How do I remove a specific bad plan from the SQL Server query cache?

We have one particular SQL Server 2008 query (not a stored proc, but the same SQL string -- executes every 5 minutes) that intermittently caches a very bad query plan.

This query normally runs in a few milliseconds, but with this bad query plan, it takes 30+ seconds.

How do I surgically remove just the one bad cached query plan from SQL Server 2008, without blowing away the entire query cache on the production database server?

Solution 1:

I figured out a few things

select * from sys.dm_exec_query_stats

will show all the cached query plans. Unfortunately, no SQL text is shown there.

However, you can join the SQL text to the plans like so:

select plan_handle, creation_time, last_execution_time, execution_count, qt.text
FROM 
   sys.dm_exec_query_stats qs
   CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_sql_text (qs.[sql_handle]) AS qt

From here it's pretty trivial to add a WHERE clause to find the SQL I know is in the query, and then I can execute:

DBCC FREEPROCCACHE (plan_handle_id_goes_here)

to remove each query plan from the query plan cache. Not exactly easy or convenient, but it appears to work..

edit: dumping the entire query cache will also work, and is less dangerous than it sounds, at least in my experience:

DBCC FREESYSTEMCACHE ('ALL') WITH MARK_IN_USE_FOR_REMOVAL;

Solution 2:

If you know how the good plan looks like, just use a plan hint.

You cannot remove a specific cache entry, but you can clean an entire cache pool with DBCC FREESYSTEMCACHE(cachename/poolname).

You can get the cache name of a bad query plan if you have the plan handle (from sys.dm_exec_requests.plan_handle for the session_id in trouble during execution, or from sys.dm_exec_query_stats post execution):

select ce.name
from sys.dm_exec_cached_plans cp
join sys.dm_os_memory_cache_entries ce on cp.memory_object_address = ce.memory_object_address
where cp.plan_handle = @bad_plan

However all SQL plans have the name 'SQL Plans' which makes picking the right one for DBCC FREESYSTEMCACHE a ... difficult choice.

Update

Nevermind, forgot about DBCC FREEPROCCACHE(plan_handle), yes that will work.