Should I implement AI-generated query optimizations without testing?

No. The presenter emphasizes a trust-but-verify approach, recommending that you always test AI suggestions first to ensure they make sense, are maintainable, and actually improve performance before deploying to production.

Solarwinds: AI-Powered SQL Query Optimization in SQL Sentry

Name: Solarwinds: AI-Powered SQL Query Optimization in SQL Sentry
Uploaded: 2026-03-29T07:26:24-04:00
Duration: 3 min 2 s
Description: TL;DR AI Query Assist in SQL Sentry uses generative AI to automatically rewrite inefficient SQL Server queries and suggest missing indexes in about one minute The system sanitizes query text and execution plans locally before sending to the AI engine, ...

Solarwinds

03/29/2026

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Transcript

It is an advisor that will help you potentially rewrite a query. It will also help suggest missing indexes, etc., and it appears in the AI Query Assist column within the web portal. So this is something that is unique to the web portal itself. In this case, we've already done an optimization for this one, so you can see that it is waiting there for our review. If you want to do a new one, these are the ones that have both a SQL statement as well as a plan that we can send to the AI engine. So to do that, and you click on a query, there is a new AI Query Assist tab in the bottom right, and you would just choose Optimize SQL. What happens under the covers then is that a sanitized version of your SQL statement, so the text data, as well as the plan, is sent up to our AI query engine, and in about a minute or so, it will come back with the results. So let's take a quick look at some examples of results. So I did this optimization a couple of days ago, and it's very small down here, so what I typically will do is maximize this screen, and then you get four different sections of things. The top one is the rewritten query, so here is the original, and then here is the optimized version of that. Now as with any AI engine, I never take it at first blush. I make sure and test it first of all, and make sure that it makes sense to me that I can maintain it, and I really take it as more of a suggestion, maybe some different ideas on how to rewrite the query. A lot of us get stuck writing queries the same way oftentimes, but this might be another option that you didn't think about previously. The other sections, the thinking section, it gives you a little bit about what it saw and what it will work on and improve potentially. The explanation is a detailed explanation of what it found and kind of what it suggested doing, including there will be some suggested indexes potentially here. And then there's also a summary too of what it would do. So it hopefully will provide maybe a different way of thinking about the query, but hopefully ways of rewriting the query so that it is more optimal.

TL;DR

AI Query Assist in SQL Sentry uses generative AI to automatically rewrite inefficient SQL Server queries and suggest missing indexes in about one minute
The system sanitizes query text and execution plans locally before sending to the AI engine, masking PII to maintain security and compliance
Results include side-by-side comparison of original and optimized queries with detailed explanations of logic changes and performance improvement recommendations

Summary

This demonstration introduces AI Query Assist, a new generative AI feature in SolarWinds SQL Sentry that automates SQL query optimization for SQL Server environments. The feature analyzes problematic queries identified in the Top SQL view and generates optimized rewrites along with missing index recommendations in approximately one minute. The system sanitizes query text and execution plans locally before sending them to the AI engine, masking personally identifiable information to maintain security. Users can review the AI-generated suggestions through a dedicated interface that displays the original query alongside the optimized version, along with detailed explanations of the logic changes and reasoning behind the recommendations. The presenter emphasizes a trust-but-verify approach, encouraging database administrators to test and validate AI suggestions rather than implementing them blindly, positioning the tool as a way to discover alternative optimization approaches that might not have been considered using traditional manual tuning methods.

Chapters

0:00 - Introduction to AI Query Assist
0:34 - Accessing the Feature in Web Portal
1:02 - How Query Sanitization and Processing Works
1:22 - Reviewing AI-Generated Optimization Results

Key Quotes

1:02 "What happens under the covers then is that a sanitized version of your SQL statement, so the text data, as well as the plan, is sent up to our AI query engine, and in about a minute or so, it will come back with the results."
1:44 "Now as with any AI engine, I never take it at first blush. I make sure and test it first of all, and make sure that it makes sense to me that I can maintain it, and I really take it as more of a suggestion, maybe some different ideas on how to rewrite the query."
2:06 "A lot of us get stuck writing queries the same way oftentimes, but this might be another option that you didn't think about previously."

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» Data Protection » Backup & Recovery
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