James Koopmann

To understand the memory involved for an Oracle processes. For a quick refresher, in the last article, Oracle 11g – Common Background Processes, we looked at some of the Oracle background processes. We used the Unix ps command to get a listing on the operating system side and then looked inside Oracle to view these […]

To understand Oracle background processes is to understand how Oracle works–offering opportunity to tune effectively. With every version comes the potential for additional background processes when an Oracle instance is started. If memory serves me right, back in Oracle 7 there were only 6-10 background processes. Taking a look at a current Oracle 11g instance […]

Introduction If you are tired of running the same old Oracle AWR reports, not getting to the data quickly, or just need to write your own, then this article will get you started. Oracle’s Automatic Workload Repository (AWR), through snapshots, collects and maintains a set of statistics that can be used for performance tuning through […]

Oracle’s ORION workload tool enables architects to effectively develop a workload that can mimic and stress a storage array in the same manner as planned applications with an Oracle backend database. Introduction In the last two articles “Measuring Disk I/O” and “Measuring Disk I/O—A Vendor View” we looked at what Oracle is doing from a […]

Introduction How do you know if the disks you will be using from ANY particular vendor can muster up the IOPS and MBPS required to satisfy your current or future workloads? In the last article, Measuring Disk I/O, we took a quick look at the amount of IOPS and MBPS, or workload, that our Oracle […]

Introduction Do you know how your disk subsystem is actually performing? This article looks at extracting various I/O statistics so that you can monitor and determine just how well your disks are doing. How can I separate Oracle I/O to maximize performance? Should I separate data files from index files? Should I separate redo logs” […]

What to do if the Library Cache gives you trouble. In part one of this two part series, we took a look at what the Library Cache was all about. To recap, Oracle’s library cache is nothing more than an area in memory, specifically one of three parts inside the shared pool. The library cache […]

Gaining an understanding of internal Oracle structures is essential to becoming better DBAs and servicing our end user community. Oracle’s library cache is one such internal structure that, after learning about, can help eliminate some very nasty denial of service requests originating from application users. Oracle’s library cache is nothing more than an area in […]

We have come a long way from Oracle’s old statspack reports. Remember way back. Ok, maybe not too way back, when we would run the old statspack reports. A DBA would run begin-stats, wait a while, and then run end-stats. At the end of the end-stats routine a report would kick out that would show […]

Disk to disk backups are becoming the norm. This article takes a 1,000 foot view to help evaluate your options. Database Storage There are three distinct options available for an installer of an Oracle database. Those available storage options for database files are File Systems, Oracle’s Automatic Storage Management (ASM), or Raw Devices. Each of […]

For some reason the ability to handle NULLS in SQL statements can confuse some. This article takes a look at how to think of NULLs. For some reason the value of NULL has confused many and even started feuds across the internet for the slightest slip of the tongue. Hopefully I will not slip myself […]

Oracle Grouping with the ROLLUP Operation Grouping and summing at multiple levels often takes an application to perform. Take a look at the ROLLUP operation within Oracle and perform these operations in a single SQL statement. Grouping and in particular gathering aggregates across groups often brings confusion to many practitioners. This does not need to […]