Database tuning advisor

An automated physical database design tool may provide an integrated physical design recommendation for horizontal partitioning, indexes and indexed views, all three features being tuned together (in concert). Manageability requirements may be specified when optimizing for performance. User-specified configuration may enable the specification of a partial physical design without materialization of the physical design. The tuning process may be performed for a production server but may be conducted substantially on a test server. Secondary indexes may be suggested for XML columns. Tuning of a database may be invoked by any owner of a database. Usage of objects may be evaluated and a recommendation for dropping unused objects may be issued. Reports may be provided concerning the count and percentage of queries in the workload that reference a particular database, and/or the count and percentage of queries in the workload that reference a particular table or column. A feature may be provided whereby a weight may be associated with each statement in the workload, enabling relative importance of particular statements to be specified. An in-row length for a column may be specified. If a value for the column exceeds the specified in-row length for that column, the portion of the value not exceeding the specified in-row length may be stored in the row while the portion of the value exceeding the specified in-row length may be stored in an overflow area. Rebuild and reorganization recommendations may be generated.