MyDB1 is an Azure SQL on Azure virtual machine (VM) database. You identify a long-running query. You want to determine where the operation in the query is causing performance problems. You need to…

While analysis is performed on an actual execution plan, 'Analyze an actual execution plan' is not the specific SSMS command to generate it; the action is 'Display' or 'Include actual execution plan'.

The 'Display an actual execution plan' feature in SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) executes the query and then provides detailed runtime statistics, including actual rows, I/O, and CPU usage for each operator, which is essential for diagnosing real-time performance issues and trying query variations.

An estimated execution plan is generated without running the query and therefore does not contain runtime information necessary to diagnose actual performance problems.

Comparing execution plans is a subsequent step, used after generating at least two plans, rather than the initial action to obtain the runtime performance data.