# Database Engine Tuning Advisor > [!Note] > The **Database Engine Tuning Advisor (DTA)** streamlines physical design by evaluating workload traces, generating **index**, **indexed view**, and **partitioning** recommendations—and even testing them via **hypothetical indexes**—all without interrupting running workloads. Query optimization has evolved from standalone tuning wizards into the integrated DTA, leveraging the same cost‐based analysis engine that drives SQL Server’s runtime optimizer. The AutoAdmin lineage—beginning with the Index Tuning Wizard in SQL Server 7.0 and maturing into DTA by SQL Server 2005—focuses on reducing total cost of ownership by automatically assessing schema and workload interactions. At the core of DTA’s methodology are **hypothetical indexes**, which are created with the `WITH STATISTICS_ONLY` option to build only metadata statistics without populating actual data pages. This allows the advisor to measure potential plan improvements and estimate performance gains without consuming storage or locking resources. Once evaluation completes, these virtual indexes are dropped, leaving the production load unaffected. > [!tip] > Use DTA in a development or staging environment with representative workload traces to validate recommendations before applying them to production. By simulating candidate indexes and partition schemes, DTA provides actionable insights—index create/drop scripts, indexed view proposals, and partitioning strategies—that you can review and implement manually or automate via deployment pipelines. --- ## ## References - Korotkevitch, D. (2022). _SQL Server advanced troubleshooting and performance tuning: Best practices and techniques_. O’Reilly Media. - Nevarez, B. (2022). _SQL Server query tuning and optimization: Optimize Microsoft SQL Server 2022 queries and applications_. Packt Publishing.