What is an Index Seek Operator?

MVP Grant Fritchey continues his short and sweet looks at various query plan operators, this time explaining the index seek operator. Understanding the common query plan operators is key to deciphering query plans.

I'm currently working for FM Global, an industry leading engineering & insurance company, as a DBA. I've done development of large scale applications in languages such as VB, C# and Java. I've worked in SQL Server from the hoary days of 6.0. My nickname at work is the "The Scary DBA." I even have an official name plate with it. I wear it proudly. I was awarded a Microsoft MVP in April of '09.

Lou Gallo on 5/14/2009

I like these short items about things I take for granted.

Steve Harris on 5/14/2009

excellent but very short. maybe cover more information.

Julio Santos on 5/14/2009

too short or limited

Jed Perlowin on 5/14/2009

There really wasn't a lot of information given. Make it a little longer then 1 minute.

Gil on 5/14/2009

very very very short

Jacob on 5/14/2009

For a 1 minute video, this contains too many topics and too few details.

Carla Wilson on 5/18/2009

I like that you have shown how "like 'xyz%'" can be very efficient if there is an index on that column. Also, I like your short-and-sweet videos. Thanks!

Grant Fritchey on 5/19/2009

I'm glad the short format works for some people. The biggest complaint has been the length of these videos. I guess the idea of targetting a small idea and only talking about that for a short video just doesn't work that well for a lot of people.

pradeep on 5/19/2009

good but very short

Paul on 5/21/2009

Too short. No need to make a video if you're only going to cover something like this with a cursory description. Videos are beneficial when examples and comparisons are brought into the mix to visually prove the material to the viewer.

Priyadarshan Patil on 7/29/2009

superb!!!!!!!!!!! plz post other video explaining index seek vs index scan

Ravi Raj on 6/26/2010

got some knowledge abt index seek

Eric on 5/24/2011

SQLShare is one of the finest resources on the web, and videos like this are exactly why. I've been doing DBA work for years, but rarely have a need or opportunity to learn about execution plans.