DBA Best Practices:

A Primer on Managing Oracle Databases

Leng Leng Tan
Vice President, Systems and Applications Management

The following is intended to outline our general

product direction. It is intended for information
purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any
contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any
material, code, or functionality, and should not be
relied upon in making purchasing decisions.
The development, release, and timing of any
features or functionality described for Oracles
products remains at the sole discretion of Oracle.

Top 3 DBA Activities

1. Performance Diagnosis
2. SQL Optimization
3. Space Management

Source: IOUG DBA Survey

Top 3 DBA Activities

s
e
c
i
t
c
a
r
P
st
e
B
0
1
p
for
To

1. Performance Diagnosis
2. SQL Optimization
3. Space Management

Source: IOUG DBA Survey

Performance Diagnostics

SQL Optimization

Space Management

Q&A

<Insert Picture Here>

Performance Diagnostics

Performance Diagnostics Topics

Key Concepts
Automatic System Diagnostics
Manual System Diagnostics
Advanced Topics
Targeted analysis
Comparative analysis

Key Concepts
DB Time

Total time in database calls by foreground sessions

Includes CPU time, IO time and non-idle wait time
DB Time <> response time
Total DB time = sum of DB time for all active sessions

Goal: To Reduce Total DB time

Active Session
Session currently spending time in a database call, i.e., accruing DB
time

Average Active Sessions =

DB Time
Wall-Clock (Elapsed) Time

Average Active Sessions is a new metric for measuring DB load

Automatic System Diagnostics using ADDM

Snapshots in
Automatic Workload
Repository

Automatic Diagnostic
Engine
Self-Diagnostic
Engine inside
DB

High-load
SQL

SQL
Advisor

IO / CPU
issues

System
Resource
Advice

RAC issues

Network +
DB config
Advice

#1

P
B
0

Use ADDM (Automatic

Database Diagnostic Monitor)
for database-wide
performance diagnostic
Self-diagnostic engine in the
database
Helps resolve current and past
problems
In 11g, a RAC specialist as well!
Provides impact and benefit
analysis, non problem areas
Runs proactively out of the box,
reactively when required

Manual Performance Diagnostics

EM Performance Page facilitates manual performance
analysis
Method (Advanced):
Observe Average Active Sessions graph
Click on the Big Stuff

Answers the who and what of the problem

Who is slowing down the system?
What is that person/process doing?

Click!

Targeted Performance Analysis

Use ASH (Active Session History) for targeted performance
analysis into different dimensions:
1st dimension by a Time, then by
SQL ID
Session ID
Wait Class
Service, Module, Action, Client ID

P
B
9

Performance
Range

*
Time

ASH Report: Over 5 mins by a SQL

Main Sections

ASH Report:
Top Events for that SQL

ASH Report:
Activity for that SQL over the same 5 mins

Comparative Performance Analysis

Performance

P
B
8

Actual

Baseline

time

Use Automatic Workload

Repository (AWR) Baseline
for comparative
performance analysis to
Guide set alert thresholds
Monitor performance
Compare advisor reports
Enables performance
comparison of two periods
Makes analysis of workload
variations and performance
diagnosis easier
Automatic creation and
management of reference
AWR baselines
Out-of-box Moving Window
AWR Baseline in 11g

AWR Compare Period Report

AWR Compare Period Report:

Configuration

AWR Compare Period Report:

Load Profile

AWR Compare Period Report:

Top SQL by Elapsed Time

Performance Diagnostics

SQL Optimization

Space Management

Q&A

<Insert Picture Here>

SQL Optimization

SQL Optimization Topics

Manual SQL Tuning
Automatic SQL Tuning
Optimizer Statistics Management

Use Real-time SQL Monitoring

to Understand SQL Execution
Shows whats happening inside SQL
execution
Automatically monitors long running
SQL
Enabled out-of-the-box with no
performance impact
Monitors each SQL execution
Exposes monitoring statistics
Global execution level
Plan operation level
Parallel Execution level

P
B
7

Demo
Real-time SQL Monitoring

SQL Monitoring Use Case: Big Plans

SQL Monitoring Use Case: Big Plans

SQL Monitoring Use Case: Big Plans

SQL Monitoring Use Case: Big Plans

Use SQL Tuning Advisor to Tune SQL

#

P
B
6
SQL Tuning
Advisor

Comprehensive Analysis

Recommendation

Statistics Analysis

Gather Missing or
Stale Statistics

Access Structure
Analysis (Single
SQL)

Add Missing
Indexes (B* Tree)

SQL Design
Analysis

Modify SQL
Constructs

Plan Tuning (SQL

Profiling)

Create a SQL
Profile

SQL

Live vs. Remote Tuning

Resource Consumption
Limited mode: Resource consumption minimal
Stats, index and SQL restructure analysis is cheap
Average is less than 1 second per SQL statement
Comprehensive mode: Resource consumption may be significant
SQL Profiling can potentially consume non-trivial resources
Roughly comparable to amount of resources/time consumed when executing
SQL statement(s)

Live tuning
Run SQL Tuning Advisor in Limited mode only if system does not have spare
resources otherwise run in Comprehensive mode (recommended)

Remote tuning
Tuning remotely if
Cumulative resources/time consumed by all SQL statements significant
System cannot spare resources
Use SQL Profile and SQL Tuning Set export/import capabilities

More Best Practices when using

SQL Tuning Advisor
Use Automatic SQL Capture feature of SQL Tuning Set (STS) to
capture SQL Workload
Always validate SQL Profiles before enabling them
DBMS_SQLTUNE.ACCEPT_SQL_PROFILE (task_name => <tuning
task name>, category => MY_CATEGORY);
ALTER SESSION SET SQLTUNE_CATEGORY=MY_CATEGORY ;

For remote tuning, ensure test system is similar to production

system
Schema
Data distribution
Volume

If test system smaller than production, set optimizer stats

manually

Automatic SQL Tuning

Packaged
Apps

Custom
Apps

Auto Capture
High-Load SQL
Nightly

SQL Tuning Advisor

SQL
Profiles

Automatic
implement

SQL
Analysis

Report
Manually
implement

Well-tuned SQL

Automatically captures highload SQL

Automatically tunes SQL
without changing application
by creating SQL Profiles
Automatically validates SQL
Profiles by test executing them
Automatically implements
(optional) greatly improved
SQL plans
Automatically reports analysis
Automatically runs during
maintenance window

Optimizer Statistics Management

Use Automatic statistics collection to
manage Optimizer Statistics

Out-of-the box, runs in maintenance window

configuration can be changed
Restartable
Gathers statistics on user and dictionary
objects
Parameters chosen automatically based on
DML monitoring
Column usage monitoring
Iterative sampling
Uses new collection algorithm with accuracy
of compute and speed faster than sampling
of 1%
Incrementally maintains statistics for
partitioned tables very efficient

P
B
5

More Best Practices on Statistics

Collection
Gather statistics for all objects (dictionary and user objects)
Volatile objects
Gathers statistics when object at max size and then lock table
Delete all statistics and lock table dynamic sampling will be used

Restoring old optimizer statistics

Used when new stats result in poor execution plan selection

Scope: Table, schema and database
History maintained for 30 days
API: DBMS_STATS.RESTORE_TABLE_STATS

Don't use the ANALYZE command

Officially obsolete for optimizer statistics

Cannot gather GLOBAL statistics for partitioned objects
Cannot gather statistics for external tables, fixed tables, etc.
Invalidates/recompiles all dependent cursors at once
DBMS_STATS marks cursors as unusable and recompiles gradually

Optimizer Statistics Validation

Use SQL Performance Analyzer
(SPA) to validate statistics
refresh
1.

2.
3.
4.
5.

Capture SQL workload in STS using

automatic cursor cache capture
capability
Execute SPA pre-change trial
Refresh statistics using PENDING
option
Execute SPA post-change trial
Run SPA report comparing SQL
execution statistics

Before PUBLISHing stats

P
B
4

Remediate individual SQL for plan

few regressions
Revert to old statistics if too many
regressions observed

SQL Performance Analyzer

(SPA)
SQL
Workload

Pre-change
executions
stats
Compare SQL
Performance

Analysis Report

Post-change
executions
stats

Real Application Testing applicable for Pre-11g

Database Releases
Feature

SQL Performance Analyzer

Database Replay

Capture From

Test Changes In

9i R2

10g R2 or 11g

10g R1

10g R2 or 11g

10g R2

10g R2 or 11g

9i R2

11g

10g R2

11g

SQL Performance Analyzer (SPA)

Capture on 9i, 10.1, 10.2 database releases
Test changes in 10.2 & above
Database Replay
Capture on 9i, 10.2 database releases
Test changes in 11.1 & above

Performance Diagnostics

SQL Optimization

Space Management

Q&A

<Insert Picture Here>

Space Management

Space Management Topics

Permanent Tablespace Management
Extent management
Segment space management

Temporary Tablespace Management

RAC

Goals
Optimize space usage by eliminating/ minimizing
fragmentation
Optimize data access and transaction performance

Permanent Tablespace Management

Use Locally Managed
Tablespace for Extent Mgmt

Use Automatic Segment Space

Management for Segment Mgmt

Space managed locally by bitmaps

in data file headers

Segment free space managed using

bitmaps

Eliminates external fragmentation

Easier management: PCTUSED,

FREELISTS, FREELIST GROUPS
dont have to be tuned or set

Efficient space utilization

Performance
Serialization of space management
at file level
Space management faster by 100200%

Superior performance

P
B
3

Automatically manages contention on

meta-data blocks
Inter-instance data block contention
reduced by dynamic instance affinity

Two extent management types

Auto-allocate (recommended):
Extent size determined by database
Uniform: All extents of same size

Minimizes internal fragmentation

Automatic Segment Space Mgmt (ASSM)

vs. Manual Segment Space Mgmt (MSSM)
Insert Workload

Response Time

ASSM
MSSM

3
2
1
0
1

16

32

Concurrent Users

Mixed DML Workload

8
Response Time

ASSM
MSSM

6
4
2
0
1

Concurrent Users

Internal Fragmentation

Fragmentation of space within a segment

Space under-utilization below HWM

Although minimized, can still occur in ASSM tablespace
Performance Impact: slows certain access paths, e.g., full table scan
Online Segment Shrink remedies internal fragmentation

ROW MOVEMENT must be ENABLED for heap organized segments

Segment must be in ASSM, locally managed tablespace

Automatic Segment Advisor evaluates segments for fragmentation and makes

appropriate recommendations
Space Operations

Shrink

Online Redef

Alter MOVE

Online

In-place

Incremental

Dependecy
Maintenance

Segment Level Reorg

Parallel

Note: For tables with large number of indexes, reorg is faster

Temporary Tablespace Management

Temporary Data

Data generated by operations like bitmap merges, hash join,

bitmap index creation, sort
Persists only for duration of a transaction or session
Media and instance recovery is not required
High concurrency of space management operations is very
critical

Use Temporary Tablespace for temporary data

ALTER DATABASE DEFAULT TEMPORARY TABLESPACE

tablespace_name;
Use Locally Managed Temporary Tablespace
Allows high concurrency space management
In steady state all space metadata cached in SGA
Operations serialized by SGA latch instead of db wide ST enqueue
Can be shrunk using SHRINK SPACE and/or SHRINK TEMPFILE
commands

P
B
2

More Best Practices on Temporary

Tablespace Management
Guidelines for choosing extent size
5M-10M:
For DSS, OLAP applications involving huge sorts, hash joins
Large temporary lobs are predominant

64K or multiple:
Global temporary tables are predominant and amount of data loaded is small
Application is predominantly OLTP

can be used to monitor space usage and

workload distribution

V$TEMPSEG_USAGE

SESSION_NUM USERNAME
SEGTYPE BLOCKS TABLESPACE
----------- -------- --------- ------ ---------101
SCOTT
SORT
128
TEMP
102
SCOTT
LOB_DATA
128
TEMP
103
SYS
HASH
256
TEMP

Best Practices for Temporary Tablespace

Management in RAC
Use a single Temporary Tablespace for entire RAC
database
No special configuration is needed
Each instance dynamically caches extents it has
affinity to in its SGA
Sharing of space between instances happens
transparently and dynamically
Add space when number of waits on SS enqueue
increases

Use Enterprise Manager to Manage

P
Database
B
#1
Grid Control or Database Control (out-of-the-box)

Top 3 DBA Activities

s
e
c
i
t
c
a
r
P
st
e
B
0
1
p
for
To
#10 Use ADDM for database-wide performance diagnostic
#9 Use ASH for targeted performance analysis
#8 Use AWR Baseline for comparative performance analysis
#7 Use Real-time SQL Monitoring to understand SQL execution
#6 Use SQL Tuning Advisor to tune SQL
#5 Use Automatic statistics collection to manage optimizer statistics
#4 Use SQL Performance Analyzer (SPA) to validate statistics refresh
#3 Use Locally Managed TS with Auto-Allocate & Automatic Segment
Space Management for Permanent Tablespace
#2 Use Locally Managed Temporary Tablespace
#1 Use Enterprise Manager to manage database

Recommended Campground Demos

Demo

Location

Complete Data Center Management

Moscone West
Exhibit Hall

Oracle Real Application Testing: Database Replay and

SQL Performance Analyzer

Moscone West
Exhibit Hall

Self-Managing Database: Automatic Performance Diagnostics

Moscone West
Exhibit Hall

Self-Managing Database: Automatic Application & SQL

Tuning

Moscone West
Exhibit Hall

Self-Managing Database: Automatic Fault Diagnostics

Moscone West
Exhibit Hall

Change Management & Data Masking for DBAs

Moscone West
Exhibit Hall

Application Quality Management

Moscone West
Exhibit Hall

Recommended Sessions
Session Title

Date

Time

Performance Fundamentals for Oracle DB 10g and 11g

Monday, 9/22

2:30

Mos South: 302

Oracle Enterprise Manager: Oracle's Management

Solution for Your Enterprise

Monday, 9/22

4:00

Mos West: 2003

Advanced Performance Diagnostics: What the GUI

Doesn't Tell You

Tuesday, 9/23

11:30

Mos West : 2003

Demystifying SQL Tuning: Tips and Techniques for SQL

Experts

Tuesday, 9/23

1:00

Mos South: 303

Successful Upgrade Secrets: Preventing

Performance Problems with Database Replay

Tuesday, 9/23

5:00

Mos South: 303

Storage Monitoring Made Easy: Diagnosing I/O

Performance Problems

Wed, 9/24

9:00

Mos South: 303

Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) Best Practices

Wed, 9/24

11:30

SQL Tuning Roundtable with the Experts

Wed, 9/24

1:00

Mos West: 2001

Thursday, 9/25

1:30

Mos South: 303

Proactive Performance Monitoring with Baselines and

Adaptive Thresholds

Location

Mos South: 103