and organized database environment is crucial for efficient management and mitigating risks associated with unnecessary data storage.

Leveraging Database Health Monitor for SQL Server Optimization

Database Health Monitor is a powerful tool for monitoring server health, performance metrics, backups, disk space, and query efficiency. For more insights into SQL Server performance tuning, visit Stedman Solutions’ website.

Remember, a well-maintained SQL Server leads to optimized performance and reliability. Regularly using tools like Database Health Monitor ensures your SQL Server environment remains robust and efficient.