>>I replaced my LEFT OUTER JOIN with INNER JOIN, and the query took only 8 seconds this time.
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>>LEFT JOIN can always be replaced with INNER JOIN and a UNION. Did both INNER JOINS table1->table2 and table2->table1 work the same?
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>I'm not sure, but that comment doesn't ring true to me. Can you provide an example test to show me what you mean?
http://www.sql-server-performance.com/transact_sql.aspselect table1.*, table2.* from table1 inner join table2 on ...
union ;
select table1.*, cast("" as c(50)) as field2, ... from table1 && rest of records from table1 what don't have table2 matching records
If it's not broken, fix it until it is.
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