Export a slow-query index suggestion to a non-production instance

You can export an index suggestion from a production instance to a non-production instance for creation, evaluation, and testing before implementing the index on your production instance.

Before you begin

Role required: admin

About this task

This task involves exporting an index suggestion as an .xml file from your production instance and importing it to a non-production instance. You can then create the index and evaluate its performance on the non-production instance.

Procedure

1. In your production instance, navigate to the index suggestion to be exported:
   1. Navigate to System Diagnostics > Index Suggestions > Index Suggestions > To review.
   2. In the Index Suggestions table, select the table associated with the index suggestion you want to open from the Table Name column.
2. In the Index Suggestions form, click Export.
   The index suggestion is downloaded as an .xml file with the file name sys_index_suggestion_<alphanumeric identifier>.xml. The file name has a unique alphanumeric string to differentiate it from other index suggestions.
3. In your non-production instance, navigate to System Diagnostics > Index Suggestions > Index Suggestions > To review.
4. In the Index Suggestions table under Related Links, click Import Suggestions.
5. In the Import XML form, choose the index suggestion file that you exported and click Upload.

   After the import, the imported index suggestion appears in the Index Suggestions table on your non-production instance.

6. To continue the index evaluation process on your non-production instance, you can schedule the index suggestion for creation and test index performance.