prstat

Proper tool for the job

My grandfather used to say to me: “Use the proper tool for the job”.  This is important to keep in mind when faced with performance issues.  When I am faced with performance problems in Oracle, I typically start at a high level with AWR reports or Enterprise Manager to get a high level understanding of the workload.   To drill down further, the next step is to use Oracle “10046 event” tracing.  Cary Millsap created a methodology around event tracing called “Method-R” which shows how to focus in on the source of a performance problem by analyzing the components that contribute to response time.   These are all fine places to start to analyze performance problems from the “user” or “application” point of view.  But what happens if the OS is in peril?

This entry goes out to my Oracle techie friends that have been in the Linux camp for sometime now and are suddenly finding themselves needing to know more about Solaris… hmmmm… I wonder if this has anything to do with Solaris now being an available option with Exadata?  Or maybe the recent announcement that the SPARC T3 multiplier for T3-x servers is now 0.25.  Judging by my inbox recently, I suspect a renewed interest in Solaris to continue.