5 Automatic Performance Statistics

This chapter discusses the gathering of performance statistics. This chapter contains the following topics:

5.1 Overview of Data Gathering

To effectively diagnose performance problems, statistics must be available. Oracle generates many types of cumulative statistics for the system, sessions, and individual SQL statements. Oracle also tracks cumulative statistics on segments and services. When analyzing a performance problem in any of these scopes, you typically look at the change in statistics (delta value) over the period of time you are interested in. Specifically, you look at the difference between the cumulative value of a statistic at the start of the period and the cumulative value at the end.

Cumulative values for statistics are generally available through dynamic performance views, such as the V$SESSTAT and V$SYSSTAT views. Note that the cumulative values in dynamic views are reset when the database instance is shutdown. The Automatic Workload Repository (AWR) automatically persists the cumulative and delta values for most of the statistics at all levels except the session level. This process is repeated on a regular time period and the result is called an AWR snapshot. The delta values captured by the snapshot represent the changes for each statistic over the time period. See "Overview of the Automatic Workload Repository".

Another type of statistic collected by Oracle is called a metric. A metric is defined as the rate of change in some cumulative statistic. That rate can be measured against a variety of units, including time, transactions, or database calls. For example, the number database calls per second is a metric. Metric values are exposed in some V$ views, where the values are the average over a fairly small time interval, typically 60 seconds. A history of recent metric values is available through V$ views, and some of the data is also persisted by AWR snapshots.

A third type of statistical data collected by Oracle is sampled data. This sampling is performed by the active session history (ASH) sampler. ASH samples the current state of all active sessions. This data is collected into memory and can be accessed by a V$ view. It is also written out to persistent store by the AWR snapshot processing. See "Active Session History (ASH)".

A powerful tool for diagnosing performance problems is the use of statistical baselines. A statistical baseline is collection of statistic rates usually taken over time period where the system is performing well at peak load. Comparing statistics captured during a period of bad performance to a baseline helps discover specific statistics that have increased significantly and could be the cause of the problem.

AWR supports the capture of baseline data by enabling you to specify and preserve a pair or range of AWR snapshots as a baseline. Carefully consider the time period you choose as a baseline; the baseline should be a good representation of the peak load on the system. In the future, you can compare these baselines with snapshots captured during periods of poor performance.

Oracle Enterprise Manager is the recommended tool for viewing both real time data in the dynamic performance views and historical data from the AWR history tables. Enterprise manager can also be used to capture operating system and network statistical data that can be correlated with AWR data. For more information, see Oracle Database 2 Day + Performance Tuning Guide.

This section covers the following topics:

5.1.1 Database Statistics

Database statistics provide information on the type of load on the database, as well as the internal and external resources used by the database. This section describes some of the more important statistics:

5.1.1.1 Wait Events

Wait events are statistics that are incremented by a server process/thread to indicate that it had to wait for an event to complete before being able to continue processing. Wait event data reveals various symptoms of problems that might be impacting performance, such as latch contention, buffer contention, and I/O contention.

To enable easier high-level analysis of the wait events, the events are grouped into classes. The wait event classes include: Administrative, Application, Cluster, Commit, Concurrency, Configuration, Idle, Network, Other, Scheduler, System I/O, and User I/O.

The wait classes are based on a common solution that usually applies to fixing a problem with the wait event. For example, exclusive TX locks are generally an application level issue and HW locks are generally a configuration issue.

The following list includes common examples of the waits in some of the classes:

  • Application: locks waits caused by row level locking or explicit lock commands

  • Commit: waits for redo log write confirmation after a commit

  • Idle: wait events that signify the session is inactive, such as SQL*Net message from client

  • Network: waits for data to be sent over the network

  • User I/O: wait for blocks to be read off a disk

    See Also:

    Oracle Database Reference for more information about Oracle wait events

5.1.1.2 Time Model Statistics

When tuning an Oracle system, each component has its own set of statistics. To look at the system as a whole, it is necessary to have a common scale for comparisons. Because of this, most Oracle advisories and reports describe statistics in terms of time. In addition, the V$SESS_TIME_MODEL and V$SYS_TIME_MODEL views provide time model statistics. Using the common time instrumentation helps to identify quantitative effects on the database operations.

The most important of the time model statistics is DB time. This statistics represents the total time spent in database calls and is a indicator of the total instance workload. It is calculated by aggregating the CPU and wait times of all sessions not waiting on idle wait events (non-idle user sessions).

DB time is measured cumulatively from the time that the instance was started. Because DB time it is calculated by combining the times from all non-idle user sessions, it is possible that the DB time can exceed the actual time elapsed since the instance started up. For example, a instance that has been running for 30 minutes could have four active user sessions whose cumulative DB time is approximately 120 minutes.

The objective for tuning an Oracle system could be stated as reducing the time that users spend in performing some action on the database, or simply reducing DB time. Other time model statistics provide quantitative effects (in time) on specific actions, such as logon operations and hard and soft parses.

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference for information about the V$SESS_TIME_MODEL and V$SYS_TIME_MODEL views

5.1.1.3 Active Session History (ASH)

The V$ACTIVE_SESSION_HISTORY view provides sampled session activity in the instance. Active sessions are sampled every second and are stored in a circular buffer in SGA. Any session that is connected to the database and is waiting for an event that does not belong to the Idle wait class is considered as an active session. This includes any session that was on the CPU at the time of sampling.

Each session sample is a set of rows and the V$ACTIVE_SESSION_HISTORY view returns one row for each active session per sample, returning the latest session sample rows first. Because the active session samples are stored in a circular buffer in SGA, the greater the system activity, the smaller the number of seconds of session activity that can be stored in the circular buffer. This means that the duration for which a session sample appears in the V$ view, or the number of seconds of session activity that is displayed in the V$ view, is completely dependent on the database activity.

As part of the Automatic Workload Repository (AWR) snapshots, the content of V$ACTIVE_SESSION_HISTORY is also flushed to disk. Because the content of this V$ view can get quite large during heavy system activity, only a portion of the session samples is written to disk.

By capturing only active sessions, a manageable set of data is represented with the size being directly related to the work being performed rather than the number of sessions allowed on the system. Using the Active Session History enables you to examine and perform detailed analysis on both current data in the V$ACTIVE_SESSION_HISTORY view and historical data in the DBA_HIST_ACTIVE_SESS_HISTORY view, often avoiding the need to replay the workload to gather additional performance tracing information. The data present in ASH can be rolled up on various dimensions that it captures, including the following:

  • SQL identifier of SQL statement

  • Object number, file number, and block number

  • Wait event identifier and parameters

  • Session identifier and session serial number

  • Module and action name

  • Client identifier of the session

  • Service hash identifier

    See Also:

    Oracle Database Reference for more information about the V$ACTIVE_SESSION_HISTORY view

Active Session History information over a specified duration can be gathered into a report. For more information, see "Generating Active Session History Reports".

5.1.1.4 System and Session Statistics

A large number of cumulative database statistics are available on a system and session level through the V$SYSSTAT and V$SESSTAT views.

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference for information about the V$SYSSTAT and V$SESSTAT views

5.1.2 Operating System Statistics

Operating system statistics provide information on the usage and performance of the main hardware components of the system, as well as the performance of the operating system itself. This information is crucial for detecting potential resource exhaustion, such as CPU cycles and physical memory, and for detecting bad performance of peripherals, such as disk drives.

Operating system statistics are only an indication of how the hardware and operating system are working. Many system performance analysts react to a hardware resource shortage by installing more hardware. This is a reactionary response to a series of symptoms shown in the operating system statistics. It is always best to consider operating system statistics as a diagnostic tool, similar to the way many doctors use body temperature, pulse rate, and patient pain when making a diagnosis. To help identify bottlenecks, gather operating system statistics for all servers in the system under performance analysis.

Operating system statistics include the following:

For information on tools for gathering operating statistics, see "Operating System Data Gathering Tools".

5.1.2.1 CPU Statistics

CPU utilization is the most important operating system statistic in the tuning process. Get CPU utilization for the entire system and for each individual CPU on multi-processor environments. Utilization for each CPU can detect single-threading and scalability issues.

Most operating systems report CPU usage as time spent in user space or mode and time spent in kernel space or mode. These additional statistics allow better analysis of what is actually being executed on the CPU.

On an Oracle data server system, where there is generally only one application running, the server runs database activity in user space. Activities required to service database requests (such as scheduling, synchronization, I/O, memory management, and process/thread creation and tear down) run in kernel mode. In a system where all CPU is fully utilized, a healthy Oracle system runs between 65% and 95% in user space.

The V$OSSTAT view captures system level information in the database, making it easier for you to determine if there are hardware level resource issues. The V$SYSMETRIC_HISTORY view shows a one-hour history of the Host CPU Utilization metric, a representation of percentage of CPU usage at each one-minute interval. The V$SYS_TIME_MODEL view supplies statistics on the CPU usage by the Oracle database. Using both sets of statistics enable you to determine whether the Oracle database or other system activity is the cause of the CPU problems.

5.1.2.2 Virtual Memory Statistics

Virtual memory statistics should mainly be used as a check to validate that there is very little paging or swapping activity on the system. System performance degrades rapidly and unpredictably when paging or swapping occurs.

Individual process memory statistics can detect memory leaks due to a programming failure to deallocate memory taken from the process heap. These statistics should be used to validate that memory usage does not increase after the system has reached a steady state after startup. This problem is particularly acute on shared server applications on middle tier systems where session state may persist across user interactions, and on completion state information that is not fully deallocated.

5.1.2.3 Disk Statistics

Because the database resides on a set of disks, the performance of the I/O subsystem is very important to the performance of the database. Most operating systems provide extensive statistics on disk performance. The most important disk statistics are the current response time and the length of the disk queues. These statistics show if the disk is performing optimally or if the disk is being overworked.

Measure the normal performance of the I/O system; typical values for a single block read range from 5 to 20 milliseconds, depending on the hardware used. If the hardware shows response times much higher than the normal performance value, then it is performing badly or is overworked. This is your bottleneck. If disk queues start to exceed two, then the disk is a potential bottleneck of the system.

5.1.2.4 Network Statistics

Network statistics can be used in much the same way as disk statistics to determine if a network or network interface is overloaded or not performing optimally. In today's networked applications, network latency can be a large portion of the actual user response time. For this reason, these statistics are a crucial debugging tool.

5.1.2.5 Operating System Data Gathering Tools

Table 5-1 shows the various tools for gathering operating statistics on UNIX. For Windows, use the Performance Monitor tool.

Table 5-1 UNIX Tools for Operating Statistics

Component UNIX Tool

CPU

sar, vmstat, mpstat, iostat

Memory

sar, vmstat

Disk

sar, iostat

Network

netstat


5.1.3 Interpreting Statistics

When initially examining performance data, you can formulate potential theories by examining your statistics. One way to ensure that your interpretation of the statistics is correct is to perform cross-checks with other data. This establishes whether a statistic or event is really of interest.

Some pitfalls are discussed in the following sections:

  • Hit ratios

    When tuning, it is common to compute a ratio that helps determine whether there is a problem. Such ratios include the buffer cache hit ratio, the soft-parse ratio, and the latch hit ratio. These ratios should not be used as 'hard and fast' identifiers of whether there is or is not a performance bottleneck. Rather, they should be used as indicators. In order to identify whether there is a bottleneck, other related evidence should be examined. See "Calculating the Buffer Cache Hit Ratio".

  • Wait events with timed statistics

    Setting TIMED_STATISTICS to true at the instance level directs the Oracle server to gather wait time for events, in addition to wait counts already available. This data is useful for comparing the total wait time for an event to the total elapsed time between the performance data collections. For example, if the wait event accounts for only 30 seconds out of a two hour period, then there is probably little to be gained by investigating this event, even though it may be the highest ranked wait event when ordered by time waited. However, if the event accounts for 30 minutes of a 45 minute period, then the event is worth investigating. See "Wait Events".

    Note:

    Timed statistics are automatically collected for the database if the initialization parameter STATISTICS_LEVEL is set to TYPICAL or ALL. If STATISTICS_LEVEL is set to BASIC, then you must set TIMED_STATISTICS to TRUE to enable collection of timed statistics. Note that setting STATISTICS_LEVEL to BASIC disables many automatic features and is not recommended.

    If you explicitly set DB_CACHE_ADVICE, TIMED_STATISTICS, or TIMED_OS_STATISTICS, either in the initialization parameter file or by using ALTER_SYSTEM or ALTER SESSION, the explicitly set value overrides the value derived from STATISTICS_LEVEL.

  • Comparing Oracle statistics with other factors

    When looking at statistics, it is important to consider other factors that influence whether the statistic is of value. Such factors include the user load and the hardware capability. Even an event that had a wait of 30 minutes in a 45 minute snapshot might not be indicative of a problem if you discover that there were 2000 users on the system, and the host hardware was a 64 node system.

  • Wait events without timed statistics

    If TIMED_STATISTICS is false, then the amount of time waited for an event is not available. Therefore, it is only possible to order wait events by the number of times each event was waited for. Although the events with the largest number of waits might indicate the potential bottleneck, they might not be the main bottleneck. This can happen when an event is waited for a large number of times, but the total time waited for that event is small. The converse is also true: an event with fewer waits might be a problem if the wait time is a significant proportion of the total wait time. Without having the wait times to use for comparison, it is difficult to determine whether a wait event is really of interest.

  • Idle wait events

    Oracle uses some wait events to indicate if the Oracle server process is idle. Typically, these events are of no value when investigating performance problems, and they should be ignored when examining the wait events. See "Idle Wait Events".

  • Computed statistics

    When interpreting computed statistics (such as rates, statistics normalized over transactions, or ratios), it is important to cross-verify the computed statistic with the actual statistic counts. This confirms whether the derived rates are really of interest: small statistic counts usually can discount an unusual ratio. For example, on initial examination, a soft-parse ratio of 50% generally indicates a potential tuning area. If, however, there was only one hard parse and one soft parse during the data collection interval, then the soft-parse ratio would be 50%, even though the statistic counts show this is not an area of concern. In this case, the ratio is not of interest due to the low raw statistic counts.

    See Also:

5.2 Overview of the Automatic Workload Repository

The Automatic Workload Repository (AWR) collects, processes, and maintains performance statistics for problem detection and self-tuning purposes. This data is both in memory and stored in the database. The gathered data can be displayed in both reports and views.

The statistics collected and processed by AWR include:

  • Object statistics that determine both access and usage statistics of database segments

  • Time model statistics based on time usage for activities, displayed in the V$SYS_TIME_MODEL and V$SESS_TIME_MODEL views

  • Some of the system and session statistics collected in the V$SYSSTAT and V$SESSTAT views

  • SQL statements that are producing the highest load on the system, based on criteria such as elapsed time and CPU time

  • Active Session History (ASH) statistics, representing the history of recent sessions activity

The STATISTICS_LEVEL initialization parameter must be set to the TYPICAL or ALL to enable the Automatic Workload Repository. If the value is set to BASIC, you can manually capture AWR statistics using procedures in the DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPOSITORY package. However, because setting the STATISTICS_LEVEL parameter to BASIC turns off in-memory collection of many system statistics, such as segments statistics and memory advisor information, manually captured snapshots will not contain these statistics and will be incomplete.

This section describes the Automatic Workload Repository and contains the following topics:

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference for information on the STATISTICS_LEVEL initialization parameter

5.2.1 Snapshots

Snapshots are sets of historical data for specific time periods that are used for performance comparisons by ADDM. By default, AWR automatically generates snapshots of the performance data once every hour and retains the statistics in the workload repository for 7 days. You can also manually create snapshots, but this is usually not necessary. The data in the snapshot interval is then analyzed by the Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor (ADDM). For information about ADDM, see "Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor".

AWR compares the difference between snapshots to determine which SQL statements to capture based on the effect on the system load. This reduces the number of SQL statements that need to be captured over time.

For information about managing snapshots, see "Managing Snapshots".

5.2.2 Baselines

A baseline contains performance data from a specific time period that is preserved for comparison with other similar workload periods when performance problems occur. The snapshots contained in a baseline are excluded from the automatic AWR purging process and are retained indefinitely.

For information about managing baselines, see "Managing Baselines".

5.2.3 Space Consumption

The space consumed by the Automatic Workload Repository is determined by several factors:

  • Number of active sessions in the system at any given time

  • Snapshot interval

    The snapshot interval determines the frequency at which snapshots are captured. A smaller snapshot interval increases the frequency, which increases the volume of data collected by the Automatic Workload Repository.

  • Historical data retention period

    The retention period determines how long this data is retained before being purged. A longer retention period increases the space consumed by the Automatic Workload Repository.

By default, the snapshots are captured once every hour and are retained in the database for 7 days. With these default settings, a typical system with an average of 10 concurrent active sessions can require approximately 200 to 300 MB of space for its AWR data. It is possible to change the default values for both snapshot interval and retention period. See "Modifying Snapshot Settings" for information about modifying AWR settings.

The Automatic Workload Repository space consumption can be reduced by the increasing the snapshot interval and reducing the retention period. When reducing the retention period, note that several Oracle self-managing features depend on AWR data for proper functioning. Not having enough data can affect the validity and accuracy of these components and features, including the following:

  • Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor

  • SQL Tuning Advisor

  • Undo Advisor

  • Segment Advisor

If possible, Oracle recommends that you set the AWR retention period large enough to capture at least one complete workload cycle. If your system experiences weekly workload cycles, such as OLTP workload during weekdays and batch jobs during the weekend, you do not need to change the default AWR retention period of 7 days. However if your system is subjected to a monthly peak load during month end book closing, you may have to set the retention period to one month.

Under exceptional circumstances, the automatic snapshot collection can be completely turned off by setting the snapshot interval to 0. Under this condition, the automatic collection of the workload and statistical data is stopped and much of the Oracle self-management functionality is not operational. In addition, you will not be able to manually create snapshots. For this reason, Oracle Corporation strongly recommends that you do not turn off the automatic snapshot collection.

5.3 Managing the Automatic Workload Repository

This section describes how to manage the Automatic Workload Repository and contains the following topics:

For a description of the Automatic Workload Repository, see "Overview of the Automatic Workload Repository".

5.3.1 Managing Snapshots

By default, Oracle Database generates snapshots once every hour, and retains the statistics in the workload repository for 7 days. When necessary, you can use DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPOSITORY procedures to manually create, drop, and modify the snapshots. To invoke these procedures, a user must be granted the DBA role. For more information about snapshots, see "Snapshots".

The primary interface for managing the Automatic Workload Repository is Oracle Enterprise Manager. Whenever possible, you should manage snapshots using Oracle Enterprise Manager, as described in Oracle Database 2 Day + Performance Tuning Guide. If Oracle Enterprise Manager is unavailable, you can manage the AWR snapshots and baselines using the DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPOSITORY package, as described in this section.

This section contains the following topics:

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for detailed information on the DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPOSITORY package

5.3.1.1 Creating Snapshots

You can manually create snapshots with the CREATE_SNAPSHOT procedure if you want to capture statistics at times different than those of the automatically generated snapshots. For example:

BEGIN
  DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPOSITORY.CREATE_SNAPSHOT ();
END;
/

In this example, a snapshot for the instance is created immediately with the flush level specified to the default flush level of TYPICAL. You can view this snapshot in the DBA_HIST_SNAPSHOT view.

5.3.1.2 Dropping Snapshots

You can drop a range of snapshots using the DROP_SNAPSHOT_RANGE procedure. To view a list of the snapshot Ids along with database Ids, check the DBA_HIST_SNAPSHOT view. For example, you can drop the following range of snapshots:

BEGIN
  DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPOSITORY.DROP_SNAPSHOT_RANGE (low_snap_id => 22, 
                           high_snap_id => 32, dbid => 3310949047);
END;
/

In the example, the range of snapshot Ids to drop is specified from 22 to 32. The optional database identifier is 3310949047. If you do not specify a value for dbid, the local database identifier is used as the default value.

Active Session History data (ASH) that belongs to the time period specified by the snapshot range is also purged when the DROP_SNAPSHOT_RANGE procedure is called.

5.3.1.3 Modifying Snapshot Settings

You can adjust the interval, retention, and captured Top SQL of snapshot generation for a specified database Id, but note that this can affect the precision of the Oracle diagnostic tools.

The INTERVAL setting affects how often in minutes that snapshots are automatically generated. The RETENTION setting affects how long in minutes that snapshots are stored in the workload repository. The TOPNSQL setting affects the number of Top SQL to flush for each SQL criteria (Elapsed Time, CPU Time, Parse Calls, Shareable Memory, and Version Count). The value for this setting will not be affected by the statistics/flush level and will override the system default behavior for the AWR SQL collection. It is possible to set the value for this setting to MAXIMUM to capture the complete set of SQL in the cursor cache, though by doing so (or by setting the value to a very high number) may lead to possible space and performance issues since there will more data to collect and store. To adjust the settings, use the MODIFY_SNAPSHOT_SETTINGS procedure. For example:

BEGIN
  DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPOSITORY.MODIFY_SNAPSHOT_SETTINGS( retention => 43200, 
                 interval => 30, topnsql => 100, dbid => 3310949047);
END;
/

In this example, the retention period is specified as 43200 minutes (30 days), the interval between each snapshot is specified as 30 minutes, and the number of Top SQL to flush for each SQL criteria as 100. If NULL is specified, the existing value is preserved. The optional database identifier is 3310949047. If you do not specify a value for dbid, the local database identifier is used as the default value. You can check the current settings for your database instance with the DBA_HIST_WR_CONTROL view.

5.3.2 Managing Baselines

This section describes how to manage baselines. For more information about baselines, see "Baselines".

The primary interface for managing snapshots is Oracle Enterprise Manager. Whenever possible, you should manage snapshots using Oracle Enterprise Manager, as described in Oracle Database 2 Day + Performance Tuning Guide. If Oracle Enterprise Manager is unavailable, you can manage snapshots using the DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPOSITORY package, as described in the following sections:

5.3.2.1 Creating a Baseline

This section describes how to create a baseline using an existing range of snapshots.

To create a baseline:

  1. Review the existing snapshots in the DBA_HIST_SNAPSHOT view to determine the range of snapshots that you want to use.

  2. Use the CREATE_BASELINE procedure to create a baseline using the desired range of snapshots:

    BEGIN
        DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPOSITORY.CREATE_BASELINE (start_snap_id => 270, 
                       end_snap_id => 280, baseline_name => 'peak baseline', 
                       dbid => 3310949047, expiration => 30);
    END;
    /
    

    In this example, 270 is the start snapshot sequence number and 280 is the end snapshot sequence. The name of baseline is peak baseline. The optional database identifier is 3310949047. If you do not specify a value for dbid, the local database identifier is used as the default value. The optional expiration parameter is set to 30, so the baseline will expire and be dropped automatically after 30 days. If you do not specify a value for expiration, the baseline will never expire.

The system automatically assign a unique baseline Id to the new baseline when the baseline is created. The baseline Id and database identifier are displayed in the DBA_HIST_BASELINE view.

5.3.2.2 Dropping a Baseline

This section describes how to drop an existing baseline. Periodically, you may want to drop a baseline that is no longer used to conserve disk space. The snapshots associated with a baseline are retained indefinitely until you explicitly drop the baseline or the baseline has expired.

To drop a baseline:

  1. Review the existing baselines in the DBA_HIST_BASELINE view to determine the baseline that you want to drop.

  2. Use the DROP_BASELINE procedure to drop the desired baseline:

    BEGIN
      DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPOSITORY.DROP_BASELINE (baseline_name => 'peak baseline',
                      cascade => FALSE, dbid => 3310949047);
    END;
    /
    

    In the example, the name of baseline is peak baseline. The cascade parameter is set to FALSE, which specifies that only the baseline is dropped. Setting this parameter to TRUE specifies that the drop operation will also remove the snapshots associated with the baseline. The optional dbid parameter specifies the database identifier, which in this example is 3310949047. If you do not specify a value for dbid, the local database identifier is used as the default value.

5.3.3 Transporting Automatic Workload Repository Data

Oracle Database enables you to transport AWR data between systems. This is useful in cases where you want to use a separate system to perform analysis of the AWR data. To transport AWR data, you need to first extract the AWR snapshot data from the database on the source system, then load the data into the database on the target system, as described in the following sections:

5.3.3.1 Extracting AWR Data

The awrextr.sql script extracts the AWR data for a range of snapshots from the database into a Data Pump export file. Once created, this dump file can be transported to another system where the extracted data can be loaded. To run the awrextr.sql script, you need to be connected to the database as the SYS user.

To extract AWR data:

  1. At the SQL prompt, enter:

    @$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/awrextr.sql
    

    A list of the databases in the AWR schema is displayed.

  2. Specify the database from which the AWR data will be extracted:

    Enter value for db_id: 1377863381
    

    In this example, the database with the database identifier of 1377863381 is selected.

  3. Specify the number of days for which you want to list snapshot Ids.

    Enter value for num_days: 2
    

    A list of existing snapshots for the specified time range is displayed. In this example, snapshots captured in the last 2 days are displayed.

  4. Define the range of snapshots for which AWR data will be extracted by specifying a beginning and ending snapshot Id:

    Enter value for begin_snap: 30
    Enter value for end_snap: 40
    

    In this example, the snapshot with a snapshot Id of 30 is selected as the beginning snapshot, and the snapshot with a snapshot Id of 40 is selected as the ending snapshot.

  5. A list of directory objects is displayed.

    Specify the directory object pointing to the directory where the export dump file will be stored:

    Enter value for directory_name: DATA_PUMP_DIR
    

    In this example, the directory object DATA_PUMP_DIR is selected.

  6. Specify the prefix for name of the export dump file (the .dmp suffix will be automatically appended):

    Enter value for file_name: awrdata_30_40
    

    In this example, an export dump file named awrdata_30_40 will be created in the directory corresponding to the directory object you specified:

    Dump file set for SYS.SYS_EXPORT_TABLE_01 is:
    C:\ORACLE\PRODUCT\11.1.0.5\DB_1\RDBMS\LOG\AWRDATA_30_40.DMP
    Job "SYS"."SYS_EXPORT_TABLE_01" successfully completed at 08:58:20
    

    Depending on the amount of AWR data that needs to be extracted, the AWR extract operation may take a while to complete. Once the dump file is created, you can use Data Pump to transport the file to another system.

See Also:

Oracle Database Utilities for information about using Data Pump

5.3.3.2 Loading AWR Data

Once the export dump file is transported to the target system, you can load the extracted AWR data using the awrload.sql script. The awrload.sql script will first create a staging schema where the snapshot data is transferred from the Data Pump file into the database. The data is then transferred from the staging schema into the appropriate AWR tables. To run the awrload.sql script, you need to be connected to the database as the SYS user.

To load AWR data:

  1. At the SQL prompt, enter:

    @$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/awrload.sql
    

    A list of directory objects is displayed.

  2. Specify the directory object pointing to the directory where the export dump file is located:

    Enter value for directory_name: DATA_PUMP_DIR
    

    In this example, the directory object DATA_PUMP_DIR is selected.

  3. Specify the prefix for name of the export dump file (the .dmp suffix will be automatically appended):

    Enter value for file_name: awrdata_30_40
    

    In this example, the export dump file named awrdata_30_40 is selected.

  4. Specify the name of the staging schema where the AWR data will be loaded:

    Enter value for schema_name: AWR_STAGE
    

    In this example, a staging schema named AWR_STAGE will be created where the AWR data will be loaded.

  5. Specify the default tablespace for the staging schema:

    Enter value for default_tablespace: SYSAUX
    

    In this example, the SYSAUX tablespace is selected.

  6. Specify the temporary tablespace for the staging schema:

    Enter value for temporary_tablespace: TEMP
    

    In this example, the TEMP tablespace is selected.

  7. A staging schema named AWR_STAGE will be created where the AWR data will be loaded. After the AWR data is loaded into the AWR_STAGE schema, the data will be transferred into the AWR tables in the SYS schema:

    Processing object type TABLE_EXPORT/TABLE/CONSTRAINT/CONSTRAINT
    Completed 113 CONSTRAINT objects in 11 seconds
    Processing object type TABLE_EXPORT/TABLE/CONSTRAINT/REF_CONSTRAINT
    Completed 1 REF_CONSTRAINT objects in 1 seconds
    Job "SYS"."SYS_IMPORT_FULL_03" successfully completed at 09:29:30
    ... Dropping AWR_STAGE user
    End of AWR Load
    

    Depending on the amount of AWR data that needs to be loaded, the AWR load operation may take a while to complete. After the AWR data is loaded, the staging schema will be dropped automatically.

5.3.4 Using Automatic Workload Repository Views

Typically, you would view the AWR data through Oracle Enterprise Manager or AWR reports. However, you can also view the statistics with the following views:

  • V$ACTIVE_SESSION_HISTORY

    This view displays active database session activity, sampled once every second. See "Active Session History (ASH)".

  • V$ metric views provide metric data to track the performance of the system

    The metric views are organized into various groups, such as event, event class, system, session, service, file, and tablespace metrics. These groups are identified in the V$METRICGROUP view.

  • DBA_HIST views

    The DBA_HIST views contain historical data stored in the database. This group of views includes:

    • DBA_HIST_ACTIVE_SESS_HISTORY displays the history of the contents of the in-memory active session history for recent system activity.

    • DBA_HIST_BASELINE displays information about the baselines captured on the system

    • DBA_HIST_DATABASE_INSTANCE displays information about the database environment

    • DBA_HIST_SNAPSHOT displays information on snapshots in the system

    • DBA_HIST_SQL_PLAN displays the SQL execution plans

    • DBA_HIST_WR_CONTROL displays the settings for controlling AWR

      See Also:

      Oracle Database Reference for information on dynamic and static data dictionary views

5.3.5 Generating Automatic Workload Repository Reports

An AWR report shows data captured between two snapshots (or two points in time). The AWR reports are divided into multiple sections. The HTML report includes links that can be used to navigate quickly between sections. The content of the report contains the workload profile of the system for the selected range of snapshots.

The primary interface for generating AWR reports is Oracle Enterprise Manager. Whenever possible, you should generate AWR reports using Oracle Enterprise Manager, as described in Oracle Database 2 Day + Performance Tuning Guide. If Oracle Enterprise Manager is unavailable, you can generate AWR reports by running SQL scripts:

  • The awrrpt.sql SQL script generates an HTML or text report that displays statistics for a range of snapshot Ids.

  • The awrrpti.sql SQL script generates an HTML or text report that displays statistics for a range of snapshot Ids on a specified database and instance.

  • The awrsqrpt.sql SQL script generates an HTML or text report that displays statistics of a particular SQL statement for a range of snapshot Ids. Run this report to inspect or debug the performance of a SQL statement.

  • The awrsqrpi.sql SQL script generates an HTML or text report that displays statistics of a particular SQL statement for a range of snapshot Ids on a specified database and instance. Run this report to inspect or debug the performance of a SQL statement on a specific database and instance.

  • The awrddrpt.sql SQL script generates an HTML or text report that compares detailed performance attributes and configuration settings between two selected time periods.

  • The awrddrpi.sql SQL script generates an HTML or text report that compares detailed performance attributes and configuration settings between two selected time periods on a specific database and instance.

Note:

To run these scripts, you must be granted the DBA role.

If you run a report on a database that does not have any workload activity during the specified range of snapshots, calculated percentages for some report statistics can be less than 0 or greater than 100. This result simply means that there is no meaningful value for the statistic.

5.3.5.1 Running the awrrpt.sql Report

To generate an HTML or text report for a range of snapshot Ids, run the awrrpt.sql script at the SQL prompt:

@$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/awrrpt.sql

First, you need to specify whether you want an HTML or a text report.

Enter value for report_type: text

Specify the number of days for which you want to list snapshot Ids.

Enter value for num_days: 2

After the list displays, you are prompted for the beginning and ending snapshot Id for the workload repository report.

Enter value for begin_snap: 150
Enter value for end_snap: 160

Next, accept the default report name or enter a report name. The default name is accepted in the following example:

Enter value for report_name: 
Using the report name awrrpt_1_150_160

The workload repository report is generated.

5.3.5.2 Running the awrrpti.sql Report

To specify a database and instance before entering a range of snapshot Ids, run the awrrpti.sql script at the SQL prompt to generate an HTML or text report:

@$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/awrrpti.sql

First, specify whether you want an HTML or a text report. After that, a list of the database identifiers and instance numbers displays, similar to the following:

Instances in this Workload Repository schema
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   DB Id    Inst Num DB Name      Instance     Host
----------- -------- ------------ ------------ ------------
 3309173529        1 MAIN         main         dlsun1690
 3309173529        1 TINT251      tint251      stint251

Enter the values for the database identifier (dbid) and instance number (inst_num) at the prompts.

Enter value for dbid: 3309173529
Using 3309173529 for database Id
Enter value for inst_num: 1

Next you are prompted for the number of days and snapshot Ids, similar to the awrrpt.sql script, before the text report is generated. See "Running the awrrpt.sql Report".

5.3.5.3 Running the awrsqrpt.sql Report

To generate an HTML or text report for a particular SQL statement, run the awrsqrpt.sql script at the SQL prompt:

@$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/awrsqrpt.sql

First, you need to specify whether you want an HTML or a text report.

Enter value for report_type: text

Specify the number of days for which you want to list snapshot Ids.

Enter value for num_days: 1

After the list displays, you are prompted for the beginning and ending snapshot Id for the workload repository report.

Enter value for begin_snap: 146
Enter value for end_snap: 147

Specify the SQL Id of a particular SQL statement to display statistics.

Enter value for sql_id: 2b064ybzkwf1y

Next, accept the default report name or enter a report name. The default name is accepted in the following example:

Enter value for report_name: 
Using the report name awrsqlrpt_1_146_147.txt

The workload repository report is generated.

5.3.5.4 Running the awrsqrpi.sql Report

To specify a database and instance before entering a particular SQL statement Id, run the awrsqrpi.sql script at the SQL prompt to generate an HTML or text report:

@$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/awrsqrpi.sql

First, you need to specify whether you want an HTML or a text report.

Enter value for report_type: text

Next, a list of the database identifiers and instance numbers displays, similar to the following:

Instances in this Workload Repository schema
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   DB Id    Inst Num DB Name      Instance     Host
----------- -------- ------------ ------------ ------------
 3309173529        1 MAIN         main         dlsun1690
 3309173529        1 TINT251      tint251      stint251

Enter the values for the database identifier (dbid) and instance number (inst_num) at the prompts.

Enter value for dbid: 3309173529
Using 3309173529 for database Id
Enter value for inst_num: 1
Using 1 for instance number

Next you are prompted for the number of days, snapshot Ids, SQL Id and report name, similar to the awrsqrpt.sql script, before the text report is generated. See "Running the awrsqrpt.sql Report".

5.3.5.5 Running the awrddrpt.sql Report

To compare detailed performance attributes and configuration settings between two time periods, run the awrddrpt.sql script at the SQL prompt to generate an HTML or text report:

@$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/awrddrpt.sql

First, you need to specify whether you want an HTML or a text report.

Enter value for report_type: text

Specify the number of days for which you want to list snapshot Ids for the first time period.

Enter value for num_days: 2

After the list displays, you are prompted for the beginning and ending snapshot Id for the first time period.

Enter value for begin_snap: 102
Enter value for end_snap: 103

Next, specify the number of days for which you want to list snapshot Ids for the second time period.

Enter value for num_days2: 1

After the list displays, you are prompted for the beginning and ending snapshot Id for the second time period.

Enter value for begin_snap2: 126
Enter value for end_snap2: 127

Next, accept the default report name or enter a report name. The default name is accepted in the following example:

Enter value for report_name: 
Using the report name awrdiff_1_102_1_126.txt

The workload repository report is generated.

5.3.5.6 Running the awrddrpi.sql Report

To specify a database and instance before selecting time periods to compare, run the awrddrpi.sql script at the SQL prompt to generate an HTML or text report:

@$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/awrddrpi.sql

First, you need to specify whether you want an HTML or a text report.

Enter value for report_type: text

Next, a list of the database identifiers and instance numbers displays, similar to the following:

Instances in this Workload Repository schema
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   DB Id    Inst Num DB Name      Instance     Host
----------- -------- ------------ ------------ ------------
 3309173529        1 MAIN         main         dlsun1690
 3309173529        1 TINT251      tint251      stint251

Enter the values for the database identifier (dbid) and instance number (inst_num) for the first time period at the prompts.

Enter value for dbid: 3309173529
Using 3309173529 for Database Id for the first pair of snapshots
Enter value for inst_num: 1
Using 1 for Instance Number for the first pair of snapshots

Specify the number of days for which you want to list snapshot Ids for the first time period.

Enter value for num_days: 2

After the list displays, you are prompted for the beginning and ending snapshot Id for the first time period.

Enter value for begin_snap: 102
Enter value for end_snap: 103

Next, enter the values for the database identifier (dbid) and instance number (inst_num) for the second time period at the prompts.

Enter value for dbid2: 3309173529
Using 3309173529 for Database Id for the second pair of snapshots
Enter value for inst_num2: 1
Using 1 for Instance Number for the second pair of snapshots

Specify the number of days for which you want to list snapshot Ids for the second time period.

Enter value for num_days2: 1

After the list displays, you are prompted for the beginning and ending snapshot Id for the second time period.

Enter value for begin_snap2: 126
Enter value for end_snap2: 127

Next, accept the default report name or enter a report name. The default name is accepted in the following example:

Enter value for report_name: 
Using the report name awrdiff_1_102_1_126.txt

The workload repository report is generated.

5.3.6 Generating Active Session History Reports

Use Active Session History (ASH) reports to perform analysis of:

  • Transient performance problems that typically last for a few minutes

  • Scoped or targeted performance analysis by various dimensions or their combinations, such as time, session, module, action, or SQL_ID

You can view ASH reports using Enterprise Manager or by running the following SQL scripts:

  • The ashrpt.sql SQL script generates an HTML or text report that displays ASH information for a specified duration.

  • The ashrpti.sql SQL script generates an HTML or text report that displays ASH information for a specified duration for a specified database and instance.

The reports are divided into multiple sections. The HTML report includes links that can be used to navigate quickly between sections. The content of the report contains ASH information used to identify blocker and waiter identities and their associated transaction identifiers and SQL for a specified duration. For more information on ASH, see "Active Session History (ASH)".

The primary interface for generating ASH reports is Oracle Enterprise Manager. Whenever possible, you should generate ASH reports using Oracle Enterprise Manager, as described in Oracle Database 2 Day + Performance Tuning Guide. If Oracle Enterprise Manager is unavailable, you can generate ASH reports by running SQL scripts, as described in the following sections:

5.3.6.1 Running the ashrpt.sql Report

To generate a text report of ASH information, run the ashrpt.sql script at the SQL prompt:

@$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/ashrpt.sql

First, you need to specify whether you want an HTML or a text report.

Enter value for report_type: text

Specify the time frame to collect ASH information by first specifying the begin time in minutes prior to the system date.

Enter value for begin_time: -10

Next, enter the duration in minutes that the report for which you want to capture ASH information from the begin time. The default duration of system date minus begin time is accepted in the following example:

Enter value for duration:

The report in this example will gather ASH information beginning from 10 minutes before the current time and ending at the current time. Next, accept the default report name or enter a report name. The default name is accepted in the following example:

Enter value for report_name: 
Using the report name ashrpt_1_0310_0131.txt

The session history report is generated.

5.3.6.2 Running the ashrpti.sql Report

If you want to specify a database and instance before setting the time frame to collect ASH information, run the ashrpti.sql report at the SQL prompt to generate a text report:

@$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/ashrpti.sql

First, specify whether you want an HTML or a text report. After that, a list of the database Ids and instance numbers displays, similar to the following:

Instances in this Workload Repository schema
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   DB Id    Inst Num DB Name      Instance     Host
----------- -------- ------------ ------------ ------------
 3309173529        1 MAIN         main         dlsun1690
 3309173529        1 TINT251      tint251      stint251

Enter the values for the database identifier (dbid) and instance number (inst_num) at the prompts.

Enter value for dbid: 3309173529
Using 3309173529 for database id
Enter value for inst_num: 1

Next you are prompted for the begin time and duration to capture ASH information, similar to the ashrpt.sql script, before the report is generated. See "Running the ashrpt.sql Report".