SQL Server Execution Plans - Red Gate Software

Figure 7.6
Chapter 7: Special Datatypes and Execution Plans
The physical flow starts on the top right of the plan, which is the bottom right portion of
Figure 7.6 (to see the whole plan, I've graphically split it in half). A quick scan of the plan
reveals no new XML icons. All the OPENXML statement processing is handled within the
Remote Scan icon. This operator represents the opening of a remote object, meaning
a DLL or some external process such as CLR object, within SQL Server, which will take
the XML and convert it into a format within memory that looks to the query engine like
a table of data. Since the Remote Scan is not actually part of the query engine itself, the
optimizer represents the call, in the plan, as a single icon.
Examining the estimated plan reveals none of the extensive XML statements that are
present in this query: even the XML stored procedures sp_xml_preparedocument and
sp_xml_remove document are referenced by simple logical T-SQL icons, as you can see
in Figure 7.7.
Figure 7.7
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