Cool Stuff

A new major release (version 3.0) of my XPLAN_ASH tool is available for download.

You can download the latest version here.

In addition to many changes to the way the information is presented and many other smaller changes to functionality there is one major new feature: XPLAN_ASH now also supports S-ASH, the free ASH implementation.

If you run XPLAN_ASH in a S-ASH repository owner schema, it will automatically detect that and adjust accordingly.

XPLAN_ASH was tested against the latest stable version of S-ASH (2.3). There are some minor changes required to that S-ASH release in order to function properly with XPLAN_ASH. Most of them will be included in the next S-ASH release as they really are only minor and don't influence the general S-ASH functionality at all.

Snapper V4 Webinar

Catchy title, huh? :-)

The Snapper v4 is getting ready! I am going to launch it on Wednesday 13 Feb 11am PST at the Snapper V4 webinar (register here).

The major new features include:

1. RAC support – ability to query stats from remote instances
2. Manual Before and After snapshot support – no need to use DBMS_LOCK sleeps anymore
3. Show useful averages and ratios *in addition to* raw metrics for faster troubleshooting
4. And more! :)

Snapper is still a free-to-use tool and it still does NOT require any object creation nor changes in your databases for use. Now even DBMS_LOCK access isn’t needed, although it’s still useful for convenience.

Some years ago I wrote about how sqlplus allows you to run sqlplus scripts directly from HTTP and FTP locations instead of the local filesystem. By the way, I didn’t even notice – my blog is over 5 years old already! :)

I a recent email thread Marco Gralike just showed the simplest way I to open a HTTP URL and download + list its contents in a CLOB datatype. It’s the HTTPURITYPE and its getCLOB (and getBLOB) methods.

I think I’ve finally gotten the blog formatting to be like I want … The syntax highlighter plugins were not good enough as I want very flexible output formatting (not just code snippets, but sqlplus script output) as below:

A new version 2.0 of the XPLAN_ASH utility introduced here is available for download.You can download the latest version here.The change log tracks the following changes:- Access check- Conditional compilation for different database versions- Additional activity summary- Concurrent activity information (what is/was going on at the same time)- Experimental stuff: Additional I/O summary- More pretty printing- Experimental stuff: I/O added to Average Active Session Graph (renamed to Activity Timeline)- Top Execution Plan Lines and Top Activities added to Activity Timeline- Activity Timeline is now also shown for serial execution when TIMELINE option is specified- From 11.2.0.2 on: We get the ACTUAL DOP from the undocumented PX_FLAGS colu

Jagjeet Singh mentioned that he has built a V2 of his cool SQL Dashboard sqlplus-based monitoring script, which now also shows a nice colored ASH graph output. Yes, right inside sqlplus!

I’m happy to announce Enkitec TV which is a video channel/aggregator of some of the coolest stuff we do here at Enkitec. I have uploaded some of my videos there, including the previously unpublished Oracle parameters infrastructure hacking session and Kerry’s & Cary’s E4 Exadata interview is available there as well!

Preface

Note: This blog post actually serves three purposes:

1. It introduces and describes my latest contribution to the Oracle Community,  the "XPLAN_ASH" tool

Table Of Contents

Introduction

Real-Time SQL Monitoring Overview

Real-Time SQL Monitoring Shortcomings

Ok, I’ve wanted to write this blog entry for a long time – and now it’s time!

Most of my blog readers (thank you!) are performance-minded computer enthusiasts, who care about efficiency and optimization. You’ve been tuning SQL execution plans, instance and OS configuration so that your sessions would achieve the same results with less work and also with less waiting!

You probably know to appreciate why asynchronous I/O must be enabled for busy modern databases, so that your database sessions can do I/O (talk to the storage) without actually having to wait for the I/O operations to complete! You can increase the processing throughput, by not submitting every single I/O separately and waiting for it to complete, before being able to process the results and submit the next one. Asynchronous I/O is a crucial thing for good performance.

Introduction

So this will be my Oracle related Christmas present for you: A prototype implementation that extends the DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR output making it hopefully more meaningful and easier to interpret. It is a simple standalone SQL*Plus script with the main functionality performed by a single SQL query. I've demoed this also during my recent "optimizer hacking sessions".

DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR together with the Rowsource Statistics feature (enabled via SQL_TRACE, GATHER_PLAN_STATISTICS hint, STATISTICS_LEVEL set to ALL or controlled via the corresponding hidden parameters "_rowsource_execution_statistics" and "_rowsource_statistics_sampfreq") allows since Oracle 10g a sophisticated analysis of the work performed by a single SQL statement.