If you're a DBA who's looking for real world Oracle tuning techniques, Oracle scripts, and advice on how to get to the heart of critical Oracle performance problems, then you've come to the right place.  Written by one the world's top DBAs and Oracle internals experts, Robin Schumacher focuses his incredible knowledge of the Oracle data dictionary into a superb book that show how to quickly troubleshoot and correct Oracle performance problems. 

As a Vice President at Embarcadero Technologies, Robin Schumacher has written the internals for some of the world's most powerful Oracle performance software and now he shows you how to use the most recent advancements in Oracle8i and 9i to make your Oracle database run as fast as possible. 

Key Features:

• Provides a winning performance methodology for use in analyzing any Oracle database

• Demonstrates how to properly use ratio-based and bottleneck analysis

• Offers insight into how to design a fast-running database from the ground up

• Supplies methods for making storage and reorganization problems a thing of the past

• Presents new techniques for monitoring and optimizing memory usage

• Shows how to quickly pinpoint and resolve I/O hotspots at the database, storage and object level

• Presents improved methods for uncovering session-related bottlenecks

• Provides new tips and techniques for locating and fixing problem SQL

• Comes with online code depot with dozens of new performance and monitoring scripts

About the Author:

 

Robin Schumacher

Robin Schumacher is vice-president of Product Management for Embarcadero Technologies, Inc., a leading supplier of database software tools.  Robin has over fourteen years experience in database administration, development, monitoring, and tuning with Oracle, DB2, Teradata, Sybase, and Microsoft SQL Server.  He has authored countless performance-related articles for many database-centric magazines as well as serving as a database software reviewer and feature writer for the likes of Intelligent Enterprise, eWeek, DM Review, and others.

Table of Contents:

 

Chapter 1: Accurately Measuring Performance   What’s the right way to really measure the overall performance of a database and how is this accomplished when you have a large database farm to manage?  This chapter answers these questions and highlights the critical areas a DBA needs to stay focused on at all times.  Modeling Peak Efficiency Gauging Availability with v$ views Gauging Transaction Speed with v$sqlarea Availability Impact Speed Impact  Chapter 2: Correcting Foundational Flaws   Although some may disagree, most database gurus feel that laying the proper physical foundation for your database is the way to get the most performance bang for the buck. This chapter discusses the importance of proper physical design and helps DBAs diagnose physical design performance issues. The Impact of Solid Database Design with v$bh analysis The Number One Contributor to Database Performance The Link Between Design and Performance Tuning with materialized views Boosting Database Performance Through Design How to Pinpoint Database Design Errors with v$sql analysis   Chapter 3: Optimizing Storage   Storage-related headaches are often the single biggest contributor to database downtime.  This chapter discusses the best ways to avoid storage problems through proactive planning and also provides fast diagnostic procedures that can be used to eliminate space problems before they reach critical mass. The Contribution of Storage to Performance with RAID Storage Design Considerations Smart Ways to Avoid Database Downtime Critical Storage Headaches to Avoid Removing Storage-related Performance Vampires   Chapter 4: Maximizing Oracle SGA Memory   Throwing more memory at a database used to be an acceptable form of performance tuning, but such is not the case any longer.  This chapter shows how to use memory correctly and also provides techniques and scripts to troubleshoot memory-related performance problems the right way.     When Does Less Become More? New Performance-Boosting Memory Options How to Keep Data Where You Want It How to Keep Code Where You Want It Uncovering Memory Hogs

Chapter 5: Pinpointing I/O Hotspots   How can a DBA quickly find the I/O bottlenecks in their database and then make them permanently go away?  This chapter outlines a bulletproof roadmap that any DBA can use to get a handle on their database I/O.   Starting with Global Basics Determining Global Object Access Patterns Examining Storage-Level Statistics Uncovering the Hot Database Objects Locating I/O Resource Hogs Miscellaneous I/O Considerations   Chapter 6: Eliminating Critical Bottlenecks   A DBA needs to keep their database running effectively at all times, but sometimes this is easier said than done.  This chapter shows how to quickly find and eliminate critical bottlenecks in a database that may be causing painful slowdowns. Using Ratio-based Methods Using Wait-Event Methods Other Bottleneck Identification Techniques The Winning Solution   Chapter 7: Workload Analysis Part 1 - Uncovering Problem Sessions   Left unchecked, a few rogue users in a database can make life miserable for everyone else.  This chapter provides all the right ammunition a DBA needs to ferret out these problem sessions so that their database is kept secure and running well at all times.  Uncovering Security Holes Finding Storage Hogs Locating Top Resource Sessions Pinpointing Sessions with Problem SQL   Chapter 8: Workload Analysis Part 2 - Identifying Problem SQL   If it’s true that eighty-percent of a database’s performance is derived from the SQL code running within it, then a DBA has to know how to find and correct the problem SQL in their critical databases.  This chapter provides everything a DBA needs to quickly pinpoint the SQL code in their database that needs critical attention.     Locating the Top SQL Contributors Pinpointing Bad SQL New Techniques for Analyzing SQL Execution SQL Tuning Roadmap

The premier Oracle troubleshooting book.  Also covers access rules, buffer cache, hot buffer objects, Oracle security, storage performance, tablespace fragmentation,