Oracle Windows AWE Data Buffer Size  & SQL Tracing

Don Burleson has written a couple of good articles, one on the Address Windowing Extension for 32-bit Windows and another on a new SQL Tracing utility available on MOSC. According to "Oracle Windows AWE Data Buffer Size"

"If you are an Oracle shop using 32-bit Oracle Windows, it is highly likely that you are wasting RAM resources. Most Oracle servers come with 4-gig or 8-gig RAM while a 32-bit windows SGA has a maximum size on only about 1.3 gig.

This means that the db_block_buffers cannot be large enough to fully-cache the working set of frequently-referenced rows, causing excessive disk I/O.

Until of you on a 64-bit version of Windows Oracle (Windows Advanced Server 2003), you can use either the 4GT or the AWE tools to allow Oracle to use your expensive RAM to cache additional data buffers."

Whilst "Enhanced SQL Tracing script from MOSC" tells us

"Here is a great new script from Carlos Sierra, a brilliant developer at Oracle Corporation.

This script is an enhancement to the Center of Excellence (COE) script top produce a super-detailed trace of SQL execution.

This new script is remarkable, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do. The MOSC page is reproduced here with Mr. Sierra's permission:"