SQL Server includes another performance tool called the Database Engine Tuning Advisor or DTA. This tool allows you to have SQL Server analyze one statement or a batch of statements that you captured by running a Profiler or server side trace. The tool will then go through each statement to determine where improvements can be made and then presents you with options for improvement. The Database Engine Tuning Advisor is basically a tool that helps you figure out if additional indexes are helpful as well as partitioning. Here is a summary of the options:

• Adding indexes (clustered, non-clustered, and indexed views)

• Adding partitioning

• Adding statistics including multi-column statistics which are not created automatically even when you have the AUTO_CREATE_STATISTICS database option set to ON