September 2022

Tuning Oracle Database performance can seem like a daunting task, but this guide simplifies it by examining the most common issues that impact performance and how to tackle them.

You’ll encounter daily challenges in most Oracle database environments, like long-running queries, blocking processes, and deadlock transactions. High resource consumption from specific queries, poor query design, and ineffective index usage can lead to performance slowdowns. Let’s explore these performance culprits and how you can get your Oracle Database running smoothly.

Productive Oracle DBAs use a good proactive Oracle database monitoring solution and work to analyze the performance of your Oracle databases, identify the root cause of the problem, and respond with changes to improve the process/query that caused the performance degradation.

In this example, we’ll use dbWatch Control Center to demonstrate how you  can quickly analyze how different factors in Oracle impact your environment. You can form a solution to improve poor-performing processes using the different performance counters and statistics available.

Oracle Long-running Queries

One of the most common problems that Oracle database administrators encounter daily is long-running queries. Here, you can view currently running queries by visiting the instance you want to monitor. Under the management module, choose the instance. Expand performance and select active sessions. (Figure 1)

The view displays the active processes , showing the initial login time of the query or the start time. To view the SQL explain plan and other statistical information,  right-click on the session and choose the information you wish to see.

You can also check if any long-running queries happened during the day or week by opening the long-running queries job. (Figure 2)

It shows you information about the SQL query that was executing at that moment in time. (Figure 3)

Historic Long-running Query Visualization

dbWatch Control Center (CC) also allows Oracle DBAs to look at issues from today, last week, or last month using the Oracle performance pack feature.

CC provides a historical visualization of what queries have been performing poorly in the past few weeks. You can drill down and select the specific time stamp where the problematic query has been executed by pointing to the line graph. (Figure 4 below)

Working with Query Statistics

Oracle DBAs can also look at query statistics by expanding the SQL menu on the left side. It will display the top 20 queries by elapsed time, average IO, CPU, or executions. (Figure 5, below)

Filter out the top processes based on their query text, execution count, max elapsed time, average elapsed time, and the log create date.

With the following data available, Oracle database administrators’ will have a good idea about which query needs to be optimized based on its performance regarding its execution time and resource consumption.

Multiple Blocking Processes

Another problem that Oracle DBAs encounter is multiple blocking processes.  In this example, we will simulate a blocking transaction in a test machine.

We have a simple insert statement :

Execute the query:

We now have an active blocking process.

Using dbWatch Control Center,  you can view blocking processes within your Oracle database. Go to the management module. Under the performance option, choose the blocking session.

This view shows the simulated blocking process; it displays various information regarding the processes that block each other.  We have the session ID, username/OS user, blocker, status, command, and additional relevant information. If you right-click the session, you can kill the process and view the session’s SQL query . (Figure 6, below)

To view the blocking history of your instance :

To to the Monitoring module.
Select instance(P001-ORCL19C) and choose performance.
Select the blocking detector, right-click and select details.

This window shows additional information about the previous  blocking  processes.   It displays the process that was blocked and the process that blocked it,  session history login info, program name, database name, and SQL command for both processes.

With the detailed report coming from the dbWatch Control Center monitor,  Oracle DBAs can act to optimize queries that frequently block other processes to avoid multiple blocking scenarios that can cause database timeouts in the future.

And last on the list is CPU Intensive queries; using dbWatch Control Center, DBAs can analyze - the CPU usage trend and determine when the instance is at its peak regarding resource usage.

Go to the Monitoring module and choose an instance. Expand performance, right-click CPU Load to view more information regarding the instance CPU peak hours.

This window shows the CPU utilization history chart , which shows CPU usage for the last 2 hours, aggregated CPU usage divided into CPU Max Night Hours between 12midnight to 8 am, CPU max working hours between 8 am to 4 pm, CPU Max evening hours between 4 pm to 12midnight.

With dbWatch Control Center (CC), Oracle DBAs can now monitor their resource usage trend and analyze the peak hours in their database environment based on available charts.

(CC) assists Oracle DBAs in efficiently running their databases, from proactive database performance monitoring to managing Oracle tasks.  (CC) also helps Oracle DBAs play back their historical performance to drill down and pinpoint problematic queries during the past few weeks.

Try Control Center today, download a trial version of dbWatch, and monitor for up to three months.

Database administrators (DBAs) need a specialized solution to support their daily tasks of monitoring and managing their entire database farm. The custom scripts that once worked for a few servers are often no longer effective for today’s larger, more complex environments.

What is a Database Farm and Why is it Important?

A database farm comprises all the database servers, instances of various platforms, and versions used in an enterprise to support its day-to-day business operations or functions.

As a DBA managing a large database farm, one of the most important things is to have a complete overview of your database farm.

You should be able to answer questions such as:

What is the health status of all databases/instances?
Which databases need attention right now, and which should I prioritize?
How many disk, memory, and CPU cores have been allocated to the database farm?
What is the resource utilization for each instance?
How many instances exist in my database farm?
What are the database platforms and versions running in the database farm?

Virtualized environments, resource allocation, and utilization are the issues. You should carefully analyze all the resources allocated in your database farm; you should have a clear overview of how the various resources like your disk, memory, and CPU are utilized in your database farm. You must determine if your servers have been over or under-provisioned with resources.   You should strive to allocate resources across the farm and VMs to maximize utilization and performance.

Documenting a large database farm is also a demanding issue as the farm expands. Proper documentation ensures up-to-date information on the databases in the farm. It makes maintenance easier, helps the management or DBA make decisions, and diminishes risks. Making an assessment or planning ahead is more straightforward using your database documentation as a guide.

When you manage a database farm, you rarely have the time to create let alone maintain complete documentation of all resources in your farm. It would be best if you had tools to automate the documentation process.

In your database farm, you must ensure that all your backup jobs are running optimally and as scheduled. You need complete control over your databases’ backup and recovery plan; it is essential if an unexpected situation like corrupted databases, sudden server failure, or other forms of data loss occurs. You will use existing backups to restore lost information to the system.

Managing a Database Farm Efficiently

Imagine having a database farm with hundreds or even thousands of instances. Do you still have enough time to remotely connect to each database server to check its health status?

dbWatch Control Center helps users with their capacity and resource planning projects.    It features built-in views that display the capacity overview like your database resource consumption in the database farm.

This overview provides DBAs and managers with information to determine which instances consume the most or least memory resources in the database farm.    It gives you clear information on which instances have excess resources allocated to them, which you can reallocate to instances with more need for them.

For example, this view displays the total disk usage in the database farm to determine which instances have the most disks or volumes allocated. It also shows the usage rate per volume.

You’ll find dbWatch is a complete database farm monitoring and management solution. It offers automation, consolidated views, and performance reports, giving you the critical information you need. Automating your routine tasks helps you save time and effort manually managing databases on your farm by allowing you to focus on more critical tasks. At the same time, dbWatch Control Center does all the proactive monitoring of your database farm, allowing you to have complete control over your database farm.

For large environments, the most useful features are

Farm overview – consolidated views for performance, capacity, and maintenance for your entire database farm  Monitor in-depth all your instances and platforms
Performance – identify performance bottlenecks within the farm
Scalability – ability to adapt to your growing database farm
Alerting – alerting and third-party extensions tailored to your business requirements
Security – role-based access controls, Kerberos integration encrypts connections and support security certificates

Scaling Challenges in Database Management

Database administrators (DBAs) are increasingly tasked with the complex job of managing and monitoring extensive database farms. With database environments growing in size and complexity, the custom scripts that once served them well on a limited number of servers often fall short in these larger settings.

This shift reveals the gaps and inefficiencies that can emerge without a scalable, purpose-built solution. As a result, DBAs need a specialized, robust platform that can keep pace with modern database demands.

A solution like dbWatch Control Center empowers DBAs to streamline resource management, enhance performance, and maintain security across the entire infrastructure, no matter how large or complex. S

ee the difference dbWatch can make in scaling your database management—start your 90-day free trial today and experience it firsthand!

Month: September 2022

Analyzing your Oracle Database Performance