Oracle® Database

SQL Tuning Guide

12c Release 1 (12.1)
E49106-09

November 2015
Oracle Database SQL Tuning Guide, 12c Release 1 (12.1)

E49106-09

Copyright © 2013, 2015, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Primary Author: Lance Ashdown

Contributing Authors: Maria Colgan, Tom Kyte

Contributors: Pete Belknap, Ali Cakmak, Sunil Chakkappen, Immanuel Chan, Deba Chatterjee, Chris
Chiappa, Dinesh Das, Leonidas Galanis, William Endress, Bruce Golbus, Katsumi Inoue, Kevin Jernigan,
Shantanu Joshi, Adam Kociubes, Allison Lee, Sue Lee, David McDermid, Colin McGregor, Ted Persky,
Ekrem Soylemez, Hong Su, Murali Thiyagarajah, Mark Townsend, Randy Urbano, Bharath Venkatakrishnan,
Hailing Yu

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 Contents

Preface ............................................................................................................................................................... xv
Audience ...................................................................................................................................................... xv
Related Documents..................................................................................................................................... xv
Conventions................................................................................................................................................ xvi

Changes in This Release for Oracle Database SQL Tuning Guide ................................... xvii
Changes in Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1.0.2) ........................................................................... xvii
New Features .................................................................................................................................... xvii
Changes in Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1.0.1) ........................................................................... xvii
New Features ................................................................................................................................... xviii
Deprecated Features.......................................................................................................................... xxi
Desupported Features ...................................................................................................................... xxi
Other Changes ................................................................................................................................... xxi

Part I SQL Performance Fundamentals

1 Introduction to SQL Tuning

About SQL Tuning ................................................................................................................................... 1-1
Purpose of SQL Tuning............................................................................................................................ 1-1
Prerequisites for SQL Tuning.................................................................................................................. 1-2
Tasks and Tools for SQL Tuning ............................................................................................................ 1-2
SQL Tuning Tasks ............................................................................................................................ 1-2
SQL Tuning Tools............................................................................................................................. 1-4
User Interfaces to SQL Tuning Tools............................................................................................. 1-9

2 SQL Performance Methodology

Guidelines for Designing Your Application ......................................................................................... 2-1
Guideline for Data Modeling.......................................................................................................... 2-1
Guideline for Writing Efficient Applications ............................................................................... 2-1
Guidelines for Deploying Your Application ........................................................................................ 2-2
Guideline for Deploying in a Test Environment ......................................................................... 2-3

iii
 Guidelines for Application Rollout ............................................................................................... 2-4

Part II Query Optimizer Fundamentals

3 SQL Processing
About SQL Processing ............................................................................................................................. 3-1
SQL Parsing....................................................................................................................................... 3-2
SQL Optimization............................................................................................................................. 3-5
SQL Row Source Generation .......................................................................................................... 3-5
SQL Execution................................................................................................................................... 3-7
How Oracle Database Processes DML .................................................................................................. 3-8
How Row Sets Are Fetched ............................................................................................................ 3-8
Read Consistency ............................................................................................................................. 3-9
Data Changes .................................................................................................................................... 3-9
How Oracle Database Processes DDL ................................................................................................... 3-9

4 Query Optimizer Concepts

Introduction to the Query Optimizer .................................................................................................... 4-1
Purpose of the Query Optimizer.................................................................................................... 4-1
Cost-Based Optimization ................................................................................................................ 4-2
Execution Plans................................................................................................................................. 4-2
About Optimizer Components ............................................................................................................... 4-4
Query Transformer .......................................................................................................................... 4-5
Estimator............................................................................................................................................ 4-5
Plan Generator .................................................................................................................................. 4-9
About Automatic Tuning Optimizer ................................................................................................... 4-10
About Adaptive Query Optimization.................................................................................................. 4-11
Adaptive Plans................................................................................................................................ 4-11
Adaptive Statistics.......................................................................................................................... 4-17
About Optimizer Management of SQL Plan Baselines ..................................................................... 4-20

5 Query Transformations
OR Expansion............................................................................................................................................ 5-1
View Merging............................................................................................................................................ 5-2
Query Blocks in View Merging ...................................................................................................... 5-3
Simple View Merging ...................................................................................................................... 5-3
Complex View Merging .................................................................................................................. 5-6
Predicate Pushing ..................................................................................................................................... 5-8
Subquery Unnesting................................................................................................................................. 5-9
Query Rewrite with Materialized Views .............................................................................................. 5-9
Star Transformation................................................................................................................................ 5-10
About Star Schemas ....................................................................................................................... 5-11
Purpose of Star Transformations ................................................................................................. 5-11

iv
 How Star Transformation Works................................................................................................. 5-11
Controls for Star Transformation................................................................................................. 5-12
Star Transformation: Scenario ...................................................................................................... 5-12
Temporary Table Transformation: Scenario............................................................................... 5-15
In-Memory Aggregation........................................................................................................................ 5-16
Purpose of In-Memory Aggregation ........................................................................................... 5-17
How In-Memory Aggregation Works......................................................................................... 5-17
Controls for In-Memory Aggregation ......................................................................................... 5-20
In-Memory Aggregation: Scenario .............................................................................................. 5-21
In-Memory Aggregation: Example.............................................................................................. 5-26
Table Expansion ...................................................................................................................................... 5-28
Purpose of Table Expansion ......................................................................................................... 5-28
How Table Expansion Works ....................................................................................................... 5-28
Table Expansion: Scenario ............................................................................................................ 5-29
Table Expansion and Star Transformation: Scenario ................................................................ 5-32
Join Factorization .................................................................................................................................... 5-33
Purpose of Join Factorization........................................................................................................ 5-34
How Join Factorization Works ..................................................................................................... 5-34
Factorization and Join Orders: Scenario...................................................................................... 5-35
Factorization of Outer Joins: Scenario ......................................................................................... 5-36

Part III Query Execution Plans

6 Generating and Displaying Execution Plans

Introduction to Execution Plans ............................................................................................................. 6-1
About Plan Generation and Display...................................................................................................... 6-1
About the Plan Explanation............................................................................................................ 6-1
Why Execution Plans Change......................................................................................................... 6-2
Guideline for Minimizing Throw-Away....................................................................................... 6-3
Guidelines for Evaluating Execution Plans .................................................................................. 6-3
EXPLAIN PLAN Restrictions ......................................................................................................... 6-4
Guidelines for Creating PLAN_TABLE ........................................................................................ 6-5
Generating Execution Plans .................................................................................................................... 6-5
Executing EXPLAIN PLAN for a Single Statement..................................................................... 6-5
Executing EXPLAIN PLAN Using a Statement ID...................................................................... 6-6
Directing EXPLAIN PLAN Output to a Nondefault Table........................................................ 6-6
Displaying PLAN_TABLE Output......................................................................................................... 6-7
Displaying an Execution Plan: Example ....................................................................................... 6-7
Customizing PLAN_TABLE Output............................................................................................. 6-8

7 Reading Execution Plans

Reading Execution Plans: Basic .............................................................................................................. 7-1
Reading Execution Plans: Advanced ..................................................................................................... 7-2

v
 Reading Adaptive Plans .................................................................................................................. 7-2
Viewing Parallel Execution with EXPLAIN PLAN..................................................................... 7-6
Viewing Bitmap Indexes with EXPLAIN PLAN ......................................................................... 7-8
Viewing Result Cache with EXPLAIN PLAN.............................................................................. 7-9
Viewing Partitioned Objects with EXPLAIN PLAN ................................................................... 7-9
PLAN_TABLE Columns................................................................................................................ 7-16
Execution Plan Reference ...................................................................................................................... 7-28
Execution Plan Views .................................................................................................................... 7-28
PLAN_TABLE Columns................................................................................................................ 7-29
DBMS_XPLAN Program Units .................................................................................................... 7-40

Part IV SQL Operators

8 Optimizer Access Paths

Introduction to Access Paths................................................................................................................... 8-1
Table Access Paths.................................................................................................................................... 8-2
About Heap-Organized Table Access ........................................................................................... 8-3
Full Table Scans ................................................................................................................................ 8-5
Table Access by Rowid .................................................................................................................... 8-7
Sample Table Scans .......................................................................................................................... 8-8
In-Memory Table Scans ................................................................................................................... 8-9
B-Tree Index Access Paths..................................................................................................................... 8-11
About B-Tree Index Access ........................................................................................................... 8-12
Index Unique Scans........................................................................................................................ 8-15
Index Range Scans.......................................................................................................................... 8-18
Index Full Scans .............................................................................................................................. 8-21
Index Fast Full Scans...................................................................................................................... 8-23
Index Skip Scans ............................................................................................................................. 8-24
Index Join Scans.............................................................................................................................. 8-26
Bitmap Index Access Paths.................................................................................................................... 8-28
About Bitmap Index Access.......................................................................................................... 8-28
Bitmap Conversion to Rowid ....................................................................................................... 8-32
Bitmap Index Single Value............................................................................................................ 8-32
Bitmap Index Range Scans ............................................................................................................ 8-33
Bitmap Merge.................................................................................................................................. 8-34
Table Cluster Access Paths .................................................................................................................... 8-35
Cluster Scans ................................................................................................................................... 8-35
Hash Scans....................................................................................................................................... 8-37

9 Joins
About Joins ................................................................................................................................................ 9-1
Join Trees ........................................................................................................................................... 9-1
How the Optimizer Executes Join Statements ............................................................................. 9-3

vi
 How the Optimizer Chooses Execution Plans for Joins ............................................................. 9-3
Join Methods.............................................................................................................................................. 9-5
Nested Loops Joins........................................................................................................................... 9-5
Hash Joins........................................................................................................................................ 9-15
Sort Merge Joins.............................................................................................................................. 9-18
Cartesian Joins ................................................................................................................................ 9-21
Join Types................................................................................................................................................. 9-23
Inner Joins........................................................................................................................................ 9-23
Outer Joins....................................................................................................................................... 9-25
Semijoins.......................................................................................................................................... 9-29
Antijoins........................................................................................................................................... 9-31
Join Optimizations .................................................................................................................................. 9-35
Bloom Filters ................................................................................................................................... 9-36
Partition-Wise Joins........................................................................................................................ 9-39

Part V Optimizer Statistics

10 Optimizer Statistics Concepts

Introduction to Optimizer Statistics..................................................................................................... 10-1
About Optimizer Statistics Types......................................................................................................... 10-3
Table Statistics................................................................................................................................. 10-3
Column Statistics ............................................................................................................................ 10-4
Index Statistics ................................................................................................................................ 10-5
Session-Specific Statistics for Global Temporary Tables ........................................................ 10-10
System Statistics............................................................................................................................ 10-11
User-Defined Optimizer Statistics ............................................................................................. 10-11
How the Database Gathers Optimizer Statistics .............................................................................. 10-12
DBMS_STATS Package................................................................................................................ 10-12
Dynamic Statistics ........................................................................................................................ 10-13
Online Statistics Gathering for Bulk Loads .............................................................................. 10-14
When the Database Gathers Optimizer Statistics ............................................................................ 10-17
Sources for Optimizer Statistics ................................................................................................. 10-17
SQL Plan Directives ..................................................................................................................... 10-18
When the Database Samples Data ............................................................................................. 10-26
How the Database Samples Data ............................................................................................... 10-28

11 Histograms
Purpose of Histograms .......................................................................................................................... 11-1
When Oracle Database Creates Histograms ....................................................................................... 11-2
How Oracle Database Chooses the Histogram Type ........................................................................ 11-3
Cardinality Algorithms When Using Histograms ............................................................................. 11-4
Endpoint Numbers and Values.................................................................................................... 11-4
Popular and Nonpopular Values ................................................................................................. 11-4

vii
 Bucket Compression ...................................................................................................................... 11-5
Frequency Histograms ........................................................................................................................... 11-6
Criteria For Frequency Histograms ............................................................................................. 11-6
Generating a Frequency Histogram ............................................................................................ 11-6
Top Frequency Histograms ................................................................................................................. 11-10
Criteria For Top Frequency Histograms ................................................................................... 11-10
Generating a Top Frequency Histogram .................................................................................. 11-11
Height-Balanced Histograms (Legacy).............................................................................................. 11-14
Criteria for Height-Balanced Histograms................................................................................. 11-14
Generating a Height-Balanced Histogram ............................................................................... 11-14
Hybrid Histograms............................................................................................................................... 11-18
How Endpoint Repeat Counts Work ........................................................................................ 11-18
Criteria for Hybrid Histograms.................................................................................................. 11-20
Generating a Hybrid Histogram ................................................................................................ 11-20

12 Managing Optimizer Statistics: Basic Topics

About Optimizer Statistics Collection ................................................................................................. 12-1
Purpose of Optimizer Statistics Collection ................................................................................. 12-1
User Interfaces for Optimizer Statistics Management .............................................................. 12-2
Configuring Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection ................................................................... 12-3
About Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection ..................................................................... 12-3
Configuring Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection Using Cloud Control .................... 12-4
Configuring Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection from the Command Line.............. 12-6
Setting Optimizer Statistics Preferences.............................................................................................. 12-8
About Optimizer Statistics Preferences....................................................................................... 12-8
Setting Global Optimizer Statistics Preferences Using Cloud Control................................. 12-11
Setting Object-Level Optimizer Statistics Preferences Using Cloud Control ...................... 12-11
Setting Optimizer Statistics Preferences from the Command Line....................................... 12-12
Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually.......................................................................................... 12-13
About Manual Statistics Collection with DBMS_STATS........................................................ 12-14
Guidelines for Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually....................................................... 12-14
Determining When Optimizer Statistics Are Stale .................................................................. 12-16
Gathering Schema and Table Statistics ..................................................................................... 12-18
Gathering Statistics for Fixed Objects........................................................................................ 12-18
Gathering Statistics for Volatile Tables Using Dynamic Statistics ........................................ 12-19
Gathering Optimizer Statistics Concurrently........................................................................... 12-21
Gathering Incremental Statistics on Partitioned Objects ........................................................ 12-28
Gathering System Statistics Manually ............................................................................................... 12-35
About Gathering System Statistics with DBMS_STATS......................................................... 12-35
Guidelines for Gathering System Statistics .............................................................................. 12-37
Gathering Workload Statistics.................................................................................................... 12-37
Gathering Noworkload Statistics............................................................................................... 12-41
Deleting System Statistics............................................................................................................ 12-42

viii
13 Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics
Controlling Dynamic Statistics ............................................................................................................. 13-1
About Dynamic Statistics Levels.................................................................................................. 13-2
Setting Dynamic Statistics Levels Manually .............................................................................. 13-3
Disabling Dynamic Statistics ........................................................................................................ 13-5
Publishing Pending Optimizer Statistics............................................................................................. 13-5
About Pending Optimizer Statistics ............................................................................................ 13-5
User Interfaces for Publishing Optimizer Statistics .................................................................. 13-7
Managing Published and Pending Statistics .............................................................................. 13-8
Managing Extended Statistics............................................................................................................. 13-11
Managing Column Group Statistics .......................................................................................... 13-11
Managing Expression Statistics.................................................................................................. 13-21
Locking and Unlocking Optimizer Statistics .................................................................................... 13-25
Locking Statistics .......................................................................................................................... 13-26
Unlocking Statistics...................................................................................................................... 13-26
Restoring Optimizer Statistics............................................................................................................. 13-27
About Restore Operations for Optimizer Statistics................................................................. 13-27
Guidelines for Restoring Optimizer Statistics.......................................................................... 13-28
Restrictions for Restoring Optimizer Statistics ........................................................................ 13-28
Restoring Optimizer Statistics Using DBMS_STATS .............................................................. 13-29
Managing Optimizer Statistics Retention ......................................................................................... 13-30
Obtaining Optimizer Statistics History..................................................................................... 13-30
Changing the Optimizer Statistics Retention Period .............................................................. 13-31
Purging Optimizer Statistics....................................................................................................... 13-32
Importing and Exporting Optimizer Statistics ................................................................................. 13-33
About Transporting Optimizer Statistics.................................................................................. 13-33
Transporting Optimizer Statistics to a Test Database............................................................. 13-34
Running Statistics Gathering Functions in Reporting Mode ......................................................... 13-36
Reporting on Past Statistics Gathering Operations ......................................................................... 13-38
Managing SQL Plan Directives........................................................................................................... 13-40

Part VI Optimizer Controls

14 Influencing the Optimizer

Techniques for Influencing the Optimizer.......................................................................................... 14-1
Influencing the Optimizer with Initialization Parameters................................................................ 14-2
About Optimizer Initialization Parameters ................................................................................ 14-3
Enabling Optimizer Features........................................................................................................ 14-6
Choosing an Optimizer Goal ........................................................................................................ 14-7
Controlling Adaptive Optimization ............................................................................................ 14-8
Influencing the Optimizer with Hints ............................................................................................... 14-10
About Optimizer Hints................................................................................................................ 14-10

ix
 Guidelines for Join Order Hints ................................................................................................. 14-13

15 Improving Real-World Performance Through Cursor Sharing

Overview of Cursor Sharing ................................................................................................................. 15-1
About Cursors................................................................................................................................. 15-1
About Cursors and Parsing........................................................................................................... 15-7
About Literals and Bind Variables............................................................................................. 15-10
CURSOR_SHARING and Bind Variable Substitution .................................................................... 15-14
CURSOR_SHARING Initialization Parameter......................................................................... 15-15
Parsing Behavior When CURSOR_SHARING = FORCE....................................................... 15-15
Adaptive Cursor Sharing..................................................................................................................... 15-17
Purpose of Adaptive Cursor Sharing ........................................................................................ 15-17
How Adaptive Cursor Sharing Works: Example .................................................................... 15-18
Bind-Sensitive Cursors ................................................................................................................ 15-20
Bind-Aware Cursors .................................................................................................................... 15-23
Cursor Merging ............................................................................................................................ 15-26
Adaptive Cursor Sharing Views ................................................................................................ 15-26
Real-World Performance Guidelines for Cursor Sharing ............................................................... 15-27
Develop Applications with Bind Variables for Security and Performance ......................... 15-27
Do Not Use CURSOR_SHARING = FORCE as a Permanent Fix ......................................... 15-28
Establish Coding Conventions to Increase Cursor Reuse ...................................................... 15-29
Minimize Session-Level Changes to the Optimizer Environment........................................ 15-31

Part VII Monitoring and Tracing SQL

16 Monitoring Database Operations

About Monitoring Database Operations............................................................................................. 16-1
Purpose of Monitoring Database Operations............................................................................. 16-2
Database Operation Monitoring Concepts ................................................................................. 16-3
User Interfaces for Database Operations Monitoring ............................................................... 16-6
Basic Tasks in Database Operations Monitoring ....................................................................... 16-8
Enabling and Disabling Monitoring of Database Operations .......................................................... 16-8
Enabling Monitoring of Database Operations at the System Level ........................................ 16-9
Enabling and Disabling Monitoring of Database Operations at the Statement Level ......... 16-9
Creating a Database Operation........................................................................................................... 16-10
Reporting on Database Operations Using SQL Monitor ................................................................ 16-11

17 Gathering Diagnostic Data with SQL Test Case Builder

Purpose of SQL Test Case Builder........................................................................................................ 17-1
Concepts for SQL Test Case Builder .................................................................................................... 17-1
SQL Incidents .................................................................................................................................. 17-1
What SQL Test Case Builder Captures ....................................................................................... 17-2
Output of SQL Test Case Builder................................................................................................. 17-3

x
 User Interfaces for SQL Test Case Builder .......................................................................................... 17-4
Graphical Interface for SQL Test Case Builder .......................................................................... 17-4
Command-Line Interface for SQL Test Case Builder................................................................ 17-5
Running SQL Test Case Builder ........................................................................................................... 17-5

18 Performing Application Tracing

Overview of End-to-End Application Tracing ................................................................................... 18-1
Purpose of End-to-End Application Tracing.............................................................................. 18-1
Tools for End-to-End Application Tracing ................................................................................. 18-2
Enabling Statistics Gathering for End-to-End Tracing...................................................................... 18-3
Enabling Statistics Gathering for a Client ID ............................................................................. 18-4
Enabling Statistics Gathering for a Service, Module, and Action ........................................... 18-4
Enabling End-to-End Application Tracing ......................................................................................... 18-5
Enabling Tracing for a Client Identifier ...................................................................................... 18-5
Enabling Tracing for a Service, Module, and Action ................................................................ 18-6
Enabling Tracing for a Session ..................................................................................................... 18-7
Enabling Tracing for the Instance or Database .......................................................................... 18-8
Generating Output Files Using SQL Trace and TKPROF................................................................. 18-9
Step 1: Setting Initialization Parameters for Trace File Management..................................... 18-9
Step 2: Enabling the SQL Trace Facility .................................................................................... 18-10
Step 3: Generating Output Files with TKPROF ....................................................................... 18-11
Step 4: Storing SQL Trace Facility Statistics ............................................................................. 18-13
Guidelines for Interpreting TKPROF Output................................................................................... 18-15
Guideline for Interpreting the Resolution of Statistics ........................................................... 18-15
Guideline for Recursive SQL Statements.................................................................................. 18-15
Guideline for Deciding Which Statements to Tune................................................................. 18-16
Guidelines for Avoiding Traps in TKPROF Interpretation.................................................... 18-16
Application Tracing Utilities............................................................................................................... 18-19
TRCSESS ........................................................................................................................................ 18-19
TKPROF ......................................................................................................................................... 18-21
Views for Application Tracing............................................................................................................ 18-30
Views Relevant for Trace Statistics ............................................................................................ 18-30
Views Related to Enabling Tracing............................................................................................ 18-30

Part VIII Automatic SQL Tuning

19 Managing SQL Tuning Sets

About SQL Tuning Sets ......................................................................................................................... 19-1
Purpose of SQL Tuning Sets ......................................................................................................... 19-2
Concepts for SQL Tuning Sets...................................................................................................... 19-2
User Interfaces for SQL Tuning Sets............................................................................................ 19-4
Basic Tasks for SQL Tuning Sets .................................................................................................. 19-5
Creating a SQL Tuning Set .................................................................................................................... 19-6

xi
 Loading a SQL Tuning Set..................................................................................................................... 19-6
Displaying the Contents of a SQL Tuning Set .................................................................................... 19-8
Modifying a SQL Tuning Set............................................................................................................... 19-10
Transporting a SQL Tuning Set .......................................................................................................... 19-11
About Transporting SQL Tuning Sets....................................................................................... 19-11
Transporting SQL Tuning Sets with DBMS_SQLTUNE ........................................................ 19-12
Dropping a SQL Tuning Set ................................................................................................................ 19-14

20 Analyzing SQL with SQL Tuning Advisor

About SQL Tuning Advisor .................................................................................................................. 20-1
Purpose of SQL Tuning Advisor.................................................................................................. 20-1
SQL Tuning Advisor Architecture............................................................................................... 20-2
Automatic Tuning Optimizer Concepts...................................................................................... 20-5
Managing the Automatic SQL Tuning Task ..................................................................................... 20-14
About the Automatic SQL Tuning Task ................................................................................... 20-14
Enabling and Disabling the Automatic SQL Tuning Task ..................................................... 20-16
Configuring the Automatic SQL Tuning Task......................................................................... 20-19
Viewing Automatic SQL Tuning Reports................................................................................. 20-21
Running SQL Tuning Advisor On Demand ..................................................................................... 20-24
About On-Demand SQL Tuning ................................................................................................ 20-24
Creating a SQL Tuning Task....................................................................................................... 20-28
Configuring a SQL Tuning Task ................................................................................................ 20-29
Executing a SQL Tuning Task .................................................................................................... 20-30
Monitoring a SQL Tuning Task.................................................................................................. 20-31
Displaying the Results of a SQL Tuning Task.......................................................................... 20-33

21 Optimizing Access Paths with SQL Access Advisor

About SQL Access Advisor ................................................................................................................... 21-1
Purpose of SQL Access Advisor................................................................................................... 21-1
SQL Access Advisor Architecture................................................................................................ 21-2
User Interfaces for SQL Access Advisor ..................................................................................... 21-6
Using SQL Access Advisor: Basic Tasks.............................................................................................. 21-8
Creating a SQL Tuning Set as Input for SQL Access Advisor ................................................. 21-9
Populating a SQL Tuning Set with a User-Defined Workload.............................................. 21-10
Creating and Configuring a SQL Access Advisor Task.......................................................... 21-12
Executing a SQL Access Advisor Task...................................................................................... 21-13
Viewing SQL Access Advisor Task Results.............................................................................. 21-15
Generating and Executing a Task Script ................................................................................... 21-18
Performing a SQL Access Advisor Quick Tune ............................................................................... 21-20
Using SQL Access Advisor: Advanced Tasks .................................................................................. 21-20
Evaluating Existing Access Structures ...................................................................................... 21-21
Updating SQL Access Advisor Task Attributes ...................................................................... 21-21
Creating and Using SQL Access Advisor Task Templates .................................................... 21-22

xii
 Terminating SQL Access Advisor Task Execution.................................................................. 21-24
Deleting SQL Access Advisor Tasks.......................................................................................... 21-26
Marking SQL Access Advisor Recommendations................................................................... 21-27
Modifying SQL Access Advisor Recommendations ............................................................... 21-28
SQL Access Advisor Examples ........................................................................................................... 21-29
SQL Access Advisor Reference........................................................................................................... 21-29
Action Attributes in the DBA_ADVISOR_ACTIONS View .................................................. 21-29
Categories for SQL Access Advisor Task Parameters............................................................. 21-31
SQL Access Advisor Constants .................................................................................................. 21-32

Part IX SQL Controls

22 Managing SQL Profiles

About SQL Profiles ................................................................................................................................. 22-1
Purpose of SQL Profiles................................................................................................................. 22-1
Concepts for SQL Profiles ............................................................................................................. 22-2
User Interfaces for SQL Profiles ................................................................................................... 22-5
Basic Tasks for SQL Profiles.......................................................................................................... 22-5
Implementing a SQL Profile.................................................................................................................. 22-6
About SQL Profile Implementation............................................................................................. 22-7
Implementing a SQL Profile ......................................................................................................... 22-7
Listing SQL Profiles................................................................................................................................ 22-8
Altering a SQL Profile ............................................................................................................................ 22-9
Dropping a SQL Profile ....................................................................................................................... 22-10
Transporting a SQL Profile.................................................................................................................. 22-10

23 Managing SQL Plan Baselines

About SQL Plan Management .............................................................................................................. 23-1
Purpose of SQL Plan Management.............................................................................................. 23-2
Plan Capture.................................................................................................................................... 23-4
Plan Selection .................................................................................................................................. 23-6
Plan Evolution................................................................................................................................. 23-7
Storage Architecture for SQL Plan Management ...................................................................... 23-8
User Interfaces for SQL Plan Management .............................................................................. 23-13
Basic Tasks in SQL Plan Management ...................................................................................... 23-15
Configuring SQL Plan Management.................................................................................................. 23-16
Configuring the Capture and Use of SQL Plan Baselines ...................................................... 23-16
Managing the SPM Evolve Advisor Task ................................................................................. 23-18
Displaying Plans in a SQL Plan Baseline........................................................................................... 23-19
Loading SQL Plan Baselines................................................................................................................ 23-21
Loading Plans from a SQL Tuning Set ..................................................................................... 23-22
Loading Plans from the Shared SQL Area ............................................................................... 23-24
Loading Plans from a Staging Table.......................................................................................... 23-25

xiii
 Evolving SQL Plan Baselines Manually ............................................................................................ 23-27
About the DBMS_SPM Evolve Functions................................................................................. 23-28
Managing an Evolve Task ........................................................................................................... 23-29
Dropping SQL Plan Baselines ............................................................................................................. 23-37
Managing the SQL Management Base............................................................................................... 23-39
Changing the Disk Space Limit for the SMB ............................................................................ 23-39
Changing the Plan Retention Policy in the SMB...................................................................... 23-40

24 Migrating Stored Outlines to SQL Plan Baselines

About Stored Outline Migration .......................................................................................................... 24-1
Purpose of Stored Outline Migration .......................................................................................... 24-1
How Stored Outline Migration Works........................................................................................ 24-2
User Interface for Stored Outline Migration .............................................................................. 24-5
Basic Steps in Stored Outline Migration ..................................................................................... 24-6
Preparing for Stored Outline Migration.............................................................................................. 24-6
Migrating Outlines to Utilize SQL Plan Management Features ...................................................... 24-8
Migrating Outlines to Preserve Stored Outline Behavior................................................................. 24-9
Performing Follow-Up Tasks After Stored Outline Migration ...................................................... 24-10

A Guidelines for Indexes and Table Clusters

Guidelines for Tuning Index Performance.................................................................................................... A-1
Guidelines for Tuning the Logical Structure ........................................................................................ A-1
Guidelines for Using SQL Access Advisor ........................................................................................... A-2
Guidelines for Choosing Columns and Expressions to Index ........................................................... A-3
Guidelines for Choosing Composite Indexes ....................................................................................... A-4
Guidelines for Writing SQL Statements That Use Indexes................................................................. A-5
Guidelines for Writing SQL Statements That Avoid Using Indexes................................................. A-5
Guidelines for Re-Creating Indexes ....................................................................................................... A-5
Guidelines for Compacting Indexes ...................................................................................................... A-6
Guidelines for Using Nonunique Indexes to Enforce Uniqueness.................................................... A-6
Guidelines for Using Enabled Novalidated Constraints .................................................................... A-6
Guidelines for Using Function-Based Indexes for Performance ................................................................ A-8
Guidelines for Using Partitioned Indexes for Performance........................................................................ A-8
Guidelines for Using Index-Organized Tables for Performance ............................................................... A-9
Guidelines for Using Bitmap Indexes for Performance............................................................................. A-10
Guidelines for Using Bitmap Join Indexes for Performance..................................................................... A-10
Guidelines for Using Domain Indexes for Performance ........................................................................... A-10
Guidelines for Using Table Clusters ............................................................................................................ A-11
Guidelines for Using Hash Clusters for Performance ............................................................................... A-12

Glossary

Index

xiv
 Preface

This manual explains how to tune Oracle SQL.

This preface contains the following topics:

• Audience

• Related Documents

• Conventions

Audience
This document is intended for database administrators and application developers
who perform the following tasks:

• Generating and interpreting SQL execution plans

• Managing optimizer statistics

• Influencing the optimizer through initialization parameters or SQL hints

• Controlling cursor sharing for SQL statements

• Monitoring SQL execution

• Performing application tracing

• Managing SQL tuning sets

• Using SQL Tuning Advisor or SQL Access Advisor

• Managing SQL profiles

• Managing SQL baselines

Related Documents
This manual assumes that you are familiar with the following documents:

• Oracle Database Concepts

• Oracle Database SQL Language Reference

• Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide

• Oracle Database Development Guide

xv
 To learn how to tune data warehouse environments, see Oracle Database Data
Warehousing Guide.
Many examples in this book use the sample schemas, which are installed by default
when you select the Basic Installation option with an Oracle Database. See Oracle
Database Sample Schemas for information on how these schemas were created and how
you can use them.
To learn about Oracle Database error messages, see Oracle Database Error Messages
Reference. Oracle Database error message documentation is only available in HTML. If
you are accessing the error message documentation on the Oracle Documentation CD,
then you can browse the error messages by range. After you find the specific range,
use your browser's find feature to locate the specific message. When connected to the
Internet, you can search for a specific error message using the error message search
feature of the Oracle online documentation.

Conventions
The following text conventions are used in this document:

Convention Meaning
boldface Boldface type indicates graphical user interface elements associated
with an action, or terms defined in text or the glossary.

italic Italic type indicates book titles, emphasis, or placeholder variables for
which you supply particular values.

monospace Monospace type indicates commands within a paragraph, URLs, code

in examples, text that appears on the screen, or text that you enter.

xvi
 Changes in This Release for Oracle
Database SQL Tuning Guide

This preface contains:

• Changes in Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1.0.2)

• Changes in Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1.0.1)

Changes in Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1.0.2)

Oracle Database SQL Tuning Guide for Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1.0.2) has the
following changes.

New Features
The following features are new in this release:

• In-memory aggregation
This optimization minimizes the join and GROUP BY processing required for each
row when joining a single large table to multiple small tables, as in a star schema.
VECTOR GROUP BY aggregation uses the infrastructure related to parallel query
(PQ) processing, and blends it with CPU-efficient algorithms to maximize the
performance and effectiveness of the initial aggregation performed before
redistributing fact data.
See “In-Memory Aggregation”.

• SQL Monitor support for adaptive plans

SQL Monitor supports adaptive plans in the following ways:

– Indicates whether a plan is adaptive, and show its current status: resolving or
resolved.

– Provides a list that enables you to select the current, full, or final plans
See “Adaptive Plans” to learn more about adaptive plans, and “Reporting on
Database Operations Using SQL Monitor” to learn more about SQL Monitor.

Changes in Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1.0.1)

Oracle Database SQL Tuning Guide for Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) has the
following changes.

xvii
New Features
The following features are new in this release:

• Adaptive SQL Plan Management (SPM)

The SPM Evolve Advisor is a task infrastructure that enables you to schedule an
evolve task, rerun an evolve task, and generate persistent reports. The new
automatic evolve task, SYS_AUTO_SPM_EVOLVE_TASK, runs in the default
maintenance window. This task ranks all unaccepted plans and runs the evolve
process for them. If the task finds a new plan that performs better than existing
plan, the task automatically accepts the plan. You can also run evolution tasks
manually using the DBMS_SPM package.
See “Managing the SPM Evolve Advisor Task”.

• Adaptive query optimization

Adaptive query optimization is a set of capabilities that enable the optimizer to
make run-time adjustments to execution plans and discover additional information
that can lead to better statistics. The set of capabilities include:

– Adaptive plans
An adaptive plan has built-in options that enable the final plan for a statement
to differ from the default plan. During the first execution, before a specific
subplan becomes active, the optimizer makes a final decision about which
option to use. The optimizer bases its choice on observations made during the
execution up to this point. The ability of the optimizer to adapt plans can
improve query performance.
See “Adaptive Plans”.

– Automatic reoptimization
When using automatic reoptimization, the optimizer monitors the initial
execution of a query. If the actual execution statistics vary significantly from the
original plan statistics, then the optimizer records the execution statistics and
uses them to choose a better plan the next time the statement executes. The
database uses information obtained during automatic reoptimization to
generate SQL plan directives automatically.
See “Automatic Reoptimization”.

– SQL plan directives

In releases earlier than Oracle Database 12c, the database stored compilation
and execution statistics in the shared SQL area, which is nonpersistent. Starting
in this release, the database can use a SQL plan directive, which is additional
information and instructions that the optimizer can use to generate a more
optimal plan. The database stores SQL plan directives persistently in the
SYSAUX tablespace. When generating an execution plan, the optimizer can use
SQL plan directives to obtain more information about the objects accessed in the
plan.
See “SQL Plan Directives”.

– Dynamic statistics enhancements

xviii
 In releases earlier than Oracle Database 12c, Oracle Database only used dynamic
statistics (previously called dynamic sampling) when one or more of the tables in
a query did not have optimizer statistics. Starting in this release, the optimizer
automatically decides whether dynamic statistics are useful and which dynamic
statistics level to use for all SQL statements. Dynamic statistics gathers are
persistent and usable by other queries.
See “Dynamic Statistics”.

• New types of histograms

This release introduces top frequency and hybrid histograms. If a column contains
more than 254 distinct values, and if the top 254 most frequent values occupy more
than 99% of the data, then the database creates a top frequency histogram using the
top 254 most frequent values. By ignoring the nonpopular values, which are
statistically insignificant, the database can produce a better quality histogram for
highly popular values. A hybrid histogram is an enhanced height-based histogram
that stores the exact frequency of each endpoint in the sample, and ensures that a
value is never stored in multiple buckets.
Also, regular frequency histograms have been enhanced. The optimizer computes
frequency histograms during NDV computation based on a full scan of the data
rather than a small sample (when AUTO_SAMPLING is used). The enhanced
frequency histograms ensure that even highly infrequent values are properly
represented with accurate bucket counts within a histogram.
See Histograms .

• Monitoring database operations

Real-Time Database Operations Monitoring enables you to monitor long running
database tasks such as batch jobs, scheduler jobs, and Extraction, Transformation,
and Loading (ETL) jobs as a composite business operation. This feature tracks the
progress of SQL and PL/SQL queries associated with the business operation being
monitored. As a DBA or developer, you can define business operations for
monitoring by explicitly specifying the start and end of the operation or implicitly
with tags that identify the operation.
See “Monitoring Database Operations ”.

• Concurrent statistics gathering

You can concurrently gather optimizer statistics on multiple tables, table partitions,
or table subpartitions. By fully utilizing multiprocessor environments, the database
can reduce the overall time required to gather statistics. Oracle Scheduler and
Advanced Queuing create and manage jobs to gather statistics concurrently. The
scheduler decides how many jobs to execute concurrently, and how many to queue
based on available system resources and the value of the JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES
initialization parameter.
See “Gathering Optimizer Statistics Concurrently”.

• Reporting mode for DBMS_STATS statistics gathering functions

You can run the DBMS_STATS functions in reporting mode. In this mode, the
optimizer does not actually gather statistics, but reports objects that would be
processed if you were to use a specified statistics gathering function.
See “Running Statistics Gathering Functions in Reporting Mode”.

• Reports on past statistics gathering operations

xix
 You can use DBMS_STATS functions to report on a specific statistics gathering
operation or on operations that occurred during a specified time.
See “Reporting on Past Statistics Gathering Operations”.

• Automatic column group creation

With column group statistics, the database gathers optimizer statistics on a group
of columns treated as a unit. Starting in Oracle Database 12c, the database
automatically determines which column groups are required in a specified
workload or SQL tuning set, and then creates the column groups. Thus, for any
specified workload, you no longer need to know which columns from each table
must be grouped.
See “Detecting Useful Column Groups for a Specific Workload”.

• Session-private statistics for global temporary tables

Starting in this release, global temporary tables have a different set of optimizer
statistics for each session. Session-specific statistics improve performance and
manageability of temporary tables because users no longer need to set statistics for
a global temporary table in each session or rely on dynamic statistics. The
possibility of errors in cardinality estimates for global temporary tables is lower,
ensuring that the optimizer has the necessary information to determine an optimal
execution plan.
See “Session-Specific Statistics for Global Temporary Tables”.

• SQL Test Case Builder enhancements

SQL Test Case Builder can capture and replay actions and events that enable you to
diagnose incidents that depend on certain dynamic and volatile factors. This
capability is especially useful for parallel query and automatic memory
management.
See Gathering Diagnostic Data with SQL Test Case Builder .

• Online statistics gathering for bulk loads

A bulk load is a CREATE TABLE AS SELECT or INSERT INTO ... SELECT
operation. In releases earlier than Oracle Database 12c, you needed to manually
gather statistics after a bulk load to avoid the possibility of a suboptimal execution
plan caused by stale statistics. Starting in this release, Oracle Database gathers
optimizer statistics automatically, which improves both performance and
manageability.
See “Online Statistics Gathering for Bulk Loads”.

• Reuse of synopses after partition maintenance operations

ALTER TABLE EXCHANGE is a common partition maintenance operation. During a
partition exchange, the statistics of the partition and the table are also exchanged. A
synopsis is a set of auxiliary statistics gathered on a partitioned table when the
INCREMENTAL value is set to true. In releases earlier than Oracle Database 12c,
you could not gather table-level synopses on a table. Thus, you could not gather
table-level synopses on a table, exchange the table with a partition, and end up
with synopses on the partition. You had to explicitly gather optimizer statistics in
incremental mode to create the missing synopses. Starting in this release, you can
gather table-level synopses on a table. When you exchange this table with a
partition in an incremental mode table, the synopses are also exchanged.
See “Maintaining Incremental Statistics for Partition Maintenance Operations”.

xx
 • Automatic updates of global statistics for tables with stale or locked partition
statistics
Incremental statistics can automatically calculate global statistics for a partitioned
table even if the partition or subpartition statistics are stale and locked.
See “Maintaining Incremental Statistics for Tables with Stale or Locked Partition
Statistics”.

• Cube query performance enhancements

These enhancements minimize CPU and memory consumption and reduce I/O for
queries against cubes.
See Table 7-7 to learn about the CUBE JOIN operation.

Deprecated Features
The following features are deprecated in this release, and may be desupported in a
future release:

• Stored outlines
See Managing SQL Plan Baselines for information about alternatives.

• The SIMILAR value for the CURSOR_SHARING initialization parameter

This value is deprecated. Use FORCE instead.
See “When to Set CURSOR_SHARING to FORCE”.

Desupported Features
Some features previously described in this document are desupported in Oracle
Database 12c. See Oracle Database Upgrade Guide for a list of desupported features.

Other Changes
The following are additional changes in the release:

• New tuning books

The Oracle Database 11g Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide has been divided
into two books for Oracle Database 12c:

– Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide, which contains only topics that
pertain to tuning the database

– Oracle Database SQL Tuning Guide, which contains only topics that pertain to
tuning SQL

xxi
 Part I
SQL Performance Fundamentals

This part contains the following chapters:

• Introduction to SQL Tuning

• SQL Performance Methodology

 1
Introduction to SQL Tuning

This chapter provides a brief introduction to SQL tuning.

This chapter contains the following topics:

• About SQL Tuning

• Purpose of SQL Tuning

• Prerequisites for SQL Tuning

• Tasks and Tools for SQL Tuning

About SQL Tuning

SQL tuning is the iterative process of improving SQL statement performance to meet
specific, measurable, and achievable goals. SQL tuning implies fixing problems in
deployed applications. In contrast, application design sets the security and
performance goals before deploying an application.

See Also:

• SQL Performance Methodology

• “Guidelines for Designing Your Application” to learn how to design for

SQL performance

Purpose of SQL Tuning

A SQL statement becomes a problem when it fails to perform according to a
predetermined and measurable standard. After you have identified the problem, a
typical tuning session has one of the following goals:

• Reduce user response time, which means decreasing the time between when a user
issues a statement and receives a response

• Improve throughput, which means using the least amount of resources necessary
to process all rows accessed by a statement
For a response time problem, consider an online book seller application that hangs for
three minutes after a customer updates the shopping cart. Contrast with a three-
minute parallel query in a data warehouse that consumes all of the database host
CPU, preventing other queries from running. In each case, the user response time is
three minutes, but the cause of the problem is different, and so is the tuning goal.

Introduction to SQL Tuning 1-1

Prerequisites for SQL Tuning

Prerequisites for SQL Tuning

If you are tuning SQL, then this manual assumes that you have the following
knowledge and skills:

• Familiarity with database architecture

Database architecture is not the domain of administrators alone. As a developer,
you want to develop applications in the least amount of time against an Oracle
database, which requires exploiting the database architecture and features. For
example, not understanding Oracle Database concurrency controls and
multiversioning read consistency may make an application corrupt the integrity of
the data, run slowly, and decrease scalability.
Oracle Database Concepts explains the basic relational data structures, transaction
management, storage structures, and instance architecture of Oracle Database.

• Knowledge of SQL and PL/SQL

Because of the existence of GUI-based tools, it is possible to create applications and
administer a database without knowing SQL. However, it is impossible to tune
applications or a database without knowing SQL.
Oracle Database Concepts includes an introduction to Oracle SQL and PL/SQL. You
must also have a working knowledge of Oracle Database SQL Language Reference,
Oracle Database PL/SQL Language Reference, and Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and
Types Reference.

• Familiarity with database-provided SQL tuning tools

The database generates performance statistics, and provides SQL tuning tools that
interpret these statistics.
Oracle Database 2 Day + Performance Tuning Guide provides an introduction to the
principal SQL tuning tools.

Tasks and Tools for SQL Tuning

After you have identified the goal for a tuning session, for example, reducing user
response time from three minutes to less than a second, the problem becomes how to
accomplish this goal. The Oracle-recommended tuning methodology is covered in
detail in SQL Performance Methodology.

SQL Tuning Tasks

The specifics of a tuning session depend on many factors, including whether you tune
proactively or reactively. In proactive SQL tuning, you regularly use SQL Tuning
Advisor to determine whether you can make SQL statements perform better. In
reactive SQL tuning, you correct a SQL-related problem that a user has experienced.
Whether you tune proactively or reactively, a typical SQL tuning session involves all
or most of the following tasks:

1. Identifying high-load SQL statements

Review past execution history to find the statements responsible for a large share
of the application workload and system resources.

2. Gathering performance-related data

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 Tasks and Tools for SQL Tuning

The optimizer statistics are crucial to SQL tuning. If these statistics do not exist or
are no longer accurate, then the optimizer cannot generate the best plan. Other
data relevant to SQL performance include the structure of tables and views that
the statement accessed, and definitions of any indexes available to the statement.

3. Determining the causes of the problem

Typically, causes of SQL performance problems include:

• Inefficiently designed SQL statements

If a SQL statement is written so that it performs unnecessary work, then the
optimizer cannot do much to improve its performance. Examples of inefficient
design include

– Neglecting to add a join condition, which leads to a Cartesian join

– Using hints to specify a large table as the driving table in a join

– Specifying UNION instead of UNION ALL

– Making a subquery execute for every row in an outer query

• Suboptimal execution plans

The query optimizer (also called the optimizer) is internal software that
determines which execution plan is most efficient. Sometimes the optimizer
chooses a plan with a suboptimal access path, which is the means by which the
database retrieves data from the database. For example, the plan for a query
predicate with low selectivity may use a full table scan on a large table instead
of an index.
You can compare the execution plan of an optimally performing SQL
statement to the plan of the statement when it performs suboptimally. This
comparison, along with information such as changes in data volumes, can help
identify causes of performance degradation.

• Missing SQL access structures

Absence of SQL access structures, such as indexes and materialized views, is a
typical reason for suboptimal SQL performance. The optimal set of access
structures can improve SQL performance by orders of magnitude.

• Stale optimizer statistics

Statistics gathered by DBMS_STATS can become stale when the statistics
maintenance operations, either automatic or manual, cannot keep up with the
changes to the table data caused by DML. Because stale statistics on a table do
not accurately reflect the table data, the optimizer can make decisions based on
faulty information and generate suboptimal execution plans.

• Hardware problems
Suboptimal performance might be connected with memory, I/O, and CPU
problems.

4. Defining the scope of the problem

The scope of the solution must match the scope of the problem. Consider a
problem at the database level and a problem at the statement level. For example,
the shared pool is too small, which causes cursors to age out quickly, which in
turn causes many hard parses. Using an initialization parameter to increase the

Introduction to SQL Tuning 1-3

Tasks and Tools for SQL Tuning

shared pool size fixes the problem at the database level and improves
performance for all sessions. However, if a single SQL statement is not using a
helpful index, then changing the optimizer initialization parameters for the entire
database could harm overall performance. If a single SQL statement has a
problem, then an appropriately scoped solution addresses just this problem with
this statement.

5. Implementing corrective actions for suboptimally performing SQL statements

These actions vary depending on circumstances. For example, you might rewrite a
SQL statement to be more efficient, avoiding unnecessary hard parsing by
rewriting the statement to use bind variables. You might also use equijoins,
remove functions from WHERE clauses, and break a complex SQL statement into
multiple simple statements.
In some cases, you improve SQL performance not by rewriting the statement, but
by restructuring schema objects. For example, you might index a new access path,
or reorder columns in a concatenated index. You might also partition a table,
introduce derived values, or even change the database design.

6. Preventing SQL performance regressions

To ensure optimal SQL performance, verify that execution plans continue to
provide optimal performance, and choose better plans if they come available. You
can achieve these goals using optimizer statistics, SQL profiles, and SQL plan
baselines.

See Also:

“Shared Pool Check”

SQL Tuning Tools

SQL tuning tools fall into the categories of automated and manual. In this context, a
tool is automated if the database itself can provide diagnosis, advice, or corrective
actions. A manual tool requires you to perform all of these operations.
All tuning tools depend on the basic tools of the dynamic performance views,
statistics, and metrics that the database instance collects. The database itself contains
the data and metadata required to tune SQL statements.

Automated SQL Tuning Tools

Oracle Database provides several advisors relevant for SQL tuning. Additionally, SQL
plan management is a mechanism that can prevent performance regressions and also
help you to improve SQL performance.
All of the automated SQL tuning tools can use SQL tuning sets as input. A SQL
tuning set (STS) is a database object that includes one or more SQL statements along
with their execution statistics and execution context.

See Also:
“About SQL Tuning Sets”

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 Tasks and Tools for SQL Tuning

Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor (ADDM)

ADDM is self-diagnostic software built into Oracle Database. ADDM can
automatically locate the root causes of performance problems, provide
recommendations for correction, and quantify the expected benefits. ADDM also
identifies areas where no action is necessary.
ADDM and other advisors use Automatic Workload Repository (AWR), which is an
infrastructure that provides services to database components to collect, maintain, and
use statistics. ADDM examines and analyzes statistics in AWR to determine possible
performance problems, including high-load SQL.
For example, you can configure ADDM to run nightly. In the morning, you can
examine the latest ADDM report to see what might have caused a problem and if there
is a recommended fix. The report might show that a particular SELECT statement
consumed a huge amount of CPU, and recommend that you run SQL Tuning Advisor.

See Also:

• Oracle Database 2 Day + Performance Tuning Guide

• Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide

SQL Tuning Advisor

SQL Tuning Advisor is internal diagnostic software that identifies problematic SQL
statements and recommends how to improve statement performance. When run
during database maintenance windows as an automated maintenance task, SQL
Tuning Advisor is known as Automatic SQL Tuning Advisor.
SQL Tuning Advisor takes one or more SQL statements as an input and invokes the
Automatic Tuning Optimizer to perform SQL tuning on the statements. The advisor
performs the following types of analysis:

• Checks for missing or stale statistics

• Builds SQL profiles

A SQL profile is a set of auxiliary information specific to a SQL statement. A SQL
profile contains corrections for suboptimal optimizer estimates discovered during
Automatic SQL Tuning. This information can improve optimizer estimates for
cardinality, which is the number of rows that is estimated to be or actually is
returned by an operation in an execution plan, and selectivity. These improved
estimates lead the optimizer to select better plans.

• Explores whether a different access path can significantly improve performance

• Identifies SQL statements that lend themselves to suboptimal plans

The output is in the form of advice or recommendations, along with a rationale for
each recommendation and its expected benefit. The recommendation relates to a
collection of statistics on objects, creation of new indexes, restructuring of the SQL
statement, or creation of a SQL profile. You can choose to accept the recommendations
to complete the tuning of the SQL statements.

Introduction to SQL Tuning 1-5

Tasks and Tools for SQL Tuning

See Also:

• Oracle Database 2 Day + Performance Tuning Guide

• Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide

SQL Access Advisor

SQL Access Advisor is internal diagnostic software that recommends which
materialized views, indexes, and materialized view logs to create, drop, or retain.
SQL Access Advisor takes an actual workload as input, or the advisor can derive a
hypothetical workload from the schema. SQL Access Advisor considers the trade-offs
between space usage and query performance, and recommends the most cost-effective
configuration of new and existing materialized views and indexes. The advisor also
makes recommendations about partitioning.

See Also:

• “About SQL Access Advisor”

• Oracle Database 2 Day + Performance Tuning Guide

SQL Plan Management

SQL plan management is a preventative mechanism that enables the optimizer to
automatically manage execution plans, ensuring that the database uses only known or
verified plans. This mechanism can build a SQL plan baseline, which contains one or
more accepted plans for each SQL statement. By using baselines, SQL plan
management can prevent plan regressions from environmental changes, while
permitting the optimizer to discover and use better plans.

See Also:

“About SQL Plan Management”

SQL Performance Analyzer

SQL Performance Analyzer determines the effect of a change on a SQL workload by
identifying performance divergence for each SQL statement. System changes such as
upgrading a database or adding an index may cause changes to execution plans,
affecting SQL performance. By using SQL Performance Analyzer, you can accurately
forecast the effect of system changes on SQL performance. Using this information, you
can tune the database when SQL performance regresses, or validate and measure the
gain when SQL performance improves.

See Also:
Oracle Database Testing Guide

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 Tasks and Tools for SQL Tuning

Manual SQL Tuning Tools

In some situations, you may want to run manual tools in addition to the automated
tools. Alternatively, you may not have access to the automated tools.

Execution Plans
Execution plans are the principal diagnostic tool in manual SQL tuning. For example,
you can view plans to determine whether the optimizer selects the plan you expect, or
identify the effect of creating an index on a table.
You can display execution plans in multiple ways. The following tools are the most
commonly used:

• EXPLAIN PLAN
This SQL statement enables you to view the execution plan that the optimizer
would use to execute a SQL statement without actually executing the statement.
See Oracle Database SQL Language Reference.

• AUTOTRACE
The AUTOTRACE command in SQL*Plus generates the execution plan and statistics
about the performance of a query. This command provides statistics such as disk
reads and memory reads. See SQL*Plus User's Guide and Reference.

• V$SQL_PLAN and related views

These views contain information about executed SQL statements, and their
execution plans, that are still in the shared pool. See Oracle Database Reference.
You can use the DBMS_XPLAN package methods to display the execution plan
generated by the EXPLAIN PLAN command and query of V$SQL_PLAN.

Real-Time SQL Monitoring and Real-Time Database Operations

The Real-Time SQL Monitoring feature of Oracle Database enables you to monitor the
performance of SQL statements while they are executing. By default, SQL monitoring
starts automatically when a SQL statement runs in parallel, or when it has consumed
at least 5 seconds of CPU or I/O time in a single execution.
A database operation is a set of database tasks defined by end users or application
code, for example, a batch job or Extraction, Transformation, and Loading (ETL)
processing. You can define, monitor, and report on database operations. Real-Time
Database Operations provides the ability to monitor composite operations
automatically. The database automatically monitors parallel queries, DML, and DDL
statements as soon as execution begins.
Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control (Cloud Control) provides easy-to-use SQL
monitoring pages. Alternatively, you can monitor SQL-related statistics using the V
$SQL_MONITOR and V$SQL_PLAN_MONITOR views. You can use these views with the
following views to get more information about executions that you are monitoring:

• V$ACTIVE_SESSION_HISTORY

• V$SESSION

• V$SESSION_LONGOPS

• V$SQL

Introduction to SQL Tuning 1-7

Tasks and Tools for SQL Tuning

• V$SQL_PLAN

See Also:

• “About Monitoring Database Operations”

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the V$ views

Application Tracing
A SQL trace file provides performance information on individual SQL statements:
parse counts, physical and logical reads, misses on the library cache, and so on. You
can use this information to diagnose SQL performance problems.
You can enable and disable SQL tracing for a specific session using the
DBMS_MONITOR or DBMS_SESSION packages. Oracle Database implements tracing by
generating a trace file for each server process when you enable the tracing mechanism.
Oracle Database provides the following command-line tools for analyzing trace files:

• TKPROF
This utility accepts as input a trace file produced by the SQL Trace facility, and
then produces a formatted output file.

• trcsess
This utility consolidates trace output from multiple trace files based on criteria such
as session ID, client ID, and service ID. After trcsess merges the trace
information into a single output file, you can format the output file with TKPROF.
trcsess is useful for consolidating the tracing of a particular session for
performance or debugging purposes.
End-to-End Application Tracing simplifies the process of diagnosing performance
problems in multitier environments. In these environments, the middle tier routes a
request from an end client to different database sessions, making it difficult to track a
client across database sessions. End-to-End application tracing uses a client ID to
uniquely trace a specific end-client through all tiers to the database.

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn more about
DBMS_MONITOR and DBMS_SESSION

Optimizer Hints
A hint is an instruction passed to the optimizer through comments in a SQL
statement. Hints enable you to make decisions normally made automatically by the
optimizer.
In a test or development environment, hints are useful for testing the performance of a
specific access path. For example, you may know that a specific index is more selective
for certain queries. In this case, you may use hints to instruct the optimizer to use a
better execution plan, as in the following example:
SELECT /*+ INDEX (employees emp_department_ix) */
employee_id, department_id

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 Tasks and Tools for SQL Tuning

FROM employees
WHERE department_id > 50;

See Also:

“Influencing the Optimizer with Hints”

User Interfaces to SQL Tuning Tools

Cloud Control, which is a system management tool that provides centralized
management of a database environment, provides access to most tuning tools. By
combining a graphical console, Oracle Management Servers, Oracle Intelligent Agents,
common services, and administrative tools, Cloud Control provides a comprehensive
system management platform.
You can also access all SQL tuning tools using a command-line interface. For example,
the DBMS_ADVISOR package is the command-line interface for SQL Tuning Advisor.
Oracle recommends Cloud Control as the best interface for database administration
and tuning. In cases where the command-line interface better illustrates a particular
concept or task, this manual uses command-line examples. However, in these cases the
tuning tasks include a reference to the principal Cloud Control page associated with
the task.

Introduction to SQL Tuning 1-9

Tasks and Tools for SQL Tuning

1-10 SQL Tuning Guide

 2
SQL Performance Methodology

This chapter describes the recommended methodology for SQL tuning. This chapter
contains the following topics:

• Guidelines for Designing Your Application

• Guidelines for Deploying Your Application

Guidelines for Designing Your Application

This section contains the following topics:

• Guideline for Data Modeling

• Guideline for Writing Efficient Applications

Guideline for Data Modeling

Data modeling is important to successful application design. You must perform this
modeling in a way that quickly represents the business practices. Heated debates may
occur about the correct data model. The important thing is to apply greatest modeling
efforts to those entities affected by the most frequent business transactions.
In the modeling phase, there is a great temptation to spend too much time modeling
the non-core data elements, which results in increased development lead times. Use of
modeling tools can then rapidly generate schema definitions and can be useful when a
fast prototype is required.

Guideline for Writing Efficient Applications

In the design and architecture phase of any system development, care should be taken
to ensure that the application developers understand SQL execution efficiency. To
achieve this goal, the development environment must support the following
characteristics:

• Good database connection management

Connecting to the database is an expensive operation that is highly unscalable.
Therefore, a best practice is to minimize the number of concurrent connections to
the database. A simple system, where a user connects at application initialization,
is ideal. However, in a web-based or multitiered application in which application
servers multiplex database connections to users, this approach can be difficult.
With these types of applications, design them to pool database connections, and
not reestablish connections for each user request.

• Good cursor usage and management

SQL Performance Methodology 2-1

Guidelines for Deploying Your Application

Maintaining user connections is equally important to minimizing the parsing

activity on the system. Parsing is the process of interpreting a SQL statement and
creating an execution plan for it. This process has many phases, including syntax
checking, security checking, execution plan generation, and loading shared
structures into the shared pool. There are two types of parse operations:

– Hard parsing
A SQL statement is submitted for the first time, and no match is found in the
shared pool. Hard parses are the most resource-intensive and unscalable,
because they perform all the operations involved in a parse.

– Soft parsing
A SQL statement is submitted for the first time, and a match is found in the
shared pool. The match can be the result of previous execution by another user.
The SQL statement is shared, which is optimal for performance. However, soft
parses are not ideal, because they still require syntax and security checking,
which consume system resources.
Because parsing should be minimized as much as possible, application developers
should design their applications to parse SQL statements once and execute them
many times. This is done through cursors. Experienced SQL programmers should
be familiar with the concept of opening and re-executing cursors.

• Effective use of bind variables

Application developers must also ensure that SQL statements are shared within the
shared pool. To achieve this goal, use bind variables to represent the parts of the
query that change from execution to execution. If this is not done, then the SQL
statement is likely to be parsed once and never re-used by other users. To ensure
that SQL is shared, use bind variables and do not use string literals with SQL
statements. For example:
Statement with string literals:
SELECT * FROM employees
WHERE last_name LIKE 'KING';

Statement with bind variables:

SELECT * FROM employees
WHERE last_name LIKE :1;

The following example shows the results of some tests on a simple OLTP
application:
Test #Users Supported
No Parsing all statements 270
Soft Parsing all statements 150
Hard Parsing all statements 60
Re-Connecting for each Transaction 30

These tests were performed on a four-CPU computer. The differences increase as

the number of CPUs on the system increase.

Guidelines for Deploying Your Application

This section contains the following topics:

• Guideline for Deploying in a Test Environment

2-2 SQL Tuning Guide

 Guidelines for Deploying Your Application

• Guidelines for Application Rollout

Guideline for Deploying in a Test Environment

The testing process mainly consists of functional and stability testing. At some point in
the process, you must perform performance testing.
The following list describes simple rules for performance testing an application. If
correctly documented, then this list provides important information for the production
application and the capacity planning process after the application has gone live.

• Use the Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor (ADDM) and SQL Tuning
Advisor for design validation.

• Test with realistic data volumes and distributions.

All testing must be done with fully populated tables. The test database should
contain data representative of the production system in terms of data volume and
cardinality between tables. All the production indexes should be built and the
schema statistics should be populated correctly.

• Use the correct optimizer mode.

Perform all testing with the optimizer mode that you plan to use in production.

• Test a single user performance.

Test a single user on an idle or lightly-used database for acceptable performance. If
a single user cannot achieve acceptable performance under ideal conditions, then
multiple users cannot achieve acceptable performance under real conditions.

• Obtain and document plans for all SQL statements.

Obtain an execution plan for each SQL statement. Use this process to verify that the
optimizer is obtaining an optimal execution plan, and that the relative cost of the
SQL statement is understood in terms of CPU time and physical I/Os. This process
assists in identifying the heavy use transactions that require the most tuning and
performance work in the future.

• Attempt multiuser testing.

This process is difficult to perform accurately, because user workload and profiles
might not be fully quantified. However, transactions performing DML statements
should be tested to ensure that there are no locking conflicts or serialization
problems.

• Test with the correct hardware configuration.

Test with a configuration as close to the production system as possible. Using a
realistic system is particularly important for network latencies, I/O subsystem
bandwidth, and processor type and speed. Failing to use this approach may result
in an incorrect analysis of potential performance problems.

• Measure steady state performance.

When benchmarking, it is important to measure the performance under steady
state conditions. Each benchmark run should have a ramp-up phase, where users
are connected to the application and gradually start performing work on the
application. This process allows for frequently cached data to be initialized into the
cache and single execution operations—such as parsing—to be completed before

SQL Performance Methodology 2-3

Guidelines for Deploying Your Application

the steady state condition. Likewise, after a benchmark run, a ramp-down period is
useful so that the system frees resources, and users cease work and disconnect.

Guidelines for Application Rollout

When new applications are rolled out, two strategies are commonly adopted:

• Big Bang approach - all users migrate to the new system at once

• Trickle approach - users slowly migrate from existing systems to the new one
Both approaches have merits and disadvantages. The Big Bang approach relies on
reliable testing of the application at the required scale, but has the advantage of
minimal data conversion and synchronization with the old system, because it is
simply switched off. The Trickle approach allows debugging of scalability issues as the
workload increases, but might mean that data must be migrated to and from legacy
systems as the transition takes place.
It is difficult to recommend one approach over the other, because each technique has
associated risks that could lead to system outages as the transition takes place.
Certainly, the Trickle approach allows profiling of real users as they are introduced to
the new application, and allows the system to be reconfigured while only affecting the
migrated users. This approach affects the work of the early adopters, but limits the
load on support services. Thus, unscheduled outages only affect a small percentage of
the user population.
The decision on how to roll out a new application is specific to each business. Any
adopted approach has its own unique pressures and stresses. The more testing and
knowledge that you derive from the testing process, the more you realize what is best
for the rollout.

2-4 SQL Tuning Guide

 Part II
Query Optimizer Fundamentals

This part contains the following chapters:

• SQL Processing

• Query Optimizer Concepts

• Query Transformations
 3
SQL Processing

This chapter explains how Oracle Database processes SQL statements. Specifically, the
section explains the way in which the database processes DDL statements to create
objects, DML to modify data, and queries to retrieve data.
This chapter contains the following topics:

• About SQL Processing

• How Oracle Database Processes DML

• How Oracle Database Processes DDL

About SQL Processing

SQL processing is the parsing, optimization, row source generation, and execution of a
SQL statement. Depending on the statement, the database may omit some of these
stages. Figure 3-1 depicts the general stages of SQL processing.

SQL Processing 3-1

About SQL Processing

Figure 3-1 Stages of SQL Processing

SQL Statement

Parsing

Syntax
Check

Semantic
Check

Shared Pool Soft Parse

Check

Hard Parse

Generation of
multiple Optimization
execution plans

Generation of Row Source

query plan Generation

Execution

SQL Parsing
The first stage of SQL processing is parsing. This stage involves separating the pieces
of a SQL statement into a data structure that other routines can process. The database
parses a statement when instructed by the application, which means that only the
application, and not the database itself, can reduce the number of parses.
When an application issues a SQL statement, the application makes a parse call to the
database to prepare the statement for execution. The parse call opens or creates a
cursor, which is a handle for the session-specific private SQL area that holds a parsed
SQL statement and other processing information. The cursor and private SQL area are
in the program global area (PGA).
During the parse call, the database performs the following checks:

• Syntax Check

• Semantic Check

• Shared Pool Check

3-2 SQL Tuning Guide

 About SQL Processing

The preceding checks identify the errors that can be found before statement execution.
Some errors cannot be caught by parsing. For example, the database can encounter
deadlocks or errors in data conversion only during statement execution.

See Also:
Oracle Database Concepts to learn about deadlocks

Syntax Check
Oracle Database must check each SQL statement for syntactic validity. A statement
that breaks a rule for well-formed SQL syntax fails the check. For example, the
following statement fails because the keyword FROM is misspelled as FORM:
SQL> SELECT * FORM employees;
SELECT * FORM employees
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00923: FROM keyword not found where expected

Semantic Check
The semantics of a statement are its meaning. Thus, a semantic check determines
whether a statement is meaningful, for example, whether the objects and columns in
the statement exist. A syntactically correct statement can fail a semantic check, as
shown in the following example of a query of a nonexistent table:
SQL> SELECT * FROM nonexistent_table;
SELECT * FROM nonexistent_table
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00942: table or view does not exist

Shared Pool Check

During the parse, the database performs a shared pool check to determine whether it
can skip resource-intensive steps of statement processing. To this end, the database
uses a hashing algorithm to generate a hash value for every SQL statement. The
statement hash value is the SQL ID shown in V$SQL.SQL_ID. This hash value is
deterministic within a version of Oracle Database, so the same statement in a single
instance or in different instances has the same SQL ID.
When a user submits a SQL statement, the database searches the shared SQL area to
see if an existing parsed statement has the same hash value. The hash value of a SQL
statement is distinct from the following values:

• Memory address for the statement

Oracle Database uses the SQL ID to perform a keyed read in a lookup table. In this
way, the database obtains possible memory addresses of the statement.

• Hash value of an execution plan for the statement

A SQL statement can have multiple plans in the shared pool. Typically, each plan
has a different hash value. If the same SQL ID has multiple plan hash values, then
the database knows that multiple plans exist for this SQL ID.
Parse operations fall into the following categories, depending on the type of statement
submitted and the result of the hash check:

SQL Processing 3-3

About SQL Processing

• Hard parse
If Oracle Database cannot reuse existing code, then it must build a new executable
version of the application code. This operation is known as a hard parse, or a
library cache miss.

Note:
The database always perform a hard parse of DDL.

During the hard parse, the database accesses the library cache and data dictionary
cache numerous times to check the data dictionary. When the database accesses
these areas, it uses a serialization device called a latch on required objects so that
their definition does not change. Latch contention increases statement execution
time and decreases concurrency.

• Soft parse
A soft parse is any parse that is not a hard parse. If the submitted statement is the
same as a reusable SQL statement in the shared pool, then Oracle Database reuses
the existing code. This reuse of code is also called a library cache hit.
Soft parses can vary in how much work they perform. For example, configuring the
session shared SQL area can sometimes reduce the amount of latching in the soft
parses, making them "softer."
In general, a soft parse is preferable to a hard parse because the database skips the
optimization and row source generation steps, proceeding straight to execution.
Figure 3-2 is a simplified representation of a shared pool check of an UPDATE
statement in a dedicated server architecture.

Figure 3-2 Shared Pool Check

User Global Area (SGA)

System

Shared Pool
Library Cache
Shared SQL Area Private
3667723989 SQL Area
3967354608
2190280494

Data Server Other Reserved

Dictionary Result Pool
Cache Cache

Comparison of hash values

Update ...
PGA

Client Server SQL Work Areas

Process Process
Session Memory 3967354608

User
Private SQL Area

3-4 SQL Tuning Guide

 About SQL Processing

If a check determines that a statement in the shared pool has the same hash value, then
the database performs semantic and environment checks to determine whether the
statements have the same meaning. Identical syntax is not sufficient. For example,
suppose two different users log in to the database and issue the following SQL
statements:
CREATE TABLE my_table ( some_col INTEGER );
SELECT * FROM my_table;

The SELECT statements for the two users are syntactically identical, but two separate
schema objects are named my_table. This semantic difference means that the second
statement cannot reuse the code for the first statement.
Even if two statements are semantically identical, an environmental difference can
force a hard parse. In this context, the optimizer environment is the totality of session
settings that can affect execution plan generation, such as the work area size or
optimizer settings (for example, the optimizer mode). Consider the following series of
SQL statements executed by a single user:
ALTER SESSION SET OPTIMIZER_MODE=ALL_ROWS;
ALTER SYSTEM FLUSH SHARED_POOL; # optimizer environment 1
SELECT * FROM sh.sales;

ALTER SESSION SET OPTIMIZER_MODE=FIRST_ROWS; # optimizer environment 2

SELECT * FROM sh.sales;

ALTER SESSION SET SQL_TRACE=true; # optimizer enviornment 3

SELECT * FROM sh.sales;

In the preceding example, the same SELECT statement is executed in three different
optimizer environments. Consequently, the database creates three separate shared
SQL areas for these statements and forces a hard parse of each statement.

See Also:

• Oracle Database Concepts to learn about private SQL areas and shared SQL
areas

• Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide to learn how to configure the

shared pool

• Oracle Database Concepts to learn about latches

SQL Optimization
During the optimization stage, Oracle Database must perform a hard parse at least
once for every unique DML statement and performs the optimization during this
parse. The database never optimizes DDL unless it includes a DML component such
as a subquery that requires optimization. Query Optimizer Concepts explains the
optimization process in more detail.

SQL Row Source Generation

The row source generator is software that receives the optimal execution plan from the
optimizer and produces an iterative execution plan that is usable by the rest of the

SQL Processing 3-5

About SQL Processing

database. The iterative plan is a binary program that, when executed by the SQL
engine, produces the result set.
The execution plan takes the form of a combination of steps. Each step returns a row
set. The next step either uses the rows in this set, or the last step returns the rows to
the application issuing the SQL statement.
A row source is a row set returned by a step in the execution plan along with a control
structure that can iteratively process the rows. The row source can be a table, view, or
result of a join or grouping operation.
The row source generator produces a row source tree, which is a collection of row
sources. The row source tree shows the following information:

• An ordering of the tables referenced by the statement

• An access method for each table mentioned in the statement

• A join method for tables affected by join operations in the statement

• Data operations such as filter, sort, or aggregation

Example 3-1 Execution Plan
This example shows the execution plan of a SELECT statement when AUTOTRACE is
enabled. The statement selects the last name, job title, and department name for all
employees whose last names begin with the letter A. The execution plan for this
statement is the output of the row source generator.
SELECT e.last_name, j.job_title, d.department_name
FROM hr.employees e, hr.departments d, hr.jobs j
WHERE e.department_id = d.department_id
AND e.job_id = j.job_id
AND e.last_name LIKE 'A%';

Execution Plan
----------------------------------------------------------
Plan hash value: 975837011

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost(%CPU)|Time |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 3 | 189 | 7(15)| 00:00:01 |
|*1 | HASH JOIN | | 3 | 189 | 7(15)| 00:00:01 |
|*2 | HASH JOIN | | 3 | 141 | 5(20)| 00:00:01 |
| 3 | TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID| EMPLOYEES | 3 | 60 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
|*4 | INDEX RANGE SCAN | EMP_NAME_IX | 3 | | 1 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 5 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | JOBS | 19 | 513 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 6 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | DEPARTMENTS | 27 | 432 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

1 - access("E"."DEPARTMENT_ID"="D"."DEPARTMENT_ID")
2 - access("E"."JOB_ID"="J"."JOB_ID")
4 - access("E"."LAST_NAME" LIKE 'A%')
filter("E"."LAST_NAME" LIKE 'A%')

3-6 SQL Tuning Guide

 About SQL Processing

SQL Execution
During execution, the SQL engine executes each row source in the tree produced by
the row source generator. This step is the only mandatory step in DML processing.
Figure 3-3 is an execution tree, also called a parse tree, that shows the flow of row
sources from one step to another in the plan in Example 3-1. In general, the order of
the steps in execution is the reverse of the order in the plan, so you read the plan from
the bottom up.
Each step in an execution plan has an ID number. The numbers in Figure 3-3
correspond to the Id column in the plan shown in Example 3-1. Initial spaces in the
Operation column of the plan indicate hierarchical relationships. For example, if the
name of an operation is preceded by two spaces, then this operation is a child of an
operation preceded by one space. Operations preceded by one space are children of
the SELECT statement itself.

Figure 3-3 Row Source Tree

1
HASH JOIN

2 6
HASH JOIN TABLE ACCESS
FULL
departments

3 5
TABLE ACCESS TABLE ACCESS
BY INDEX ROWID FULL
employees jobs

4
INDEX RANGE
SCAN
emp_name_ix

In Figure 3-3, each node of the tree acts as a row source, which means that each step of
the execution plan in Example 3-1 either retrieves rows from the database or accepts
rows from one or more row sources as input. The SQL engine executes each row
source as follows:

SQL Processing 3-7

How Oracle Database Processes DML

• Steps indicated by the black boxes physically retrieve data from an object in the
database. These steps are the access paths, or techniques for retrieving data from
the database.

– Step 6 uses a full table scan to retrieve all rows from the departments table.

– Step 5 uses a full table scan to retrieve all rows from the jobs table.

– Step 4 scans the emp_name_ix index in order, looking for each key that begins
with the letter A and retrieving the corresponding rowid. For example, the
rowid corresponding to Atkinson is AAAPzRAAFAAAABSAAe.

– Step 3 retrieves from the employees table the rows whose rowids were
returned by Step 4. For example, the database uses rowid
AAAPzRAAFAAAABSAAe to retrieve the row for Atkinson.

• Steps indicated by the clear boxes operate on row sources.

– Step 2 performs a hash join, accepting row sources from Steps 3 and 5, joining
each row from the Step 5 row source to its corresponding row in Step 3, and
returning the resulting rows to Step 1.
For example, the row for employee Atkinson is associated with the job name
Stock Clerk.

– Step 1 performs another hash join, accepting row sources from Steps 2 and 6,
joining each row from the Step 6 source to its corresponding row in Step 2, and
returning the result to the client.
For example, the row for employee Atkinson is associated with the
department named Shipping.
In some execution plans the steps are iterative and in others sequential. The hash join
shown in Example 3-1 is sequential. The database completes the steps in their entirety
based on the join order. The database starts with the index range scan of
emp_name_ix. Using the rowids that it retrieves from the index, the database reads
the matching rows in the employees table, and then scans the jobs table. After it
retrieves the rows from the jobs table, the database performs the hash join.
During execution, the database reads the data from disk into memory if the data is not
in memory. The database also takes out any locks and latches necessary to ensure data
integrity and logs any changes made during the SQL execution. The final stage of
processing a SQL statement is closing the cursor.

How Oracle Database Processes DML

Most DML statements have a query component. In a query, execution of a cursor
places the results of the query into a set of rows called the result set.

How Row Sets Are Fetched

Result set rows can be fetched either a row at a time or in groups. In the fetch stage,
the database selects rows and, if requested by the query, orders the rows. Each
successive fetch retrieves another row of the result until the last row has been fetched.
In general, the database cannot determine for certain the number of rows to be
retrieved by a query until the last row is fetched. Oracle Database retrieves the data in
response to fetch calls, so that the more rows the database reads, the more work it

3-8 SQL Tuning Guide

 How Oracle Database Processes DDL

performs. For some queries the database returns the first row as quickly as possible,
whereas for others it creates the entire result set before returning the first row.

Read Consistency
In general, a query retrieves data by using the Oracle Database read consistency
mechanism. This mechanism, which uses undo data to show past versions of data,
guarantees that all data blocks read by a query are consistent to a single point in time.
For an example of read consistency, suppose a query must read 100 data blocks in a
full table scan. The query processes the first 10 blocks while DML in a different session
modifies block 75. When the first session reaches block 75, it realizes the change and
uses undo data to retrieve the old, unmodified version of the data and construct a
noncurrent version of block 75 in memory.

See Also:

Oracle Database Concepts to learn about multiversion read consistency

Data Changes
DML statements that must change data use the read consistency mechanism to
retrieve only the data that matched the search criteria when the modification began.
Afterward, these statements retrieve the data blocks as they exist in their current state
and make the required modifications. The database must perform other actions related
to the modification of the data such as generating redo and undo data.

How Oracle Database Processes DDL

Oracle Database processes DDL differently from DML. For example, when you create
a table, the database does not optimize the CREATE TABLE statement. Instead, Oracle
Database parses the DDL statement and carries out the command.
The database processes DDL differently because it is a means of defining an object in
the data dictionary. Typically, Oracle Database must parse and execute many
recursive SQL statements to execute a DDL statement. Suppose you create a table as
follows:
CREATE TABLE mytable (mycolumn INTEGER);

Typically, the database would run dozens of recursive statements to execute the
preceding statement. The recursive SQL would perform actions such as the following:

• Issue a COMMIT before executing the CREATE TABLE statement

• Verify that user privileges are sufficient to create the table

• Determine which tablespace the table should reside in

• Ensure that the tablespace quota has not been exceeded

• Ensure that no object in the schema has the same name

• Insert rows that define the table into the data dictionary

• Issue a COMMIT if the DDL statement succeeded or a ROLLBACK if it did not

SQL Processing 3-9

How Oracle Database Processes DDL

See Also:

Oracle Database Development Guide to learn about processing DDL, transaction

control, and other types of statements

3-10 SQL Tuning Guide

 4
Query Optimizer Concepts

This chapter describes the most important concepts relating to the query optimizer.
This chapter contains the following topics:

• Introduction to the Query Optimizer

• About Optimizer Components

• About Automatic Tuning Optimizer

• About Adaptive Query Optimization

• About Optimizer Management of SQL Plan Baselines

Introduction to the Query Optimizer

The query optimizer (called simply the optimizer) is built-in database software that
determines the most efficient method for a SQL statement to access requested data.
This section contains the following topics:

• Purpose of the Query Optimizer

• Cost-Based Optimization

• Execution Plans

Purpose of the Query Optimizer

The optimizer attempts to generate the best execution plan for a SQL statement. The
best execution plan is defined as the plan with the lowest cost among all considered
candidate plans. The cost computation accounts for factors of query execution such as
I/O, CPU, and communication.
The best method of execution depends on myriad conditions including how the query
is written, the size of the data set, the layout of the data, and which access structures
exist. The optimizer determines the best plan for a SQL statement by examining
multiple access methods, such as full table scan or index scans, and different join
methods such as nested loops and hash joins.
Because the database has many internal statistics and tools at its disposal, the
optimizer is usually in a better position than the user to determine the best method of
statement execution. For this reason, all SQL statements use the optimizer.
Consider a user who queries records for employees who are managers. If the database
statistics indicate that 80% of employees are managers, then the optimizer may decide
that a full table scan is most efficient. However, if statistics indicate that few
employees are managers, then reading an index followed by a table access by rowid
may be more efficient than a full table scan.

Query Optimizer Concepts 4-1

Introduction to the Query Optimizer

Cost-Based Optimization
Query optimization is the overall process of choosing the most efficient means of
executing a SQL statement. SQL is a nonprocedural language, so the optimizer is free
to merge, reorganize, and process in any order.
The database optimizes each SQL statement based on statistics collected about the
accessed data. When generating execution plans, the optimizer considers different
access paths and join methods. Factors considered by the optimizer include:

• System resources, which includes I/O, CPU, and memory

• Number of rows returned

• Size of the initial data sets

The cost is a number that represents the estimated resource usage for an execution
plan. The optimizer’s cost model accounts for the I/O, CPU, and network resources
that the database requires to execute the query. The optimizer assigns a cost to each
possible plan, and then chooses the plan with the lowest cost. For this reason, the
optimizer is sometimes called the cost-based optimizer (CBO) to contrast it with the
legacy rule-based optimizer (RBO).

Note:

The optimizer may not make the same decisions from one version of Oracle
Database to the next. In recent versions, the optimizer might make different
decision because better information is available and more optimizer
transformations are possible.

Execution Plans
An execution plan describes a recommended method of execution for a SQL
statement. The plans shows the combination of the steps Oracle Database uses to
execute a SQL statement. Each step either retrieves rows of data physically from the
database or prepares them for the user issuing the statement.
An execution plan displays the cost of the entire plan, indicated on line 0, and each
separate operation. The cost is an internal unit that the execution plan only displays to
allow for plan comparisons. Thus, you cannot tune or change the cost value.
In Figure 4-1, the optimizer generates two possible execution plans for an input SQL
statement, uses statistics to estimate their costs, compares their costs, and then chooses
the plan with the lowest cost.

4-2 SQL Tuning Guide

 Introduction to the Query Optimizer

Figure 4-1 Execution Plans

GB Plan GB Plan
1 2
NL HJ
NL HJ

Generates Multiple
Plans and
Compares Them

Parsed Representation Final Plan with

of SQL Statement Lowest Cost

Input Output GB Plan

Optimizer 2
HJ
HJ

Statistics
1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0

Query Blocks
As shown in Figure 4-1, the input to the optimizer is a parsed representation of a SQL
statement. Each SELECT block in the original SQL statement is represented internally
by a query block. A query block can be a top-level statement, subquery, or unmerged
view (see “View Merging”).
Example 4-1 Query Blocks
The following SQL statement consists of two query blocks. The subquery in
parentheses is the inner query block. The outer query block, which is the rest of the
SQL statement, retrieves names of employees in the departments whose IDs were
supplied by the subquery. The query form determines how query blocks are
interrelated.
SELECT first_name, last_name
FROM hr.employees
WHERE department_id
IN (SELECT department_id
FROM hr.departments
WHERE location_id = 1800);

See Also:
Oracle Database Concepts for an overview of SQL processing

Query Subplans
For each query block, the optimizer generates a query subplan. The database
optimizes query blocks separately from the bottom up. Thus, the database optimizes
the innermost query block first and generates a subplan for it, and then generates the
outer query block representing the entire query.
The number of possible plans for a query block is proportional to the number of
objects in the FROM clause. This number rises exponentially with the number of

Query Optimizer Concepts 4-3

About Optimizer Components

objects. For example, the possible plans for a join of five tables are significantly higher
than the possible plans for a join of two tables.

Analogy for the Optimizer

One analogy for the optimizer is an online trip advisor. A cyclist wants to know the
most efficient bicycle route from point A to point B. A query is like the directive "I
need the most efficient route from point A to point B" or "I need the most efficient
route from point A to point B by way of point C." The trip advisor uses an internal
algorithm, which relies on factors such as speed and difficulty, to determine the most
efficient route. The cyclist can influence the trip advisor's decision by using directives
such as "I want to arrive as fast as possible" or "I want the easiest ride possible."
In this analogy, an execution plan is a possible route generated by the trip advisor.
Internally, the advisor may divide the overall route into several subroutes (subplans),
and calculate the efficiency for each subroute separately. For example, the trip advisor
may estimate one subroute at 15 minutes with medium difficulty, an alternative
subroute at 22 minutes with minimal difficulty, and so on.
The advisor picks the most efficient (lowest cost) overall route based on user-specified
goals and the available statistics about roads and traffic conditions. The more accurate
the statistics, the better the advice. For example, if the advisor is not frequently
notified of traffic jams, road closures, and poor road conditions, then the
recommended route may turn out to be inefficient (high cost).

About Optimizer Components

The optimizer contains three main components, which are shown in Figure 4-2.

Figure 4-2 Optimizer Components

Parsed Query
(from Parser)

Query
Transformer

Transformed query

statistics Data
Estimator Dictionary

Query + estimates

Plan
Generator

Query Plan
(to Row Source Generator)

A set of query blocks represents a parsed query, which is the input to the optimizer.
The optimizer performs the following operations:

1. Query transformer

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 About Optimizer Components

The optimizer determines whether it is helpful to change the form of the query so
that the optimizer can generate a better execution plan. See “Query Transformer”.

2. Estimator
The optimizer estimates the cost of each plan based on statistics in the data
dictionary. See “Estimator”.

3. Plan Generator
The optimizer compares the costs of plans and chooses the lowest-cost plan,
known as the execution plan, to pass to the row source generator. See “Plan
Generator”.

Query Transformer
For some statements, the query transformer determines whether it is advantageous to
rewrite the original SQL statement into a semantically equivalent SQL statement with
a lower cost. When a viable alternative exists, the database calculates the cost of the
alternatives separately and chooses the lowest-cost alternative. Query Transformations
describes the different types of optimizer transformations.
Figure 4-3 shows the query transformer rewriting an input query that uses OR into an
output query that uses UNION ALL.

Figure 4-3 Query Transformer

SELECT *
FROM sales
WHERE promo_id=33
OR prod_id=136;

Query Transformer

SELECT *
FROM sales
WHERE prod_id=136
UNION ALL
SELECT *
FROM sales
WHERE promo_id=33
AND LNNVL(prod_id=136);

See Also:
Query Transformations

Estimator
The estimator is the component of the optimizer that determines the overall cost of a
given execution plan.
The estimator uses three different measures to determine cost:

Query Optimizer Concepts 4-5

About Optimizer Components

• Selectivity
The percentage of rows in the row set that the query selects, with 0 meaning no
rows and 1 meaning all rows. Selectivity is tied to a query predicate, such as WHERE
last_name LIKE 'A%', or a combination of predicates. A predicate becomes
more selective as the selectivity value approaches 0 and less selective (or more
unselective) as the value approaches 1.

Note:

Selectivity is an internal calculation that is not visible in the execution plans.

• Cardinality
The cardinality is the number of rows returned by each operation in an execution
plan. This input, which is crucial to obtaining an optimal plan, is common to all
cost functions. The estimator can derive cardinality from the table statistics
collected by DBMS_STATS, or derive it after accounting for effects from predicates
(filter, join, and so on), DISTINCT or GROUP BY operations, and so on. The Rows
column in an execution plan shows the estimated cardinality.

• Cost
This measure represents units of work or resource used. The query optimizer uses
disk I/O, CPU usage, and memory usage as units of work.
As shown in Figure 4-4, if statistics are available, then the estimator uses them to
compute the measures. The statistics improve the degree of accuracy of the measures.

Figure 4-4 Estimator

Cardinality
Selectivity Cost

GB Plan
Estimator
HJ
HJ Total Cost

Statistics
1 0 1 0 0
0 0 0 1 1
0 1 1 0 1

For the query shown in Example 4-1, the estimator uses selectivity, estimated
cardinality (a total return of 10 rows), and cost measures to produce its total cost
estimate of 3:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation |Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost %CPU|Time|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 10| 250| 3 (0)| 00:00:01|
| 1 | NESTED LOOPS | | | | | |
| 2 | NESTED LOOPS | | 10| 250| 3 (0)| 00:00:01|
|*3 | TABLE ACCESS FULL |DEPARTMENTS | 1| 7| 2 (0)| 00:00:01|
|*4 | INDEX RANGE SCAN |EMP_DEPARTMENT_IX| 10| | 0 (0)| 00:00:01|
| 5 | TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID|EMPLOYEES | 10| 180| 1 (0)| 00:00:01|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Selectivity
The selectivity represents a fraction of rows from a row set. The row set can be a base
table, a view, or the result of a join. The selectivity is tied to a query predicate, such as
last_name = 'Smith', or a combination of predicates, such as last_name =
'Smith' AND job_id = 'SH_CLERK'.

Note:

Selectivity is an internal calculation that is not visible in execution plans.

A predicate filters a specific number of rows from a row set. Thus, the selectivity of a
predicate indicates how many rows pass the predicate test. Selectivity ranges from 0.0
to 1.0. A selectivity of 0.0 means that no rows are selected from a row set, whereas a
selectivity of 1.0 means that all rows are selected. A predicate becomes more selective
as the value approaches 0.0 and less selective (or more unselective) as the value
approaches 1.0.
The optimizer estimates selectivity depending on whether statistics are available:

• Statistics not available

Depending on the value of the OPTIMIZER_DYNAMIC_SAMPLING initialization
parameter, the optimizer either uses dynamic statistics or an internal default value.
The database uses different internal defaults depending on the predicate type. For
example, the internal default for an equality predicate (last_name = 'Smith') is
lower than for a range predicate (last_name > 'Smith') because an equality
predicate is expected to return a smaller fraction of rows.

• Statistics available
When statistics are available, the estimator uses them to estimate selectivity.
Assume there are 150 distinct employee last names. For an equality predicate
last_name = 'Smith', selectivity is the reciprocal of the number n of distinct
values of last_name, which in this example is .006 because the query selects rows
that contain 1 out of 150 distinct values.
If a histogram exists on the last_name column, then the estimator uses the
histogram instead of the number of distinct values. The histogram captures the
distribution of different values in a column, so it yields better selectivity estimates,
especially for columns that have data skew. See Histograms .

Cardinality
The cardinality is the number of rows returned by each operation in an execution
plan. For example, if the optimizer estimate for the number of rows returned by a full
table scan is 100, then the cardinality estimate for this operation is 100. The cardinality
estimate appears in the Rows column of the execution plan.
The optimizer determines the cardinality for each operation based on a complex set of
formulas that use both table and column level statistics, or dynamic statistics, as input.
The optimizer uses one of the simplest formulas when a single equality predicate
appears in a single-table query, with no histogram. In this case, the optimizer assumes
a uniform distribution and calculates the cardinality for the query by dividing the total
number of rows in the table by the number of distinct values in the column used in the
WHERE clause predicate.

Query Optimizer Concepts 4-7

About Optimizer Components

For example, user hr queries the employees table as follows:

SELECT first_name, last_name
FROM employees
WHERE salary='10200';

The employees table contains 107 rows. The current database statistics indicate that
the number of distinct values in the salary column is 58. Thus, the optimizer
calculates the cardinality of the result set as 2, using the formula 107/58=1.84.
Cardinality estimates must be as accurate as possible because they influence all aspects
of the execution plan. Cardinality is important when the optimizer determines the cost
of a join. For example, in a nested loops join of the employees and departments
tables, the number of rows in employees determines how often the database must
probe the departments table. Cardinality is also important for determining the cost
of sorts.

Cost
The optimizer cost model accounts for the I/O, CPU, and network resources that a
query is predicted to use. The cost is an internal numeric measure that represents the
estimated resource usage for a plan. The lower the cost, the more efficient the plan.
The execution plan displays the cost of the entire plan, which is indicated on line 0,
and each individual operation. For example, the following plan shows a cost of 14.
EXPLAINED SQL STATEMENT:
------------------------
SELECT prod_category, AVG(amount_sold) FROM sales s, products p WHERE
p.prod_id = s.prod_id GROUP BY prod_category

Plan hash value: 4073170114

----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Cost (%CPU)|
----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 14 (100)|
| 1 | HASH GROUP BY | | 14 (22)|
| 2 | HASH JOIN | | 13 (16)|
| 3 | VIEW | index$_join$_002 | 7 (15)|
| 4 | HASH JOIN | | |
| 5 | INDEX FAST FULL SCAN| PRODUCTS_PK | 4 (0)|
| 6 | INDEX FAST FULL SCAN| PRODUCTS_PROD_CAT_IX | 4 (0)|
| 7 | PARTITION RANGE ALL | | 5 (0)|
| 8 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | SALES | 5 (0)|
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The cost is an internal unit that you can use for plan comparisons. You cannot tune or
change it.
The access path determines the number of units of work required to get data from a
base table. The access path can be a table scan, a fast full index scan, or an index scan.

• Table scan or fast full index scan

During a table scan or fast full index scan, the database reads multiple blocks from
disk in a single I/O. Therefore, the cost of the scan depends on the number of
blocks to be scanned and the multiblock read count value.

• Index scan

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 About Optimizer Components

The cost of an index scan depends on the levels in the B-tree, the number of index
leaf blocks to be scanned, and the number of rows to be fetched using the rowid in
the index keys. The cost of fetching rows using rowids depends on the index
clustering factor.
The join cost represents the combination of the individual access costs of the two row
sets being joined, plus the cost of the join operation.

Plan Generator
The plan generator explores various plans for a query block by trying out different
access paths, join methods, and join orders. Many plans are possible because of the
various combinations that the database can use to produce the same result. The
optimizer picks the plan with the lowest cost.
Figure 4-5 shows the optimizer testing different plans for an input query.

Figure 4-5 Plan Generator

SELECT e.last_name, d.department_name

FROM hr.employees e, hr.departments d
WHERE e.department_id = d.department_id;

Optimizer

Transformer

Join Method Join Order

Hash, Nested departments 0 employees 1
Loop, Sort Merge employees 0 departments 1

Access Path
Index
Full Table Scan

Lowest Cost Plan

Hash Join
departments 0, employees 1

The following snippet from an optimizer trace file shows some computations that the
optimizer performs:
GENERAL PLANS
***************************************
Considering cardinality-based initial join order.
Permutations for Starting Table :0
Join order[1]: DEPARTMENTS[D]#0 EMPLOYEES[E]#1

***************
Now joining: EMPLOYEES[E]#1
***************
NL Join
Outer table: Card: 27.00 Cost: 2.01 Resp: 2.01 Degree: 1 Bytes: 16
Access path analysis for EMPLOYEES

Query Optimizer Concepts 4-9

About Automatic Tuning Optimizer

. . .
Best NL cost: 13.17
. . .
SM Join
SM cost: 6.08
resc: 6.08 resc_io: 4.00 resc_cpu: 2501688
resp: 6.08 resp_io: 4.00 resp_cpu: 2501688
. . .
SM Join (with index on outer)
Access Path: index (FullScan)
. . .
HA Join
HA cost: 4.57
resc: 4.57 resc_io: 4.00 resc_cpu: 678154
resp: 4.57 resp_io: 4.00 resp_cpu: 678154
Best:: JoinMethod: Hash
Cost: 4.57 Degree: 1 Resp: 4.57 Card: 106.00 Bytes: 27
. . .

***********************
Join order[2]: EMPLOYEES[E]#1 DEPARTMENTS[D]#0
. . .

***************
Now joining: DEPARTMENTS[D]#0
***************
. . .
HA Join
HA cost: 4.58
resc: 4.58 resc_io: 4.00 resc_cpu: 690054
resp: 4.58 resp_io: 4.00 resp_cpu: 690054
Join order aborted: cost > best plan cost
***********************

The trace file shows the optimizer first trying the departments table as the outer
table in the join. The optimizer calculates the cost for three different join methods:
nested loops join (NL), sort merge (SM), and hash join (HA). The optimizer picks the
hash join as the most efficient method:
Best:: JoinMethod: Hash
Cost: 4.57 Degree: 1 Resp: 4.57 Card: 106.00 Bytes: 27

The optimizer then tries a different join order, using employees as the outer table.
This join order costs more than the previous join order, so it is abandoned.
The optimizer uses an internal cutoff to reduce the number of plans it tries when
finding the lowest-cost plan. The cutoff is based on the cost of the current best plan. If
the current best cost is large, then the optimizer explores alternative plans to find a
lower cost plan. If the current best cost is small, then the optimizer ends the search
swiftly because further cost improvement is not significant.

About Automatic Tuning Optimizer

The optimizer performs different operations depending on how it is invoked. The
database provides the following types of optimization:

• Normal optimization
The optimizer compiles the SQL and generates an execution plan. The normal
mode generates a reasonable plan for most SQL statements. Under normal mode,

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 About Adaptive Query Optimization

the optimizer operates with strict time constraints, usually a fraction of a second,
during which it must find an optimal plan.

• SQL Tuning Advisor optimization

When SQL Tuning Advisor invokes the optimizer, the optimizer is known as
Automatic Tuning Optimizer. In this case, the optimizer performs additional
analysis to further improve the plan produced in normal mode. The optimizer
output is not an execution plan, but a series of actions, along with their rationale
and expected benefit for producing a significantly better plan.

See Also:

Analyzing SQL with SQL Tuning Advisor

About Adaptive Query Optimization

In Oracle Database, adaptive query optimization is a set of capabilities that enables
the optimizer to make run-time adjustments to execution plans and discover
additional information that can lead to better statistics. Adaptive optimization is
helpful when existing statistics are not sufficient to generate an optimal plan.
The following graphic shows the feature set for adaptive query optimization:

Adaptive Plans
An adaptive plan enables the optimizer to defer the final plan decision for a statement
until execution time.

See Also:

• “Introduction to Optimizer Statistics”

• “About SQL Tuning Advisor”

• “About SQL Plan Management”

Query Optimizer Concepts 4-11

About Adaptive Query Optimization

Purpose of Adaptive Plans

The ability of the optimizer to adapt a plan, based on information learned during
execution, can greatly improve query performance. Adaptive plans are useful because
the optimizer occasionally picks a suboptimal default plan because of a cardinality
misestimate. The ability to adapt the plan at run time based on actual execution
statistics results in a more optimal final plan. After choosing the final plan, the
optimizer uses it for subsequent executions, thus ensuring that the suboptimal plan is
not reused.

How Adaptive Plans Work

An adaptive plan contains multiple predetermined subplans, and an optimizer
statistics collector. A subplan is a portion of a plan that the optimizer can switch to as
an alternative at run time. For example, a nested loops join could be switched to a hash
join during execution. An optimizer statistics collector is a row source inserted into a
plan at key points to collect run-time statistics. These statistics help the optimizer
make a final decision between multiple subplans.
During statement execution, the statistics collector gathers information about the
execution, and buffers some rows received by the subplan. Based on the information
observed by the collector, the optimizer chooses a subplan. At this point, the collector
stops collecting statistics and buffering rows, and permits rows to pass through
instead. On subsequent executions of the child cursor, the optimizer continues to use
the same plan unless the plan ages out of the cache, or a different optimizer feature
(for example, adaptive cursor sharing or statistics feedback) invalidates the plan.
The database uses adaptive plans when OPTIMIZER_FEATURES_ENABLE is
12.1.0.1 or later, and the OPTIMIZER_ADAPTIVE_REPORTING_ONLY initialization
parameter is set to the default of false (see “Controlling Adaptive Optimization”).

Adaptive Plans: Join Method Example

The following query shows a join of the order_items and product_information
tables.
SELECT product_name
FROM order_items o, product_information p
WHERE o.unit_price = 15
AND quantity > 1
AND p.product_id = o.product_id

An adaptive plan for this statement shows two possible plans, one with a nested loops
join and the other with a hash join.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id | Operation | Name |Starts|E-Rows|A-Rows|A-Time|Buff|Reads|OMem|1Mem|O/1/M|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | |1| | 13|00:00:00.10 |21 |17 | | | |
|*1| HASH JOIN | |1|4| 13|00:00:00.10 |21 |17 | 2061K| 2061K|1/0/0|
|*2| TABLE ACCESS FULL| ORDER_ITEMS |1|4| 13|00:00:00.07 | 5 | 4 | | | |
| 3| TABLE ACCESS FULL| PRODUCT_INFORMATION |1|1|288|00:00:00.03 |16 |13 | | | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

1 - access("P"."PRODUCT_ID"="O"."PRODUCT_ID")
2 - filter(("O"."UNIT_PRICE"=15 AND "QUANTITY">1))

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PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note
-----
- this is an adaptive plan

A nested loops join is preferable if the database can avoid scanning a significant
portion of product_information because its rows are filtered by the join predicate.
If few rows are filtered, however, then scanning the right table in a hash join is
preferable.
The following graphic shows the adaptive process. For the query in the preceding
example, the adaptive portion of the default plan contains two subplans, each of
which uses a different join method. The optimizer automatically determines when
each join method is optimal, depending on the cardinality of the left side of the join.
The statistics collector buffers enough rows coming from the order_items table to
determine which join method to use. If the row count is below the threshold
determined by the optimizer, then the optimizer chooses the nested loops join;
otherwise, the optimizer chooses the hash join. In this case, the row count coming from
the order_items table is above the threshold, so the optimizer chooses a hash join
for the final plan, and disables buffering.

Query Optimizer Concepts 4-13

About Adaptive Query Optimization

Default plan is a nested loops join

Nested Hash
Loops Join

Statistics
Collector

Table scan Index scan Table scan

order_items prod_info_ind Prod_info

The optimizer buffers rows coming from the order_items table

up to a point. If the row count is less than the threshold,
then use a nested loops join. Otherwise,
switch to a hash join.
Threshold exceeded,
so subplan switches

The optimizer disables the statistics collector after making the decision,
and lets the rows pass through.

Final plan is a hash join

Nested Hash
Loops Join

Statistics
Collector

Table scan Index scan Table scan

order_items prod_info_ind Prod_info

After the optimizer determines the final plan, DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR

displays the hash join. The Note section of the execution plan indicates whether the
plan is adaptive, as shown in the following sample plan:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Starts|E-Rows|A-Rows|A-Time |Buff|Reads|OMem|1Mem|O/1/M|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | 1| | 13 |00:00:00.10|21|17| | | |
|*1| HASH JOIN | | 1| 4 | 13 |00:00:00.10|21|17|2061K|2061K|1/0/0|
|*2| TABLE ACCESS FULL| ORDER_ITEMS | 1| 4 | 13 |00:00:00.07| 5| 4| | | |
| 3| TABLE ACCESS FULL| PRODUCT_INFORMATION | 1| 1 | 288 |00:00:00.03|16|13| | | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------

1 - access("P"."PRODUCT_ID"="O"."PRODUCT_ID")
2 - filter(("O"."UNIT_PRICE"=15 AND "QUANTITY">1))

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT

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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note
-----
- this is an adaptive plan

See Also:

• “Controlling Adaptive Optimization”

• “Reading Execution Plans: Advanced” for an extended example showing

an adaptive plan

Adaptive Plans: Parallel Distribution Methods

Typically, parallel execution requires data redistribution to perform operations such as
parallel sorts, aggregations, and joins. Oracle Database can use many different data
distributions methods. The database chooses the method based on the number of rows
to be distributed and the number of parallel server processes in the operation.
For example, consider the following alternative cases:

• Many parallel server processes distribute few rows.

The database may choose the broadcast distribution method. In this case, each row
in the result set is sent to each of the parallel server processes.

• Few parallel server processes distribute many rows.

If a data skew is encountered during the data redistribution, then it could
adversely effect the performance of the statement. The database is more likely to
pick a hash distribution to ensure that each parallel server process receives an
equal number of rows.
The hybrid hash distribution technique is an adaptive parallel data distribution that
does not decide the final data distribution method until execution time. The optimizer
inserts statistic collectors in front of the parallel server processes on the producer side
of the operation. If the actual number of rows is less than a threshold, defined as twice
the degree of parallelism (DOP) chosen for the operation, then the data distribution
method switches from hash to broadcast. Otherwise, the distribution method is a hash.
Figure 4-6 depicts a hybrid hash join between the departments and employees
tables, with a query coordinator directing 8 PX server processes. A statistics collector is
inserted in front of the parallel server processes scanning the departments table. The
distribution method is based on the run-time statistics. In the example shown in
Figure 4-6, the number of rows is below the threshold (8), which is twice the DOP (4),
so the optimizer chooses a broadcast technique for the departments table.

Query Optimizer Concepts 4-15

About Adaptive Query Optimization

Figure 4-6 Adaptive Parallel Query

Query
Coordinator

Statistics collector The number of rows

threshold is 2X returned is below
the DOP threshold, so optimizer
chooses broadcast
method.

P1 P2 P3 P4

departments P5 employees

P6

P7

P8

Contrast the broadcast distribution example in Figure 4-6 with an example that returns
a greater number of rows. In the following plan, the threshold is 8, or twice the
specified DOP of 4. However, because the statistics collector (Step 10) discovers that
the number of rows (27) is greater than the threshold (8), the optimizer chooses a
hybrid hash distribution rather than a broadcast distribution. (The time column
should show 00:00:01, but shows 0:01 so the plan can fit the page.)
EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
SELECT /*+ parallel(4) full(e) full(d) */ department_name, sum(salary)
FROM employees e, departments d
WHERE d.department_id=e.department_id
GROUP BY department_name;

Plan hash value: 2940813933

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id|Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost |Time| TQ |IN-OUT|PQ Distrib|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0|SELECT STATEMENT |DEPARTMENTS| 27|621 |6(34)|0:01| | | |
| 1| PX COORDINATOR | | | | | | | | |
| 2| PX SEND QC (RANDOM) | :TQ10003 | 27|621 |6(34)|0:01|Q1,03|P->S| QC (RAND) |
| 3| HASH GROUP BY | | 27|621 |6(34)|0:01|Q1,03|PCWP| |
| 4| PX RECEIVE | | 27|621 |6(34)|0:01|Q1,03|PCWP| |
| 5| PX SEND HASH | :TQ10002 | 27|621 |6(34)|0:01|Q1,02|P->P| HASH |
| 6| HASH GROUP BY | | 27|621 |6(34)|0:01|Q1,02|PCWP| |
|*7| HASH JOIN | |106|2438|5(20)|0:01|Q1,02|PCWP| |
| 8| PX RECEIVE | | 27|432 |2 (0)|0:01|Q1,02|PCWP| |
| 9| PX SEND HYBRID HASH | :TQ10000 | 27|432 |2 (0)|0:01|Q1,00|P->P|HYBRID HASH|
|10| STATISTICS COLLECTOR | | | | | |Q1,00|PCWC| |
|11| PX BLOCK ITERATOR | | 27|432 |2 (0)|0:01|Q1,00|PCWC| |
|12| TABLE ACCESS FULL |DEPARTMENTS| 27|432 |2 (0)|0:01|Q1,00|PCWP| |
|13| PX RECEIVE | |107|749 |2 (0)|0:01|Q1,02|PCWP| |

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 About Adaptive Query Optimization

|14| PX SEND HYBRID HASH (SKEW)| :TQ10001 |107|749 |2 (0)|0:01|Q1,01|P->P|HYBRID HASH|

|15| PX BLOCK ITERATOR | |107|749 |2 (0)|0:01|Q1,01|PCWC| |
|16| TABLE ACCESS FULL |EMPLOYEES |107|749 |2 (0)|0:01|Q1,01|PCWP| |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

7 - access("D"."DEPARTMENT_ID"="E"."DEPARTMENT_ID")

Note
-----
- Degree of Parallelism is 4 because of hint

32 rows selected.

See Also:

Oracle Database VLDB and Partitioning Guide to learn more about parallel data
redistribution techniques

Adaptive Statistics
The quality of the plans that the optimizer generates depends on the quality of the
statistics. Some query predicates become too complex to rely on base table statistics
alone, so the optimizer augments these statistics with adaptive statistics.
The following topics describe types of adaptive statistics:

• Dynamic Statistics

• Automatic Reoptimization

• SQL Plan Directives

Dynamic Statistics
During the compilation of a SQL statement, the optimizer decides whether to use
dynamic statistics by considering whether the available statistics are sufficient to
generate an optimal execution plan. If the available statistics are insufficient, then the
optimizer uses dynamic statistics to augment the statistics. One type of dynamic
statistics is the information gathered by dynamic sampling. The optimizer can use
dynamic statistics for table scans, index access, joins, and GROUP BY operations, thus
improving the quality of optimizer decisions.

See Also:
“Dynamic Statistics” to learn more about dynamic statistics and optimizer
statistics in general

Automatic Reoptimization
Whereas adaptive plans help decide between multiple subplans, they are not feasible
for all kinds of plan changes. For example, a query with an inefficient join order might
perform suboptimally, but adaptive plans do not support adapting the join order
during execution. In these cases, the optimizer considers automatic reoptimization. In

Query Optimizer Concepts 4-17

About Adaptive Query Optimization

contrast to adaptive plans, automatic reoptimization changes a plan on subsequent

executions after the initial execution.
At the end of the first execution of a SQL statement, the optimizer uses the information
gathered during execution to determine whether automatic reoptimization is
worthwhile. If execution informations differs significantly from optimizer estimates,
then the optimizer looks for a replacement plan on the next execution. The optimizer
uses the information gathered during the previous execution to help determine an
alternative plan. The optimizer can reoptimize a query several times, each time
learning more and further improving the plan.

See Also:

“Controlling Adaptive Optimization”

Reoptimization: Statistics Feedback

A form of reoptimization known as statistics feedback (formerly known as cardinality
feedback) automatically improves plans for repeated queries that have cardinality
misestimates. The optimizer can estimate cardinalities incorrectly for many reasons,
such as missing statistics, inaccurate statistics, or complex predicates.
The basic process of reoptimization using statistics feedback is as follows:

1. During the first execution of a SQL statement, the optimizer generates an

execution plan.
The optimizer may enable monitoring for statistics feedback for the shared SQL
area in the following cases:

• Tables with no statistics

• Multiple conjunctive or disjunctive filter predicates on a table

• Predicates containing complex operators for which the optimizer cannot

accurately compute selectivity estimates
At the end of execution, the optimizer compares its initial cardinality estimates to
the actual number of rows returned by each operation in the plan during
execution. If estimates differ significantly from actual cardinalities, then the
optimizer stores the correct estimates for subsequent use. The optimizer also
creates a SQL plan directive so that other SQL statements can benefit from the
information obtained during this initial execution.

2. After the first execution, the optimizer disables monitoring for statistics feedback.

3. If the query executes again, then the optimizer uses the corrected cardinality
estimates instead of its usual estimates.
Example 4-2 Statistics Feedback
This example shows how the database uses statistics feedback to adjust incorrect
estimates.

1. The user oe runs the following query of the orders, order_items, and
product_information tables:
SELECT o.order_id, v.product_name
FROM orders o,
( SELECT order_id, product_name

4-18 SQL Tuning Guide

 About Adaptive Query Optimization

FROM order_items o, product_information p

WHERE p.product_id = o.product_id
AND list_price < 50
AND min_price < 40 ) v
WHERE o.order_id = v.order_id

2. Querying the plan in the cursor shows that the estimated rows (E-Rows) is far
fewer than the actual rows (A-Rows).

3. The user oe reruns the following query of the orders, order_items, and
product_information tables:
SELECT o.order_id, v.product_name
FROM orders o,
( SELECT order_id, product_name
FROM order_items o, product_information p
WHERE p.product_id = o.product_id
AND list_price < 50
AND min_price < 40 ) v
WHERE o.order_id = v.order_id;

4. Querying the plan in the cursor shows that the optimizer used statistics feedback
(shown in the Note) for the second execution, and also chose a different plan.

In the preceding output, the estimated number of rows (269) matches the actual
number of rows.

Reoptimization: Performance Feedback

Another form of reoptimization is performance feedback. This reoptimization helps
improve the degree of parallelism automatically chosen for repeated SQL statements
when PARALLEL_DEGREE_POLICY is set to ADAPTIVE.
The basic process of reoptimization using performance feedback is as follows:

1. During the first execution of a SQL statement, when PARALLEL_DEGREE_POLICY

is set to ADAPTIVE, the optimizer determines whether to execute the statement in
parallel, and if so, which degree of parallelism to use.
The optimizer chooses the degree of parallelism based on the estimated
performance of the statement. Additional performance monitoring is enabled for
all statements.

2. At the end of the initial execution, the optimizer compares the following:

• The degree of parallelism chosen by the optimizer

• The degree of parallelism computed based on the performance statistics (for

example, the CPU time) gathered during the actual execution of the statement
If the two values vary significantly, then the database marks the statement for
reparsing, and stores the initial execution statistics as feedback. This feedback
helps better compute the degree of parallelism for subsequent executions.

3. If the query executes again, then the optimizer uses the performance statistics
gathered during the initial execution to better determine a degree of parallelism
for the statement.

Query Optimizer Concepts 4-19

About Optimizer Management of SQL Plan Baselines

Note:

Even if PARALLEL_DEGREE_POLICY is not set to ADAPTIVE, statistics

feedback may influence the degree of parallelism chosen for a statement.

SQL Plan Directives

A SQL plan directive is additional information that the optimizer uses to generate a
more optimal plan. For example, during query optimization, when deciding whether
the table is a candidate for dynamic statistics, the database queries the statistics
repository for directives on a table. If the query joins two tables that have a data skew
in their join columns, a SQL plan directive can direct the optimizer to use dynamic
statistics to obtain an accurate cardinality estimate.The optimizer collects SQL plan
directives on query expressions rather than at the statement level. In this way, the
optimizer can apply directives to multiple SQL statements. The database automatically
maintains directives, and stores them in the SYSAUX tablespace. You can manage
directives using the package DBMS_SPD.

See Also:

• “SQL Plan Directives”

• “Managing SQL Plan Directives”

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_SPD package

About Optimizer Management of SQL Plan Baselines

SQL plan management is a mechanism that enables the optimizer to automatically
manage execution plans, ensuring that the database uses only known or verified plans
(see Managing SQL Plan Baselines ). This mechanism can build a SQL plan baseline,
which contains one or more accepted plans for each SQL statement.
The optimizer can access and manage the plan history and SQL plan baselines of SQL
statements. This capability is central to the SQL plan management architecture. In SQL
plan management, the optimizer has the following main objectives:

• Identify repeatable SQL statements

• Maintain plan history, and possibly SQL plan baselines, for a set of SQL statements

• Detect plans that are not in the plan history

• Detect potentially better plans that are not in the SQL plan baseline
The optimizer uses the normal cost-based search method.

See Also:
Managing SQL Plan Baselines

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 5
Query Transformations

As explained in “Query Transformer,” the optimizer employs several query

transformation techniques. This chapter contains the following topics:

• OR Expansion

• View Merging

• Predicate Pushing

• Subquery Unnesting

• Query Rewrite with Materialized Views

• Star Transformation

• In-Memory Aggregation

• Table Expansion

• Join Factorization

OR Expansion
In OR expansion, the optimizer transforms a query with a WHERE clause containing OR
operators into a query that uses the UNION ALL operator. The database can perform
OR expansion for various reasons. For example, it may enable more efficient access
paths or alternative join methods that avoid Cartesian products. As always, the
optimizer performs the expansion only if the cost of the transformed statement is
lower than the cost of the original statement.
In the following example, user sh creates a concatenated index on the
sales.prod_id and sales.promo_idcolumns, and then queries the sales table
using an OR condition:
CREATE INDEX sales_prod_promo_ind
ON sales(prod_id, promo_id);

SELECT *
FROM sales
WHERE promo_id=33
OR prod_id=136;

In the preceding query, because the promo_id=33 and prod_id=136 conditions

could each take advantage of an index access path, the optimizer transforms the
statement into the query shown in Example 5-1.

Query Transformations 5-1

View Merging

Example 5-1 Transformed Query: UNION ALL Condition

For the query transformation in this example, the optimizer selects an execution plan
that accesses the sales table using the index, and then assembles the result. The plan
is shown in Example 5-2.
SELECT *
FROM sales
WHERE prod_id=136
UNION ALL
SELECT *
FROM sales
WHERE promo_id=33
AND LNNVL(prod_id=136);

Example 5-2 Execution Plan for Query of sales

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation | Name | Rows|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | |
| 1 | CONCATENATION | | |
| 2 | TABLE ACCESS BY GLOBAL INDEX ROWID BATCHED| SALES | 710 |
| 3 | INDEX RANGE SCAN | SALES_PROD_PROMO_IND | 710 |
| 4 | PARTITION RANGE ALL | | 229K|
| 5 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | SALES | 229K|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

View Merging
In view merging, the optimizer merges the query block representing a view into the
query block that contains it. View merging can improve plans by enabling the
optimizer to consider additional join orders, access methods, and other
transformations.
For example, after a view has been merged and several tables reside in one query
block, a table inside a view may permit the optimizer to use join elimination to
remove a table outside the view. For certain simple views in which merging always
leads to a better plan, the optimizer automatically merges the view without
considering cost. Otherwise, the optimizer uses cost to make the determination. The
optimizer may choose not to merge a view for many reasons, including cost or validity
restrictions.
If OPTIMIZER_SECURE_VIEW_MERGING is true (default), then Oracle Database
performs checks to ensure that view merging and predicate pushing do not violate the
security intentions of the view creator. To disable these additional security checks for a
specific view, you can grant the MERGE VIEW privilege to a user for this view. To
disable additional security checks for all views for a specific user, you can grant the
MERGE ANY VIEW privilege to that user.

Note:
You can use hints to override view merging rejected because of cost or
heuristics, but not validity.

This section contains the following topics:

• Query Blocks in View Merging

5-2 SQL Tuning Guide

 View Merging

• Simple View Merging

• Complex View Merging

See Also:

• Oracle Database SQL Language Reference for more information about the
MERGE ANY VIEW and MERGE VIEW privileges

• Oracle Database Reference for more information about the

OPTIMIZER_SECURE_VIEW_MERGING initialization parameter

Query Blocks in View Merging

The optimizer represents each nested subquery or unmerged view by a separate
query block. The database optimizes query blocks separately from the bottom up.
Thus, the database optimizes the innermost query block first, generates the part of the
plan for it, and then generates the plan for the outer query block, representing the
entire query.
The parser expands each view referenced in a query into a separate query block. The
block essentially represents the view definition, and thus the result of a view. One
option for the optimizer is to analyze the view query block separately, generate a view
subplan, and then process the rest of the query by using the view subplan to generate
an overall execution plan. However, this technique may lead to a suboptimal
execution plan because the view is optimized separately.
View merging can sometimes improve performance. As shown in Example 5-3, view
merging merges the tables from the view into the outer query block, removing the
inner query block. Thus, separate optimization of the view is not necessary.

Simple View Merging

In simple view merging, the optimizer merges select-project-join views. For example,
a query of the employees table contains a subquery that joins the departments and
locations tables.
Simple view merging frequently results in a more optimal plan because of the
additional join orders and access paths available after the merge. A view may not be
valid for simple view merging because:

• The view contains constructs not included in select-project-join views, including:

– GROUP BY

– DISTINCT

– Outer join

– MODEL

– CONNECT BY

– Set operators

– Aggregation

Query Transformations 5-3

View Merging

• The view appears on the right side of a semijoin or antijoin.

• The view contains subqueries in the SELECT list.

• The outer query block contains PL/SQL functions.

• The view participates in an outer join, and does not meet one of the several
additional validity requirements that determine whether the view can be merged.
Example 5-3 Simple View Merging
The following query joins the hr.employees table with the dept_locs_v view,
which returns the street address for each department. dept_locs_v is a join of the
departments and locations tables.
SELECT e.first_name, e.last_name, dept_locs_v.street_address,
dept_locs_v.postal_code
FROM employees e,
( SELECT d.department_id, d.department_name,
l.street_address, l.postal_code
FROM departments d, locations l
WHERE d.location_id = l.location_id ) dept_locs_v
WHERE dept_locs_v.department_id = e.department_id
AND e.last_name = 'Smith';

The database can execute the preceding query by joining departments and
locations to generate the rows of the view, and then joining this result to
employees. Because the query contains the view dept_locs_v, and this view
contains two tables, the optimizer must use one of the following join orders:

• employees, dept_locs_v (departments, locations)

• employees, dept_locs_v (locations, departments)

• dept_locs_v (departments, locations), employees

• dept_locs_v (locations, departments), employees

Join methods are also constrained. The index-based nested loops join is not feasible for
join orders that begin with employees because no index exists on the column from
this view. Without view merging, the optimizer generates the following execution
plan:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Cost (%CPU)|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 7 (15)|
|* 1 | HASH JOIN | | 7 (15)|
| 2 | TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID| EMPLOYEES | 2 (0)|
|* 3 | INDEX RANGE SCAN | EMP_NAME_IX | 1 (0)|
| 4 | VIEW | | 5 (20)|
|* 5 | HASH JOIN | | 5 (20)|
| 6 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | LOCATIONS | 2 (0)|
| 7 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | DEPARTMENTS | 2 (0)|
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------
1 - access("DEPT_LOCS_V"."DEPARTMENT_ID"="E"."DEPARTMENT_ID")
3 - access("E"."LAST_NAME"='Smith')
5 - access("D"."LOCATION_ID"="L"."LOCATION_ID")

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 View Merging

View merging merges the tables from the view into the outer query block, removing
the inner query block. After view merging, the query is as follows:
SELECT e.first_name, e.last_name, l.street_address, l.postal_code
FROM employees e, departments d, locations l
WHERE d.location_id = l.location_id
AND d.department_id = e.department_id
AND e.last_name = 'Smith';

Because all three tables appear in one query block, the optimizer can choose from the
following six join orders:

• employees, departments, locations

• employees, locations, departments

• departments, employees, locations

• departments, locations, employees

• locations, employees, departments

• locations, departments, employees

The joins to employees and departments can now be index-based. After view
merging, the optimizer chooses the following more efficient plan, which uses nested
loops:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Cost (%CPU)|
-------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 4 (0)|
| 1 | NESTED LOOPS | | |
| 2 | NESTED LOOPS | | 4 (0)|
| 3 | NESTED LOOPS | | 3 (0)|
| 4 | TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID| EMPLOYEES | 2 (0)|
|* 5 | INDEX RANGE SCAN | EMP_NAME_IX | 1 (0)|
| 6 | TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID| DEPARTMENTS | 1 (0)|
|* 7 | INDEX UNIQUE SCAN | DEPT_ID_PK | 0 (0)|
|* 8 | INDEX UNIQUE SCAN | LOC_ID_PK | 0 (0)|
| 9 | TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID | LOCATIONS | 1 (0)|
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------
5 - access("E"."LAST_NAME"='Smith')
7 - access("E"."DEPARTMENT_ID"="D"."DEPARTMENT_ID")
8 - access("D"."LOCATION_ID"="L"."LOCATION_ID")

See Also:
The Oracle Optimizer blog at https://blogs.oracle.com/optimizer/
to learn about outer join view merging, which is a special case of simple view
merging

Query Transformations 5-5

View Merging

Complex View Merging

In complex view merging, the optimizer merges views containing GROUP BY and
DISTINCT views. Like simple view merging, complex merging enables the optimizer
to consider additional join orders and access paths.
The optimizer can delay evaluation of GROUP BY or DISTINCT operations until after
it has evaluated the joins. Delaying these operations can improve or worsen
performance depending on the data characteristics. If the joins use filters, then
delaying the operation until after joins can reduce the data set on which the operation
is to be performed. Evaluating the operation early can reduce the amount of data to be
processed by subsequent joins, or the joins could increase the amount of data to be
processed by the operation. The optimizer uses cost to evaluate view merging and
merges the view only when it is the lower cost option.
Aside from cost, the optimizer may be unable to perform complex view merging for
the following reasons:

• The outer query tables do not have a rowid or unique column.

• The view appears in a CONNECT BY query block.

• The view contains GROUPING SETS, ROLLUP, or PIVOT clauses.

• The view or outer query block contains the MODEL clause.

Example 5-4 Complex View Joins with GROUP BY
The following view uses a GROUP BY clause:
CREATE VIEW cust_prod_totals_v AS
SELECT SUM(s.quantity_sold) total, s.cust_id, s.prod_id
FROM sales s
GROUP BY s.cust_id, s.prod_id;

The following query finds all of the customers from the United States who have
bought at least 100 fur-trimmed sweaters:
SELECT c.cust_id, c.cust_first_name, c.cust_last_name, c.cust_email
FROM customers c, products p, cust_prod_totals_v
WHERE c.country_id = 52790
AND c.cust_id = cust_prod_totals_v.cust_id
AND cust_prod_totals_v.total > 100
AND cust_prod_totals_v.prod_id = p.prod_id
AND p.prod_name = 'T3 Faux Fur-Trimmed Sweater';

The cust_prod_totals_v view is eligible for complex view merging. After

merging, the query is as follows:
SELECT c.cust_id, cust_first_name, cust_last_name, cust_email
FROM customers c, products p, sales s
WHERE c.country_id = 52790
AND c.cust_id = s.cust_id
AND s.prod_id = p.prod_id
AND p.prod_name = 'T3 Faux Fur-Trimmed Sweater'
GROUP BY s.cust_id, s.prod_id, p.rowid, c.rowid, c.cust_email, c.cust_last_name,
c.cust_first_name, c.cust_id
HAVING SUM(s.quantity_sold) > 100;

The transformed query is cheaper than the untransformed query, so the optimizer
chooses to merge the view. In the untransformed query, the GROUP BY operator

5-6 SQL Tuning Guide

 View Merging

applies to the entire sales table in the view. In the transformed query, the joins to
products and customers filter out a large portion of the rows from the sales table,
so the GROUP BY operation is lower cost. The join is more expensive because the
sales table has not been reduced, but it is not much more expensive because the
GROUP BY operation does not reduce the size of the row set very much in the original
query. If any of the preceding characteristics were to change, merging the view might
no longer be lower cost. The final plan, which does not include a view, is as follows:
--------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Cost (%CPU)|
--------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 2101 (18)|
|* 1 | FILTER | | |
| 2 | HASH GROUP BY | | 2101 (18)|
|* 3 | HASH JOIN | | 2099 (18)|
|* 4 | HASH JOIN | | 1801 (19)|
|* 5 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| PRODUCTS | 96 (5)|
| 6 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| SALES | 1620 (15)|
|* 7 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | CUSTOMERS | 296 (11)|
--------------------------------------------------------
Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------
1 - filter(SUM("QUANTITY_SOLD")>100)
3 - access("C"."CUST_ID"="CUST_ID")
4 - access("PROD_ID"="P"."PROD_ID")
5 - filter("P"."PROD_NAME"='T3 Faux Fur-Trimmed Sweater')
7 - filter("C"."COUNTRY_ID"='US')

Example 5-5 Complex View Joins with DISTINCT

The following query of the cust_prod_v view uses a DISTINCT operator:
SELECT c.cust_id, c.cust_first_name, c.cust_last_name, c.cust_email
FROM customers c, products p,
( SELECT DISTINCT s.cust_id, s.prod_id
FROM sales s) cust_prod_v
WHERE c.country_id = 52790
AND c.cust_id = cust_prod_v.cust_id
AND cust_prod_v.prod_id = p.prod_id
AND p.prod_name = 'T3 Faux Fur-Trimmed Sweater';

After determining that view merging produces a lower-cost plan, the optimizer
rewrites the query into this equivalent query:
SELECT nwvw.cust_id, nwvw.cust_first_name, nwvw.cust_last_name, nwvw.cust_email
FROM ( SELECT DISTINCT(c.rowid), p.rowid, s.prod_id, s.cust_id,
c.cust_first_name, c.cust_last_name, c.cust_email
FROM customers c, products p, sales s
WHERE c.country_id = 52790
AND c.cust_id = s.cust_id
AND s.prod_id = p.prod_id
AND p.prod_name = 'T3 Faux Fur-Trimmed Sweater' ) nwvw;

The plan for the preceding query is as follows:

-------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name |
-------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | |
| 1 | VIEW | VM_NWVW_1 |
| 2 | HASH UNIQUE | |
|* 3 | HASH JOIN | |

Query Transformations 5-7

Predicate Pushing

|* 4 | HASH JOIN | |
|* 5 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| PRODUCTS |
| 6 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| SALES |
|* 7 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | CUSTOMERS |
-------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------
3 - access("C"."CUST_ID"="S"."CUST_ID")
4 - access("S"."PROD_ID"="P"."PROD_ID")
5 - filter("P"."PROD_NAME"='T3 Faux Fur-Trimmed Sweater')
7 - filter("C"."COUNTRY_ID"='US')

The preceding plan contains a view named vm_nwvw_1, known as a projection view,
even after view merging has occurred. Projection views appear in queries in which a
DISTINCT view has been merged, or a GROUP BY view is merged into an outer query
block that also contains GROUP BY, HAVING, or aggregates. In the latter case, the
projection view contains the GROUP BY, HAVING, and aggregates from the original
outer query block.
In the preceding example of a projection view, when the optimizer merges the view, it
moves the DISTINCT operator to the outer query block, and then adds several
additional columns to maintain semantic equivalence with the original query.
Afterward, the query can select only the desired columns in the SELECT list of the
outer query block. The optimization retains all of the benefits of view merging: all
tables are in one query block, the optimizer can permute them as needed in the final
join order, and the DISTINCT operation has been delayed until after all of the joins
complete.

Predicate Pushing
In predicate pushing, the optimizer "pushes" the relevant predicates from the
containing query block into the view query block. For views that are not merged, this
technique improves the subplan of the unmerged view because the database can use
the pushed-in predicates to access indexes or to use as filters.
For example, suppose you create a table hr.contract_workers as follows:
DROP TABLE contract_workers;
CREATE TABLE contract_workers AS (SELECT * FROM employees where 1=2);
INSERT INTO contract_workers VALUES (306, 'Bill', 'Jones', 'BJONES',
'555.555.2000', '07-JUN-02', 'AC_ACCOUNT', 8300, 0,205, 110);
INSERT INTO contract_workers VALUES (406, 'Jill', 'Ashworth', 'JASHWORTH',
'555.999.8181', '09-JUN-05', 'AC_ACCOUNT', 8300, 0,205, 50);
INSERT INTO contract_workers VALUES (506, 'Marcie', 'Lunsford', 'MLUNSFORD',
'555.888.2233', '22-JUL-01', 'AC_ACCOUNT', 8300, 0,205, 110);
COMMIT;
CREATE INDEX contract_workers_index ON contract_workers(department_id);

You create a view that references employees and contract_workers. The view is
defined with a query that uses the UNION set operator, as follows:
CREATE VIEW all_employees_vw AS
( SELECT employee_id, last_name, job_id, commission_pct, department_id
FROM employees )
UNION
( SELECT employee_id, last_name, job_id, commission_pct, department_id
FROM contract_workers );

You then query the view as follows:

5-8 SQL Tuning Guide

 Subquery Unnesting

SELECT last_name
FROM all_employees_vw
WHERE department_id = 50;

Because the view is a UNION set query, the optimizer cannot merge the view's query
into the accessing query block. Instead, the optimizer can transform the accessing
statement by pushing its predicate, the WHERE clause condition department_id=50,
into the view's UNION set query. The equivalent transformed query is as follows:
SELECT last_name
FROM ( SELECT employee_id, last_name, job_id, commission_pct, department_id
FROM employees
WHERE department_id=50
UNION
SELECT employee_id, last_name, job_id, commission_pct, department_id
FROM contract_workers
WHERE department_id=50 );

The transformed query can now consider index access in each of the query blocks.

Subquery Unnesting
In subquery unnesting, the optimizer transforms a nested query into an equivalent
join statement, and then optimizes the join. This transformation enables the optimizer
to consider the subquery tables during access path, join method, and join order
selection. The optimizer can perform this transformation only if the resulting join
statement is guaranteed to return the same rows as the original statement, and if
subqueries do not contain aggregate functions such as AVG.
For example, suppose you connect as user sh and execute the following query:
SELECT *
FROM sales
WHERE cust_id IN ( SELECT cust_id
FROM customers );

Because the customers.cust_id column is a primary key, the optimizer can

transform the complex query into the following join statement that is guaranteed to
return the same data:
SELECT sales.*
FROM sales, customers
WHERE sales.cust_id = customers.cust_id;

If the optimizer cannot transform a complex statement into a join statement, it selects
execution plans for the parent statement and the subquery as though they were
separate statements. The optimizer then executes the subquery and uses the rows
returned to execute the parent query. To improve execution speed of the overall
execution plan, the optimizer orders the subplans efficiently.

Query Rewrite with Materialized Views

A materialized view is like a query with a result that the database materializes and
stores in a table. When the optimizer finds a user query compatible with the query
associated with a materialized view, then the database can rewrite the query in terms
of the materialized view. This technique improves query execution because the
database has precomputed most of the query result.

Query Transformations 5-9

Star Transformation

The optimizer looks for any materialized views that are compatible with the user
query, and then selects one or more materialized views to rewrite the user query. The
use of materialized views to rewrite a query is cost-based. That is, the optimizer does
not rewrite the query when the plan generated without the materialized views has a
lower cost than the plan generated with the materialized views.
Consider the following materialized view, cal_month_sales_mv, which aggregates
the dollar amount sold each month:
CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW cal_month_sales_mv
ENABLE QUERY REWRITE
AS
SELECT t.calendar_month_desc, SUM(s.amount_sold) AS dollars
FROM sales s, times t
WHERE s.time_id = t.time_id
GROUP BY t.calendar_month_desc;

Assume that sales number is around one million in a typical month. The view has the
precomputed aggregates for the dollar amount sold for each month. Consider the
following query, which asks for the sum of the amount sold for each month:
SELECT t.calendar_month_desc, SUM(s.amount_sold)
FROM sales s, times t
WHERE s.time_id = t.time_id
GROUP BY t.calendar_month_desc;

Without query rewrite, the database must access sales directly and compute the sum
of the amount sold. This method involves reading many million rows from sales,
which invariably increases query response time. The join also further slows query
response because the database must compute the join on several million rows. With
query rewrite, the optimizer transparently rewrites the query as follows:
SELECT calendar_month, dollars
FROM cal_month_sales_mv;

See Also:

Oracle Database Data Warehousing Guide to learn more about query rewrite

Star Transformation
Star transformation is an optimizer transformation that avoids full table scans of fact
tables in a star schema. This section contains the following topics:

• About Star Schemas

• Purpose of Star Transformations

• How Star Transformation Works

• Controls for Star Transformation

• Star Transformation: Scenario

• Temporary Table Transformation: Scenario

5-10 SQL Tuning Guide

 Star Transformation

About Star Schemas

A star schema divides data into facts and dimensions. Facts are the measurements of
an event such as a sale and are typically numbers. Dimensions are the categories that
identify facts, such as date, location, and product.
A fact table has a composite key made up of the primary keys of the dimension tables
of the schema. Dimension tables act as lookup or reference tables that enable you to
choose values that constrain your queries.
Diagrams typically show a central fact table with lines joining it to the dimension
tables, giving the appearance of a star. Figure 5-1 shows sales as the fact table and
products, times, customers, and channels as the dimension tables.

Figure 5-1 Star Schema

products times

sales
(amount_sold,
quantity_sold)

Fact Table
customers channels

Dimension Table Dimension Table

See Also:

Oracle Database Data Warehousing Guide to learn more about star schemas

Purpose of Star Transformations

In joins of fact and dimension tables, a star transformation can avoid a full scan of a
fact table by fetching only relevant rows from the fact table that join to the constraint
dimension rows. When queries contain restrictive filter predicates on other columns of
the dimension tables, the combination of filters can dramatically reduce the data set
that the database processes from the fact table.

How Star Transformation Works

Star transformation adds subquery predicates, called bitmap semijoin predicates,
corresponding to the constraint dimensions. The optimizer performs the
transformation when indexes exist on the fact join columns. By driving bitmap AND
and OR operations of key values supplied by the subqueries, the database only needs
to retrieve relevant rows from the fact table. If the predicates on the dimension tables
filter out significant data, then the transformation can be more efficient than a full
table scan on the fact table.
After the database has retrieved the relevant rows from the fact table, the database
may need to join these rows back to the dimension tables using the original predicates.
The database can eliminate the join back of the dimension table when the following
conditions are met:

• All the predicates on dimension tables are part of the semijoin subquery predicate.

Query Transformations 5-11

Star Transformation

• The columns selected from the subquery are unique.

• The dimension columns are not in the SELECT list, GROUP BY clause, and so on.

Controls for Star Transformation

The STAR_TRANSFORMATION_ENABLED initialization parameter controls star
transformations. This parameter takes the following values:

• true
The optimizer performs the star transformation by identifying the fact and
constraint dimension tables automatically. The optimizer performs the star
transformation only if the cost of the transformed plan is lower than the
alternatives. Also, the optimizer attempts temporary table transformation
automatically whenever materialization improves performance (see “Temporary
Table Transformation: Scenario”).

• false (default)
The optimizer does not perform star transformations.

• TEMP_DISABLE
This value is identical to true except that the optimizer does not attempt
temporary table transformation.

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference to learn about the

STAR_TRANSFORMATION_ENABLED initialization parameter

Star Transformation: Scenario

This scenario demonstrates a star transformation of a star query.
Example 5-6 Star Query
The following query finds the total Internet sales amount in all cities in California for
quarters Q1 and Q2 of year 1999:
SELECT c.cust_city,
t.calendar_quarter_desc,
SUM(s.amount_sold) sales_amount
FROM sales s,
times t,
customers c,
channels ch
WHERE s.time_id = t.time_id
AND s.cust_id = c.cust_id
AND s.channel_id = ch.channel_id
AND c.cust_state_province = 'CA'
AND ch.channel_desc = 'Internet'
AND t.calendar_quarter_desc IN ('1999-01','1999-02')
GROUP BY c.cust_city, t.calendar_quarter_desc;

Sample output is as follows:

CUST_CITY CALENDA SALES_AMOUNT
------------------------------ ------- ------------

5-12 SQL Tuning Guide

 Star Transformation

Montara 1999-02 1618.01

Pala 1999-01 3263.93
Cloverdale 1999-01 52.64
Cloverdale 1999-02 266.28
. . .

In this example, sales is the fact table, and the other tables are dimension tables. The
sales table contains one row for every sale of a product, so it could conceivably
contain billions of sales records. However, only a few products are sold to customers
in California through the Internet for the specified quarters.
Example 5-7 Star Transformation
This example shows a star transformation of the query in Example 5-6. The
transformation avoids a full table scan of sales.
SELECT c.cust_city, t.calendar_quarter_desc, SUM(s.amount_sold) sales_amount
FROM sales s, times t, customers c
WHERE s.time_id = t.time_id
AND s.cust_id = c.cust_id
AND c.cust_state_province = 'CA'
AND t.calendar_quarter_desc IN ('1999-01','1999-02')
AND s.time_id IN ( SELECT time_id
FROM times
WHERE calendar_quarter_desc IN('1999-01','1999-02') )
AND s.cust_id IN ( SELECT cust_id
FROM customers
WHERE cust_state_province='CA' )
AND s.channel_id IN ( SELECT channel_id
FROM channels
WHERE channel_desc = 'Internet' )
GROUP BY c.cust_city, t.calendar_quarter_desc;

Example 5-8 Partial Execution Plan for Star Transformation

This example shows an edited version of the execution plan for the star transformation
in Example 5-7.
Line 26 shows that the sales table has an index access path instead of a full table
scan. For each key value that results from the subqueries of channels (line 14),
times (line 19), and customers (line 24), the database retrieves a bitmap from the
indexes on the sales fact table (lines 15, 20, 25).
Each bit in the bitmap corresponds to a row in the fact table. The bit is set when the
key value from the subquery is same as the value in the row of the fact table. For
example, in the bitmap 101000... (the ellipses indicates that the values for the
remaining rows are 0), rows 1 and 3 of the fact table have matching key values from
the subquery.
The operations in lines 12, 17, and 22 iterate over the keys from the subqueries and
retrieve the corresponding bitmaps. In Example 5-7, the customers subquery seeks
the IDs of customers whose state or province is CA. Assume that the bitmap
101000... corresponds to the customer ID key value 103515 from the customers
table subquery. Also assume that the customers subquery produces the key value
103516 with the bitmap 010000..., which means that only row 2 in sales has a
matching key value from the subquery.
The database merges (using the OR operator) the bitmaps for each subquery (lines 11,
16, 21). In our customers example, the database produces a single bitmap
111000... for the customers subquery after merging the two bitmaps:

Query Transformations 5-13

Star Transformation

101000... # bitmap corresponding to key 103515

010000... # bitmap corresponding to key 103516
---------
111000... # result of OR operation

In line 10, the database applies the AND operator to the merged bitmaps. Assume that
after the database has performed all OR operations, the resulting bitmap for channels
is 100000... If the database performs an AND operation on this bitmap and the
bitmap from customers subquery, then the result is as follows:
100000... # channels bitmap after all OR operations performed
111000... # customers bitmap after all OR operations performed
---------
100000... # bitmap result of AND operation for channels and customers

In line 9, the database generates the corresponding rowids of the final bitmap. The
database retrieves rows from the sales fact table using the rowids (line 26). In our
example, the database generate only one rowid, which corresponds to the first row,
and thus fetches only a single row instead of scanning the entire sales table.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT |
| 1 | HASH GROUP BY |
|* 2 | HASH JOIN |
|* 3 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | CUSTOMERS
|* 4 | HASH JOIN |
|* 5 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | TIMES
| 6 | VIEW | VW_ST_B1772830
| 7 | NESTED LOOPS |
| 8 | PARTITION RANGE SUBQUERY |
| 9 | BITMAP CONVERSION TO ROWIDS|
| 10 | BITMAP AND |
| 11 | BITMAP MERGE |
| 12 | BITMAP KEY ITERATION |
| 13 | BUFFER SORT |
|* 14 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | CHANNELS
|* 15 | BITMAP INDEX RANGE SCAN| SALES_CHANNEL_BIX
| 16 | BITMAP MERGE |
| 17 | BITMAP KEY ITERATION |
| 18 | BUFFER SORT |
|* 19 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | TIMES
|* 20 | BITMAP INDEX RANGE SCAN| SALES_TIME_BIX
| 21 | BITMAP MERGE |
| 22 | BITMAP KEY ITERATION |
| 23 | BUFFER SORT |
|* 24 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | CUSTOMERS
|* 25 | BITMAP INDEX RANGE SCAN| SALES_CUST_BIX
| 26 | TABLE ACCESS BY USER ROWID | SALES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

2 -
access("ITEM_1"="C"."CUST_ID")
3 -
filter("C"."CUST_STATE_PROVINCE"='CA')
4 -
access("ITEM_2"="T"."TIME_ID")
5 -
filter(("T"."CALENDAR_QUARTER_DESC"='1999-01'
OR "T"."CALENDAR_QUARTER_DESC"='1999-02'))
14 - filter("CH"."CHANNEL_DESC"='Internet')

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 Star Transformation

15 - access("S"."CHANNEL_ID"="CH"."CHANNEL_ID")
19 - filter(("T"."CALENDAR_QUARTER_DESC"='1999-01'
OR "T"."CALENDAR_QUARTER_DESC"='1999-02'))
20 - access("S"."TIME_ID"="T"."TIME_ID")
24 - filter("C"."CUST_STATE_PROVINCE"='CA')
25 - access("S"."CUST_ID"="C"."CUST_ID")

Note
-----
- star transformation used for this statement

Temporary Table Transformation: Scenario

In Example 5-8, the optimizer does not join back the table channels to the sales
table because it is not referenced outside and the channel_id is unique. If the
optimizer cannot eliminate the join back, however, then the database stores the
subquery results in a temporary table to avoid rescanning the dimension table for
bitmap key generation and join back. Also, if the query runs in parallel, then the
database materializes the results so that each parallel execution server can select the
results from the temporary table instead of executing the subquery again.
Example 5-9 Star Transformation Using Temporary Table
In this example, the database materializes the results of the subquery on customers
into a temporary table:
SELECT t1.c1 cust_city, t.calendar_quarter_desc calendar_quarter_desc,
SUM(s.amount_sold) sales_amount
FROM sales s, sh.times t, sys_temp_0fd9d6621_e7e24 t1
WHERE s.time_id=t.time_id
AND s.cust_id=t1.c0
AND (t.calendar_quarter_desc='1999-q1' OR t.calendar_quarter_desc='1999-q2')
AND s.cust_id IN ( SELECT t1.c0
FROM sys_temp_0fd9d6621_e7e24 t1 )
AND s.channel_id IN ( SELECT ch.channel_id
FROM channels ch
WHERE ch.channel_desc='internet' )
AND s.time_id IN ( SELECT t.time_id
FROM times t
WHERE t.calendar_quarter_desc='1999-q1'
OR t.calendar_quarter_desc='1999-q2' )
GROUP BY t1.c1, t.calendar_quarter_desc

The optimizer replaces customers with the temporary table

sys_temp_0fd9d6621_e7e24, and replaces references to columns cust_id and
cust_city with the corresponding columns of the temporary table. The database
creates the temporary table with two columns: (c0 NUMBER, c1 VARCHAR2(30)).
These columns correspond to cust_id and cust_city of the customers table. The
database populates the temporary table by executing the following query at the
beginning of the execution of the previous query:
SELECT c.cust_id, c.cust_city FROM customers WHERE c.cust_state_province = 'CA'

Example 5-10 Partial Execution Plan for Star Transformation Using Temporary
Table
The following example shows an edited version of the execution plan for the query in
Example 5-9:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name

Query Transformations 5-15

In-Memory Aggregation

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT |
| 1 | TEMP TABLE TRANSFORMATION |
| 2 | LOAD AS SELECT |
|* 3 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | CUSTOMERS
| 4 | HASH GROUP BY |
|* 5 | HASH JOIN |
| 6 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | SYS_TEMP_0FD9D6613_C716F
|* 7 | HASH JOIN |
|* 8 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | TIMES
| 9 | VIEW | VW_ST_A3F94988
| 10 | NESTED LOOPS |
| 11 | PARTITION RANGE SUBQUERY |
| 12 | BITMAP CONVERSION TO ROWIDS|
| 13 | BITMAP AND |
| 14 | BITMAP MERGE |
| 15 | BITMAP KEY ITERATION |
| 16 | BUFFER SORT |
|* 17 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | CHANNELS
|* 18 | BITMAP INDEX RANGE SCAN| SALES_CHANNEL_BIX
| 19 | BITMAP MERGE |
| 20 | BITMAP KEY ITERATION |
| 21 | BUFFER SORT |
|* 22 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | TIMES
|* 23 | BITMAP INDEX RANGE SCAN| SALES_TIME_BIX
| 24 | BITMAP MERGE |
| 25 | BITMAP KEY ITERATION |
| 26 | BUFFER SORT |
| 27 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | SYS_TEMP_0FD9D6613_C716F
|* 28 | BITMAP INDEX RANGE SCAN| SALES_CUST_BIX
| 29 | TABLE ACCESS BY USER ROWID | SALES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

3 - filter("C"."CUST_STATE_PROVINCE"='CA')
5 - access("ITEM_1"="C0")
7 - access("ITEM_2"="T"."TIME_ID")
8 - filter(("T"."CALENDAR_QUARTER_DESC"='1999-01' OR
"T"."CALENDAR_QUARTER_DESC"='1999-02'))
17 - filter("CH"."CHANNEL_DESC"='Internet')
18 - access("S"."CHANNEL_ID"="CH"."CHANNEL_ID")
22 - filter(("T"."CALENDAR_QUARTER_DESC"='1999-01' OR
"T"."CALENDAR_QUARTER_DESC"='1999-02'))
23 - access("S"."TIME_ID"="T"."TIME_ID")
28 - access("S"."CUST_ID"="C0")

Lines 1, 2, and 3 of the plan materialize the customers subquery into the temporary
table. In line 6, the database scans the temporary table (instead of the subquery) to
build the bitmap from the fact table. Line 27 scans the temporary table for joining back
instead of scanning customers. The database does not need to apply the filter on
customers on the temporary table because the filter is applied while materializing
the temporary table.

In-Memory Aggregation
The basic approach of in-memory aggregation is to aggregate while scanning. To
optimize query blocks involving aggregation and joins from a single large table to
multiple small tables, such as in a typical star query, the transformation uses KEY

5-16 SQL Tuning Guide

 In-Memory Aggregation

VECTOR and VECTOR GROUP BY operations. These operations use efficient in-
memory arrays for joins and aggregation, and are especially effective when the
underlying tables are in-memory columnar tables.

This section contains the following topics:

• Purpose of In-Memory Aggregation

• How In-Memory Aggregation Works

• Controls for In-Memory Aggregation

• In-Memory Aggregation: Scenario

• In-Memory Aggregation: Example

Purpose of In-Memory Aggregation

To improve performance of queries that aggregate the results of joins between small
tables and a large table, VECTOR GROUP BY transformation optimizes CPU usage,
especially the CPU cache. The database accelerates the work up to and including the
first aggregation, which is where the SQL engine must process the largest volume of
rows. Vector joins and group-by operations (or aggregation) can occur simultaneously
with the scan of the large table rather than waiting for the table scans and join
operations to complete.

How In-Memory Aggregation Works

A typical analytic query aggregates from a fact table, and joins the fact table to one or
more dimensions. This type of query scans a large volume of data, with optional
filtering, and performs a GROUP BY of between 1 and 40 columns. The optimizer
decides whether to use the vector transformation based on considerations such as the
size of the key vector (that is, the distinct join keys) and the number of distinct
grouping keys. The optimizer tends to choose this transformation when dimension
join keys have low cardinality.
VECTOR GROUP BY aggregation spends extra time processing the small tables up front
to accelerate the per-row work performed on the large table. This optimization is
possible because a typical analytic query distributes rows among processing stages:

1. Filtering tables and producing row sets

2. Joining row sets

3. Aggregating rows
The unit of work between stages is called a data flow operator (DFO). VECTOR GROUP
BY aggregation uses a DFO for each dimension to create a key vector structure and
temporary table. When aggregating measure columns from the fact table, the database
uses this key vector to translate a fact join key to its dense grouping key. The late
materialization step joins on the dense grouping keys to the temporary tables.

Key Vector
A key vector is a data structure that maps between dense join keys and dense
grouping keys. A dense key is a numeric key that is stored as a native integer and has
a range of values. A dense join key represents all join keys whose join columns come
from a particular fact table or dimension. A dense grouping key represents all

Query Transformations 5-17

In-Memory Aggregation

grouping keys whose grouping columns come from a particular fact table or
dimension. A key vector enables fast lookups.
Example 5-11 Key Vector
Assume that the hr.locations tables has values for country_id as shown (only
the first few results are shown):
SQL> SELECT country_id FROM locations;

CO
--
IT
IT
JP
JP
US
US
US
US
CA
CA
CN

A complex analytic query applies the filter WHERE country_id='US' to the

locations table. A key vector for this filter might look like the following one-
dimensional array:
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
0
0
0

In the preceding array, 1 is the dense grouping key for country_id='US'. The 0
values indicate rows in locations that do not match this filter. If a query uses the
filter WHERE country_id IN ('US','JP'), then the array might look as follows,
where 2 is the dense grouping key for JP and 1 is the dense grouping key for US:
0
0
2
2
1
1
1
1
0
0
0

Two Phases of In-Memory Aggregation

Typically, VECTOR GROUP BY aggregation processes an analytic query in the
following phases:

5-18 SQL Tuning Guide

 In-Memory Aggregation

1. Process each dimension sequentially as follows:

a. Find the unique dense grouping keys.

b. Create a key vector.

c. Create a temporary table.

Figure 5-2 illustrates the steps in this phase, beginning with the scan of the
dimension table in DFO 0, and ending with the creation of a temporary table. In
the simplest form of parallel GROUP BY or join processing, the database processes
each join or GROUP BY in its own DFO.

Figure 5-2 Phase 1 of In-Memory Aggregation

temporary table create

DFO 1
VECTOR GROUP BY

KEY VECTOR CREATE

DFO 0
dimension scan

2. Process the fact table.

a. Process all the joins and aggregations using the key vectors created in the
preceding phase.

b. Join back the results to each temporary table.

Figure 5-3 illustrates phase 2 in a join of the fact table with two dimensions. In
DFO 0, the database performs a full scan of the fact table, and then uses the key
vectors for each dimension to filter out nonmatching rows. DFO 2 joins the results
of DFO 0 with DFO 1. DFO 4 joins the result of DFO 2 with DFO 3.

Query Transformations 5-19

In-Memory Aggregation

Figure 5-3 Phase 2 of In-Memory Aggregation

DFO 4
hash join 2

DFO 3 DFO 2
temporary table 2 hash join 1

HASH GROUP BY
DFO 1
temporary table 1
DFO 0
VECTOR GROUP BY

KEY VECTOR USE 2

KEY VECTOR USE 1

fact scan

Controls for In-Memory Aggregation

VECTOR GROUP BY aggregation does not involve any new SQL or public initialization
parameters. You can use the following pairs of hints:

• Query block hints

VECTOR_TRANSFORM enables the vector transformation on the specified query
block, regardless of costing. NO_VECTOR_TRANSFORM disables the vector
transformation from engaging on the specified query block.

• Table hints
You can use the following pairs of hints:

– VECTOR_TRANSFORM_FACT includes the specified FROM expressions in the fact

table generated by the vector transformation. NO_VECTOR_TRANSFORM_FACT
excludes the specified FROM expressions from the fact table generated by the
vector transformation.

– VECTOR_TRANSFORM_DIMS includes the specified FROM expressions in enabled

dimensions generated by the vector transformation.
NO_VECTOR_TRANSFORM_DIMS excludes the specified from expressions from
enabled dimensions generated by the vector transformation.

See Also:
Oracle Database SQL Language Reference to learn more about the
VECTOR_TRANSFORM_FACT and VECTOR_TRANSFORM_DIMS hints

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 In-Memory Aggregation

In-Memory Aggregation: Scenario

This section gives a conceptual example of how VECTOR GROUP BY aggregation
works. The scenario does not use the sample schema tables or show an actual
execution plan.
This section contains the following topics:

• Sample Analytic Query of a Star Schema

• Step 1: Key Vector and Temporary Table Creation for geography Dimension

• Step 2: Key Vector and Temporary Table Creation for products Dimension

• Step 3: Key Vector Query Transformation

• Step 4: Row Filtering from Fact Table

• Step 5: Aggregation Using an Array

• Step 6: Join Back to Temporary Tables

Sample Analytic Query of a Star Schema

This sample star schema in this scenario contains the sales_online fact table and
two dimension tables: geography and products. Each row in geography is
uniquely identified by the geog_id column. Each row in products is uniquely
identified by the prod_id column. Each row in sales_online is uniquely identified
by the geog_id, prod_id, and amount sold.

Table 5-1 Sample Rows in geography Table

country state city geog_id

USA WA seattle 2

USA WA spokane 3

USA CA SF 7

USA CA LA 8

Table 5-2 Sample Rows in products Table

manuf category subcategory prod_id

Acme sport bike 4

Acme sport ball 3

Acme electric bulb 1

Acme electric switch 8

Table 5-3 Sample Rows in sales_online Table

Query Transformations 5-21

In-Memory Aggregation

Table 5-3 (Cont.) Sample Rows in sales_online Table

prod_id geog_id amount

8 1 100

9 1 150

8 2 100

4 3 110

2 30 130

6 20 400

3 1 100

1 7 120

3 8 130

4 3 200

A manager asks the business question, "How many Acme products in each
subcategory were sold online in Washington, and how many were sold in California?"
To answer this question, an analytic query of the sales_online fact table joins the
products and geography dimension tables as follows:
SELECT p.category, p.subcategory, g.country, g.state, SUM(s.amount)
FROM sales_online s, products p, geography g
WHERE s.geog_id = g.geog_id
AND s.prod_id = p.prod_id
AND g.state IN ('WA','CA')
AND p.manuf = 'ACME'
GROUP BY category, subcategory, country, state

Step 1: Key Vector and Temporary Table Creation for geography Dimension
In the first phase of VECTOR GROUP BY aggregation for this query, the database
creates a dense grouping key for each city/state combination for cities in the states of
Washington or California. In Table 5-6, the 1 is the USA,WA grouping key, and the 2 is
the USA,CA grouping key.

Table 5-4 Dense Grouping Key for geography

country state city geog_id dense_gr_key_geog

USA WA seattle 2 1

USA WA spokane 3 1

USA CA SF 7 2

USA CA LA 8 2

A key vector for the geography table looks like the array represented by the final
column in Table 5-5. The values are the geography dense grouping keys. Thus, the
key vector indicates which rows in sales_online meet the geography.state

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 In-Memory Aggregation

filter criteria (a sale made in the state of CA or WA) and which country/state group each
row belongs to (either the USA,WA group or USA,CA group).

Table 5-5 Online Sales

prod_id geog_id amount key vector for geography

8 1 100 0

9 1 150 0

8 2 100 1

4 3 110 1

2 30 130 0

6 20 400 0

3 1 100 0

1 7 120 2

3 8 130 2

4 3 200 1

Internally, the database creates a temporary table similar to the following:

CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE tt_geography AS
SELECT MAX(country), MAX(state), KEY_VECTOR_CREATE(...) dense_gr_key_geog
FROM geography
WHERE state IN ('WA','CA')
GROUP BY country, state

Table 5-6 shows rows in the tt_geography temporary table. The dense grouping key
for the USA,WA combination is 1, and the dense grouping key for the USA,CA
combination is 2.

Table 5-6 tt_geography

country state dense_gr_key_geog

USA WA 1

USA CA 2

Step 2: Key Vector and Temporary Table Creation for products Dimension
The database creates a dense grouping key for each distinct category/subcategory
combination of an Acme product. For example, in Table 5-7, the 4 is dense grouping
key for an Acme electric switch.

Table 5-7 Sample Rows in products Table

manuf category subcategory prod_id dense_gr_key_prod

Acme sport bike 4 1

Acme sport ball 3 2

Query Transformations 5-23

In-Memory Aggregation

Table 5-7 (Cont.) Sample Rows in products Table

manuf category subcategory prod_id dense_gr_key_prod

Acme electric bulb 1 3

Acme electric switch 8 4

A key vector for the products table might look like the array represented by the final
column in Table 5-8. The values represent the products dense grouping key. For
example, the 4 represents the online sale of an Acme electric switch. Thus, the key
vector indicates which rows in sales_online meet the products filter criteria (a
sale of an Acme product).

Table 5-8 Key Vector

prod_id geog_id amount key vector for products

8 1 100 4

9 1 150 0

8 2 100 4

4 3 110 1

2 30 130 0

6 20 400 0

3 1 100 2

1 7 120 3

3 8 130 2

4 3 200 1

Internally, the database creates a temporary table similar to the following:

CREATE TEMPORTARY TABLE tt_products AS
SELECT MAX(category), MAX(subcategory), KEY_VECTOR_CREATE(...) dense_gr_key_prod
FROM products
WHERE manuf = 'ACME'
GROUP BY category, subcategory

Table 5-9 shows rows in this temporary table.

Table 5-9 tt_products

category subcategory dense_gr_key_prod

sport bike 1

sport ball 2

electric bulb 3

electric switch 4

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 In-Memory Aggregation

Step 3: Key Vector Query Transformation

The database now enters the phase of processing the fact table. The optimizer
transforms the original query into the following equivalent query, which accesses the
key vectors:
SELECT KEY_VECTOR_PROD(prod_id),
KEY_VECTOR_GEOG(geog_id),
SUM(amount)
FROM sales_online
WHERE KEY_VECTOR_PROD_FILTER(prod_id) IS NOT NULL
AND KEY_VECTOR_GEOG_FILTER(geog_id) IS NOT NULL
GROUP BY KEY_VECTOR_PROD(prod_id), KEY_VECTOR_GEOG(geog_id)

The preceding transformation is not an exact rendition of the internal SQL, which is
much more complicated, but a conceptual representation designed to illustrate the
basic concept.

Step 4: Row Filtering from Fact Table

The goal in this phase is to obtain the amount sold for each combination of grouping
keys. The database uses the key vectors to filter out unwanted rows from the fact table.
In Table 5-10, the first three columns represent the sales_online table. The last two
columns provide the dense grouping keys for the geography and products tables.

Table 5-10 Dense Grouping Keys for the sales_online Table

prod_id geog_id amount dense_gr_key_prod dense_gr_key_geog

7 1 100 4

9 1 150

8 2 100 4 1

4 3 110 1 1

2 30 130

6 20 400

3 1 100 2

1 7 120 3 2

3 8 130 2 2

4 3 200 1 1

As shown in Table 5-11, the database retrieves only those rows from sales_online
with non-null values for both dense grouping keys, indicating rows that satisfy all the
filtering criteria.

Table 5-11 Filtered Rows from sales_online Table

geog_id prod_id amount dense_gr_key_prod dense_gr_key_geog

2 8 100 4 1

Query Transformations 5-25

In-Memory Aggregation

Table 5-11 (Cont.) Filtered Rows from sales_online Table

geog_id prod_id amount dense_gr_key_prod dense_gr_key_geog

3 4 110 1 1

3 4 200 1 1

7 1 120 3 2

8 3 130 2 2

Step 5: Aggregation Using an Array

The database uses a multidimensional array to perform the aggregation. In Table 5-12,
the geography grouping keys are horizontal, and the products grouping keys are
vertical. The database adds the values in the intersection of each dense grouping key
combination. For example, for the intersection of the geography grouping key 1 and
the products grouping key 1, the sum of 110 and 200 is 310.

Table 5-12 Aggregation Array

dgkp/dgkg 1 2
1 110,200

2 130

3 120

4 100

Step 6: Join Back to Temporary Tables

In the final stage of processing, the database uses the dense grouping keys to join back
the rows to the temporary tables to obtain the names of the regions and categories. The
results look as follows:
CATEGORY SUBCATEGORY COUNTRY STATE AMOUNT
-------- ----------- ------- ----- ------
electric bulb USA CA 120
electric switch USA WA 100
sport ball USA CA 130
sport bike USA WA 310

In-Memory Aggregation: Example

The following query of the sh tables answers the business question "How many
products were sold in each category in each calendar year?"
SELECT t.calendar_year, p.prod_category, SUM(quantity_sold)
FROM times t, products p, sales s
WHERE t.time_id = s.time_id
AND p.prod_id = s.prod_id
GROUP BY t.calendar_year, p.prod_category;

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 In-Memory Aggregation

Example 5-12 VECTOR GROUP BY Execution Plan

The following example shows the execution plan contained in the current cursor. Steps
4 and 8 show the creation of the key vectors for the dimension tables times and
products. Steps 17 and 18 show the use of the previously created key vectors. Steps
3, 7, and 15 show the VECTOR GROUP BY operations.
SQL_ID 0yxqj2nq8p9kt, child number 0
-------------------------------------
SELECT t.calendar_year, p.prod_category, SUM(quantity_sold) FROM
times t, products p, sales f WHERE t.time_id = f.time_id AND
p.prod_id = f.prod_id GROUP BY t.calendar_year, p.prod_category

Plan hash value: 2377225738

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------
|Id | Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost(%CPU)|Time|
Pstart|Pstop|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | |285 (100)|
| | |
| 1| TEMP TABLE TRANSFORMATION | | | | |
| | |
| 2| LOAD AS SELECT | SYS_TEMP_0FD9D6644_11CBE8 | | | |
| | |
| 3| VECTOR GROUP BY | | 5| 80 | 3 (100)|
00:00:01| | |
| 4| KEY VECTOR CREATE BUFFERED | :KV0000 |1826|29216| 3 (100)|
00:00:01| | |
| 5| TABLE ACCESS INMEMORY FULL | TIMES |1826|21912| 1 (100)|
00:00:01| | |
| 6| LOAD AS SELECT | SYS_TEMP_0FD9D6645_11CBE8 | | | |
| | |
| 7| VECTOR GROUP BY | | 5| 125 | 1 (100)|
00:00:01| | |
| 8| KEY VECTOR CREATE BUFFERED | :KV0001 | 72| 1800| 1 (100)|
00:00:01| | |
| 9| TABLE ACCESS INMEMORY FULL | PRODUCTS | 72| 1512| 0 (0)|
| | |
| 10| HASH GROUP BY | | 18| 1440|282 (99)|
00:00:01| | |
|*11| HASH JOIN | | 18| 1440|281 (99)|
00:00:01| | |
|*12| HASH JOIN | | 18| 990 |278 (100)|
00:00:01| | |
| 13| TABLE ACCESS FULL | SYS_TEMP_0FD9D6644_11CBE8 | 5| 80 | 2 (0)|
00:00:01| | |
| 14| VIEW | VW_VT_AF278325 | 18| 702 |276 (100)|
00:00:01| | |
| 15| VECTOR GROUP BY | | 18| 414 |276 (100)|
00:00:01| | |
| 16| HASH GROUP BY | | 18| 414 |276 (100)|
00:00:01| | |
| 17| KEY VECTOR USE | :KV0000 |918K| 20M|276 (100)|
00:00:01| | |
| 18| KEY VECTOR USE | :KV0001 |918K| 16M|272 (100)|
00:00:01| | |
| 19| PARTITION RANGE ALL | |918K| 13M|257 (100)|
00:00:01| 1| 28|
| 20| TABLE ACCESS INMEMORY FULL| SALES |918K| 13M|257 (100)|

Query Transformations 5-27

Table Expansion

00:00:01| 1| 28|
| 21| TABLE ACCESS FULL | SYS_TEMP_0FD9D6645_11CBE8 | 5 | 125| 2 (0)|
00:00:01| | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------
11 - access("ITEM_10"=INTERNAL_FUNCTION("C0") AND "ITEM_11"="C2")
12 - access("ITEM_8"=INTERNAL_FUNCTION("C0") AND "ITEM_9"="C2")

Note
-----
- vector transformation used for this statement

45 rows selected.

Table Expansion
In table expansion, the optimizer generates a plan that uses indexes on the read-
mostly portion of a partitioned table, but not on the active portion of the table. This
section contains the following topics:

• Purpose of Table Expansion

• How Table Expansion Works

• Table Expansion: Scenario

• Table Expansion and Star Transformation: Scenario

Purpose of Table Expansion

Table expansion is useful because of the following facts:

• Index-based plans can improve performance dramatically.

• Index maintenance causes overhead to DML.

• In many databases, only a small portion of the data is actively updated through
DML.
Table expansion takes advantage of index-based plans for tables that have high update
volume. You can configure a table so that an index is only created on the read-mostly
portion of the data, and does not suffer the overhead burden of index maintenance on
the active portions of the data. Thus, table expansion reaps the benefit of improved
performance without suffering the ill effects of index maintenance.

How Table Expansion Works

Table partitioning makes table expansion possible. If a local index exists on a
partitioned table, then the optimizer can mark the index as unusable for specific
partitions. In effect, some partitions are not indexed.
In table expansion, the optimizer transforms the query into a UNION ALL statement,
with some subqueries accessing indexed partitions and other subqueries accessing
unindexed partitions. The optimizer can choose the most efficient access method
available for a partition, regardless of whether it exists for all of the partitions accessed
in the query.

5-28 SQL Tuning Guide

 Table Expansion

The optimizer does not always choose table expansion:

• Table expansion is cost-based.

While the database accesses each partition of the expanded table only once across
all branches of the UNION ALL, any tables that the database joins to it are accessed
in each branch.

• Semantic issues may render expansion invalid.

For example, a table appearing on the right side of an outer join is not valid for
table expansion.
You can control table expansion with the hint EXPAND_TABLE hint. The hint overrides
the cost-based decision, but not the semantic checks.

See Also:

“Influencing the Optimizer with Hints”

Table Expansion: Scenario

The optimizer keeps track of which partitions must be accessed from each table, based
on predicates that appear in the query. Partition pruning enables the optimizer to use
table expansion to generate more optimal plans.

Assumptions
This scenario assumes the following:

• You want to run a star query against the sh.sales table, which is range-
partitioned on the time_id column.

• You want to disable indexes on specific partitions to see the benefits of table
expansion.

To use table expansion:

1. Run the following query:

SELECT *
FROM sales
WHERE time_id >= TO_DATE('2000-01-01 00:00:00', 'SYYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS')
AND prod_id = 38;

2. Explain the plan by querying DBMS_EXPLAN:

SET LINESIZE 150
SET PAGESIZE 0
SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR(format => 'BASIC,PARTITION'));

As shown in the Pstart and Pstop columns in the following plan, the optimizer
determines from the filter that only 16 of the 28 partitions in the table must be
accessed:
Plan hash value: 3087065703

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Pstart|Pstop|

Query Transformations 5-29

Table Expansion

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | |
| 1| PARTITION RANGE ITERATOR | | 13 | 28 |
| 2| TABLE ACCESS BY LOCAL INDEX ROWID BATCHED| SALES | 13 | 28 |
| 3| BITMAP CONVERSION TO ROWIDS | | | |
|*4| BITMAP INDEX SINGLE VALUE |SALES_PROD_BIX| 13 | 28 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

4 - access("PROD_ID"=38)

After the optimizer has determined the partitions to be accessed, it considers any
index that is usable on all of those partitions. In the preceding plan, the optimizer
chose to use the sales_prod_bix bitmap index.

3. Disable the index on the SALES_1995 partition of the sales table:

ALTER INDEX sales_prod_bix MODIFY PARTITION sales_1995 UNUSABLE;

The preceding DDL disables the index on partition 1, which contains all sales
from before 1996.

Note:

You can obtain the partition information by querying the

USER_IND_PARTITIONS view.

4. Execute the query of sales again, and then query DBMS_XPLAN to obtain the plan.
The output shows that the plan did not change:
Plan hash value: 3087065703

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Pstart|Pstop
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | |
| 1| PARTITION RANGE ITERATOR | | 13 | 28 |
| 2| TABLE ACCESS BY LOCAL INDEX ROWID BATCHED| SALES | 13 | 28 |
| 3| BITMAP CONVERSION TO ROWIDS | | | |
|*4| BITMAP INDEX SINGLE VALUE | SALES_PROD_BIX| 13 | 28 |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

4 - access("PROD_ID"=38)

The plan is the same because the disabled index partition is not relevant to the
query. If all partitions that the query accesses are indexed, then the database can
answer the query using the index. Because the query only accesses partitions 16
through 28, disabling the index on partition 1 does not affect the plan.

5. Disable the indexes for partition 28 (SALES_Q4_2003), which is a partition that

the query needs to access:
ALTER INDEX sales_prod_bix MODIFY PARTITION sales_q4_2003 UNUSABLE;
ALTER INDEX sales_time_bix MODIFY PARTITION sales_q4_2003 UNUSABLE;

5-30 SQL Tuning Guide

 Table Expansion

By disabling the indexes on a partition that the query does need to access, the
query can no longer use this index (without table expansion).

6. Query the plan using DBMS_EXPLAN.

As shown in the following plan, the optimizer does not use the index:
Plan hash value: 3087065703

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation | Name |Pstart|Pstop
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | |
| 1 | PARTITION RANGE ITERATOR | | 13 | 28 |
|*2 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | SALES | 13 | 28 |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------
2 - access("PROD_ID"=38)

In the preceding example, the query accesses 16 partitions. On 15 of these

partitions, an index is available, but no index is available for the final partition.
Because the optimizer has to choose one access path or the other, the optimizer
cannot use the index on any of the partitions.

7. With table expansion, the optimizer rewrites the original query as follows:
SELECT *
FROM sales
WHERE time_id >= TO_DATE('2000-01-01 00:00:00', 'SYYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS')
AND time_id < TO_DATE('2003-10-01 00:00:00', 'SYYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS')
AND prod_id = 38
UNION ALL
SELECT *
FROM sales
WHERE time_id >= TO_DATE('2003-10-01 00:00:00', 'SYYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS')
AND time_id < TO_DATE('2004-01-01 00:00:00', 'SYYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS')
AND prod_id = 38;

In the preceding query, the first query block in the UNION ALL accesses the
partitions that are indexed, while the second query block accesses the partition
that is not. The two subqueries enable the optimizer to choose to use the index in
the first query block, if it is more optimal than using a table scan of all of the
partitions that are accessed.

8. Query the plan using DBMS_EXPLAN.

The plan appears as follows:
Plan hash value: 2120767686

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Pstart|Pstop|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | |
| 1| VIEW | VW_TE_2 | | |
| 2| UNION-ALL | | | |
| 3| PARTITION RANGE ITERATOR | | 13| 27|
| 4| TABLE ACCESS BY LOCAL INDEX ROWID BATCHED| SALES | 13| 27|
| 5| BITMAP CONVERSION TO ROWIDS | | | |
|*6| BITMAP INDEX SINGLE VALUE | SALES_PROD_BIX| 13| 27|

Query Transformations 5-31

Table Expansion

| 7| PARTITION RANGE SINGLE | | 28| 28|

|*8| TABLE ACCESS FULL | SALES | 28| 28|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

6 - access("PROD_ID"=38)
8 - filter("PROD_ID"=38)

As shown in the preceding plan, the optimizer uses a UNION ALL for two query
blocks (Step 2). The optimizer chooses an index to access partitions 13 to 27 in the
first query block (Step 6). Because no index is available for partition 28, the
optimizer chooses a full table scan in the second query block (Step 8).

Table Expansion and Star Transformation: Scenario

Star transformation enables specific types of queries to avoid accessing large portions
of big fact tables (see “Star Transformation”). Star transformation requires defining
several indexes, which in an actively updated table can have overhead. With table
expansion, you can define indexes on only the inactive partitions so that the optimizer
can consider star transformation on only the indexed portions of the table.

Assumptions
This scenario assumes the following:

• You query the same schema used in “Star Transformation: Scenario”.

• The last partition of sales is actively being updated, as is often the case with time-
partitioned tables.

• You want the optimizer to take advantage of table expansion.

To take advantage of table expansion in a star query:

1. Disable the indexes on the last partition as follows:

ALTER INDEX sales_channel_bix MODIFY PARTITION sales_q4_2003 UNUSABLE;
ALTER INDEX sales_cust_bix MODIFY PARTITION sales_q4_2003 UNUSABLE;

2. Execute the following star query:

SELECT t.calendar_quarter_desc, SUM(s.amount_sold) sales_amount
FROM sales s, times t, customers c, channels ch
WHERE s.time_id = t.time_id
AND s.cust_id = c.cust_id
AND s.channel_id = ch.channel_id
AND c.cust_state_province = 'CA'
AND ch.channel_desc = 'Internet'
AND t.calendar_quarter_desc IN ('1999-01','1999-02')
GROUP BY t.calendar_quarter_desc;

3. Query the cursor using DBMS_XPLAN, which shows the following plan:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name | Pstart| Pstop |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | |
| 1| HASH GROUP BY | | | |

5-32 SQL Tuning Guide

 Join Factorization

| 2| VIEW |VW_TE_14 | | |
| 3| UNION-ALL | | | |
| 4| HASH JOIN | | | |
| 5| TABLE ACCESS FULL |TIMES | | |
| 6| VIEW |VW_ST_1319B6D8 | | |
| 7| NESTED LOOPS | | | |
| 8| PARTITION RANGE SUBQUERY | |KEY(SQ)|KEY(SQ)|
| 9| BITMAP CONVERSION TO ROWIDS| | | |
|10| BITMAP AND | | | |
|11| BITMAP MERGE | | | |
|12| BITMAP KEY ITERATION | | | |
|13| BUFFER SORT | | | |
|14| TABLE ACCESS FULL |CHANNELS | | |
|15| BITMAP INDEX RANGE SCAN|SALES_CHANNEL_BIX|KEY(SQ)|KEY(SQ)|
|16| BITMAP MERGE | | | |
|17| BITMAP KEY ITERATION | | | |
|18| BUFFER SORT | | | |
|19| TABLE ACCESS FULL |TIMES | | |
|20| BITMAP INDEX RANGE SCAN|SALES_TIME_BIX |KEY(SQ)|KEY(SQ)|
|21| BITMAP MERGE | | | |
|22| BITMAP KEY ITERATION | | | |
|23| BUFFER SORT | | | |
|24| TABLE ACCESS FULL |CUSTOMERS | | |
|25| BITMAP INDEX RANGE SCAN|SALES_CUST_BIX |KEY(SQ)|KEY(SQ)|
|26| TABLE ACCESS BY USER ROWID |SALES | ROWID | ROWID |
|27| NESTED LOOPS | | | |
|28| NESTED LOOPS | | | |
|29| NESTED LOOPS | | | |
|30| NESTED LOOPS | | | |
|31| PARTITION RANGE SINGLE | | 28 | 28 |
|32| TABLE ACCESS FULL |SALES | 28 | 28 |
|33| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID|CHANNELS | | |
|34| INDEX UNIQUE SCAN |CHANNELS_PK | | |
|35| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID |CUSTOMERS | | |
|36| INDEX UNIQUE SCAN |CUSTOMERS_PK | | |
|37| INDEX UNIQUE SCAN |TIMES_PK | | |
|38| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID |TIMES | | |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The preceding plan uses table expansion. The UNION ALL branch that is accessing
every partition except the last partition uses star transformation. Because the
indexes on partition 28 are disabled, the database accesses the final partition using
a full table scan.

Join Factorization
In the cost-based transformation known as join factorization, the optimizer can
factorize common computations from branches of a UNION ALL query.
This section contains the following topics:

• Purpose of Join Factorization

• How Join Factorization Works

• Factorization and Join Orders: Scenario

• Factorization of Outer Joins: Scenario

Query Transformations 5-33

Join Factorization

Purpose of Join Factorization

UNION ALL queries are common in database applications, especially in data
integration applications. Often, branches in a UNION ALL query refer to the same base
tables. Without join factorization, the optimizer evaluates each branch of a UNION
ALL query independently, which leads to repetitive processing, including data access
and joins. Join factorization transformation can share common computations across
the UNION ALL branches. Avoiding an extra scan of a large base table can lead to a
huge performance improvement.

How Join Factorization Works

Join factorization can factorize multiple tables and from more than two UNION ALL
branches. Join factorization is best explained through examples.
Example 5-13 UNION ALL Query
The following query shows a query of four tables (t1, t2, t3, and t4) and two UNION
ALL branches:
SELECT t1.c1, t2.c2
FROM t1, t2, t3
WHERE t1.c1 = t2.c1
AND t1.c1 > 1
AND t2.c2 = 2
AND t2.c2 = t3.c2
UNION ALL
SELECT t1.c1, t2.c2
FROM t1, t2, t4
WHERE t1.c1 = t2.c1
AND t1.c1 > 1
AND t2.c3 = t4.c3

In the preceding query, table t1 appears in both UNION ALL branches, as does the
filter predicate t1.c1 > 1 and the join predicate t1.c1 = t2.c1. Without any
transformation, the database must perform the scan and the filtering on table t1 twice,
one time for each branch.
Example 5-14 Factorized Query
The following query uses join factorization to transform the query in Example 5-13.
SELECT t1.c1, VW_JF_1.item_2
FROM t1, (SELECT t2.c1 item_1, t2.c2 item_2
FROM t2, t3
WHERE t2.c2 = t3.c2
AND t2.c2 = 2
UNION ALL
SELECT t2.c1 item_1, t2.c2 item_2
FROM t2, t4
WHERE t2.c3 = t4.c3) VW_JF_1
WHERE t1.c1 = VW_JF_1.item_1
AND t1.c1 > 1

In this case, because table t1 is factorized, the database performs the table scan and
the filtering on t1 only one time. If t1 is large, then this factorization avoids the huge
performance cost of scanning and filtering t1 twice.

5-34 SQL Tuning Guide

 Join Factorization

Note:

If the branches in a UNION ALL query have clauses that use the DISTINCT
function, then join factorization is not valid.

Factorization and Join Orders: Scenario

A benefit of join factorization is that it can create more possibilities for join orders.
Example 5-15 Query Involving Five Tables
In the following query, view V is same as the query as in Example 5-13:
SELECT *
FROM t5, (SELECT t1.c1, t2.c2
FROM t1, t2, t3
WHERE t1.c1 = t2.c1
AND t1.c1 > 1
AND t2.c2 = 2
AND t2.c2 = t3.c2
UNION ALL
SELECT t1.c1, t2.c2
FROM t1, t2, t4
WHERE t1.c1 = t2.c1
AND t1.c1 > 1
AND t2.c3 = t4.c3) V
WHERE t5.c1 = V.c1

Before join factorization, the database must join t1, t2, and t3 before joining them
with t5.
Example 5-16 Factorization of t1 from View V
If join factorization factorizes t1 from view V, as shown in the following query, then
the database can join t1 with t5.:
SELECT *
FROM t5, ( SELECT t1.c1, VW_JF_1.item_2
FROM t1, (SELECT t2.c1 item_1, t2.c2 item_2
FROM t2, t3
WHERE t2.c2 = t3.c2
AND t2.c2 = 2
UNION ALL
SELECT t2.c1 item_1, t2.c2 item_2
FROM t2, t4
WHERE t2.c3 = t4.c3) VW_JF_1
WHERE t1.c1 = VW_JF_1.item_1
AND t1.c1 > 1 )
WHERE t5.c1 = V.c1

The preceding query transformation opens up new join orders. However, join
factorization imposes specific join orders. For example, in the preceding query, tables
t2 and t3 appear in the first branch of the UNION ALL query in view VW_JF_1. The
database must join t2 with t3 before it can join with t1, which is not defined within
the VW_JF_1 view. The imposed join order may not necessarily be the best join order.
For this reason, the optimizer performs join factorization using the cost-based
transformation framework. The optimizer calculate the cost of the plans with and
without join factorization, and then chooses the cheapest plan.

Query Transformations 5-35

Join Factorization

Example 5-17 Factorization of t1 from View V with View Definition Removed

The following query is the same query in Example 5-16, but with the view definition
removed so that the factorization is easier to see:
SELECT *
FROM t5, (SELECT t1.c1, VW_JF_1.item_2
FROM t1, VW_JF_1
WHERE t1.c1 = VW_JF_1.item_1
AND t1.c1 > 1)
WHERE t5.c1 = V.c1

Factorization of Outer Joins: Scenario

The database supports join factorization of outer joins, antijoins, and semijoins, but
only for the right tables in such joins. For example, join factorization can transform the
following UNION ALL query by factorizing t2:
SELECT t1.c2, t2.c2
FROM t1, t2
WHERE t1.c1 = t2.c1(+)
AND t1.c1 = 1
UNION ALL
SELECT t1.c2, t2.c2
FROM t1, t2
WHERE t1.c1 = t2.c1(+)
AND t1.c1 = 2

The following example shows the transformation. Table t2 now no longer appears in
the UNION ALL branches of the subquery.
SELECT VW_JF_1.item_2, t2.c2
FROM t2, (SELECT t1.c1 item_1, t1.c2 item_2
FROM t1
WHERE t1.c1 = 1
UNION ALL
SELECT t1.c1 item_1, t1.c2 item_2
FROM t1
WHERE t1.c1 = 2) VW_JF_1
WHERE VW_JF_1.item_1 = t2.c1(+)

5-36 SQL Tuning Guide

 Part III
Query Execution Plans

This part contains the following chapters:

• Generating and Displaying Execution Plans

• Reading Execution Plans

 6
Generating and Displaying Execution Plans

This chapter contains the following topics:

• Introduction to Execution Plans

• About Plan Generation and Display

• Generating Execution Plans

• Displaying PLAN_TABLE Output

Introduction to Execution Plans

The combination of the steps that Oracle Database uses to execute a statement is an
execution plan. Each step either retrieves rows of data physically from the database or
prepares them for the user issuing the statement. An execution plan includes an access
path for each table that the statement accesses and an ordering of the tables (the join
order) with the appropriate join method.

See Also:

Joins

About Plan Generation and Display

The EXPLAIN PLAN statement displays execution plans that the optimizer chooses for
SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT, and DELETE statements. This section contains the
following topics:

• About the Plan Explanation

• Why Execution Plans Change

• Guideline for Minimizing Throw-Away

• Guidelines for Evaluating Execution Plans

• EXPLAIN PLAN Restrictions

• Guidelines for Creating PLAN_TABLE

About the Plan Explanation

A statement execution plan is the sequence of operations that the database performs to
run the statement. The row source tree is the core of the execution plan (see “SQL Row
Source Generation”). The tree shows the following information:

Generating and Displaying Execution Plans 6-1

About Plan Generation and Display

• An ordering of the tables referenced by the statement

• An access method for each table mentioned in the statement

• A join method for tables affected by join operations in the statement

• Data operations like filter, sort, or aggregation

In addition to the row source tree, the plan table contains information about the
following:

• Optimization, such as the cost and cardinality of each operation

• Partitioning, such as the set of accessed partitions

• Parallel execution, such as the distribution method of join inputs

The EXPLAIN PLAN results enables you to determine whether the optimizer selects a
particular execution plan, such as a nested loops join. The results also help you to
understand the optimizer decisions, such as why the optimizer chose a nested loops
join instead of a hash join, and enables you to understand the performance of a query.

See Also:
Oracle Database SQL Language Reference to learn about the EXPLAIN PLAN
statement

Why Execution Plans Change

Execution plans can and do change as the underlying optimizer inputs change.
EXPLAIN PLAN output shows how the database would run the SQL statement when
the statement was explained. This plan can differ from the actual execution plan a SQL
statement uses because of differences in the execution environment and explain plan
environment.

Note:

To avoid possible SQL performance regression that may result from execution
plan changes, consider using SQL plan management.

Execution plans can differ because of the following:

• Different Schemas

• Different Costs

See Also:
“Managing SQL Plan Baselines ”

Different Schemas
Schemas can differ for the following reasons:

• The execution and explain plan occur on different databases.

6-2 SQL Tuning Guide

 About Plan Generation and Display

• The user explaining the statement is different from the user running the statement.
Two users might be pointing to different objects in the same database, resulting in
different execution plans.

• Schema changes (usually changes in indexes) between the two operations.

Different Costs
Even if the schemas are the same, the optimizer can choose different execution plans
when the costs are different. Some factors that affect the costs include the following:

• Data volume and statistics

• Bind variable types and values

• Initialization parameters set globally or at session level

Guideline for Minimizing Throw-Away

Examining an explain plan enables you to look for throw-away in cases such as the
following:

• Full scans

• Unselective range scans

• Late predicate filters

• Wrong join order

• Late filter operations

In the plan shown in Example 6-1, the last step is a very unselective range scan that is
executed 76563 times, accesses 11432983 rows, throws away 99% of them, and retains
76563 rows. Why access 11432983 rows to realize that only 76563 rows are needed?
Example 6-1 Looking for Throw-Away in an Explain Plan
Rows Execution Plan
-------- ----------------------------------------------------
12 SORT AGGREGATE
2 SORT GROUP BY
76563 NESTED LOOPS
76575 NESTED LOOPS
19 TABLE ACCESS FULL CN_PAYRUNS_ALL
76570 TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID CN_POSTING_DETAILS_ALL
76570 INDEX RANGE SCAN (object id 178321)
76563 TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID CN_PAYMENT_WORKSHEETS_ALL
11432983 INDEX RANGE SCAN (object id 186024)

Guidelines for Evaluating Execution Plans

The execution plan operation alone cannot differentiate between well-tuned
statements and those that perform poorly. For example, an EXPLAIN PLAN output that
shows that a statement uses an index does not necessarily mean that the statement
runs efficiently. Sometimes indexes are extremely inefficient. In this case, a good
practice is to examine the following:

• The columns of the index being used

• Their selectivity (fraction of table being accessed)

Generating and Displaying Execution Plans 6-3

About Plan Generation and Display

It is best to use EXPLAIN PLAN to determine an access plan, and then later prove that it
is the optimal plan through testing. When evaluating a plan, examine the statement's
actual resource consumption.

Guidelines for Evaluating Plans Using the V$SQL_PLAN Views

As an alternative to running the EXPLAIN PLAN command and displaying the plan,
you can display the plan by querying the V$SQL_PLAN view. V$SQL_PLAN contains
the execution plan for every statement stored in the shared SQL area. Its definition is
similar to PLAN_TABLE. See “PLAN_TABLE Columns”.
The advantage of V$SQL_PLAN over EXPLAIN PLAN is that you do not need to know
the compilation environment that was used to execute a particular statement. For
EXPLAIN PLAN, you would need to set up an identical environment to get the same
plan when executing the statement.
The V$SQL_PLAN_STATISTICS view provides the actual execution statistics for
every operation in the plan, such as the number of output rows and elapsed time. All
statistics, except the number of output rows, are cumulative. For example, the statistics
for a join operation also includes the statistics for its two inputs. The statistics in V
$SQL_PLAN_STATISTICS are available for cursors that have been compiled with the
STATISTICS_LEVEL initialization parameter set to ALL.
The V$SQL_PLAN_STATISTICS_ALL view enables side by side comparisons of the
estimates that the optimizer provides for the number of rows and elapsed time. This
view combines both V$SQL_PLAN and V$SQL_PLAN_STATISTICS information for
every cursor.

See Also:

• Monitoring Database Operations for information about the V

$SQL_PLAN_MONITOR view

• Oracle Database Reference for more information about V$SQL_PLAN views

• Oracle Database Reference for information about the STATISTICS_LEVEL

initialization parameter

EXPLAIN PLAN Restrictions

Oracle Database does not support EXPLAIN PLAN for statements performing implicit
type conversion of date bind variables. With bind variables in general, the EXPLAIN
PLAN output might not represent the real execution plan.
From the text of a SQL statement, TKPROF cannot determine the types of the bind
variables. It assumes that the type is CHARACTER, and gives an error message
otherwise. You can avoid this limitation by putting appropriate type conversions in
the SQL statement.

See Also:
Performing Application Tracing

6-4 SQL Tuning Guide

 Generating Execution Plans

Guidelines for Creating PLAN_TABLE

The PLAN_TABLE is automatically created as a public synonym to a global temporary
table. This temporary table holds the output of EXPLAIN PLAN statements for all users.
PLAN_TABLE is the default sample output table into which the EXPLAIN PLAN
statement inserts rows describing execution plans. See “PLAN_TABLE Columns” for a
description of the columns in the table.
While a PLAN_TABLE table is automatically set up for each user, you can use the SQL
script catplan.sql to manually create the global temporary table and the
PLAN_TABLE synonym. The name and location of this script depends on your
operating system. On UNIX and Linux, the script is located in the $ORACLE_HOME/
rdbms/admin directory.
For example, start a SQL*Plus session, connect with SYSDBA privileges, and run the
script as follows:
@$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/catplan.sql

Oracle recommends that you drop and rebuild your local PLAN_TABLE table after
upgrading the version of the database because the columns might change. This can
cause scripts to fail or cause TKPROF to fail, if you are specifying the table.
If you do not want to use the name PLAN_TABLE, create a new synonym after running
the catplan.sql script. For example:
CREATE OR REPLACE PUBLIC SYNONYM my_plan_table for plan_table$

Generating Execution Plans

The EXPLAIN PLAN statement enables you to examine the execution plan that the
optimizer chose for a SQL statement. When the statement is issued, the optimizer
chooses an execution plan and then inserts data describing the plan into a database
table. Issue the EXPLAIN PLAN statement and then query the output table.

Executing EXPLAIN PLAN for a Single Statement

The basics of using the EXPLAIN PLAN statement are as follows:

• Use the SQL script CATPLAN.SQL to create a sample output table called
PLAN_TABLE in your schema. See “Guidelines for Creating PLAN_TABLE”.

• Include the EXPLAIN PLAN FOR clause before the SQL statement.

• After issuing the EXPLAIN PLAN statement, use a script or package provided by
Oracle Database to display the most recent plan table output. See “Displaying
PLAN_TABLE Output”.

• The execution order in EXPLAIN PLAN output begins with the line that is the
furthest indented to the right. The next step is the parent of that line. If two lines
are indented equally, then the top line is normally executed first.

Generating and Displaying Execution Plans 6-5

Generating Execution Plans

Note:

– The EXPLAIN PLAN output tables in this chapter were displayed with the
utlxpls.sql script.

– The steps in the EXPLAIN PLAN output in this chapter may be different on
your system. The optimizer may choose different execution plans,
depending on database configurations.

To explain a SQL statement, use the EXPLAIN PLAN FOR clause immediately before
the statement. For example:
EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
SELECT last_name FROM employees;

This explains the plan into the PLAN_TABLE table. You can then select the execution
plan from PLAN_TABLE. See “Displaying PLAN_TABLE Output”.

Executing EXPLAIN PLAN Using a Statement ID

With multiple statements, you can specify a statement identifier and use that to
identify your specific execution plan. Before using SET STATEMENT ID, remove any
existing rows for that statement ID.
In Example 6-2, st1 is specified as the statement identifier:
Example 6-2 Using EXPLAIN PLAN with the STATEMENT ID Clause
EXPLAIN PLAN
SET STATEMENT_ID = 'st1' FOR
SELECT last_name FROM employees;

Directing EXPLAIN PLAN Output to a Nondefault Table

You can specify the INTO clause to specify a different table.

See Also:

Oracle Database SQL Language Reference for a complete description of EXPLAIN

PLAN syntax.

Example 6-3 Using EXPLAIN PLAN with the INTO Clause

EXPLAIN PLAN
INTO my_plan_table FOR
SELECT last_name FROM employees;

You can specify a statement ID when using the INTO clause.

EXPLAIN PLAN
SET STATEMENT_ID = 'st1'
INTO my_plan_table FOR
SELECT last_name FROM employees;

6-6 SQL Tuning Guide

 Displaying PLAN_TABLE Output

Displaying PLAN_TABLE Output

After you have explained the plan, use the following SQL scripts or PL/SQL package
provided by Oracle Database to display the most recent plan table output:

• UTLXPLS.SQL
This script displays the plan table output for serial processing. Example 6-5 is an
example of the plan table output when using the UTLXPLS.SQL script.

• UTLXPLP.SQL
This script displays the plan table output including parallel execution columns.

• DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY table function

This function accepts options for displaying the plan table output. You can specify:

– A plan table name if you are using a table different than PLAN_TABLE

– A statement ID if you have set a statement ID with the EXPLAIN PLAN

– A format option that determines the level of detail: BASIC, SERIAL, TYPICAL,
and ALL
Examples of using DBMS_XPLAN to display PLAN_TABLE output are:
SELECT PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY());

SELECT PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY('MY_PLAN_TABLE', 'st1','TYPICAL'));

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for more information
about the DBMS_XPLAN package

Displaying an Execution Plan: Example

Example 6-4 uses EXPLAIN PLAN to examine a SQL statement that selects the
employee_id, job_title, salary, and department_name for the employees
whose IDs are less than 103.
Example 6-4 Using EXPLAIN PLAN
EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
SELECT e.employee_id, j.job_title, e.salary, d.department_name
FROM employees e, jobs j, departments d
WHERE e.employee_id < 103
AND e.job_id = j.job_id
AND e.department_id = d.department_id;

Example 6-5 EXPLAIN PLAN Output

The following output table shows the execution plan that the optimizer chose to
execute the SQL statement in Example 6-4:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Generating and Displaying Execution Plans 6-7

Displaying PLAN_TABLE Output

| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 3 | 189 | 10 (10)|

| 1 | NESTED LOOPS | | 3 | 189 | 10 (10)|
| 2 | NESTED LOOPS | | 3 | 141 | 7 (15)|
|* 3 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | EMPLOYEES | 3 | 60 | 4 (25)|
| 4 | TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID| JOBS | 19 | 513 | 2 (50)|
|* 5 | INDEX UNIQUE SCAN | JOB_ID_PK | 1 | | |
| 6 | TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID | DEPARTMENTS | 27 | 432 | 2 (50)|
|* 7 | INDEX UNIQUE SCAN | DEPT_ID_PK | 1 | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------
3 - filter("E"."EMPLOYEE_ID"<103)
5 - access("E"."JOB_ID"="J"."JOB_ID")
7 - access("E"."DEPARTMENT_ID"="D"."DEPARTMENT_ID"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 3 | 189 | 8 (13)| 00:00:01 |
| 1 | NESTED LOOPS | | | | | |
| 2 | NESTED LOOPS | | 3 | 189 | 8 (13)| 00:00:01 |
| 3 | MERGE JOIN | | 3 | 141 | 5 (20)| 00:00:01 |
| 4 | TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID | JOBS | 19 | 513 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 5 | INDEX FULL SCAN | JOB_ID_PK | 19 | | 1 (0)| 00:00:01 |
|* 6 | SORT JOIN | | 3 | 60 | 3 (34)| 00:00:01 |
| 7 | TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID| EMPLOYEES | 3 | 60 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
|* 8 | INDEX RANGE SCAN | EMP_EMP_ID_PK | 3 | | 1 (0)| 00:00:01 |
|* 9 | INDEX UNIQUE SCAN | DEPT_ID_PK | 1 | | 0 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 10 | TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID | DEPARTMENTS | 1 | 16 | 1 (0)| 00:00:01 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

6 - access("E"."JOB_ID"="J"."JOB_ID")
filter("E"."JOB_ID"="J"."JOB_ID")
8 - access("E"."EMPLOYEE_ID"<103)
9 - access("E"."DEPARTMENT_ID"="D"."DEPARTMENT_ID")

Customizing PLAN_TABLE Output

If you have specified a statement identifier, then you can write your own script to
query the PLAN_TABLE. For example:

• Start with ID = 0 and given STATEMENT_ID.

• Use the CONNECT BY clause to walk the tree from parent to child, the join keys
being STATEMENT_ID = PRIOR STATEMENT_ID and PARENT_ID = PRIOR ID.

• Use the pseudo-column LEVEL (associated with CONNECT BY) to indent the
children.
SELECT cardinality "Rows",
lpad(' ',level-1)||operation||' '||options||' '||object_name "Plan"
FROM PLAN_TABLE
CONNECT BY prior id = parent_id
AND prior statement_id = statement_id
START WITH id = 0
AND statement_id = 'st1'
ORDER BY id;

6-8 SQL Tuning Guide

 Displaying PLAN_TABLE Output

Rows Plan
------- ----------------------------------------
SELECT STATEMENT
TABLE ACCESS FULL EMPLOYEES

The NULL in the Rows column indicates that the optimizer does not have any
statistics on the table. Analyzing the table shows the following:
Rows Plan
------- ----------------------------------------
16957 SELECT STATEMENT
16957 TABLE ACCESS FULL EMPLOYEES

You can also select the COST. This is useful for comparing execution plans or for
understanding why the optimizer chooses one execution plan over another.

Note:

These simplified examples are not valid for recursive SQL.

Generating and Displaying Execution Plans 6-9

Displaying PLAN_TABLE Output

6-10 SQL Tuning Guide

 7
Reading Execution Plans

This chapter contains the following topics:

• Reading Execution Plans: Basic

• Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

• Execution Plan Reference

Reading Execution Plans: Basic

This section uses EXPLAIN PLAN examples to illustrate execution plans. The
following query displays the execution plans:
SELECT PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY(NULL, 'statement_id','BASIC'));

Examples of the output from this statement are shown in Example 7-4 and Example
7-1.
Example 7-1 EXPLAIN PLAN for Statement ID ex_plan1
The following plan shows execution of a SELECT statement. The table employees is
accessed using a full table scan. Every row in the table employees is accessed, and
the WHERE clause criteria is evaluated for every row.
EXPLAIN PLAN
SET statement_id = 'ex_plan1' FOR
SELECT phone_number
FROM employees
WHERE phone_number LIKE '650%';

---------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name |
---------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | |
| 1 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| EMPLOYEES |
---------------------------------------

Example 7-2 EXPLAIN PLAN for Statement ID ex_plan2

This following plan shows the execution of a SELECT statement. In this example, the
database range scans the EMP_NAME_IX index to evaluate the WHERE clause criteria.
EXPLAIN PLAN
SET statement_id = 'ex_plan2' FOR
SELECT last_name
FROM employees
WHERE last_name LIKE 'Pe%';

SELECT PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT

Reading Execution Plans 7-1

Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY(NULL, 'ex_plan2','BASIC'));

----------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name |
----------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | |
| 1 | INDEX RANGE SCAN| EMP_NAME_IX |
----------------------------------------

Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

This section contains the following topics:

• Reading Adaptive Plans

• Viewing Parallel Execution with EXPLAIN PLAN

• Viewing Bitmap Indexes with EXPLAIN PLAN

• Viewing Result Cache with EXPLAIN PLAN

• Viewing Partitioned Objects with EXPLAIN PLAN

• PLAN_TABLE Columns

Reading Adaptive Plans

The adaptive optimizer is a feature of the optimizer that enables it to adapt plans
based on run-time statistics. All adaptive mechanisms can execute a final plan for a
statement that differs from the default plan.
An adaptive plan chooses among subplans during the current statement execution. In
contrast, automatic reoptimization changes a plan only on executions that occur after
the current statement execution.
You can determine whether the database used adaptive query optimization for a SQL
statement based on the comments in the Notes section of plan. The comments
indicate whether row sources are dynamic, or whether automatic reoptimization
adapted a plan.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• The STATISTICS_LEVEL initialization parameter is set to ALL.

• The database uses the default settings for adaptive execution.

• As user oe, you want to issue the following separate queries:

SELECT o.order_id, v.product_name
FROM orders o,
( SELECT order_id, product_name
FROM order_items o, product_information p
WHERE p.product_id = o.product_id
AND list_price < 50
AND min_price < 40 ) v
WHERE o.order_id = v.order_id

SELECT product_name
FROM order_items o, product_information p

7-2 SQL Tuning Guide

 Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

WHERE o.unit_price = 15
AND quantity > 1
AND p.product_id = o.product_id

• Before executing each query, you want to query DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_PLAN to

see the default plan, that is, the plan that the optimizer chose before applying its
adaptive mechanism.

• After executing each query, you want to query DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR to

see the final plan and adaptive plan.

• SYS has granted oe the following privileges:

– GRANT SELECT ON V_$SESSION TO oe

– GRANT SELECT ON V_$SQL TO oe

– GRANT SELECT ON V_$SQL_PLAN TO oe

– GRANT SELECT ON V_$SQL_PLAN_STATISTICS_ALL TO oe

To see the results of adaptive optimization:

1. Start SQL*Plus, and then connect to the database as user oe.

2. Query orders.
For example, use the following statement:
SELECT o.order_id, v.product_name
FROM orders o,
( SELECT order_id, product_name
FROM order_items o, product_information p
WHERE p.product_id = o.product_id
AND list_price < 50
AND min_price < 40 ) v
WHERE o.order_id = v.order_id;

3. View the plan in the cursor.

For example, run the following commands:
SET LINESIZE 165
SET PAGESIZE 0
SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR(FORMAT=>'+ALLSTATS'));

The following sample output has been reformatted to fit on the page. In this plan,
the optimizer chooses a nested loops join. The original optimizer estimates are
shown in the E-Rows column, whereas the actual statistics gathered during
execution are shown in the A-Rows column. In the MERGE JOIN operation, the
difference between the estimated and actual number of rows is significant.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Start|E-Rows|A-Rows|A-Time|Buff|OMem|1Mem|O/1/M|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | 1| | 269|00:00:00.09|1338| | | |
| 1| NESTED LOOPS | | 1| 1| 269|00:00:00.09|1338| | | |
| 2| MERGE JOIN CARTESIAN| | 1| 4|9135|00:00:00.03| 33| | | |
|*3| TABLE ACCESS FULL |PRODUCT_INFORMAT| 1| 1| 87|00:00:00.01| 32| | | |
| 4| BUFFER SORT | | 87|105|9135|00:00:00.01| 1|4096|4096|1/0/0|
| 5| INDEX FULL SCAN | ORDER_PK | 1|105| 105|00:00:00.01| 1| | | |
|*6| INDEX UNIQUE SCAN | ORDER_ITEMS_UK |9135| 1| 269|00:00:00.03|1305| | | |

Reading Execution Plans 7-3

Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

3 - filter(("MIN_PRICE"<40 AND "LIST_PRICE"<50))

6 - access("O"."ORDER_ID"="ORDER_ID" AND "P"."PRODUCT_ID"="O"."PRODUCT_ID")

4. Run the same query of orders that you ran in Step 2.

5. View the execution plan in the cursor by using the same SELECT statement that
you ran in Step 3.
The following example shows that the optimizer has chosen a different plan,
using a hash join. The Note section shows that the optimizer used statistics
feedback to adjust its cost estimates for the second execution of the query, thus
illustrating automatic reoptimization.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation |Name |Start|E-Rows|A-Rows|A-Time|Buff|Reads|OMem|1Mem|O/1/M|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | 1 | |269|00:00:00.02|60|1| | | |
| 1| NESTED LOOPS | | 1 |269|269|00:00:00.02|60|1| | | |
|*2| HASH JOIN | | 1 |313|269|00:00:00.02|39|1|1000K|1000K|1/0/0|
|*3| TABLE ACCESS FULL |PRODUCT_INFORMA| 1 | 87| 87|00:00:00.01|15|0| | | |
| 4| INDEX FAST FULL SCAN|ORDER_ITEMS_UK | 1 |665|665|00:00:00.01|24|1| | | |
|*5| INDEX UNIQUE SCAN |ORDER_PK |269| 1|269|00:00:00.01|21|0| | | |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

2 - access("P"."PRODUCT_ID"="O"."PRODUCT_ID")
3 - filter(("MIN_PRICE"<40 AND "LIST_PRICE"<50))
5 - access("O"."ORDER_ID"="ORDER_ID")

Note
-----
- statistics feedback used for this statement

6. Query V$SQL to verify the performance improvement.

The following query shows the performance of the two statements (sample output
included).
SELECT CHILD_NUMBER, CPU_TIME, ELAPSED_TIME, BUFFER_GETS
FROM V$SQL
WHERE SQL_ID = 'gm2npz344xqn8';

CHILD_NUMBER CPU_TIME ELAPSED_TIME BUFFER_GETS

------------ ---------- ------------ -----------
0 92006 131485 1831
1 12000 24156 60

The second statement executed, which is child number 1, used statistics feedback.
CPU time, elapsed time, and buffer gets are all significantly lower.

7. Explain the plan for the query of order_items.

For example, use the following statement:
EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
SELECT product_name

7-4 SQL Tuning Guide

 Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

FROM order_items o, product_information p

WHERE o.unit_price = 15
AND quantity > 1
AND p.product_id = o.product_id

8. View the plan in the plan table.

For example, run the following statement:
SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY);

Sample output appears below:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost (%CPU)|Time|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | |4|128|7 (0)|00:00:01|
| 1| NESTED LOOPS | | | | | |
| 2| NESTED LOOPS | |4|128|7 (0)|00:00:01|
|*3| TABLE ACCESS FULL |ORDER_ITEMS |4|48 |3 (0)|00:00:01|
|*4| INDEX UNIQUE SCAN |PRODUCT_INFORMATION_PK|1| |0 (0)|00:00:01|
| 5| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID|PRODUCT_INFORMATION |1|20 |1 (0)|00:00:01|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

3 - filter("O"."UNIT_PRICE"=15 AND "QUANTITY">1)

4 - access("P"."PRODUCT_ID"="O"."PRODUCT_ID")

In this plan, the optimizer chooses a nested loops join.

9. Run the query that you previously explained.

For example, use the following statement:
SELECT product_name
FROM order_items o, product_information p
WHERE o.unit_price = 15
AND quantity > 1
AND p.product_id = o.product_id

10. View the plan in the cursor.

For example, run the following commands:

SET LINESIZE 165
SET PAGESIZE 0
SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY(FORMAT=>'+ADAPTIVE'));

Sample output appears below. Based on statistics collected at run time (Step 4),
the optimizer chose a hash join rather than the nested loops join. The dashes (-)
indicate the steps in the nested loops plan that the optimizer considered but do
not ultimately choose. The switch illustrates the adaptive plan feature.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id | Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost(%CPU)|Time |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | |4|128|7(0)|00:00:01|
| *1| HASH JOIN | |4|128|7(0)|00:00:01|
|- 2| NESTED LOOPS | | | | | |
|- 3| NESTED LOOPS | | |128|7(0)|00:00:01|
|- 4| STATISTICS COLLECTOR | | | | | |

Reading Execution Plans 7-5

Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

| *5| TABLE ACCESS FULL | ORDER_ITEMS |4| 48|3(0)|00:00:01|

|-*6| INDEX UNIQUE SCAN | PRODUCT_INFORMATI_PK|1| |0(0)|00:00:01|
|- 7| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID| PRODUCT_INFORMATION |1| 20|1(0)|00:00:01|
| 8| TABLE ACCESS FULL | PRODUCT_INFORMATION |1| 20|1(0)|00:00:01|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------
1 - access("P"."PRODUCT_ID"="O"."PRODUCT_ID")
5 - filter("O"."UNIT_PRICE"=15 AND "QUANTITY">1)
6 - access("P"."PRODUCT_ID"="O"."PRODUCT_ID")

Note
-----
- this is an adaptive plan (rows marked '-' are inactive)

See Also:

• “Adaptive Plans”

• “Table 7-8”

• “Controlling Adaptive Optimization”

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the STATISTICS_LEVEL

initialization parameter

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn more about
DBMS_XPLAN

Viewing Parallel Execution with EXPLAIN PLAN

Tuning a parallel query begins much like a non-parallel query tuning exercise by
choosing the driving table. However, the rules governing the choice are different. In
the non-parallel case, the best driving table is typically the one that produces fewest
number of rows after limiting conditions are applied. The small number of rows are
joined to larger tables using non-unique indexes.

About EXPLAIN PLAN and Parallel Queries

For example, consider a table hierarchy consisting of customer, account, and
transaction.

Figure 7-1 A Table Hierarchy

TRANSACTION
ACCOUNT
CUSTOMER

customer is the smallest table while transaction is the largest. A typical OLTP
query might retrieve transaction information about a specific customer account. The
query drives from the customer table. The goal in this case is to minimize logical
I/O, which typically minimizes other critical resources including physical I/O and
CPU time.

7-6 SQL Tuning Guide

 Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

For parallel queries, the driving table is usually the largest table because the database
can use parallel query. It would not be efficient to use parallel query in this case
because only a few rows from each table are ultimately accessed. However, what if it
were necessary to identify all customers who had transactions of a certain type last
month? It would be more efficient to drive from the transaction table because no
limiting conditions exist on the customer table. The database would join rows from
the transaction table to the account table, and finally to the customer table. In
this case, the indexes used on the account and customer table are probably highly
selective primary key or unique indexes rather than non-unique indexes used in the
first query. Because the transaction table is large and the column is not selective, it
would be beneficial to use parallel query driving from the transaction table.
Parallel operations include the following:

• PARALLEL_TO_PARALLEL

• PARALLEL_TO_SERIAL
A PARALLEL_TO_SERIAL operation is always the step that occurs when the query
coordinator consumes rows from a parallel operation. Another type of operation
that does not occur in this query is a SERIAL operation. If these types of operations
occur, then consider making them parallel operations to improve performance
because they too are potential bottlenecks.

• PARALLEL_FROM_SERIAL

• PARALLEL_TO_PARALLEL
If the workloads in each step are relatively equivalent, then the
PARALLEL_TO_PARALLEL operations generally produce the best performance.

• PARALLEL_COMBINED_WITH_CHILD

• PARALLEL_COMBINED_WITH_PARENT
A PARALLEL_COMBINED_WITH_PARENT operation occurs when the database
performs the step simultaneously with the parent step.
If a parallel step produces many rows, then the QC may not be able to consume the
rows as fast as they are produced. Little can be done to improve this situation.

See Also:

The OTHER_TAG column in “PLAN_TABLE Columns”

Viewing Parallel Queries with EXPLAIN PLAN: Example

When using EXPLAIN PLAN with parallel queries, the database compiles and executes
one parallel plan. This plan is derived from the serial plan by allocating row sources
specific to the parallel support in the QC plan. The table queue row sources (PX Send
and PX Receive), the granule iterator, and buffer sorts, required by the two parallel
execution server set PQ model, are directly inserted into the parallel plan. This plan is
the same plan for all parallel execution servers when executed in parallel or for the QC
when executed serially.
Example 7-3 Parallel Query Explain Plan
The following simple example illustrates an EXPLAIN PLAN for a parallel query:

Reading Execution Plans 7-7

Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

CREATE TABLE emp2 AS SELECT * FROM employees;

ALTER TABLE emp2 PARALLEL 2;

EXPLAIN PLAN FOR

SELECT SUM(salary)
FROM emp2
GROUP BY department_id;

SELECT PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY());

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows| Bytes |Cost %CPU| TQ |IN-OUT| PQ Distrib |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 107 | 2782 | 3 (34) | | | |
| 1 | PX COORDINATOR | | | | | | | |
| 2 | PX SEND QC (RANDOM) | :TQ10001 | 107 | 2782 | 3 (34) | Q1,01 | P->S | QC (RAND) |
| 3 | HASH GROUP BY | | 107 | 2782 | 3 (34) | Q1,01 | PCWP | |
| 4 | PX RECEIVE | | 107 | 2782 | 3 (34) | Q1,01 | PCWP | |
| 5 | PX SEND HASH | :TQ10000 | 107 | 2782 | 3 (34) | Q1,00 | P->P | HASH |
| 6 | HASH GROUP BY | | 107 | 2782 | 3 (34) | Q1,00 | PCWP | |
| 7 | PX BLOCK ITERATOR | | 107 | 2782 | 2 (0) | Q1,00 | PCWP | |
| 8 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| EMP2 | 107 | 2782 | 2 (0) | Q1,00 | PCWP | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One set of parallel execution servers scans EMP2 in parallel, while the second set
performs the aggregation for the GROUP BY operation. The PX BLOCK ITERATOR row
source represents the splitting up of the table EMP2 into pieces to divide the scan
workload between the parallel execution servers. The PX SEND and PX RECEIVE row
sources represent the pipe that connects the two sets of parallel execution servers as
rows flow up from the parallel scan, get repartitioned through the HASH table queue,
and then read by and aggregated on the top set. The PX SEND QC row source
represents the aggregated values being sent to the QC in random (RAND) order. The
PX COORDINATOR row source represents the QC or Query Coordinator which controls
and schedules the parallel plan appearing below it in the plan tree.

Viewing Bitmap Indexes with EXPLAIN PLAN

Index row sources using bitmap indexes appear in the EXPLAIN PLAN output with the
word BITMAP indicating the type of the index.

Note:

Queries using bitmap join index indicate the bitmap join index access path.
The operation for bitmap join index is the same as bitmap index.

Example 7-4 EXPLAIN PLAN with Bitmap Indexes

In this example, the predicate c1=2 yields a bitmap from which a subtraction can take
place. From this bitmap, the bits in the bitmap for c2 = 6 are subtracted. Also, the bits
in the bitmap for c2 IS NULL are subtracted, explaining why there are two MINUS row
sources in the plan. The NULL subtraction is necessary for semantic correctness unless
the column has a NOT NULL constraint. The TO ROWIDS option generates the rowids
necessary for the table access.
EXPLAIN PLAN FOR SELECT *
FROM t
WHERE c1 = 2

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 Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

AND c2 <> 6
OR c3 BETWEEN 10 AND 20;

SELECT STATEMENT
TABLE ACCESS T BY INDEX ROWID
BITMAP CONVERSION TO ROWID
BITMAP OR
BITMAP MINUS
BITMAP MINUS
BITMAP INDEX C1_IND SINGLE VALUE
BITMAP INDEX C2_IND SINGLE VALUE
BITMAP INDEX C2_IND SINGLE VALUE
BITMAP MERGE
BITMAP INDEX C3_IND RANGE SCAN

Viewing Result Cache with EXPLAIN PLAN

When your query contains the result_cache hint, the ResultCache operator is
inserted into the execution plan.
For example, consider the following query:
SELECT /*+ result_cache */ deptno, avg(sal)
FROM emp
GROUP BY deptno;

To view the EXPLAIN PLAN for this query, use the following command:
EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
SELECT /*+ result_cache */ deptno, avg(sal)
FROM emp
GROUP BY deptno;

SELECT PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT FROM TABLE (DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY());

The EXPLAIN PLAN output for this query should look similar to the following:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost(%CPU)|Time |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|0| SELECT STATEMENT | | 11 | 77 | 4 (25)| 00:00:01|
|1| RESULT CACHE |b06ppfz9pxzstbttpbqyqnfbmy| | | | |
|2| HASH GROUP BY | | 11 | 77 | 4 (25)| 00:00:01|
|3| TABLE ACCESS FULL| EMP |107 | 749| 3 (0) | 00:00:01|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In this EXPLAIN PLAN, the ResultCache operator is identified by its CacheId,

which is b06ppfz9pxzstbttpbqyqnfbmy. You can now run a query on the V
$RESULT_CACHE_OBJECTS view by using this CacheId.

Viewing Partitioned Objects with EXPLAIN PLAN

Use EXPLAIN PLAN to see how Oracle Database accesses partitioned objects for
specific queries.
Partitions accessed after pruning are shown in the PARTITION START and
PARTITION STOP columns. The row source name for the range partition is
PARTITION RANGE. For hash partitions, the row source name is PARTITION HASH.
A join is implemented using partial partition-wise join if the DISTRIBUTION column
of the plan table of one of the joined tables contains PARTITION(KEY). Partial

Reading Execution Plans 7-9

Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

partition-wise join is possible if one of the joined tables is partitioned on its join
column and the table is parallelized.
A join is implemented using full partition-wise join if the partition row source appears
before the join row source in the EXPLAIN PLAN output. Full partition-wise joins are
possible only if both joined tables are equi-partitioned on their respective join
columns. Examples of execution plans for several types of partitioning follow.

Displaying Range and Hash Partitioning with EXPLAIN PLAN: Examples

Consider the following table, emp_range, partitioned by range on hire_date to
illustrate how pruning is displayed. Assume that the tables employees and
departments from the Oracle Database sample schema exist.
CREATE TABLE emp_range
PARTITION BY RANGE(hire_date)
(
PARTITION emp_p1 VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('1-JAN-1992','DD-MON-YYYY')),
PARTITION emp_p2 VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('1-JAN-1994','DD-MON-YYYY')),
PARTITION emp_p3 VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('1-JAN-1996','DD-MON-YYYY')),
PARTITION emp_p4 VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('1-JAN-1998','DD-MON-YYYY')),
PARTITION emp_p5 VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('1-JAN-2001','DD-MON-YYYY'))
)
AS SELECT * FROM employees;

For the first example, consider the following statement:

EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
SELECT * FROM emp_range;

Oracle Database displays something similar to the following:

--------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Rows| Bytes|Cost|Pstart|Pstop|
--------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | 105| 13965 | 2 | | |
| 1| PARTITION RANGE ALL| | 105| 13965 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 2| TABLE ACCESS FULL | EMP_RANGE | 105| 13965 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------

The database creates a partition row source on top of the table access row source. It
iterates over the set of partitions to be accessed. In this example, the partition iterator
covers all partitions (option ALL), because a predicate was not used for pruning. The
PARTITION_START and PARTITION_STOP columns of the PLAN_TABLE show access
to all partitions from 1 to 5.
For the next example, consider the following statement:
EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
SELECT *
FROM emp_range
WHERE hire_date >= TO_DATE('1-JAN-1996','DD-MON-YYYY');

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost|Pstart|Pstop|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 3 | 399 | 2 | | |
| 1 | PARTITION RANGE ITERATOR| | 3 | 399 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| *2 | TABLE ACCESS FULL |EMP_RANGE| 3 | 399 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

In the previous example, the partition row source iterates from partition 4 to 5 because
the database prunes the other partitions using a predicate on hire_date.

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Finally, consider the following statement:

EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
SELECT *
FROM emp_range
WHERE hire_date < TO_DATE('1-JAN-1992','DD-MON-YYYY');

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost|Pstart|Pstop|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1 | 133 | 2 | | |
| 1 | PARTITION RANGE SINGLE| | 1 | 133 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
|* 2 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | EMP_RANGE | 1 | 133 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

In the previous example, only partition 1 is accessed and known at compile time; thus,
there is no need for a partition row source.

Note:

Oracle Database displays the same information for hash partitioned objects,
except the partition row source name is PARTITION HASH instead of
PARTITION RANGE. Also, with hash partitioning, pruning is only possible
using equality or IN-list predicates.

Pruning Information with Composite Partitioned Objects: Examples

To illustrate how Oracle Database displays pruning information for composite
partitioned objects, consider the table emp_comp that is range partitioned on
hiredate and subpartitioned by hash on deptno.
CREATE TABLE emp_comp PARTITION BY RANGE(hire_date)
SUBPARTITION BY HASH(department_id) SUBPARTITIONS 3
(
PARTITION emp_p1 VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('1-JAN-1992','DD-MON-YYYY')),
PARTITION emp_p2 VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('1-JAN-1994','DD-MON-YYYY')),
PARTITION emp_p3 VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('1-JAN-1996','DD-MON-YYYY')),
PARTITION emp_p4 VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('1-JAN-1998','DD-MON-YYYY')),
PARTITION emp_p5 VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('1-JAN-2001','DD-MON-YYYY'))
)
AS SELECT * FROM employees;

For the first example, consider the following statement:

EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
SELECT * FROM emp_comp;

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes |Cost|Pstart|Pstop|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | 10120 | 1314K| 78 | | |
| 1| PARTITION RANGE ALL| | 10120 | 1314K| 78 | 1 | 5 |
| 2| PARTITION HASH ALL| | 10120 | 1314K| 78 | 1 | 3 |
| 3| TABLE ACCESS FULL| EMP_COMP | 10120 | 1314K| 78 | 1 | 15 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

This example shows the plan when Oracle Database accesses all subpartitions of all
partitions of a composite object. The database uses two partition row sources for this
purpose: a range partition row source to iterate over the partitions and a hash partition
row source to iterate over the subpartitions of each accessed partition.

Reading Execution Plans 7-11

Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

In the following example, the range partition row source iterates from partition 1 to 5,
because the database performs no pruning. Within each partition, the hash partition
row source iterates over subpartitions 1 to 3 of the current partition. As a result, the
table access row source accesses subpartitions 1 to 15. In other words, it accesses all
subpartitions of the composite object.
EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
SELECT *
FROM emp_comp
WHERE hire_date = TO_DATE('15-FEB-1998', 'DD-MON-YYYY');

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes |Cost|Pstart|Pstop|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 20 | 2660 | 17 | | |
| 1 | PARTITION RANGE SINGLE| | 20 | 2660 | 17 | 5 | 5 |
| 2 | PARTITION HASH ALL | | 20 | 2660 | 17 | 1 | 3 |
|* 3 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | EMP_COMP | 20 | 2660 | 17 | 13 | 15 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

In the previous example, only the last partition, partition 5, is accessed. This partition
is known at compile time, so the database does not need to show it in the plan. The
hash partition row source shows accessing of all subpartitions within that partition;
that is, subpartitions 1 to 3, which translates into subpartitions 13 to 15 of the
emp_comp table.
Now consider the following statement:
EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
SELECT *
FROM emp_comp
WHERE department_id = 20;

------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation |Name |Rows | Bytes |Cost|Pstart|Pstop|
------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 101 | 13433 | 78 | | |
| 1 | PARTITION RANGE ALL | | 101 | 13433 | 78 | 1 | 5 |
| 2 | PARTITION HASH SINGLE| | 101 | 13433 | 78 | 3 | 3 |
|* 3 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | EMP_COMP | 101 | 13433 | 78 | | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the previous example, the predicate deptno = 20 enables pruning on the hash
dimension within each partition, so Oracle Database only needs to access a single
subpartition. The number of that subpartition is known at compile time, so the hash
partition row source is not needed.
Finally, consider the following statement:
VARIABLE dno NUMBER;
EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
SELECT *
FROM emp_comp
WHERE department_id = :dno;

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation | Name |Rows| Bytes |Cost|Pstart|Pstop|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 101| 13433 | 78 | | |
| 1 | PARTITION RANGE ALL | | 101| 13433 | 78 | 1 | 5 |
| 2 | PARTITION HASH SINGLE| | 101| 13433 | 78 | KEY | KEY |

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|*3 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | EMP_COMP | 101| 13433 | 78 | | |

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The last two examples are the same, except that department_id = :dno replaces
deptno = 20. In this last case, the subpartition number is unknown at compile time,
and a hash partition row source is allocated. The option is SINGLE for that row source,
because Oracle Database accesses only one subpartition within each partition. The
PARTITION_START and PARTITION_STOP is set to KEY, which means that Oracle
Database determines the number of subpartitions at run time.

Examples of Partial Partition-Wise Joins

In both Example 7-5 and Example 7-6, the PQ_DISTRIBUTE hint explicitly forces a
partial partition-wise join because the query optimizer could have chosen a different
plan based on cost in this query.
Example 7-5 Partial Partition-Wise Join with Range Partition
In the following example, the database joins emp_range_did on the partitioning
column department_id and parallelizes it. The database can use a partial partition-
wise join because the dept2 table is not partitioned. Oracle Database dynamically
partitions the dept2 table before the join.
CREATE TABLE dept2 AS SELECT * FROM departments;
ALTER TABLE dept2 PARALLEL 2;

CREATE TABLE emp_range_did PARTITION BY RANGE(department_id)

(PARTITION emp_p1 VALUES LESS THAN (150),
PARTITION emp_p5 VALUES LESS THAN (MAXVALUE) )
AS SELECT * FROM employees;

ALTER TABLE emp_range_did PARALLEL 2;

EXPLAIN PLAN FOR

SELECT /*+ PQ_DISTRIBUTE(d NONE PARTITION) ORDERED */ e.last_name,
d.department_name
FROM emp_range_did e, dept2 d
WHERE e.department_id = d.department_id;

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation |Name |Row|Byte|Cost|Pstart|Pstop|TQ|IN-OUT|PQ Distrib|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | |284 |16188|6 | | | | | |
| 1| PX COORDINATOR | | | | | | | | | |
| 2| PX SEND QC (RANDOM) |:TQ10001 |284 |16188|6 | | | Q1,01 |P->S |QC (RAND) |
|*3| HASH JOIN | |284 |16188|6 | | | Q1,01 |PCWP | |
| 4| PX PARTITION RANGE ALL | |284 |7668 |2 | 1 | 2 | Q1,01 |PCWC | |
| 5| TABLE ACCESS FULL |EMP_RANGE_DID|284 |7668 |2 | 1 | 2 | Q1,01 |PCWP | |
| 6| BUFFER SORT | | | | | | | Q1,01 |PCWC | |
| 7| PX RECEIVE | | 21 | 630 |2 | | | Q1,01 |PCWP | |
| 8| PX SEND PARTITION (KEY)|:TQ10000 | 21 | 630 |2 | | | |S->P |PART (KEY)|
| 9| TABLE ACCESS FULL |DEPT2 | 21 | 630 |2 | | | | | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The execution plan shows that the table dept2 is scanned serially and all rows with
the same partitioning column value of emp_range_did (department_id) are sent
through a PART (KEY), or partition key, table queue to the same parallel execution
server doing the partial partition-wise join.

Reading Execution Plans 7-13

Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

Example 7-6 Partial Partition-Wise Join with Composite Partition

In the following example, emp_comp is joined on the partitioning column and is
parallelized, enabling use of a partial partition-wise join because dept2 is not
partitioned. The database dynamically partitions dept2 before the join.
ALTER TABLE emp_comp PARALLEL 2;

EXPLAIN PLAN FOR

SELECT /*+ PQ_DISTRIBUTE(d NONE PARTITION) ORDERED */ e.last_name,
d.department_name
FROM emp_comp e, dept2 d
WHERE e.department_id = d.department_id;

SELECT PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY());

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation | Name |Rows |Bytes |Cost|Pstart|Pstop|TQ |IN-OUT|PQ Distrib|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 445 | 17800 | 5 | | | | | |
| 1 | PX COORDINATOR | | | | | | | | | |
| 2 | PX SEND QC (RANDOM) |:TQ10001| 445 | 17800 | 5 | | | Q1,01 | P->S | QC (RAND)|
|*3 | HASH JOIN | | 445 | 17800 | 5 | | | Q1,01 | PCWP | |
| 4 | PX PARTITION RANGE ALL | | 107 | 1070 | 3 | 1 | 5 | Q1,01 | PCWC | |
| 5 | PX PARTITION HASH ALL | | 107 | 1070 | 3 | 1 | 3 | Q1,01 | PCWC | |
| 6 | TABLE ACCESS FULL |EMP_COMP| 107 | 1070 | 3 | 1 | 15| Q1,01 | PCWP | |
| 7 | PX RECEIVE | | 21 | 630 | 1 | | | Q1,01 | PCWP | |
| 8 | PX SEND PARTITION (KEY)|:TQ10000| 21 | 630 | 1 | | | Q1,00 | P->P |PART (KEY)|
| 9 | PX BLOCK ITERATOR | | 21 | 630 | 1 | | | Q1,00 | PCWC | |
|10 | TABLE ACCESS FULL |DEPT2 | 21 | 630 | 1 | | | Q1,00 | PCWP | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The plan shows that the optimizer selects partial partition-wise join from one of two
columns. The PX SEND node type is PARTITION(KEY) and the PQ Distrib column
contains the text PART (KEY), or partition key. This implies that the table dept2 is re-
partitioned based on the join column department_id to be sent to the parallel
execution servers executing the scan of EMP_COMP and the join.

Example of Full Partition-Wise Join

In the following example, emp_comp and dept_hash are joined on their hash
partitioning columns, enabling use of a full partition-wise join. The PARTITION HASH
row source appears on top of the join row source in the plan table output.
CREATE TABLE dept_hash
PARTITION BY HASH(department_id)
PARTITIONS 3
PARALLEL 2
AS SELECT * FROM departments;

EXPLAIN PLAN FOR

SELECT /*+ PQ_DISTRIBUTE(e NONE NONE) ORDERED */ e.last_name,
d.department_name
FROM emp_comp e, dept_hash d
WHERE e.department_id = d.department_id;

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost|Pstart|Pstop|TQ |IN-OUT|PQ Distrib|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | 106 | 2544 | 8 | | | | | |
| 1| PX COORDINATOR | | | | | | | | | |

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| 2| PX SEND QC (RANDOM) | :TQ10000 | 106 | 2544 | 8 | | | Q1,00 | P->S |QC (RAND)|

| 3| PX PARTITION HASH ALL | | 106 | 2544 | 8 | 1 | 3 | Q1,00 | PCWC | |
|*4| HASH JOIN | | 106 | 2544 | 8 | | | Q1,00 | PCWP | |
| 5| PX PARTITION RANGE ALL| | 107 | 1070 | 3 | 1 | 5 | Q1,00 | PCWC | |
| 6| TABLE ACCESS FULL | EMP_COMP | 107 | 1070 | 3 | 1 | 15 | Q1,00 | PCWP | |
| 7| TABLE ACCESS FULL | DEPT_HASH | 27 | 378 | 4 | 1 | 3 | Q1,00 | PCWP | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The PX PARTITION HASH row source appears on top of the join row source in the plan
table output while the PX PARTITION RANGE row source appears over the scan of
emp_comp. Each parallel execution server performs the join of an entire hash partition
of emp_comp with an entire partition of dept_hash.

Examples of INLIST ITERATOR and EXPLAIN PLAN

An INLIST ITERATOR operation appears in the EXPLAIN PLAN output if an index
implements an IN-list predicate. For example:
SELECT * FROM emp WHERE empno IN (7876, 7900, 7902);

The EXPLAIN PLAN output appears as follows:

OPERATION OPTIONS OBJECT_NAME
---------------- --------------- --------------
SELECT STATEMENT
INLIST ITERATOR
TABLE ACCESS BY ROWID EMP
INDEX RANGE SCAN EMP_EMPNO

The INLIST ITERATOR operation iterates over the next operation in the plan for each
value in the IN-list predicate. The following sections describe the three possible types
of IN-list columns for partitioned tables and indexes.

When the IN-List Column is an Index Column: Example

If the IN-list column empno is an index column but not a partition column, then the
plan is as follows (the IN-list operator appears before the table operation but after the
partition operation):
OPERATION OPTIONS OBJECT_NAME PARTIT_START PARTITION_STOP
---------------- ------------ ----------- ------------ --------------
SELECT STATEMENT
PARTITION RANGE ALL KEY(INLIST) KEY(INLIST)
INLIST ITERATOR
TABLE ACCESS BY LOCAL INDEX ROWID EMP KEY(INLIST) KEY(INLIST)
INDEX RANGE SCAN EMP_EMPNO KEY(INLIST) KEY(INLIST)

The KEY(INLIST) designation for the partition start and stop keys specifies that an IN-
list predicate appears on the index start and stop keys.

When the IN-List Column is an Index and a Partition Column: Example

If empno is an indexed and a partition column, then the plan contains an INLIST
ITERATOR operation before the partition operation:
OPERATION OPTIONS OBJECT_NAME PARTITION_START PARTITION_STOP
---------------- ------------ ----------- --------------- --------------
SELECT STATEMENT
INLIST ITERATOR
PARTITION RANGE ITERATOR KEY(INLIST) KEY(INLIST)
TABLE ACCESS BY LOCAL INDEX ROWID EMP KEY(INLIST) KEY(INLIST)
INDEX RANGE SCAN EMP_EMPNO KEY(INLIST) KEY(INLIST)

Reading Execution Plans 7-15

Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

When the IN-List Column is a Partition Column: Example

If empno is a partition column and no indexes exist, then no INLIST ITERATOR
operation is allocated:
OPERATION OPTIONS OBJECT_NAME PARTITION_START PARTITION_STOP
---------------- ------------ ----------- --------------- --------------
SELECT STATEMENT
PARTITION RANGE INLIST KEY(INLIST) KEY(INLIST)
TABLE ACCESS FULL EMP KEY(INLIST) KEY(INLIST)

If emp_empno is a bitmap index, then the plan is as follows:

OPERATION OPTIONS OBJECT_NAME
---------------- --------------- --------------
SELECT STATEMENT
INLIST ITERATOR
TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID EMP
BITMAP CONVERSION TO ROWIDS
BITMAP INDEX SINGLE VALUE EMP_EMPNO

Example of Domain Indexes and EXPLAIN PLAN

You can also use EXPLAIN PLAN to derive user-defined CPU and I/O costs for domain
indexes. EXPLAIN PLAN displays these statistics in the OTHER column of
PLAN_TABLE.
For example, assume table emp has user-defined operator CONTAINS with a domain
index emp_resume on the resume column, and the index type of emp_resume
supports the operator CONTAINS. You explain the plan for the following query:
SELECT * FROM emp WHERE CONTAINS(resume, 'Oracle') = 1

The database could display the following plan:

OPERATION OPTIONS OBJECT_NAME OTHER
----------------- ----------- ------------ ----------------
SELECT STATEMENT
TABLE ACCESS BY ROWID EMP
DOMAIN INDEX EMP_RESUME CPU: 300, I/O: 4

PLAN_TABLE Columns
The PLAN_TABLE used by the EXPLAIN PLAN statement contains the columns listed in
Table 7-1.

Table 7-1 PLAN_TABLE Columns

Column Type Description

STATEMENT_ID VARCHAR2(30) Value of the optional STATEMENT_ID
parameter specified in the EXPLAIN PLAN
statement.

PLAN_ID NUMBER Unique identifier of a plan in the database.

TIMESTAMP DATE Date and time when the EXPLAIN PLAN

statement was generated.

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Table 7-1 (Cont.) PLAN_TABLE Columns

Column Type Description

REMARKS VARCHAR2(80) Any comment (of up to 80 bytes) you want
to associate with each step of the explained
plan. This column indicates whether the
database used an outline or SQL profile for
the query.
If you need to add or change a remark on
any row of the PLAN_TABLE, then use the
UPDATE statement to modify the rows of
the PLAN_TABLE.

OPERATION VARCHAR2(30) Name of the internal operation performed

in this step. In the first row generated for a
statement, the column contains one of the
following values:
• DELETE STATEMENT
• INSERT STATEMENT
• SELECT STATEMENT
• UPDATE STATEMENT
See Table 7-3 for more information about
values for this column.

OPTIONS VARCHAR2(225) A variation on the operation described in

the OPERATION column.
See Table 7-3 for more information about
values for this column.

OBJECT_NODE VARCHAR2(128) Name of the database link used to reference

the object (a table name or view name). For
local queries using parallel execution, this
column describes the order in which the
database consumes output from operations.

OBJECT_OWNER VARCHAR2(30) Name of the user who owns the schema

containing the table or index.

OBJECT_NAME VARCHAR2(30) Name of the table or index.

OBJECT_ALIAS VARCHAR2(65) Unique alias of a table or view in a SQL

statement. For indexes, it is the object alias
of the underlying table.

OBJECT_INSTANCE NUMERIC Number corresponding to the ordinal

position of the object as it appears in the
original statement. The numbering
proceeds from left to right, outer to inner
for the original statement text. View
expansion results in unpredictable
numbers.

OBJECT_TYPE VARCHAR2(30) Modifier that provides descriptive

information about the object; for example,
NON-UNIQUE for indexes.

OPTIMIZER VARCHAR2(255) Current mode of the optimizer.

Reading Execution Plans 7-17

Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

Table 7-1 (Cont.) PLAN_TABLE Columns

Column Type Description

SEARCH_COLUMNS NUMBERIC Not currently used.

ID NUMERIC A number assigned to each step in the

execution plan.

PARENT_ID NUMERIC The ID of the next execution step that

operates on the output of the ID step.

DEPTH NUMERIC Depth of the operation in the row source

tree that the plan represents. You can use
the value to indent the rows in a plan table
report.

POSITION NUMERIC For the first row of output, this indicates the
optimizer's estimated cost of executing the
statement. For the other rows, it indicates
the position relative to the other children of
the same parent.

COST NUMERIC Cost of the operation as estimated by the

optimizer's query approach. Cost is not
determined for table access operations. The
value of this column does not have any
particular unit of measurement; it is a
weighted value used to compare costs of
execution plans. The value of this column is
a function of the CPU_COST and IO_COST
columns.

CARDINALITY NUMERIC Estimate by the query optimization

approach of the number of rows that the
operation accessed.

BYTES NUMERIC Estimate by the query optimization

approach of the number of bytes that the
operation accessed.

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Table 7-1 (Cont.) PLAN_TABLE Columns

Column Type Description

OTHER_TAG VARCHAR2(255) Describes the contents of the OTHER
column. Values are:
• SERIAL (blank): Serial execution.
Currently, SQL is not loaded in the
OTHER column for this case.
• SERIAL_FROM_REMOTE (S -> R):
Serial execution at a remote site.
• PARALLEL_FROM_SERIAL (S -> P):
Serial execution. Output of step is
partitioned or broadcast to parallel
execution servers.
• PARALLEL_TO_SERIAL (P -> S):
Parallel execution. Output of step is
returned to serial QC process.
• PARALLEL_TO_PARALLEL (P -> P):
Parallel execution. Output of step is
repartitioned to second set of parallel
execution servers.
• PARALLEL_COMBINED_WITH_PARENT
(PWP): Parallel execution; Output of
step goes to next step in same parallel
process. No interprocess
communication to parent.
• PARALLEL_COMBINED_WITH_CHILD
(PWC): Parallel execution. Input of step
comes from prior step in same parallel
process. No interprocess
communication from child.

PARTITION_START VARCHAR2(255) Start partition of a range of accessed

partitions. It can take one of the following
values:
n indicates that the start partition has been
identified by the SQL compiler, and its
partition number is given by n.
KEY indicates that the start partition is
identified at run time from partitioning key
values.
ROW REMOVE_LOCATION indicates that the
database computes the start partition (same
as the stop partition) at run time from the
location of each retrieved record. The
record location is obtained by a user or
from a global index.
INVALID indicates that the range of
accessed partitions is empty.

Reading Execution Plans 7-19

Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

Table 7-1 (Cont.) PLAN_TABLE Columns

Column Type Description

PARTITION_STOP VARCHAR2(255) Stop partition of a range of accessed
partitions. It can take one of the following
values:
n indicates that the stop partition has been
identified by the SQL compiler, and its
partition number is given by n.
KEY indicates that the stop partition is
identified at run time from partitioning key
values.
ROW REMOVE_LOCATION indicates that the
database computes the stop partition (same
as the start partition) at run time from the
location of each retrieved record. The
record location is obtained by a user or
from a global index.
INVALID indicates that the range of
accessed partitions is empty.

PARTITION_ID NUMERIC Step that has computed the pair of values of

the PARTITION_START and
PARTITION_STOP columns.

OTHER LONG Other information that is specific to the

execution step that a user might find useful.
See the OTHER_TAG column.

DISTRIBUTION VARCHAR2(30) Method used to distribute rows from

producer query servers to consumer query
servers.
See Table 7-2 for more information about
the possible values for this column. For
more information about consumer and
producer query servers, see Oracle Database
Data Warehousing Guide.

CPU_COST NUMERIC CPU cost of the operation as estimated by

the query optimizer's approach. The value
of this column is proportional to the
number of machine cycles required for the
operation. For statements that use the rule-
based approach, this column is null.

IO_COST NUMERIC I/O cost of the operation as estimated by

the query optimizer's approach. The value
of this column is proportional to the
number of data blocks read by the
operation. For statements that use the rule-
based approach, this column is null.

TEMP_SPACE NUMERIC Temporary space, in bytes, that the

operation uses as estimated by the query
optimizer's approach. For statements that
use the rule-based approach, or for
operations that do not use any temporary
space, this column is null.

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 Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

Table 7-1 (Cont.) PLAN_TABLE Columns

Column Type Description

ACCESS_PREDICATES VARCHAR2(4000) Predicates used to locate rows in an access
structure. For example, start or stop
predicates for an index range scan.

FILTER_PREDICATES VARCHAR2(4000) Predicates used to filter rows before

producing them.

PROJECTION VARCHAR2(4000) Expressions produced by the operation.

TIME NUMBER(20,2) Elapsed time in seconds of the operation as

estimated by query optimization. For
statements that use the rule-based
approach, this column is null. The
DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_PLAN out, the
time is in the HH:MM:SS format.

QBLOCK_NAME VARCHAR2(30) Name of the query block, either system-

generated or defined by the user with the
QB_NAME hint.

Table 7-2 describes the values that can appear in the DISTRIBUTION column:

Table 7-2 Values of DISTRIBUTION Column of the PLAN_TABLE

DISTRIBUTION Text Interpretation

PARTITION (ROWID) Maps rows to query servers based on the partitioning of a table or index using the
rowid of the row to UPDATE/DELETE.

PARTITION (KEY) Maps rows to query servers based on the partitioning of a table or index using a set of
columns. Used for partial partition-wise join, PARALLEL INSERT, CREATE TABLE AS
SELECT of a partitioned table, and CREATE PARTITIONED GLOBAL INDEX.

HASH Maps rows to query servers using a hash function on the join key. Used for PARALLEL
JOIN or PARALLEL GROUP BY.

RANGE Maps rows to query servers using ranges of the sort key. Used when the statement
contains an ORDER BY clause.

ROUND-ROBIN Randomly maps rows to query servers.

BROADCAST Broadcasts the rows of the entire table to each query server. Used for a parallel join
when one table is very small compared to the other.

QC (ORDER) The QC consumes the input in order, from the first to the last query server. Used when
the statement contains an ORDER BY clause.

QC (RANDOM) The QC consumes the input randomly. Used when the statement does not have an
ORDER BY clause.

Table 7-3 lists each combination of OPERATION and OPTIONS produced by the
EXPLAIN PLAN statement and its meaning within an execution plan.

Table 7-3 OPERATION and OPTIONS Values Produced by EXPLAIN PLAN

Reading Execution Plans 7-21

Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

Table 7-3 (Cont.) OPERATION and OPTIONS Values Produced by EXPLAIN PLAN

Operation Option Description

AND-EQUAL Operation accepting multiple sets of rowids, returning
the intersection of the sets, eliminating duplicates.
Used for the single-column indexes access path.

BITMAP CONVERSION TO ROWIDS converts bitmap representations to actual

rowids that you can use to access the table.
FROM ROWIDS converts the rowids to a bitmap
representation.
COUNT returns the number of rowids if the actual
values are not needed.

BITMAP INDEX SINGLE VALUE looks up the bitmap for a single key
value in the index.
RANGE SCAN retrieves bitmaps for a key value range.
FULL SCAN performs a full scan of a bitmap index if
there is no start or stop key.

BITMAP MERGE Merges several bitmaps resulting from a range scan

into one bitmap.

BITMAP MINUS Subtracts bits of one bitmap from another. Row source
is used for negated predicates. Use this option only if
there are nonnegated predicates yielding a bitmap
from which the subtraction can take place. An
example appears in “Viewing Bitmap Indexes with
EXPLAIN PLAN”.

BITMAP OR Computes the bitwise OR of two bitmaps.

BITMAP AND Computes the bitwise AND of two bitmaps.

BITMAP KEY Takes each row from a table row source and finds the
ITERATION corresponding bitmap from a bitmap index. This set of
bitmaps are then merged into one bitmap in a
following BITMAP MERGE operation.

CONNECT BY Retrieves rows in hierarchical order for a query

containing a CONNECT BY clause.

CONCATENATION Operation accepting multiple sets of rows returning

the union-all of the sets.

COUNT Operation counting the number of rows selected from

a table.

COUNT STOPKEY Count operation where the number of rows returned

is limited by the ROWNUM expression in the WHERE
clause.

CUBE SCAN Uses inner joins for all cube access.

CUBE SCAN PARTIAL Uses an outer join for at least one dimension, and
OUTER inner joins for the other dimensions.

CUBE SCAN OUTER Uses outer joins for all cube access.

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 Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

Table 7-3 (Cont.) OPERATION and OPTIONS Values Produced by EXPLAIN PLAN

Operation Option Description

DOMAIN INDEX Retrieval of one or more rowids from a domain index.
The options column contain information supplied by a
user-defined domain index cost function, if any.

FILTER Operation accepting a set of rows, eliminates some of

them, and returns the rest.

FIRST ROW Retrieval of only the first row selected by a query.

FOR UPDATE Operation retrieving and locking the rows selected by

a query containing a FOR UPDATE clause.

HASH GROUP BY Operation hashing a set of rows into groups for a

query with a GROUP BY clause.

HASH GROUP BY Operation hashing a set of rows into groups for a

PIVOT query with a GROUP BY clause. The PIVOT option
indicates a pivot-specific optimization for the HASH
GROUP BY operator.

HASH JOIN Operation joining two sets of rows and returning the
(These are join result. This join method is useful for joining large data
operations.) sets of data (DSS, Batch). The join condition is an
efficient way of accessing the second table.
Query optimizer uses the smaller of the two tables/
data sources to build a hash table on the join key in
memory. Then it scans the larger table, probing the
hash table to find the joined rows.

HASH JOIN ANTI Hash (left) antijoin

HASH JOIN SEMI Hash (left) semijoin

HASH JOIN RIGHT ANTI Hash right antijoin

HASH JOIN RIGHT SEMI Hash right semijoin

HASH JOIN OUTER Hash (left) outer join

HASH JOIN RIGHT OUTER Hash right outer join

INDEX UNIQUE SCAN Retrieval of a single rowid from an index.

(These are access
methods.)

INDEX RANGE SCAN Retrieval of one or more rowids from an index.

Indexed values are scanned in ascending order.

INDEX RANGE SCAN Retrieval of one or more rowids from an index.

DESCENDING Indexed values are scanned in descending order.

INDEX FULL SCAN Retrieval of all rowids from an index when there is no
start or stop key. Indexed values are scanned in
ascending order.

Reading Execution Plans 7-23

Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

Table 7-3 (Cont.) OPERATION and OPTIONS Values Produced by EXPLAIN PLAN

Operation Option Description

INDEX FULL SCAN Retrieval of all rowids from an index when there is no
DESCENDING start or stop key. Indexed values are scanned in
descending order.

INDEX FAST FULL Retrieval of all rowids (and column values) using
SCAN multiblock reads. No sorting order can be defined.
Compares to a full table scan on only the indexed
columns. Only available with the cost based
optimizer.

INDEX SKIP SCAN Retrieval of rowids from a concatenated index

without using the leading column(s) in the index.
Only available with the cost based optimizer.

INLIST Iterates over the next operation in the plan for each
ITERATOR value in the IN-list predicate.

INTERSECTION Operation accepting two sets of rows and returning

the intersection of the sets, eliminating duplicates.

MERGE JOIN Operation accepting two sets of rows, each sorted by a

(These are join value, combining each row from one set with the
operations.) matching rows from the other, and returning the
result.

MERGE JOIN OUTER Merge join operation to perform an outer join

statement.

MERGE JOIN ANTI Merge antijoin.

MERGE JOIN SEMI Merge semijoin.

MERGE JOIN CARTESIAN Can result from 1 or more of the tables not having any
join conditions to any other tables in the statement.
Can occur even with a join and it may not be flagged
as CARTESIAN in the plan.

CONNECT BY Retrieval of rows in hierarchical order for a query

containing a CONNECT BY clause.

MAT_VIEW FULL Retrieval of all rows from a materialized view.

REWITE ACCESS
(These are access
methods.)

MAT_VIEW SAMPLE Retrieval of sampled rows from a materialized view.

REWITE ACCESS

MAT_VIEW CLUSTER Retrieval of rows from a materialized view based on a

REWITE ACCESS value of an indexed cluster key.

MAT_VIEW HASH Retrieval of rows from materialized view based on

REWITE ACCESS hash cluster key value.

MAT_VIEW BY ROWID Retrieval of rows from a materialized view based on a

REWITE ACCESS RANGE rowid range.

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 Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

Table 7-3 (Cont.) OPERATION and OPTIONS Values Produced by EXPLAIN PLAN

Operation Option Description

MAT_VIEW SAMPLE BY Retrieval of sampled rows from a materialized view
REWITE ACCESS ROWID RANGE based on a rowid range.

MAT_VIEW BY USER If the materialized view rows are located using user-
REWITE ACCESS ROWID supplied rowids.

MAT_VIEW BY INDEX If the materialized view is nonpartitioned and rows

REWITE ACCESS ROWID are located using index(es).

MAT_VIEW BY GLOBAL If the materialized view is partitioned and rows are

REWITE ACCESS INDEX ROWID located using only global indexes.

MAT_VIEW BY LOCAL If the materialized view is partitioned and rows are

REWITE ACCESS INDEX ROWID located using one or more local indexes and possibly
some global indexes.
Partition Boundaries:
The partition boundaries might have been computed
by:
A previous PARTITION step, in which case the
PARTITION_START and PARTITION_STOP column
values replicate the values present in the PARTITION
step, and the PARTITION_ID contains the ID of the
PARTITION step. Possible values for
PARTITION_START and PARTITION_STOP are
NUMBER(n), KEY, INVALID.
The MAT_VIEW REWRITE ACCESS or INDEX step
itself, in which case the PARTITION_ID contains the
ID of the step. Possible values for PARTITION_START
and PARTITION_STOP are NUMBER(n), KEY, ROW
REMOVE_LOCATION (MAT_VIEW REWRITE ACCESS
only), and INVALID.

MINUS Operation accepting two sets of rows and returning

rows appearing in the first set but not in the second,
eliminating duplicates.

NESTED LOOPS Operation accepting two sets of rows, an outer set and
(These are join an inner set. Oracle Database compares each row of
operations.) the outer set with each row of the inner set, returning
rows that satisfy a condition. This join method is
useful for joining small subsets of data (OLTP). The
join condition is an efficient way of accessing the
second table.

NESTED LOOPS OUTER Nested loops operation to perform an outer join

statement.

Reading Execution Plans 7-25

Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

Table 7-3 (Cont.) OPERATION and OPTIONS Values Produced by EXPLAIN PLAN

Operation Option Description

PARTITION Iterates over the next operation in the plan for each
partition in the range given by the
PARTITION_START and PARTITION_STOP columns.
PARTITION describes partition boundaries applicable
to a single partitioned object (table or index) or to a set
of equi-partitioned objects (a partitioned table and its
local indexes). The partition boundaries are provided
by the values of PARTITION_START and
PARTITION_STOP of the PARTITION. Refer to Table
7-1 for valid values of partition start and stop.

PARTITION SINGLE Access one partition.

PARTITION ITERATOR Access many partitions (a subset).

PARTITION ALL Access all partitions.

PARTITION INLIST Similar to iterator, but based on an IN-list predicate.

PARTITION INVALID Indicates that the partition set to be accessed is empty.

PX ITERATOR BLOCK, CHUNK Implements the division of an object into block or

chunk ranges among a set of parallel execution
servers.

PX COORDINATOR Implements the query coordinator that controls,

schedules, and executes the parallel plan below it
using parallel execution servers. It also represents a
serialization point, as the end of the part of the plan
executed in parallel and always has a PX SEND QC
operation below it.

PX PARTITION Same semantics as the regular PARTITION operation

except that it appears in a parallel plan.

PX RECEIVE Shows the consumer/receiver parallel execution node

reading repartitioned data from a send/producer (QC
or parallel execution server) executing on a PX SEND
node. This information was formerly displayed into
the DISTRIBUTION column. See Table 7-2.

PX SEND QC (RANDOM), Implements the distribution method taking place

HASH, RANGE between two parallel execution servers. Shows the
boundary between two sets and how data is
repartitioned on the send/producer side (QC or side.
This information was formerly displayed into the
DISTRIBUTION column. See Table 7-2.

REMOTE Retrieval of data from a remote database.

SEQUENCE Operation involving accessing values of a sequence.

SORT AGGREGATE Retrieval of a single row that is the result of applying

a group function to a group of selected rows.

SORT UNIQUE Operation sorting a set of rows to eliminate

duplicates.

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 Reading Execution Plans: Advanced

Table 7-3 (Cont.) OPERATION and OPTIONS Values Produced by EXPLAIN PLAN

Operation Option Description

SORT GROUP BY Operation sorting a set of rows into groups for a query
with a GROUP BY clause.

SORT GROUP BY Operation sorting a set of rows into groups for a query
PIVOT with a GROUP BY clause. The PIVOT option indicates a
pivot-specific optimization for the SORT GROUP BY
operator.

SORT JOIN Operation sorting a set of rows before a merge-join.

SORT ORDER BY Operation sorting a set of rows for a query with an

ORDER BY clause.

TABLE ACCESS FULL Retrieval of all rows from a table.

(These are access
methods.)

TABLE ACCESS SAMPLE Retrieval of sampled rows from a table.

TABLE ACCESS CLUSTER Retrieval of rows from a table based on a value of an

indexed cluster key.

TABLE ACCESS HASH Retrieval of rows from table based on hash cluster key
value.

TABLE ACCESS BY ROWID Retrieval of rows from a table based on a rowid range.
RANGE

TABLE ACCESS SAMPLE BY Retrieval of sampled rows from a table based on a

ROWID RANGE rowid range.

TABLE ACCESS BY USER If the table rows are located using user-supplied
ROWID rowids.

TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX If the table is nonpartitioned and rows are located
ROWID using index(es).

TABLE ACCESS BY GLOBAL If the table is partitioned and rows are located using
INDEX ROWID only global indexes.

Reading Execution Plans 7-27

Execution Plan Reference

Table 7-3 (Cont.) OPERATION and OPTIONS Values Produced by EXPLAIN PLAN

Operation Option Description

TABLE ACCESS BY LOCAL If the table is partitioned and rows are located using
INDEX ROWID one or more local indexes and possibly some global
indexes.
Partition Boundaries:
The partition boundaries might have been computed
by:
A previous PARTITION step, in which case the
PARTITION_START and PARTITION_STOP column
values replicate the values present in the PARTITION
step, and the PARTITION_ID contains the ID of the
PARTITION step. Possible values for
PARTITION_START and PARTITION_STOP are
NUMBER(n), KEY, INVALID.
The TABLE ACCESS or INDEX step itself, in which case
the PARTITION_ID contains the ID of the step.
Possible values for PARTITION_START and
PARTITION_STOP are NUMBER(n), KEY, ROW
REMOVE_LOCATION (TABLE ACCESS only), and
INVALID.

TRANSPOSE Operation evaluating a PIVOT operation by

transposing the results of GROUP BY to produce the
final pivoted data.

UNION Operation accepting two sets of rows and returns the

union of the sets, eliminating duplicates.

UNPIVOT Operation that rotates data from columns into rows.

VIEW Operation performing a view's query and then

returning the resulting rows to another operation.

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference for more information about PLAN_TABLE

Execution Plan Reference

This section contains the following topics:

• Execution Plan Views

• PLAN_TABLE Columns

• DBMS_XPLAN Program Units

Execution Plan Views

The following dynamic performance and data dictionary views provide information
on execution plans.

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 Execution Plan Reference

Table 7-4 Execution Plan Views

View Description
V$SQL_SHARED_CURSOR Explains why a particular child cursor is not
shared with existing child cursors. Each column
identifies a specific reason why the cursor cannot
be shared.
The USE_FEEDBACK_STATS column shows
whether a child cursor fails to match because of
reoptimization.

V$SQL_PLAN Includes a superset of all rows appearing in all

final plans. PLAN_LINE_ID is consecutively
numbered, but for a single final plan, the IDs may
not be consecutive.

V$SQL_PLAN_STATISTICS_ALL Contains memory usage statistics for row sources

that use SQL memory (sort or hash join). This
view concatenates information in V$SQL_PLAN
with execution statistics from V
$SQL_PLAN_STATISTICS and V
$SQL_WORKAREA.

PLAN_TABLE Columns
The PLAN_TABLE used by the EXPLAIN PLAN statement contains the columns listed in
Table 7-5.

Table 7-5 PLAN_TABLE Columns

Column Type Description

STATEMENT_ID VARCHAR2(30) Value of the optional STATEMENT_ID
parameter specified in the EXPLAIN PLAN
statement.

PLAN_ID NUMBER Unique identifier of a plan in the database.

TIMESTAMP DATE Date and time when the EXPLAIN PLAN

statement was generated.

REMARKS VARCHAR2(80) Any comment (of up to 80 bytes) you want to

associate with each step of the explained plan.
This column indicates whether the database
used an outline or SQL profile for the query.
If you need to add or change a remark on any
row of the PLAN_TABLE, then use the UPDATE
statement to modify the rows of the
PLAN_TABLE.

Reading Execution Plans 7-29

Execution Plan Reference

Table 7-5 (Cont.) PLAN_TABLE Columns

Column Type Description

OPERATION VARCHAR2(30) Name of the internal operation performed in
this step. In the first row generated for a
statement, the column contains one of the
following values:
• DELETE STATEMENT
• INSERT STATEMENT
• SELECT STATEMENT
• UPDATE STATEMENT
See Table 7-6 for more information about
values for this column.

OPTIONS VARCHAR2(225) A variation on the operation that the

OPERATION column describes.
See Table 7-6 for more information about
values for this column.

OBJECT_NODE VARCHAR2(128) Name of the database link used to reference

the object (a table name or view name). For
local queries using parallel execution, this
column describes the order in which the
database consumes output from operations.

OBJECT_OWNER VARCHAR2(30) Name of the user who owns the schema

containing the table or index.

OBJECT_NAME VARCHAR2(30) Name of the table or index.

OBJECT_ALIAS VARCHAR2(65) Unique alias of a table or view in a SQL

statement. For indexes, it is the object alias of
the underlying table.

OBJECT_INSTANCE NUMERIC Number corresponding to the ordinal position

of the object as it appears in the original
statement. The numbering proceeds from left
to right, outer to inner for the original
statement text. View expansion results in
unpredictable numbers.

OBJECT_TYPE VARCHAR2(30) Modifier that provides descriptive

information about the object; for example,
NON-UNIQUE for indexes.

OPTIMIZER VARCHAR2(255) Current mode of the optimizer.

SEARCH_COLUMNS NUMBERIC Not currently used.

ID NUMERIC A number assigned to each step in the

execution plan.

PARENT_ID NUMERIC The ID of the next execution step that operates

on the output of the ID step.

DEPTH NUMERIC Depth of the operation in the row source tree

that the plan represents. You can use this
value to indent the rows in a plan table report.

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Table 7-5 (Cont.) PLAN_TABLE Columns

Column Type Description

POSITION NUMERIC For the first row of output, this indicates the
optimizer's estimated cost of executing the
statement. For the other rows, it indicates the
position relative to the other children of the
same parent.

COST NUMERIC Cost of the operation as estimated by the

optimizer's query approach. Cost is not
determined for table access operations. The
value of this column does not have any
particular unit of measurement; it is a
weighted value used to compare costs of
execution plans. The value of this column is a
function of the CPU_COST and IO_COST
columns.

CARDINALITY NUMERIC Estimate by the query optimization approach

of the number of rows that the operation
accessed.

BYTES NUMERIC Estimate by the query optimization approach

of the number of bytes that the operation
accessed.

OTHER_TAG VARCHAR2(255) Describes the contents of the OTHER column.

Values are:
• SERIAL (blank): Serial execution.
Currently, SQL is not loaded in the OTHER
column for this case.
• SERIAL_FROM_REMOTE (S -> R):
Serial execution at a remote site.
• PARALLEL_FROM_SERIAL (S -> P):
Serial execution. Output of step is
partitioned or broadcast to parallel
execution servers.
• PARALLEL_TO_SERIAL (P -> S):
Parallel execution. Output of step is
returned to serial QC process.
• PARALLEL_TO_PARALLEL (P -> P):
Parallel execution. Output of step is
repartitioned to second set of parallel
execution servers.
• PARALLEL_COMBINED_WITH_PARENT
(PWP): Parallel execution; Output of step
goes to next step in same parallel process.
No interprocess communication to parent.
• PARALLEL_COMBINED_WITH_CHILD
(PWC): Parallel execution. Input of step
comes from prior step in same parallel
process. No interprocess communication
from child.

Reading Execution Plans 7-31

Execution Plan Reference

Table 7-5 (Cont.) PLAN_TABLE Columns

Column Type Description

PARTITION_START VARCHAR2(255) Start partition of a range of accessed
partitions. It can take one of the following
values:
n indicates that the start partition has been
identified by the SQL compiler, and its
partition number is given by n.
KEY indicates that the start partition is
identified at run time from partitioning key
values.
ROW REMOVE_LOCATION indicates that the
database computes the start partition (same as
the stop partition) at run time from the
location of each retrieved record. The record
location is obtained by a user or from a global
index.
INVALID indicates that the range of accessed
partitions is empty.

PARTITION_STOP VARCHAR2(255) Stop partition of a range of accessed

partitions. It can take one of the following
values:
n indicates that the stop partition has been
identified by the SQL compiler, and its
partition number is given by n.
KEY indicates that the stop partition is
identified at run time from partitioning key
values.
ROW REMOVE_LOCATION indicates that the
database computes the stop partition (same as
the start partition) at run time from the
location of each retrieved record. The record
location is obtained by a user or from a global
index.
INVALID indicates that the range of accessed
partitions is empty.

PARTITION_ID NUMERIC Step that has computed the pair of values of

the PARTITION_START and
PARTITION_STOP columns.

OTHER LONG Other information that is specific to the

execution step that a user might find useful.
See the OTHER_TAG column.

DISTRIBUTION VARCHAR2(30) Method used to distribute rows from

producer query servers to consumer query
servers.
See Table 7-6 for more information about the
possible values for this column. For more
information about consumer and producer
query servers, see Oracle Database Data
Warehousing Guide.

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Table 7-5 (Cont.) PLAN_TABLE Columns

Column Type Description

CPU_COST NUMERIC CPU cost of the operation as estimated by the
query optimizer's approach. The value of this
column is proportional to the number of
machine cycles required for the operation. For
statements that use the rule-based approach,
this column is null.

IO_COST NUMERIC I/O cost of the operation as estimated by the

query optimizer's approach. The value of this
column is proportional to the number of data
blocks read by the operation. For statements
that use the rule-based approach, this column
is null.

TEMP_SPACE NUMERIC Temporary space, in bytes, used by the

operation as estimated by the query
optimizer's approach. For statements that use
the rule-based approach, or for operations
that do not use any temporary space, this
column is null.

ACCESS_PREDICATES VARCHAR2(4000) Predicates used to locate rows in an access

structure. For example, start or stop
predicates for an index range scan.

FILTER_PREDICATES VARCHAR2(4000) Predicates used to filter rows before

producing them.

PROJECTION VARCHAR2(4000) Expressions produced by the operation.

TIME NUMBER(20,2) Elapsed time in seconds of the operation as

estimated by query optimization. For
statements that use the rule-based approach,
this column is null.

QBLOCK_NAME VARCHAR2(30) Name of the query block, either system-

generated or defined by the user with the
QB_NAME hint.

Table 7-6 describes the values that can appear in the DISTRIBUTION column:

Table 7-6 Values of DISTRIBUTION Column of the PLAN_TABLE

DISTRIBUTION Text Interpretation

PARTITION (ROWID) Maps rows to query servers based on the partitioning of a table or index using the
rowid of the row to UPDATE/DELETE.

PARTITION (KEY) Maps rows to query servers based on the partitioning of a table or index using a set of
columns. Used for partial partition-wise join, PARALLEL INSERT, CREATE TABLE AS
SELECT of a partitioned table, and CREATE PARTITIONED GLOBAL INDEX.

HASH Maps rows to query servers using a hash function on the join key. Used for PARALLEL
JOIN or PARALLEL GROUP BY.

Reading Execution Plans 7-33

Execution Plan Reference

Table 7-6 (Cont.) Values of DISTRIBUTION Column of the PLAN_TABLE

DISTRIBUTION Text Interpretation

RANGE Maps rows to query servers using ranges of the sort key. Used when the statement
contains an ORDER BY clause.

ROUND-ROBIN Randomly maps rows to query servers.

BROADCAST Broadcasts the rows of the entire table to each query server. Used for a parallel join
when one table is very small compared to the other.

QC (ORDER) The QC consumes the input in order, from the first to the last query server. Used when
the statement contains an ORDER BY clause.

QC (RANDOM) The QC consumes the input randomly. Used when the statement does not have an
ORDER BY clause.

Table 7-7 lists each combination of OPERATION and OPTIONS produced by the
EXPLAIN PLAN statement and its meaning within an execution plan.

Table 7-7 OPERATION and OPTIONS Values Produced by EXPLAIN PLAN

Operation Option Description

AND-EQUAL Operation accepting multiple sets of rowids, returning the intersection
of the sets, eliminating duplicates. Used for the single-column indexes
access path.

BITMAP CONVERSION TO ROWIDS converts bitmap representations to actual rowids that you
can use to access the table.
FROM ROWIDS converts the rowids to a bitmap representation.
COUNT returns the number of rowids if the actual values are not
needed.

BITMAP INDEX SINGLE VALUE looks up the bitmap for a single key value in the
index.
RANGE SCAN retrieves bitmaps for a key value range.
FULL SCAN performs a full scan of a bitmap index if there is no start
or stop key.

BITMAP MERGE Merges several bitmaps resulting from a range scan into one bitmap.

BITMAP MINUS Subtracts bits of one bitmap from another. Row source is used for
negated predicates. This option is usable only if there are nonnegated
predicates yielding a bitmap from which the subtraction can take
place.

BITMAP OR Computes the bitwise OR of two bitmaps.

BITMAP AND Computes the bitwise AND of two bitmaps.

BITMAP KEY ITERATION Takes each row from a table row source and finds the corresponding
bitmap from a bitmap index. This set of bitmaps are then merged into
one bitmap in a following BITMAP MERGE operation.

CONNECT BY Retrieves rows in hierarchical order for a query containing a CONNECT

BY clause.

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Table 7-7 (Cont.) OPERATION and OPTIONS Values Produced by EXPLAIN PLAN

Operation Option Description

CONCATENATION Operation accepting multiple sets of rows returning the union-all of
the sets.

COUNT Operation counting the number of rows selected from a table.

COUNT STOPKEY Count operation where the number of rows returned is limited by the
ROWNUM expression in the WHERE clause.

CUBE JOIN Joins a table or view on the left and a cube on the right.
See Oracle Database SQL Language Reference to learn about the
NO_USE_CUBE and USE_CUBE hints.

CUBE JOIN ANTI Uses an antijoin for a table or view on the left and a cube on the right.

CUBE JOIN ANTI SNA Uses an antijoin (single-sided null aware) for a table or view on the left
and a cube on the right. The join column on the right (cube side) is
NOT NULL.

CUBE JOIN OUTER Uses an outer join for a table or view on the left and a cube on the
right.

CUBE JOIN RIGHT SEMI Uses a right semijoin for a table or view on the left and a cube on the
right.

CUBE SCAN Uses inner joins for all cube access.

CUBE SCAN PARTIAL OUTER Uses an outer join for at least one dimension, and inner joins for the
other dimensions.

CUBE SCAN OUTER Uses outer joins for all cube access.

DOMAIN INDEX Retrieval of one or more rowids from a domain index. The options
column contain information supplied by a user-defined domain index
cost function, if any.

FILTER Operation accepting a set of rows, eliminates some of them, and

returns the rest.

FIRST ROW Retrieval of only the first row selected by a query.

FOR UPDATE Operation retrieving and locking the rows selected by a query
containing a FOR UPDATE clause.

HASH GROUP BY Operation hashing a set of rows into groups for a query with a GROUP
BY clause.

HASH GROUP BY PIVOT Operation hashing a set of rows into groups for a query with a GROUP
BY clause. The PIVOT option indicates a pivot-specific optimization
for the HASH GROUP BY operator.

HASH JOIN Operation joining two sets of rows and returning the result. This join
(These are join method is useful for joining large data sets of data (DSS, Batch). The
operations.) join condition is an efficient way of accessing the second table.
Query optimizer uses the smaller of the two tables/data sources to
build a hash table on the join key in memory. Then it scans the larger
table, probing the hash table to find the joined rows.

Reading Execution Plans 7-35

Execution Plan Reference

Table 7-7 (Cont.) OPERATION and OPTIONS Values Produced by EXPLAIN PLAN

Operation Option Description

HASH JOIN ANTI Hash (left) antijoin

HASH JOIN SEMI Hash (left) semijoin

HASH JOIN RIGHT ANTI Hash right antijoin

HASH JOIN RIGHT SEMI Hash right semijoin

HASH JOIN OUTER Hash (left) outer join

HASH JOIN RIGHT OUTER Hash right outer join

INDEX UNIQUE SCAN Retrieval of a single rowid from an index.

(These are access
methods.)

INDEX RANGE SCAN Retrieval of one or more rowids from an index. Indexed values are
scanned in ascending order.

INDEX RANGE SCAN Retrieval of one or more rowids from an index. Indexed values are
DESCENDING scanned in descending order.

INDEX FULL SCAN Retrieval of all rowids from an index when there is no start or stop
key. Indexed values are scanned in ascending order.

INDEX FULL SCAN Retrieval of all rowids from an index when there is no start or stop
DESCENDING key. Indexed values are scanned in descending order.

INDEX FAST FULL SCAN Retrieval of all rowids (and column values) using multiblock reads.
No sorting order can be defined. Compares to a full table scan on only
the indexed columns. Only available with the cost based optimizer.

INDEX SKIP SCAN Retrieval of rowids from a concatenated index without using the
leading column(s) in the index. Only available with the cost based
optimizer.

INLIST Iterates over the next operation in the plan for each value in the IN-list
ITERATOR predicate.

INTERSECTION Operation accepting two sets of rows and returning the intersection of
the sets, eliminating duplicates.

MERGE JOIN Operation accepting two sets of rows, each sorted by a value,
(These are join combining each row from one set with the matching rows from the
operations.) other, and returning the result.

MERGE JOIN OUTER Merge join operation to perform an outer join statement.

MERGE JOIN ANTI Merge antijoin.

MERGE JOIN SEMI Merge semijoin.

MERGE JOIN CARTESIAN Can result from 1 or more of the tables not having any join conditions
to any other tables in the statement. Can occur even with a join and it
may not be flagged as CARTESIAN in the plan.

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 Execution Plan Reference

Table 7-7 (Cont.) OPERATION and OPTIONS Values Produced by EXPLAIN PLAN

Operation Option Description

CONNECT BY Retrieval of rows in hierarchical order for a query containing a
CONNECT BY clause.

MAT_VIEW FULL Retrieval of all rows from a materialized view.

REWITE ACCESS
(These are access
methods.)

MAT_VIEW SAMPLE Retrieval of sampled rows from a materialized view.

REWITE ACCESS

MAT_VIEW CLUSTER Retrieval of rows from a materialized view based on a value of an

REWITE ACCESS indexed cluster key.

MAT_VIEW HASH Retrieval of rows from materialized view based on hash cluster key
REWITE ACCESS value.

MAT_VIEW BY ROWID RANGE Retrieval of rows from a materialized view based on a rowid range.
REWITE ACCESS

MAT_VIEW SAMPLE BY Retrieval of sampled rows from a materialized view based on a rowid
REWITE ACCESS ROWID RANGE range.

MAT_VIEW BY USER ROWID If the materialized view rows are located using user-supplied rowids.
REWITE ACCESS

MAT_VIEW BY INDEX ROWID If the materialized view is nonpartitioned and rows are located using
REWITE ACCESS index(es).

MAT_VIEW BY GLOBAL If the materialized view is partitioned and rows are located using only
REWITE ACCESS INDEX ROWID global indexes.

MAT_VIEW BY LOCAL INDEX If the materialized view is partitioned and rows are located using one
REWITE ACCESS ROWID or more local indexes and possibly some global indexes.
Partition Boundaries:
The partition boundaries might have been computed by:
A previous PARTITION step, in which case the PARTITION_START
and PARTITION_STOP column values replicate the values present in
the PARTITION step, and the PARTITION_ID contains the ID of the
PARTITION step. Possible values for PARTITION_START and
PARTITION_STOP are NUMBER(n), KEY, INVALID.
The MAT_VIEW REWRITE ACCESS or INDEX step itself, in which case
the PARTITION_ID contains the ID of the step. Possible values for
PARTITION_START and PARTITION_STOP are NUMBER(n), KEY, ROW
REMOVE_LOCATION (MAT_VIEW REWRITE ACCESS only), and
INVALID.

MINUS Operation accepting two sets of rows and returning rows appearing in
the first set but not in the second, eliminating duplicates.

NESTED LOOPS Operation accepting two sets of rows, an outer set and an inner set.
(These are join Oracle Database compares each row of the outer set with each row of
operations.) the inner set, returning rows that satisfy a condition. This join method
is useful for joining small subsets of data (OLTP). The join condition is
an efficient way of accessing the second table.

Reading Execution Plans 7-37

Execution Plan Reference

Table 7-7 (Cont.) OPERATION and OPTIONS Values Produced by EXPLAIN PLAN

Operation Option Description

NESTED LOOPS OUTER Nested loops operation to perform an outer join statement.

PARTITION Iterates over the next operation in the plan for each partition in the
range given by the PARTITION_START and PARTITION_STOP
columns. PARTITION describes partition boundaries applicable to a
single partitioned object (table or index) or to a set of equipartitioned
objects (a partitioned table and its local indexes). The partition
boundaries are provided by the values of PARTITION_START and
PARTITION_STOP of the PARTITION. Refer to Table 7-4 for valid
values of partition start and stop.

PARTITION SINGLE Access one partition.

PARTITION ITERATOR Access many partitions (a subset).

PARTITION ALL Access all partitions.

PARTITION INLIST Similar to iterator, but based on an IN-list predicate.

PARTITION INVALID Indicates that the partition set to be accessed is empty.

PX ITERATOR BLOCK, CHUNK Implements the division of an object into block or chunk ranges
among a set of parallel execution servers.

PX COORDINATOR Implements the Query Coordinator which controls, schedules, and

executes the parallel plan below it using parallel execution servers. It
also represents a serialization point, as the end of the part of the plan
executed in parallel and always has a PX SEND QC operation below it.

PX PARTITION Same semantics as the regular PARTITION operation except that it

appears in a parallel plan.

PX RECEIVE Shows the consumer/receiver parallel execution node reading

repartitioned data from a send/producer (QC or parallel execution
server) executing on a PX SEND node. This information was formerly
displayed into the DISTRIBUTION column. See Table 7-5.

PX SEND QC (RANDOM), Implements the distribution method taking place between two sets of
HASH, RANGE parallel execution servers. Shows the boundary between two sets and
how data is repartitioned on the send/producer side (QC or side. This
information was formerly displayed into the DISTRIBUTION column.
See Table 7-5.

REMOTE Retrieval of data from a remote database.

SEQUENCE Operation involving accessing values of a sequence.

SORT AGGREGATE Retrieval of a single row that is the result of applying a group function
to a group of selected rows.

SORT UNIQUE Operation sorting a set of rows to eliminate duplicates.

SORT GROUP BY Operation sorting a set of rows into groups for a query with a GROUP
BY clause.

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 Execution Plan Reference

Table 7-7 (Cont.) OPERATION and OPTIONS Values Produced by EXPLAIN PLAN

Operation Option Description

SORT GROUP BY PIVOT Operation sorting a set of rows into groups for a query with a GROUP
BY clause. The PIVOT option indicates a pivot-specific optimization
for the SORT GROUP BY operator.

SORT JOIN Operation sorting a set of rows before a merge-join.

SORT ORDER BY Operation sorting a set of rows for a query with an ORDER BY clause.

TABLE ACCESS FULL Retrieval of all rows from a table.

(These are access
methods.)

TABLE ACCESS SAMPLE Retrieval of sampled rows from a table.

TABLE ACCESS CLUSTER Retrieval of rows from a table based on a value of an indexed cluster
key.

TABLE ACCESS HASH Retrieval of rows from table based on hash cluster key value.

TABLE ACCESS BY ROWID RANGE Retrieval of rows from a table based on a rowid range.

TABLE ACCESS SAMPLE BY Retrieval of sampled rows from a table based on a rowid range.
ROWID RANGE

TABLE ACCESS BY USER ROWID If the table rows are located using user-supplied rowids.

TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID If the table is nonpartitioned and rows are located using index(es).

TABLE ACCESS BY GLOBAL If the table is partitioned and rows are located using only global
INDEX ROWID indexes.

TABLE ACCESS BY LOCAL INDEX If the table is partitioned and rows are located using one or more local
ROWID indexes and possibly some global indexes.
Partition Boundaries:
The partition boundaries might have been computed by:
A previous PARTITION step, in which case the PARTITION_START
and PARTITION_STOP column values replicate the values present in
the PARTITION step, and the PARTITION_ID contains the ID of the
PARTITION step. Possible values for PARTITION_START and
PARTITION_STOP are NUMBER(n), KEY, INVALID.
The TABLE ACCESS or INDEX step itself, in which case the
PARTITION_ID contains the ID of the step. Possible values for
PARTITION_START and PARTITION_STOP are NUMBER(n), KEY, ROW
REMOVE_LOCATION (TABLE ACCESS only), and INVALID.

TRANSPOSE Operation evaluating a PIVOT operation by transposing the results of

GROUP BY to produce the final pivoted data.

UNION Operation accepting two sets of rows and returns the union of the sets,
eliminating duplicates.

UNPIVOT Operation that rotates data from columns into rows.

VIEW Operation performing a view's query and then returning the resulting
rows to another operation.

Reading Execution Plans 7-39

Execution Plan Reference

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference for more information about PLAN_TABLE

DBMS_XPLAN Program Units

Table 7-8 provides notes on DBMS_XPLAN functions and parameters that are relevant
for accessing adapted plans. See Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference
for complete reference information.

Table 7-8 DBMS_XPLAN Functions and Parameters Relevant for Adaptive Queries

Functions Notes
DISPLAY_PLAN The FORMAT argument supports the modifier ADAPTIVE.
When you specify ADAPTIVE, the output includes the default
plan. For each dynamic subplan, the plan shows a list of the row
sources from the original that may be replaced, and the row
sources that would replace them.
If the format argument specifies the outline display, then the
function displays the hints for each option in the dynamic
subplan. If the plan is not an adaptive plan, then the function
displays the default plan.When you do not specify ADAPTIVE,
the plan is shown as-is, but with additional comments in the
Note section that show any row sources that are dynamic.

DISPLAY_CURSOR The FORMAT argument supports the modifier ADAPTIVE.

When you specify ADAPTIVE, the output includes:
• The final plan. If the execution has not completed, then the
output shows the current plan. This section also includes
notes about run-time optimizations that affect the plan.
• Recommended plan. In reporting mode, the output includes
the plan that would be chosen based on execution statistics.
• Dynamic plan. The output summarizes the portions of the
plan that differ from the default plan chosen by the
optimizer.
• Reoptimization. The output displays the plan that would be
chosen on a subsequent execution because of reoptimization.

7-40 SQL Tuning Guide

 Part IV
SQL Operators

A row source is a set of rows returned by a step in the execution plan. A SQL operator
acts on a row source. A unary operator acts on one input, as with access paths. A
binary operator acts on two outputs, as with joins.
This part contains the following chapters:

• Optimizer Access Paths

• Joins
 8
Optimizer Access Paths

This chapter contains the following topics:

• Introduction to Access Paths

• Table Access Paths

• B-Tree Index Access Paths

• Bitmap Index Access Paths

• Table Cluster Access Paths

Introduction to Access Paths

A row source is a set of rows returned by a step in an execution plan. A row source
can be a table, view, or result of a join or grouping operation.
A unary operation such as an access path, which is a technique used by a query to
retrieve rows from a row source, accepts a single row source as input. For example, a
full table scan is the retrieval of rows of a single row source. In contrast, a join
operation is binary and receives inputs from two row sources (see Joins ).
The database uses different access paths for different relational data structures (see
Oracle Database Concepts for an overview of these structures). Table 8-1 summarizes
common access paths for the major data structures.

Table 8-1 Data Structures and Access Paths

Access Path Heap-Organized B-Tree Indexes and Bitmap Indexes Table Clusters
Tables IOTs
Full Table Scans x

Table Access by Rowid x

Sample Table Scans x

Index Unique Scans x

Index Range Scans x

Index Full Scans x

Index Fast Full Scans x

Index Skip Scans x

Index Join Scans x

Optimizer Access Paths 8-1

Table Access Paths

Table 8-1 (Cont.) Data Structures and Access Paths

Access Path Heap-Organized B-Tree Indexes and Bitmap Indexes Table Clusters
Tables IOTs
Bitmap Index Single x
Value

Bitmap Index Range x

Scans

Bitmap Merge x

Bitmap Index Range x

Scans

Cluster Scans x

Hash Scans x

As explained in “Cost-Based Optimization,” the optimizer considers different possible

execution plans, and then assigns each plan a cost. The optimizer chooses the plan
with the lowest cost. In general, index access paths are more efficient for statements
that retrieve a small subset of table rows, whereas full table scans are more efficient
when accessing a large portion of a table.

Table Access Paths

A table is the basic unit of data organization in an Oracle database. Relational tables
are the most common table type. Relational tables have with the following
organizational characteristics:

• A heap-organized table does not store rows in any particular order.

• An index-organized table orders rows according to the primary key values.

• An external table is a read-only table whose metadata is stored in the database but
whose data is stored outside the database.
This section explains optimizer access paths for heap-organized tables, and contains
the following topics:

• About Heap-Organized Table Access

• Full Table Scans

• Table Access by Rowid

• Sample Table Scans

• In-Memory Table Scans

8-2 SQL Tuning Guide

 Table Access Paths

See Also:

• Oracle Database Concepts for an overview of tables

• Oracle Database Administrator's Guide to learn how to manage tables

About Heap-Organized Table Access

By default, a table is organized as a heap, which means that the database places rows
where they fit best rather than in a user-specified order. As users add rows, the
database places the rows in the first available free space in the data segment. Rows are
not guaranteed to be retrieved in the order in which they were inserted.

Row Storage in Data Blocks and Segments: A Primer

The database stores rows in data blocks. In tables, the database can write a row
anywhere in the bottom part of the block. Oracle Database uses the block overhead,
which contains the row directory and table directory, to manage the block itself.
An extent is made up of logically contiguous data blocks. The blocks may not be
physically contiguous on disk. A segment is a set of extents that contains all the data
for a logical storage structure within a tablespace. For example, Oracle Database
allocates one or more extents to form the data segment for a table. The database also
allocates one or more extents to form the index segment for a table.
By default, the database uses automatic segment space management (ASSM) for
permanent, locally managed tablespaces. When a session first inserts data into a table,
the database formats a bitmap block. The bitmap tracks the blocks in the segment. The
database uses the bitmap to find free blocks and then formats each block before
writing to it. ASSM spread out inserts among blocks to avoid concurrency issues.
The high water mark (HWM) is the point in a segment beyond which data blocks are
unformatted and have never been used. Below the HWM, a block may be formatted
and written to, formatted and empty, or unformatted. The low high water mark (low
HWM) marks the point below which all blocks are known to be formatted because
they either contain data or formerly contained data.
During a full table scan, the database reads all blocks up to the low HWM, which are
known to be formatted, and then reads the segment bitmap to determine which blocks
between the HWM and low HWM are formatted and safe to read. The database knows
not to read past the HWM because these blocks are unformatted.

See Also:
Oracle Database Concepts to learn about data block storage

Importance of Rowids for Row Access

Every row in a heap-organized table has a rowid unique to this table that corresponds
to the physical address of a row piece. A rowid is a 10-byte physical address of a row.
The rowid points to a specific file, block, and row number. For example, in the rowid
AAAPecAAFAAAABSAAA, the final AAA represents the row number. The row number is
an index into a row directory entry. The row directory entry contains a pointer to the
location of the row on the block.

Optimizer Access Paths 8-3

Table Access Paths

The database can sometimes move a row in the bottom part of the block. For example,
if row movement is enabled, then the row can move because of partition key updates,
Flashback Table operations, shrink table operations, and so on. If the database moves a
row within a block, then the database updates the row directory entry to modify the
pointer. The rowid stays constant.
Oracle Database uses rowids internally for the construction of indexes. For example,
each key in a B-tree index is associated with a rowid that points to the address of the
associated row. Physical rowids provide the fastest possible access to a table row,
enabling the database to retrieve a row in as little as a single I/O.

See Also:

Oracle Database Concepts to learn about rowids

Direct Path Reads

In a direct path read, the database reads buffers from disk directly into the PGA,
bypassing the SGA entirely. Figure 8-1 shows the difference between scattered and
sequential reads, which store buffers in the SGA, and direct path reads.

Figure 8-1 Direct Path Reads

Database Buffer Database Buffer

Cache Cache Process PGA
SGA Buffer Cache SGA Buffer Cache Bitmap Merge
Sort Area Hash Area
Area

Session Persistent Runtime

Memory Area Area

Direct path
read

DB File DB File Direct Path

Sequential Read Scattered Read Read

Situations in which Oracle Database may perform direct path reads include:

• Execution of a CREATE TABLE AS SELECT statement

• Execution of an ALTER REBUILD or ALTER MOVE statement

• Reads from a temporary tablespace

• Parallel queries

8-4 SQL Tuning Guide

 Table Access Paths

• Reads from a LOB segment

See Also:

Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide to learn about wait events for direct
path reads

Full Table Scans

A full table scan reads all rows from a table, and then filters out those rows that do
not meet the selection criteria.

When the Optimizer Considers a Full Table Scan

In general, the optimizer chooses a full table scan when it cannot use a different access
path, or another usable access path is higher cost. Typical reasons for choosing a full
table scan include the following:

• No index exists.
If no index exists, then the optimizer uses a full table scan.

• The query predicate applies a function to the indexed column.

Unless the index is a function-based index (see “Guidelines for Using Function-
Based Indexes for Performance”), the database indexes the values of the column,
not the values of the column with the function applied. A typical application-level
mistake is to index a character column, such as char_col, and then query the
column using syntax such as WHERE char_col=1. The database implicitly applies
a TO_NUMBER function to the constant number 1, which prevents use of the index.

• A SELECT COUNT(*) query is issued, and an index exists, but the indexed column
contains nulls.
The optimizer cannot use the index to count the number of table rows because the
index cannot contain null entries (see “B-Tree Indexes and Nulls”).

• The query predicate does not use the leading edge of a B-tree index.
For example, an index might exist on employees(first_name,last_name). If
a user issues a query with the predicate WHERE last_name='KING', then the
optimizer may not choose an index because column first_name is not in the
predicate. However, in this situation the optimizer may choose to use an index skip
scan (see “Index Skip Scans”).

• The query is unselective.

If the optimizer determines that the query requires most of the blocks in the table,
then it uses a full table scan, even though indexes are available. Full table scans can
use larger I/O calls. Making fewer large I/O calls is cheaper than making many
smaller calls.

• The table statistics are stale.

For example, a table was small, but now has grown large. If the table statistics are
stale and do not reflect the current size of the table, then the optimizer does not
know that an index is now most efficient than a full table scan. See “Introduction to
Optimizer Statistics.”

Optimizer Access Paths 8-5

Table Access Paths

• The table is small.

If a table contains fewer than n blocks under the high water mark, where n equals
the setting for the DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT initialization parameter,
then a full table scan may be cheaper than an index range scan. The scan may be
less expensive regardless of the fraction of tables being accessed or indexes present.

• The table has a high degree of parallelism.

A high degree of parallelism for a table skews the optimizer toward full table scans
over range scans. Query the value in the ALL_TABLES.DEGREE column in for the
table to determine the degree of parallelism.

• The query uses a full table scan hint.

The hint FULL(table alias) instructs the optimizer to use a full table scan.

See Also:

“Influencing the Optimizer with Hints”

How a Full Table Scan Works

In a full table scan, the database sequentially reads every formatted block under the
high water mark. The database reads each block only once. The following graphic
depicts a scan of a table segment, showing how the scan skips unformatted blocks
below the high water mark.

Sequential Low HWM HWM

Read

Used Never Used,

Unformatted

Because the blocks are adjacent, the database can speed up the scan by making I/O
calls larger than a single block, known as a multiblock read. The size of a read call
ranges from one block to the number of blocks specified by the
DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT initialization parameter. For example, setting
this parameter to 4 instructs the database to read up to 4 blocks in a single call.
The algorithms for caching blocks during full table scans are complex. For example,
the database caches blocks differently depending on whether tables are small or large.

8-6 SQL Tuning Guide

 Table Access Paths

See Also:

• Table 14-1

• Oracle Database Concepts for an overview of the default caching mode

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the

DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT initialization parameter

Full Table Scan: Example

The following statement queries salaries over 4000 in the hr.employees table:
SELECT salary
FROM hr.employees
WHERE salary > 4000;

Example 8-1 Full Table Scan

The following plan was retrieved using the DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR
function. Because no index exists on the salary column, the optimizer cannot use an
index range scan, and so uses a full table scan.
SQL_ID 54c20f3udfnws, child number 0
-------------------------------------
select salary from hr.employees where salary > 4000

Plan hash value: 3476115102

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 3 (100)| |
|* 1 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| EMPLOYEES | 98 | 6762 | 3 (0)| 00:00:01 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

1 - filter("SALARY">4000)

Table Access by Rowid

A rowid is an internal representation of the storage location of data. The rowid of a
row specifies the data file and data block containing the row and the location of the
row in that block. Locating a row by specifying its rowid is the fastest way to retrieve a
single row because it specifies the exact location of the row in the database.

Note:
Rowids can change between versions. Accessing data based on position is not
recommended because rows can move. To learn more about rowids, see Oracle
Database Development Guide.

Optimizer Access Paths 8-7

Table Access Paths

When the Optimizer Chooses Table Access by Rowid

In most cases, the database accesses a table by rowid after a scan of one or more
indexes. However, table access by rowid need not follow every index scan. If the index
contains all needed columns, then access by rowid might not occur (see “Index Fast
Full Scans”).

How Table Access by Rowid Works

To access a table by rowid, the database performs the following steps:

1. Obtains the rowids of the selected rows, either from the statement WHERE clause
or through an index scan of one or more indexes
Table access may be needed for columns in the statement not present in the index.

2. Locates each selected row in the table based on its rowid

Table Access by Rowid: Example

Assume run the following query:
SELECT *
FROM employees
WHERE employee_id > 190;

Step 2 of the following plan shows a range scan of the emp_emp_id_pk index on the
hr.employees table. The database uses the rowids obtained from the index to find
the corresponding rows from the employees table, and then retrieve them. The
BATCHED access shown in Step 1 means that the database retrieves a few rowids from
the index, and then attempts to access rows in block order to improve the clustering
and reduce the number of times that the database must access a block.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost(%CPU)|Time|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | |2(100)| |
| 1| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID BATCHED|EMPLOYEES |16|1104|2 (0)|00:00:01|
|*2| INDEX RANGE SCAN |EMP_EMP_ID_PK|16| |1 (0)|00:00:01|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

2 - access("EMPLOYEE_ID">190)

Sample Table Scans

A sample table scan retrieves a random sample of data from a simple table or a
complex SELECT statement, such as a statement involving joins and views.

When the Optimizer Chooses a Sample Table Scan

The database uses a sample table scan when a statement FROM clause includes either of
the following clauses:

• SAMPLE (sample_percent)
The database reads a specified percentage of rows in the table to perform a sample
table scan.

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 Table Access Paths

• SAMPLE BLOCK (sample_percent)

The database reads a specified percentage of table blocks to perform a sample table
scan.
The sample_percent specifies the percentage of the total row or block count to include in
the sample. The value must be in the range .000001 up to, but not including, 100.
This percentage indicates the probability of each row, or each cluster of rows in block
sampling, being selected for the sample. It does not mean that the database retrieves
exactly sample_percent of the rows.

Note:

Block sampling is possible only during full table scans or index fast full scans.
If a more efficient execution path exists, then the database does not sample
blocks. To guarantee block sampling for a specific table or index, use the FULL
or INDEX_FFS hint.

See Also:

• “Influencing the Optimizer with Hints”

• Oracle Database SQL Language Reference to learn about the SAMPLE clause

Sample Table Scans: Example

Example 8-2 uses a sample table scan to access 1% of the employees table, sampling
by blocks instead of rows.
Example 8-2 Sample Table Scan
SELECT * FROM hr.employees SAMPLE BLOCK (1);

The EXPLAIN PLAN output for this statement might look as follows:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1 | 68 | 3 (34)|
| 1 | TABLE ACCESS SAMPLE | EMPLOYEES | 1 | 68 | 3 (34)|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

In-Memory Table Scans

Starting in Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1.0.2), an in-memory scan retrieves some
or all rows from the In-Memory Column Store (IM column store). The IM column
store is an optional SGA area that stores copies of tables and partitions in a special
columnar format optimized for rapid scans.

Optimizer Access Paths 8-9

Table Access Paths

See Also:

• Oracle Database Concepts for an overview of the IM column store

• Oracle Database Administrator's Guide to learn how to enable the IM column

store

When the Optimizer Chooses an In-Memory Table Scan

Starting in Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1.0.2), the optimizer cost model is fully
aware of the content of the IM column store. When a user executes a query that
references a table in the IM column store, the optimizer calculates the cost of all
possible access methods—including the in-memory table scan—and selects the access
method with the lowest cost.

In-Memory Query Controls

The following database initialization parameters affect the in-memory features:

• INMEMORY_QUERY
This parameter enables or disables in-memory queries for the database at the
session or system level. This parameter is helpful when you want to test workloads
with and without the use of the IM column store.

• OPTIMIZER_INMEMORY_AWARE
This parameter enables (TRUE) or disables (FALSE) all of the in-memory
enhancements made to the optimizer cost model, table expansion, bloom filters,
and so on. Setting the parameter to FALSE causes the optimizer to ignore the in-
memory property of tables during the optimization of SQL statements.

• OPTIMIZER_FEATURES_ENABLE
When set to values lower than 12.1.0.2, this parameter has the same effect as
setting OPTIMIZER_INMEMORY_AWARE to FALSE.
To enable or disable in-memory queries, you can specify the INMEMORY or
NO_INMEMORY hints, which are the per-query equivalent of the INMEMORY_QUERY
initialization parameter. If a SQL statement uses the INMEMORY hint, but the object it
references is not already loaded in the IM column store, then the database does not
wait for the object to be populated in the IM column store before executing the
statement. However, initial access of the object triggers the object population in the IM
column store.

See Also:

• Oracle Database Reference to learn more about the INMEMORY_QUERY,

OPTIMIZER_INMEMORY_AWARE, and OPTIMIZER_FEATURES_ENABLE
initialization parameters

• Oracle Database SQL Language Reference to learn more about the INMEMORY
hints

8-10 SQL Tuning Guide

 B-Tree Index Access Paths

In-Memory Table Scans: Example

The following example shows a query of the oe.product_information table,
which has been altered with the INMEMORY HIGH option.
Example 8-3 In-Memory Table Scan
SELECT *
FROM oe.product_information
WHERE list_price > 10
ORDER BY product_id

The plan for this statement might look as follows, with the INMEMORY keyword in Step
2 indicating that some or all of the object was accessed from the IM column store:
SQL> SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR);

SQL_ID 2mb4h57x8pabw, child number 0

-------------------------------------
select * from oe.product_information where list_price > 10 order byproduct_id

Plan hash value: 2256295385

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes |TempSpc|Cost(%CPU)|Time|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | | |21 (100)| |
| 1| SORT ORDER BY | | 285| 62415|82000|21 (5)|00:00:01|
|*2| TABLE ACCESS INMEMORY FULL| PRODUCT_INFORMATION | 285| 62415| | 5 (0)|00:00:01|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------
2 - inmemory("LIST_PRICE">10)
filter("LIST_PRICE">10)

B-Tree Index Access Paths

An index is an optional structure, associated with a table or table cluster, that can
sometimes speed data access. By creating an index on one or more columns of a table,
you gain the ability in some cases to retrieve a small set of randomly distributed rows
from the table. Indexes are one of many means of reducing disk I/O.
This section contains the following topics:

• About B-Tree Index Access

• Index Unique Scans

• Index Range Scans

• Index Full Scans

• Index Fast Full Scans

• Index Skip Scans

• Index Join Scans

Optimizer Access Paths 8-11

B-Tree Index Access Paths

See Also:

• Oracle Database Concepts for an overview of indexes

• Oracle Database Administrator's Guide to learn how to manage indexes

About B-Tree Index Access

B-trees, short for balanced trees, are the most common type of database index. A B-tree
index is an ordered list of values divided into ranges. By associating a key with a row
or range of rows, B-trees provide excellent retrieval performance for a wide range of
queries, including exact match and range searches.

B-Tree Index Structure

Figure 8-2 illustrates the logical structure of a B-tree index. A B-tree index has two
types of blocks: branch blocks for searching and leaf blocks that store values. Branch
blocks store the minimum key prefix needed to make a branching decision between
two keys. The leaf blocks contain every indexed data value and a corresponding rowid
used to locate the actual row. Each index entry is sorted by (key, rowid). Within a leaf
block, a key and rowid is linked to its left and right sibling entries. The leaf blocks
themselves are also doubly linked.

Figure 8-2 B-Tree Index Structure

Branch Blocks
0..40
41..80
81..120
....
200..250

0..10 41..48 200..209

11..19 49..53 210..220
20..25 54..65 221..228
.... .... ... ....
32..40 78..80 246..250

Leaf Blocks

0,rowid 11,rowid 221,rowid 246,rowid

0,rowid 11,rowid 222,rowid 248,rowid
.... 12,rowid 223,rowid 248,rowid
10,rowid .... .... ....
19,rowid ... 228,rowid ... 250,rowid

8-12 SQL Tuning Guide

 B-Tree Index Access Paths

How Index Storage Affects Index Scans

Figure 8-2 shows the leaf blocks as adjacent to each other, so that the 1-10 block is
next to and before the 11-19 block. This arrangement illustrates the linked lists that
connect the index entries. However, index blocks need not be stored in order within an
index segment. For example, the 246-250 block could appear anywhere in the
segment, including directly before the 1-10 block. Because blocks can appear
anywhere in the segment, ordered index scans must perform single-block I/O. The
database must read a block to determine which block it must read next.
Figure 8-2 shows the index entries within an index block stored sequentially. This is
true at a high level. At a low level, the index entries in the index block body are stored
in a heap, just like table rows. For example, if the value 10 is inserted first into a table,
then the index entry with key 10 might be inserted at the bottom of the index block,
and if 0 is inserted next into the table, then the index entry for key 0 might be inserted
on top of the entry for 10, and so on. Thus, the index entries in the block body are not
stored in key order. However, within the index block, the row header stores records in
key order. For example, the first record in the header points to the index entry with
key 0, and so on sequentially up to the record that points to the index entry with key
10. Thus, index scans can read the row header to determine where to begin and end
range scans, avoiding the necessity of reading every entry in the block.

See Also:

Oracle Database Concepts to learn about index blocks

Unique and Nonunique Indexes

Figure 8-2 shows a nonunique index. In a nonunique index, the database stores the
rowid by appending it to the key as an extra column with a length byte to make the
key unique. For example, the first index key in Figure 8-2 is the pair 0,rowid and not
simply 0. The database sorts the data by index key values and then by rowid
ascending. For example, the entries are sorted as follows:
0,AAAPvCAAFAAAAFaAAa
0,AAAPvCAAFAAAAFaAAg
0,AAAPvCAAFAAAAFaAAl
2,AAAPvCAAFAAAAFaAAm

In a unique index, the index key does not include the rowid. The database sorts the
data only by the index key values, such as 0, 1, 2, and so on.

See Also:
Oracle Database Concepts for an overview of unique and nonunique indexes

B-Tree Indexes and Nulls

B-tree indexes never store completely null keys, which is important for how the
optimizer chooses access paths. A consequence of this rule is that single-column B-tree
indexes never store nulls.
An example helps illustrate. The hr.employees table has a primary key index on
employee_id, and a unique index on department_id. The department_id

Optimizer Access Paths 8-13

B-Tree Index Access Paths

column can contain nulls, making it a nullable column, but the employee_id column
cannot.
SQL> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM employees WHERE department_id IS NULL;

COUNT(*)
----------
1

SQL> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM employees WHERE employee_id IS NULL;

COUNT(*)
----------
0

The following example shows that the optimizer chooses a full table scan for a query
of all department IDs in hr.employees. The optimizer cannot use the index on
employees.department_id because the index is not guaranteed to include entries
for every row in the table.
SQL> EXPLAIN PLAN FOR SELECT department_id FROM employees;

Explained.

SQL> SELECT PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY());

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plan hash value: 3476115102

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 107 | 321 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 1 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| EMPLOYEES | 107 | 321 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8 rows selected.

The following example shows the optimizer can use the index on department_id for
a query of a specific department ID because all non-null rows are indexed.
SQL> EXPLAIN PLAN FOR SELECT department_id FROM employees WHERE department_id=10;

Explained.

SQL> SELECT PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY());

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plan hash value: 67425611

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation | Name | Rows |Bytes| Cost (%CPU)| Time |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1 | 3 | 1 (0)| 00:0 0:01|
|*1 | INDEX RANGE SCAN| EMP_DEPARTMENT_IX | 1 | 3 | 1 (0)| 00:0 0:01|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

8-14 SQL Tuning Guide

 B-Tree Index Access Paths

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 - access("DEPARTMENT_ID"=10)

The following example shows that the optimizer chooses an index scan when the
predicate excludes null values:
SQL> EXPLAIN PLAN FOR SELECT department_id FROM employees
WHERE department_id IS NOT NULL;

Explained.

SQL> SELECT PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY());

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plan hash value: 1590637672

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation | Name | Rows|Bytes| Cost (%CPU)| Time |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 106 | 318 | 1 (0)| 00:0 0:01 |
|*1 | INDEX FULL SCAN | EMP_DEPARTMENT_IX | 106 | 318 | 1 (0)| 00:0 0:01 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 - filter("DEPARTMENT_ID" IS NOT NULL)

Index Unique Scans

An index unique scan returns at most 1 rowid.

When the Optimizer Considers Index Unique Scans

The database performs a unique scan when the following conditions apply:

• A query predicate references all of the columns in a unique index key using an
equality operator, such as WHERE prod_id=10.

• A SQL statement contains an equality predicate on a column referenced in an index

created with the CREATE UNIQUE INDEX statement.
A unique or primary key constraint is insufficient by itself to produce an index unique
scan. Consider the following example, which creates a primary key constraint on a
column with a non-unique index, resulting in an index range scan rather than an index
unique scan:
CREATE TABLE t_table(numcol INT);
CREATE INDEX t_table_idx ON t_table(numcol);
ALTER TABLE t_table ADD CONSTRAINT t_table_pk PRIMARY KEY(numcol);
SET AUTOTRACE TRACEONLY EXPLAIN
SELECT * FROM t_table WHERE numcol = 1;

Execution Plan

Optimizer Access Paths 8-15

B-Tree Index Access Paths

----------------------------------------------------------
Plan hash value: 868081059

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1 | 13 | 1 (0)| 00:00:01 |
|* 1 | INDEX RANGE SCAN| T_TABLE_IDX | 1 | 13 | 1 (0)| 00:00:01 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------
1 - access("NUMCOL"=1)

You can use the INDEX(alias index_name) hint to specify the index to use, but
not a specific type of index access path.

See Also:

• Oracle Database Concepts for more details on index structures and for
detailed information on how a B-tree is searched

• Oracle Database SQL Language Reference to learn more about the INDEX hint

How Index Unique Scans Work

The scan searches the index in order for the specified key. An index unique scan stops
processing as soon as it finds the first record because no second record is possible. The
database obtains the rowid from the index entry, and then retrieves the row specified
by the rowid.
Figure 8-3 illustrates an index unique scan. The statement requests the record for
product ID 19 in the prod_id column, which has a primary key index.

8-16 SQL Tuning Guide

 B-Tree Index Access Paths

Figure 8-3 Index Unique Scan

Branch Blocks
0..40
41..80
81..120
....
200..250

0..10 41..48 200..209

11..19 49..53 210..220
20..25 54..65 221..228
.... .... ... ....
32..40 78..80 246..250

Leaf Blocks

0,rowid 11,rowid 221,rowid 246,rowid

1,rowid 12,rowid 222,rowid 247,rowid
.... 13,rowid 223,rowid 248,rowid
10,rowid .... .... ....
19,rowid ... 228,rowid ... 250,rowid

Index Unique Scans: Example

The following statement queries the record for product 19 in the sh.products table:
SELECT *
FROM sh.products
WHERE prod_id=19;

Example 8-4 retrieves the plan using the DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR function.

Because a primary key index exists on products.prod_id, and the WHERE clause
references all of the columns using an equality operator, the optimizer chooses a
unique scan.
Example 8-4 Index Unique Scan
SQL_ID 3ptq5tsd5vb3d, child number 0
-------------------------------------
select * from sh.products where prod_id = 19

Plan hash value: 4047888317

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost (%CPU)|Time |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 1 (100)| |
| 1| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID| PRODUCTS | 1 | 173 | 1 (0)| 00:00:01|
|* 2| INDEX UNIQUE SCAN | PRODUCTS_PK | 1 | | 0 (0)| |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Optimizer Access Paths 8-17

B-Tree Index Access Paths

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

2 - access("PROD_ID"=19)

Index Range Scans

An index range scan is an ordered scan of values. The range in the scan can be
bounded on both sides, or unbounded on one or both sides. The optimizer typically
chooses a range scan for selective queries (see “Selectivity”).
By default, the database stores indexes in ascending order, and scans them in the same
order. For example, a query with the predicate department_id >= 20 uses a range
scan to return rows sorted by index keys 20, 30, 40, and so on. If multiple index
entries have identical keys, then the database returns them in ascending order by
rowid, so that 0,AAAPvCAAFAAAAFaAAa is followed by 0,AAAPvCAAFAAAAFaAAg,
and so on.
An index range scan descending is identical to an index range scan except that the
database returns rows in descending order. Usually, the database uses a descending
scan when ordering data in a descending order, or when seeking a value less than a
specified value.

When the Optimizer Considers Index Range Scans

The optimizer considers index range scans in the following circumstances:

• One or more leading columns of an index are specified in conditions. A condition

specifies a combination of one or more expressions and logical (Boolean) operators
and returns a value of TRUE, FALSE, or UNKNOWN. Examples of conditions include:

– department_id = :id

– department_id < :id

– department_id > :id

– AND combination of the preceding conditions for leading columns in the index,
such as department_id > :low AND department_id < :hi.

Note:

For the optimizer to consider a range scan, wild-card searches of the form
col1 LIKE '%ASD' must not be in a leading position.

• 0, 1, or more values are possible for an index key.

Tip:
If you require sorted data, then use the ORDER BY clause, and do not rely on
an index. If an index can satisfy an ORDER BY clause, then the optimizer uses
this option and avoids a sort.

The optimizer considers an index range scan descending when an index can satisfy an
ORDER BY DESCENDING clause.
If the optimizer chooses a full table scan or another index, then a hint may be required
to force this access path. The INDEX(tbl_alias ix_name) and

8-18 SQL Tuning Guide

 B-Tree Index Access Paths

INDEX_DESC(tbl_alias ix_name) hints instruct the optimizer to use a specific

index.

See Also:

Oracle Database SQL Language Reference to learn more about the INDEX and
INDEX_DESC hints

How Index Range Scans Work

In general, the process is as follows:

1. Read the root block.

2. Read the branch block.

3. Alternate the following steps until all data is retrieved:

a. Read a leaf block to obtain a rowid.

b. Read a table block to retrieve a row.

Note:

In some cases, an index scan reads a set of index blocks, sorts the rowids, and
then reads a set of table blocks.

Thus, to scan the index, the database moves backward or forward through the leaf
blocks. For example, a scan for IDs between 20 and 40 locates the first leaf block that
has the lowest key value that is 20 or greater. The scan proceeds horizontally through
the linked list of leaf nodes until it finds a value greater than 40, and then stops.
Figure 8-4 illustrates an index range scan using ascending order. A statement requests
the employees records with the value 20 in the department_id column, which has
a nonunique index. In this example, 2 index entries for department 20 exist.

Optimizer Access Paths 8-19

B-Tree Index Access Paths

Figure 8-4 Index Range Scan

Branch Blocks
0..40
41..80
81..120
....
200..250

0..10 41..48 200..209

11..2 49..53 210..220
54..65 221..228
.... .... ... ....
32..40 78..80 246..250

Leaf Blocks

0,rowid 11,rowid 221,rowid 246,rowid

0,rowid 11,rowid 222,rowid 248,rowid
.... 12,rowid 223,rowid 248,rowid
10,rowid .... .... ....
20,rowid
20, rowid
... 228,rowid ... 250,rowid

Index Range Scan: Example

The following statement queries the records for employees in department 20 with
salaries greater than 1000:
SELECT *
FROM employees
WHERE department_id = 20
AND salary > 1000;

Example 8-5 retrieves the plan using the DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR function.

This query is highly selective, so the query uses the index on the department_id
column. The database scans the index, fetches the records from the employees table,
and then applies the salary > 1000 filter to these fetched records to generate the
result.
Example 8-5 Index Range Scan
SQL_ID brt5abvbxw9tq, child number 0
-------------------------------------
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE department_id = 20 AND salary > 1000

Plan hash value: 2799965532

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id | Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost(%CPU)| Time |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 2 (100)| |
|*1 | TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID BATCHED| EMPLOYEES | 2 | 138 | 2 (0)|00:00:01|

8-20 SQL Tuning Guide

 B-Tree Index Access Paths

|*2 | INDEX RANGE SCAN | EMP_DEPARTMENT_IX| 2 | | 1 (0)|00:00:01|

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

1 - filter("SALARY">1000)
2 - access("DEPARTMENT_ID"=20)

Index Range Scan Descending: Example

The following statement queries the records for employees in department 20 in
descending order:
SELECT *
FROM employees
WHERE department_id < 20
ORDER BY department_id DESC;

Example 8-6 retrieves the plan using the DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR function.

This query is selective, so the query uses the index on the department_id column.
The database locates the first index leaf block that contains the highest key value that
is 20 or less. The scan then proceeds horizontally to the left through the linked list of
leaf nodes. The database obtains the rowid from each index entry, and then retrieves
the row specified by the rowid.
Example 8-6 Index Range Scan Descending
SQL_ID 8182ndfj1ttj6, child number 0
-------------------------------------
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE department_id < 20 ORDER BY department_id DESC

Plan hash value: 1681890450

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost(%CPU)|Time |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 2 (100)| |
| 1| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID | EMPLOYEES | 2|138| 2 (0)|00:00:01|
|*2| INDEX RANGE SCAN DESCENDING| EMP_DEPARTMENT_IX | 2| | 1 (0)|00:00:01|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

2 - access("DEPARTMENT_ID"<20)

Index Full Scans

An index full scan reads the entire index in order. An index full scan can eliminate a
separate sorting operation because the data in the index is ordered by index key.

When the Optimizer Considers Index Full Scans

Situations in which the optimizer considers an index full scan include:

• A predicate references a column in the index. This column need not be the leading
column.

• No predicate is specified, but all of the following conditions are met:

– All columns in the table and in the query are in the index.

Optimizer Access Paths 8-21

B-Tree Index Access Paths

– At least one indexed column is not null.

• A query includes an ORDER BY on indexed non-nullable columns.

How Index Full Scans Work

The database reads the root block, and then navigates down the left hand side of the
index (or right if doing a descending full scan) until it reaches a leaf block. The
database then reads across the bottom of the index, one block at a time, in sorted
order. The scan uses single-block I/O rather than multiblock I/O.
Figure 8-5 illustrates an index full scan. A statement requests the departments
records ordered by department_id.

Figure 8-5 Index Full Scan

Branch Blocks
0..40
41..80
81..120
....
200..250

0..10 41..48 200..209

11..19 49..53 210..220
20..25 54..65 221..228
.... .... ... ....
32..40 78..80 246..250

Leaf Blocks

0,rowid 11,rowid 221,rowid 246,rowid

1,rowid 12,rowid 222,rowid 247,rowid
.... 13,rowid 223,rowid 248,rowid
10,rowid .... .... ....
19,rowid ... 228,rowid ... 250,rowid

Index Full Scans: Example

The following statement queries the ID and name for departments in order of
department ID:
SELECT department_id, department_name
FROM departments
ORDER BY department_id;

Example 8-7 retrieves the plan using the DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR function.

The database locates the first index leaf block, and then proceeds horizontally to the
right through the linked list of leaf nodes. For each index entry, the database obtains
the rowid from the entry, and then retrieves the table row specified by the rowid. In
this way, the database avoids a separate operation to sort the retrieved rows.

8-22 SQL Tuning Guide

 B-Tree Index Access Paths

Example 8-7 Index Full Scan

SQL_ID 94t4a20h8what, child number 0
-------------------------------------
select department_id, department_name from departments order by department_id

Plan hash value: 4179022242

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id | Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost(%CPU)|Time |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 2 (100)| |
| 1 | TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID| DEPARTMENTS | 27 | 432 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 2 | INDEX FULL SCAN | DEPT_ID_PK | 27 | | 1 (0)| 00:00:01 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Index Fast Full Scans

An index fast full scan reads the index blocks in unsorted order, as they exist on disk.
This scan does not use the index to probe the table, but reads the index instead of the
table, essentially using the index itself as a table.

When the Optimizer Considers Index Fast Full Scans

The optimizer considers this scan when a query only accesses attributes in the index.
The INDEX_FFS(table_name index_name) hint forces a fast full index scan.

Note:

Unlike a full scan, a fast full scan cannot eliminate a sort operation because it
does not read the index in order.

See Also:

Oracle Database SQL Language Reference to learn more about the INDEX hint

How Index Fast Full Scans Work

The database uses multiblock I/O to read the root block and all of the leaf and branch
blocks. The databases ignores the branch and root blocks and reads the index entries
on the leaf blocks.

Index Fast Full Scans: Example

The following statement queries the ID and name for departments in order of
department ID:
SELECT /*+ INDEX_FFS(departments dept_id_pk) */ COUNT(*)
FROM departments;

Example 8-8 retrieves the plan using the DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR function.

Example 8-8 Index Fast Full Scan
SQL_ID fu0k5nvx7sftm, child number 0
-------------------------------------
select /*+ index_ffs(departments dept_id_pk) */ count(*) from departments

Plan hash value: 3940160378

Optimizer Access Paths 8-23

B-Tree Index Access Paths

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | 2 (100)| |
| 1 | SORT AGGREGATE | | 1 | | |
| 2 | INDEX FAST FULL SCAN| DEPT_ID_PK | 27 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Index Skip Scans

An index skip scan occurs when the initial column of a composite index is "skipped"
or not specified in the query.

See Also:

Oracle Database Concepts

When the Optimizer Considers Index Skips Scans

The optimizer considers a skip scan when the following criteria are met:

• The leading column of a composite index is not specified in the query predicate.
For example, if the composite index key is (cust_gender,cust_email), then
the query predicate does not reference the cust_gender column.

• Few distinct values exist in the leading column of the composite index, but many
distinct values exist in the nonleading key of the index.
For example, if the composite index key is (cust_gender,cust_email), then
the cust_gender column has only two distinct values, but cust_email has
thousands.
Often, skip scanning index blocks is faster than scanning table blocks, and faster than
performing full index scans.

How Index Skip Scans Work

An index skip scan logically splits a composite index into smaller subindexes. The
number of distinct values in the leading columns of the index determines the number
of logical subindexes. The lower the number, the fewer logical subindexes the
optimizer must create, and the more efficient the scan becomes. The scan reads each
logical index separately, and "skips" index blocks that do not meet the filter condition
on the non-leading column.

Index Skip Scans: Example

The customers table contains a column cust_gender whose values are either M or
F. You create a composite index on the columns (cust_gender, cust_email) as
follows:
CREATE INDEX cust_gender_email_ix
ON sh.customers (cust_gender, cust_email);

Conceptually, a portion of the index might look as follows, with the gender value of F
or M as the leading edge of the index.
. . .
F,[email protected],rowid
F,[email protected],rowid
F,[email protected],rowid

8-24 SQL Tuning Guide

 B-Tree Index Access Paths

F,[email protected],rowid
F,[email protected],rowid
F,[email protected],rowid
M,[email protected],rowid
M,[email protected],rowid
. . .

You run the following query for a customer in the sh.customers table:
SELECT *
FROM sh.customers
WHERE cust_email = '[email protected]';

The database can use a skip scan of the customers_gender_email index even
though cust_gender is not specified in the WHERE clause. In the sample index, the
leading column cust_gender has two possible values: F and M. The database
logically splits the index into two. One subindex has the key F, with entries in the
following form:
F,[email protected],rowid
F,[email protected],rowid
F,[email protected],rowid
F,[email protected],rowid
F,[email protected],rowid
F,[email protected],rowid

The second subindex has the key M, with entries in the following form:
M,[email protected],rowid
M,[email protected],rowid

When searching for the record for the customer whose email is
[email protected], the database searches the subindex with the leading value F
first, and then searches the subindex with the leading value M. Conceptually, the
database processes the query as follows:
( SELECT *
FROM sh.customers
WHERE cust_gender = 'F'
AND cust_email = '[email protected]' )
UNION ALL
( SELECT *
FROM sh.customers
WHERE cust_gender = 'M'
AND cust_email = '[email protected]' )

The plan for the query is as follows:

SQL_ID d7a6xurcnx2dj, child number 0
-------------------------------------
SELECT * FROM sh.customers WHERE cust_email = '[email protected]'

Plan hash value: 797907791

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost(%CPU)|Time|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0|SELECT STATEMENT | | | |10(100)| |
| 1| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID BATCHED| CUSTOMERS |33|6237| 10(0)|00:00:01|
|*2| INDEX SKIP SCAN | CUST_GENDER_EMAIL_IX |33| | 4(0)|00:00:01|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Optimizer Access Paths 8-25

B-Tree Index Access Paths

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

2 - access("CUST_EMAIL"='[email protected]')
filter("CUST_EMAIL"='[email protected]')

See Also:
Oracle Database Concepts to learn more about skip scans

Example 8-9 Composite Index Entries

. . .
F,[email protected],rowid
F,[email protected],rowid
F,[email protected],rowid
F,[email protected],rowid
F,[email protected],rowid
F,[email protected],rowid
M,[email protected],rowid
M,[email protected],rowid
. . .

Index Join Scans

An index join scan is a hash join of multiple indexes that together return all columns
requested by a query. The database does not need to access the table because all data is
retrieved from the indexes.

When the Optimizer Considers Index Join Scans

The optimizer considers an index join in the following circumstances:

• A hash join of multiple indexes retrieves all data requested by the query, without
requiring table access.

• The cost of retrieving rows from the table is higher than reading the indexes
without retrieving rows from the table. An index join is often expensive. For
example, when scanning two indexes and joining them, it is often less costly to
choose the most selective index, and then probe the table.
You can specify an index join with the INDEX_JOIN(table_name) hint.

See Also:
Oracle Database SQL Language Reference

How Index Join Scans Work

An index join involves scanning multiple indexes, and then using a hash join on the
rowids obtained from these scans to return the rows. Table access is always avoided.
For example, the process for joining two indexes on a single table is as follows:

1. Scan the first index to retrieve rowids.

2. Scan the second index to retrieve rowids.

8-26 SQL Tuning Guide

 B-Tree Index Access Paths

3. Perform a hash join by rowid to obtain the rows.

Index Join Scans: Example

The following statement queries the last name and email for employees whose last
name begins with A, specifying an index join:
SELECT /*+ INDEX_JOIN(employees) */ last_name, email
FROM employees
WHERE last_name like 'A%';

Separate indexes exist on the (last_name,first_name) and email columns. Part

of the emp_name_ix index might look as follows:
Banda,Amit,AAAVgdAALAAAABSABD
Bates,Elizabeth,AAAVgdAALAAAABSABI
Bell,Sarah,AAAVgdAALAAAABSABc
Bernstein,David,AAAVgdAALAAAABSAAz
Bissot,Laura,AAAVgdAALAAAABSAAd
Bloom,Harrison,AAAVgdAALAAAABSABF
Bull,Alexis,AAAVgdAALAAAABSABV

The first part of the emp_email_uk index might look as follows:

ABANDA,AAAVgdAALAAAABSABD
ABULL,AAAVgdAALAAAABSABV
ACABRIO,AAAVgdAALAAAABSABX
AERRAZUR,AAAVgdAALAAAABSAAv
AFRIPP,AAAVgdAALAAAABSAAV
AHUNOLD,AAAVgdAALAAAABSAAD
AHUTTON,AAAVgdAALAAAABSABL

Example 8-10 retrieves the plan using the DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR function.

The database retrieves all rowids in the emp_email_uk index, and then retrieves
rowids in emp_name_ix for last names that begin with A. The database uses a hash
join to search both sets of rowids for matches. For example, rowid
AAAVgdAALAAAABSABD occurs in both sets of rowids, so the database probes the
employees table for the record corresponding to this rowid.
Example 8-10 Index Join Scan
SQL_ID d2djchyc9hmrz, child number 0
-------------------------------------
SELECT /*+ INDEX_JOIN(employees) */ last_name, email FROM employees
WHERE last_name like 'A%'

Plan hash value: 3719800892

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 3 (100)| |
|* 1 | VIEW | index$_join$_001 | 3 | 48 | 3 (34)| 00:00:01 |
|* 2 | HASH JOIN | | | | | |
|* 3 | INDEX RANGE SCAN | EMP_NAME_IX | 3 | 48 | 1 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 4 | INDEX FAST FULL SCAN| EMP_EMAIL_UK | 3 | 48 | 1 (0)| 00:00:01 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------
1 - filter("LAST_NAME" LIKE 'A%')
2 - access(ROWID=ROWID)
3 - access("LAST_NAME" LIKE 'A%')

Optimizer Access Paths 8-27

Bitmap Index Access Paths

Bitmap Index Access Paths

This section explains how bitmap indexes, and describes some of the more common
bitmap index access paths:

• About Bitmap Index Access

• Bitmap Conversion to Rowid

• Bitmap Index Single Value

• Bitmap Index Range Scans

• Bitmap Merge

About Bitmap Index Access

In a conventional B-tree index, one entry points to a single row. In a bitmap index, the
indexed data combined with the rowid range is the key. The database stores at least
one bitmap for each index key. Each value in the bitmap, which is a series of 1 and 0
values, points to a row within a rowid range. Thus, in a bitmap index, one entry points
to multiple rows.

Differences Between Bitmap and B-Tree Indexes

Table 8-2 shows the differences among types of index entries.

Table 8-2 Index Entries for B-Trees and Bitmaps

Index Entry Key Data Example

Unique B-tree Indexed data only Rowid In an entry of the index on the
employees.employee_id column, employee ID 101 is
the key, and the rowid AAAPvCAAFAAAAFaAAa is the
data:
101,AAAPvCAAFAAAAFaAAa

Nonunique B- Indexed data None In an entry of the index on the employees.last_name

tree combined with rowid column, the name and rowid combination
Smith,AAAPvCAAFAAAAFaAAa is the key, and there is
no data:
Smith,AAAPvCAAFAAAAFaAAa

Bitmap Indexed data Bitmap In an entry of the index on the

combined with rowid customers.cust_gender column, the M,low-
range rowid,high-rowid part is the key, and the series of 1
and 0 values is the data:
M,low-rowid,high-rowid,1000101010101010

The database stores a bitmap index in a B-tree structure (see “Bitmap Storage”). The
database can search the B-tree quickly on the first part of the key, which is the set of
attributes on which the index is defined, and then obtain the corresponding rowid
range and bitmap.

8-28 SQL Tuning Guide

 Bitmap Index Access Paths

See Also:

• Oracle Database Concepts for an overview of bitmap indexes

• Oracle Database Data Warehousing Guide for more information about bitmap
indexes

Purpose of Bitmap Indexes

Bitmap indexes are suitable for low cardinality data that is infrequently modified.
Data has low cardinality when the number of distinct values in a column is low in
relation to the total number of rows.
Through compression techniques, these indexes can generate many rowids with
minimal I/O. Bitmap indexes provide especially useful access paths in queries that
contain the following:

• Multiple conditions in the WHERE clause

Before the table itself is accessed, the database filters out rows that satisfy some, but
not all, conditions.

• AND and OR operations on low cardinality columns

Combining bitmap indexes on low cardinality columns makes these operations
more efficient. The database can combine bitmaps from bitmap indexes very
quickly. For example, if bitmap indexes exist on the cust_gender and
cust_marital_status columns of customers, then these indexes can
enormously improve the performance of the following query:
SELECT *
FROM customers
WHERE cust_gender = 'M'
AND cust_marital_status = 'single'

• The COUNT function

The database can scan the index without needing to scan the table.

• Predicates that select for null values

Unlike B-tree indexes, bitmap indexes can contain nulls. Queries that count the
number of nulls in a column can use the index without needing to scan the table.

See Also:
Oracle Database SQL Language Reference to learn about the COUNT function

Bitmaps and Rowids

For a particular value in a bitmap, the value is 1 if the row values match the bitmap
condition, and 0 if it does not. Based on these values, the database uses an internal
algorithm to map bitmaps onto rowids.
The bitmap entry contains the indexed value, the rowid range (start and end rowids),
and a bitmap. Each 0 or 1 value in the bitmap is an offset into the rowid range, and
maps to a potential row in the table, even if the row does not exist. Because the

Optimizer Access Paths 8-29

Bitmap Index Access Paths

number of possible rows in a block is predetermined, the database can use the range
endpoints to determine the rowid of an arbitrary row in the range.

Note:

The Hakan factor is an optimization used by the bitmap index algorithms to

limit the number of rows that Oracle Database assumes can be stored in a
single block. By artificially limiting the number of rows, the database reduces
the size of the bitmaps.

Table 8-3 shows part of a sample bitmap for the

sh.customers.cust_marital_status column, which is nullable. The actual
index has 12 distinct values. Only 3 are shown in the sample: null, married, and
single.

Table 8-3 Bitmap Index Entries

Column Start End 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th

Value Rowid in Rowid in Row in Row in Row in Row in Row in Row in
Range Range Range Range Range Range Range Range
AAA ... CCC ... 0 0 0 0 0 1

married AAA ... CCC ... 1 0 1 1 1 0

single AAA ... CCC ... 0 1 0 0 0 0

single DDD ... EEE ... 1 0 1 0 1 1

As shown in Table 8-3, bitmap indexes can include keys that consist entirely of null
values, unlike B-tree indexes. In Table 8-3, the null has a value of 1 for the 6th row in
the range, which means that the cust_marital_status value is null for the 6th row
in the range. Indexing nulls can be useful for some SQL statements, such as queries
with the aggregate function COUNT.

See Also:

Oracle Database Concepts to learn about rowid formats

Bitmap Join Indexes

A bitmap join index is a bitmap index for the join of two or more tables. The
optimizer can use a bitmap join index to reduce or eliminate the volume of data that
must be joined during plan execution. Bitmap join indexes can be much more efficient
in storage than materialized join views.
The following example creates a bitmap index on the sh.sales and sh.customers
tables:
CREATE BITMAP INDEX cust_sales_bji ON sales(c.cust_city)
FROM sales s, customers c
WHERE c.cust_id = s.cust_id LOCAL;

The FROM and WHERE clause in the preceding CREATE statement represent the join
condition between the tables. The customers.cust_city column is the index key.

8-30 SQL Tuning Guide

 Bitmap Index Access Paths

Each key value in the index represents a possible city in the customers table.
Conceptually, key values for the index might look as follows, with one bitmap
associated with each key value:
San Francisco 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 . . .
San Mateo 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 . . .
Smithville 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 . . .
.
.
.

Each bit in a bitmap corresponds to one row in the sales table. In the Smithville
key, the value 1 means that the first row in the sales table corresponds to a product
sold to a Smithville customer, whereas the value 0 means that the second row
corresponds to a product not sold to a Smithville customer.
Consider the following query of the number of separate sales to Smithville customers:
SELECT COUNT (*)
FROM sales s, customers c
WHERE c.cust_id = s.cust_id
AND c.cust_city = 'Smithville';

The following plan shows that the database reads the Smithville bitmap to derive
the number of Smithville sales (Step 4), thereby avoiding the necessity of joining
customers and sales to obtain the results.
SQL_ID 57s100mh142wy, child number 0
-------------------------------------
SELECT COUNT (*) FROM sales s, customers c WHERE c.cust_id = s.cust_id AND c.cust_city =
'Smithville'

Plan hash value: 3663491772

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost (%CPU)| Time|Pstart|Pstop|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | |29 (100)| | | |
| 1| SORT AGGREGATE | | 1 | 5| | | | |
| 2| PARTITION RANGE ALL | | 1708|8540|29 (0)| 00:00:01 | 1 | 28 |
| 3| BITMAP CONVERSION COUNT | | 1708|8540|29 (0)| 00:00:01 | | |
|*4| BITMAP INDEX SINGLE VALUE| CUST_SALES_BJI | | | | | 1 | 28 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

4 - access("S"."SYS_NC00008$"='Smithville')

See Also:
Oracle Database Concepts to learn about the CREATE INDEX statement

Bitmap Storage
A bitmap index resides in a B-tree structure, using branch blocks and leaf blocks just
as in a B-tree. For example, if the customers.cust_marital_status column has
12 distinct values, then one branch block might point to the keys married,rowid-
range and single,rowid-range, another branch block might point to the

Optimizer Access Paths 8-31

Bitmap Index Access Paths

widowed,rowid-range key, and so on. Alternatively, a single branch block could

point to a leaf block containing all 12 distinct keys.
Each indexed column value may have one or more bitmap pieces, each with its own
rowid range occupying a contiguous set of rows in one or more extents. The database
can use a bitmap piece to break up an index entry that is large relative to the size of a
block. For example, the database could break a single index entry into three pieces,
with the first two pieces in separate blocks in the same extent, and the last piece in a
separate block in a different extent.

Bitmap Conversion to Rowid

A bitmap conversion translates between an entry in the bitmap and a row in a table.
The conversion can go from entry to row (TO ROWID), or from row to entry (FROM
ROWID).

When the Optimizer Chooses Bitmap Conversion to Rowid

The optimizer uses a conversion whenever it retrieves a row from a table using a
bitmap index entry.

How Bitmap Conversion to Rowid Works

Table 8-3 represents the bitmap conceptually as a table with customers row numbers
as columns and cust_marital_status values as rows. Each field in Table 8-3 has
the value 1 or 0, and represents a column value in a row. Conceptually, the bitmap
conversion uses an internal algorithm that says, "Field F in the bitmap corresponds to
the Nth row of the Mth block of the table," or "The Nth row of the Mth block in the
table corresponds to field F in the bitmap."

Bitmap Conversion to Rowid: Example

A query of the sh.customers table selects the names of all customers born before
1918:
SELECT cust_last_name, cust_first_name
FROM customers
WHERE cust_year_of_birth < 1918;

The following plan shows that the database uses a range scan to find all key values
less than 1918 (Step 3), converts the 1 values in the bitmap to rowids (Step 2), and
then uses the rowids to obtain the rows from the customers table (Step 1):
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost(%CPU)| Time |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | |421 (100)| |
| 1| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID BATCHED| CUSTOMERS |3604|68476|421 (1)| 00:00:01 |
| 2| BITMAP CONVERSION TO ROWIDS | | | | | |
|*3| BITMAP INDEX RANGE SCAN | CUSTOMERS_YOB_BIX| | | | |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------
3 - access("CUST_YEAR_OF_BIRTH"<1918)
filter("CUST_YEAR_OF_BIRTH"<1918)

Bitmap Index Single Value

This type of access path uses a bitmap index to look up a single key value.

8-32 SQL Tuning Guide

 Bitmap Index Access Paths

When the Optimizer Considers Bitmap Index Single Value

The optimizer considers this access path when the predicate contains an equality
operator.

How Bitmap Index Single Value Works

The query scans a single bitmap for positions containing a 1 value. The database
converts the 1 values into rowids, and then uses the rowids to find the rows.

Bitmap Index Single Value: Example

A query of the sh.customers table selects all widowed customers:
SELECT *
FROM customers
WHERE cust_marital_status = 'Widowed'

The following plan shows that the database reads the entry with the Widowed key in
the customers bitmap index (Step 3), converts the 1 values in the bitmap to rowids
(Step 2), and then uses the rowids to obtain the rows from the customers table (Step
1):
SQL_ID ff5an2xsn086h, child number 0
-------------------------------------
SELECT * FROM customers WHERE cust_marital_status = 'Widowed'

Plan hash value: 2579015045

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost (%CPU)| Time|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | |412 (100)| |
| 1| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID BATCHED|CUSTOMERS |3461|638K|412 (2)|00:00:01|
| 2| BITMAP CONVERSION TO ROWIDS | | | | | |
|*3| BITMAP INDEX SINGLE VALUE |CUSTOMERS_MARITAL_BIX| | | | |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

3 - access("CUST_MARITAL_STATUS"='Widowed')

Bitmap Index Range Scans

This type of access path uses a bitmap index to look up a range of values.

When the Optimizer Considers Bitmap Index Range Scans

The optimizer considers this access path when the predicate selects a range of values
(see “Index Range Scans”).

How Bitmap Index Range Scans Work

This scan works similarly to a B-tree range scan (see “Index Range Scans”).

Bitmap Index Range Scans: Example

A query of the sh.customers table selects the names of customers born before 1918:

Optimizer Access Paths 8-33

Bitmap Index Access Paths

SELECT cust_last_name, cust_first_name

FROM customers
WHERE cust_year_of_birth < 1918

The following plan shows that the database obtains all bitmaps for
cust_year_of_birth keys lower than 1918 (Step 3), converts the bitmaps to
rowids (Step 2), and then fetches the rows (Step 1):
SQL_ID 672z2h9rawyjg, child number 0
-------------------------------------
SELECT cust_last_name, cust_first_name FROM customers WHERE
cust_year_of_birth < 1918

Plan hash value: 4198466611

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost(%CPU)|Time |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | |421 (100)| |
| 1| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID BATCHED| CUSTOMERS |3604|68476|421 (1)|00:00:01 |
| 2| BITMAP CONVERSION TO ROWIDS | | | | | |
|*3| BITMAP INDEX RANGE SCAN | CUSTOMERS_YOB_BIX | | | | |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------
3 - access("CUST_YEAR_OF_BIRTH"<1918)
filter("CUST_YEAR_OF_BIRTH"<1918)

Bitmap Merge
This access path merges multiple bitmaps together, and returns a single bitmap as a
result.

When the Optimizer Considers Bitmap Merge

The optimizer typically uses a bitmap merge to combine bitmaps generated from an
index range scan.

How Bitmap Merge Works

A merge uses an OR operation between two bitmaps. The resulting bitmap selects all
rows from the first bitmap, plus all rows from every subsequent bitmap.
The following example shows sample bitmaps for three
customers.cust_year_of_birth keys: 1917, 1916, and 1915. If any position in
any bitmap has a 1, then the merged bitmap has a 1 in the same position. Otherwise,
the merged bitmap has a 0.
1917 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
1916 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1915 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
------------------------------------
merged: 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1

Bitmap Index Single Value: Example

A query of the sh.customers table selects the names of female customers born
before 1918:
SELECT cust_last_name, cust_first_name
FROM customers

8-34 SQL Tuning Guide

 Table Cluster Access Paths

WHERE cust_gender = 'F'

AND cust_year_of_birth < 1918

The following plan shows that the database obtains all bitmaps for
cust_year_of_birth keys lower than 1918 (Step 6), and then merges these
bitmaps to create a single bitmap (Step 5), obtains a single bitmap for the
cust_gender key of F (Step 4), and then performs an AND operation on these two
bitmaps to generate a single bitmap that contains 1 values for the desired rows (Step
3):
SQL_ID 1xf59h179zdg2, child number 0
-------------------------------------
select cust_last_name, cust_first_name from customers where cust_gender
= 'F' and cust_year_of_birth < 1918

Plan hash value: 49820847

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost(%CPU)| Time |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | |288 (100)| |
| 1| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID BATCHED|CUSTOMERS |1802|37842|288 (1)|00:00:01|
| 2| BITMAP CONVERSION TO ROWIDS | | | | | |
| 3| BITMAP AND | | | | | |
|*4| BITMAP INDEX SINGLE VALUE |CUSTOMERS_GENDER_BIX| | | | |
| 5| BITMAP MERGE | | | | | |
|*6| BITMAP INDEX RANGE SCAN |CUSTOMERS_YOB_BIX | | | | |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------
4 - access("CUST_GENDER"='F')
6 - access("CUST_YEAR_OF_BIRTH"<1918)
filter("CUST_YEAR_OF_BIRTH"<1918)

Table Cluster Access Paths

Oracle Database Concepts explains table clusters in depth. This section briefly discusses
access paths for table clusters.

Cluster Scans
An index cluster is a table cluster that uses an index to locate data. The cluster index is
a B-tree index on the cluster key. A cluster scan retrieves all rows that have the same
cluster key value from a table stored in an indexed cluster.

When the Optimizer Considers Cluster Scans

The database considers a cluster scan when a query accesses a table in an indexed
cluster.

How Cluster Scans Work

In an indexed cluster, the database stores all rows with the same cluster key value in
the same data block. For example, if the hr.employees2 and hr.departments2
tables are clustered in emp_dept_cluster, and if the cluster key is
department_id, then the database stores all employees in department 10 in the
same block, all employees in department 20 in the same block, and so on.

Optimizer Access Paths 8-35

Table Cluster Access Paths

The B-tree cluster index associates the cluster key value with the database block
address (DBA) of the block containing the data. For example, the index entry for key
30 shows the address of the block that contains rows for employees in department 30:
30,AADAAAA9d

When a user requests rows in the cluster, the database scans the index to obtain the
DBAs of the blocks containing the rows. Oracle Database then locates the rows based
on these DBAs.

Cluster Scans: Example

As user hr, you create a table cluster, cluster index, and tables in the cluster as follows:
CREATE CLUSTER employees_departments_cluster
(department_id NUMBER(4)) SIZE 512;

CREATE INDEX idx_emp_dept_cluster

ON CLUSTER employees_departments_cluster;

CREATE TABLE employees2

CLUSTER employees_departments_cluster (department_id)
AS SELECT * FROM employees;
CREATE TABLE departments2
CLUSTER employees_departments_cluster (department_id)
AS SELECT * FROM departments;

You query the employees in department 30 as follows:

SELECT *
FROM employees2
WHERE department_id = 30

To perform the scan, Oracle Database first obtains the rowid of the row describing
department 30 by scanning the cluster index (Step 2). Oracle Database then locates the
rows in employees using this rowid (Step 1).
SQL_ID b7xk1jzuwdc6t, child number 0
-------------------------------------
SELECT * FROM employees2 WHERE department_id = 30

Plan hash value: 49826199

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost(%CPU)| Time |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 2 (100)| |
| 1| TABLE ACCESS CLUSTER| EMPLOYEES2 | 6 | 798 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01|
|*2| INDEX UNIQUE SCAN |IDX_EMP_DEPT_CLUSTER| 1 | | 1 (0)| 00:00:01|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

2 - access("DEPARTMENT_ID"=30)

See Also:
Oracle Database Concepts to learn about indexed clusters

8-36 SQL Tuning Guide

 Table Cluster Access Paths

Hash Scans
A hash cluster is like an indexed cluster, except the index key is replaced with a hash
function. No separate cluster index exists. In a hash cluster, the data is the index. The
database uses a hash scan to locate rows in a hash cluster based on a hash value.

When the Optimizer Considers a Hash Scan

The database considers a hash scan when a query accesses a table in a hash cluster.

How a Cluster Scan Works

In a hash cluster, all rows with the same hash value are stored in the same data block.
To perform a hash scan, Oracle Database first obtains the hash value by applying a
hash function to a cluster key value specified by the statement. Oracle Database then
scans the data blocks containing rows with that hash value.

Cluster Scan: Example

You create a hash cluster and tables in the cluster as follows:
CREATE CLUSTER employees_departments_cluster
(department_id NUMBER(4)) SIZE 8192 HASHKEYS 100;

CREATE TABLE employees2

CLUSTER employees_departments_cluster (department_id)
AS SELECT * FROM employees;

CREATE TABLE departments2

CLUSTER employees_departments_cluster (department_id)
AS SELECT * FROM departments;

You query the employees in department 30 as follows:

SELECT *
FROM employees2
WHERE department_id = 30

To perform a hash scan, Oracle Database first obtains the hash value by applying a
hash function to the key value 30, and then uses this hash value to scan the data
blocks and retrieve the rows (Step 1).
SQL_ID 919x7hyyxr6p4, child number 0
-------------------------------------
SELECT * FROM employees2 WHERE department_id = 30

Plan hash value: 2399378016

----------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost |
----------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 1 |
|* 1 | TABLE ACCESS HASH| EMPLOYEES2 | 10 | 1330 | |
----------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

1 - access("DEPARTMENT_ID"=30)

Optimizer Access Paths 8-37

Table Cluster Access Paths

See Also:

Oracle Database Concepts to learn about hash clusters

8-38 SQL Tuning Guide

 9
Joins

This chapter contains the following topics:

• About Joins

• Join Methods

• Join Types

• Join Optimizations

About Joins
A join combines the output from exactly two row sources, such as tables or views, and
returns one row source. The returned row source is the data set.
A join is characterized by multiple tables in the WHERE (non-ANSI) or FROM ...
JOIN (ANSI) clause of a SQL statement. Whenever multiple tables exist in the FROM
clause, Oracle Database performs a join.
A join condition compares two row sources using an expression. The join condition
defines the relationship between the tables. If the statement does not specify a join
condition, then the database performs a Cartesian join (see “Cartesian Joins”),
matching every row in one table with every row in the other table.

See Also:

Oracle Database SQL Language Reference for a concise discussion of joins in

Oracle SQL

Join Trees
Typically, a join tree is represented as an upside-down tree structure. As shown in
Figure 9-1, table1 is the left table, and table2 is the right table. The optimizer
processes the join from left to right. For example, if this graphic depicted a nested
loops join, then table1 is the outer loop, and table2 is the inner loop.

Joins 9-1
About Joins

Figure 9-1 Join Tree

result set

table1 table2

The input of a join can be the result set from a previous join. If a join tree includes
more than two branches, then the most common tree type is the left deep tree, which is
illustrated in Figure 9-2. A left deep tree is a join tree in which every join has an input
from a previous join, and this input is always on the left.

Figure 9-2 Left Deep Join Tree

result set

table4

table3

table1 table2

A less common type of join tree is a right join tree, shown in Figure 9-3, in which every
join has an input from a previous join, and this input is always on the right.

Figure 9-3 Right Deep Join Tree

result set

table1

table2

table3 table4

Some join trees are hybrids of left and right trees, so that some joins have a right input
from a previous join, and some joins have a left input from a previous join. Figure 9-4
gives an example of this type of tree.

9-2 SQL Tuning Guide

 About Joins

Figure 9-4 Hybrid Left and Right Join Tree

result set

table4

table1

table2 table3

In yet another variation, both inputs of the join are the results of a previous join.

How the Optimizer Executes Join Statements

The database joins pairs of row sources. When multiple tables exist in the FROM clause,
the optimizer must determine which join operation is most efficient for each pair. The
optimizer must make the following interrelated decisions:

• Access paths
As for simple statements, the optimizer must choose an access path to retrieve data
from each table in the join statement. For example, the optimizer might choose
between a full table scan or an index scan. See Optimizer Access Paths .

• Join methods
To join each pair of row sources, Oracle Database must decide how to do it. The
"how" is the join method. The possible join methods are nested loop, sort merge,
and hash joins. A Cartesian join requires one of the preceding join methods. Each
join method has specific situations in which it is more suitable than the others. See
“Join Methods.”

• Join types
The join condition determines the join type. For example, an inner join retrieves
only rows that match the join condition. An outer join retrieves rows that do not
match the join condition. See “Join Types.”

• Join order
To execute a statement that joins more than two tables, Oracle Database joins two
tables and then joins the resulting row source to the next table. This process
continues until all tables are joined into the result. For example, the database joins
two tables, and then joins the result to a third table, and then joins this result to a
fourth table, and so on.

How the Optimizer Chooses Execution Plans for Joins

When determining the join order and method, the optimizer goal is to reduce the
number of rows early so it performs less work throughout the execution of the SQL
statement. The optimizer generates a set of execution plans, according to possible join

Joins 9-3
About Joins

orders, join methods, and available access paths. The optimizer then estimates the cost
of each plan and chooses the one with the lowest cost.
When choosing an execution plan, the optimizer considers the following factors:

• The optimizer first determines whether joining two or more tables results in a row
source containing at most one row.
The optimizer recognizes such situations based on UNIQUE and PRIMARY KEY
constraints on the tables. If such a situation exists, then the optimizer places these
tables first in the join order. The optimizer then optimizes the join of the remaining
set of tables.

• For join statements with outer join conditions, the table with the outer join operator
typically comes after the other table in the condition in the join order.
In general, the optimizer does not consider join orders that violate this guideline,
although the optimizer overrides this ordering condition in certain circumstances.
Similarly, when a subquery has been converted into an antijoin or semijoin, the
tables from the subquery must come after those tables in the outer query block to
which they were connected or correlated. However, hash antijoins and semijoins
are able to override this ordering condition in certain circumstances.
The optimizer estimates cost of a query plan by computing the estimated I/Os and
CPU. These I/Os have specific costs associated with them: one cost for a single block
I/O, and another cost for multiblock I/Os. Also, different functions and expressions
have CPU costs associated with them. The optimizer determines the total cost of a
query plan using these metrics. These metrics may be influenced by many
initialization parameter and session settings at compile time, such as the
DB_FILE_MULTI_BLOCK_READ_COUNT setting, system statistics, and so on.
For example, the optimizer estimates costs in the following ways:

• The cost of a nested loops join depends on the cost of reading each selected row of
the outer table and each of its matching rows of the inner table into memory. The
optimizer estimates these costs using statistics in the data dictionary (see
“Introduction to Optimizer Statistics”).

• The cost of a sort merge join depends largely on the cost of reading all the sources
into memory and sorting them.

• The cost of a hash join largely depends on the cost of building a hash table on one
of the input sides to the join and using the rows from the other side of the join to
probe it.

See Also:

• “Influencing the Optimizer ” for more information about optimizer hints

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about

DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT

Example 9-1 Estimating Costs for Join Order and Method

Conceptually, the optimizer constructs matrix of join orders and methods and the cost
associated with each. For example, the optimizer must determine how best to join the
date_dim and lineorder tables in a query. The following table shows the possible

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 Join Methods

variations of methods and orders, and the cost for each. In this example, a nested loops
join in the order date_dim, lineorder has the lowest cost.

Table 9-1 Sample Costs for Join of date_dim and lineorder Tables

Join Method Cost of date_dim, lineorder Cost of lineorder, date_dim

Nested Loops 39,480 6,187,540

Join 187,528 194,909

Sort Merge 217,129 217,129

Join Methods
A join method is the mechanism for joining two row sources. Depending on the
statistics, the optimizer chooses the method with the lowest estimated cost.
As shown in Figure 9-5, each join method has two children: the driving (also called
outer) row source and the driven-to (also called inner) row source.

Figure 9-5 Join Method

Join Method
(Nested Loops, Hash
Join, or Sort Merge)

Driving Row Source, Driven-To Row Source,

Outer row Source Inner Row Source

This section contains the following topics:

• Nested Loops Joins

• Hash Joins

• Sort Merge Joins

• Cartesian Joins

Nested Loops Joins

Nested loops join an outer data set to an inner data set. For each row in the outer data
set that matches the single-table predicates, the database retrieves all rows in the inner
data set that satisfy the join predicate. If an index is available, then the database can
use it to access the inner data set by rowid.

This section contains the following topics:

• When the Optimizer Considers Nested Loops Joins

• How Nested Loop Joins Work

• Nested Nested Loops

Joins 9-5
Join Methods

• Current Implementation for Nested Loops Joins

• Original Implementation for Nested Loops Joins

• Nested Loops Controls

When the Optimizer Considers Nested Loops Joins

Nested loops joins are useful when the following conditions are true:

• The database joins small subsets of data, or the database joins large sets of data
with the optimizer mode set to FIRST_ROWS (see Table 14-1).

Note:

The number of rows expected from the join is what drives the optimizer
decision, not the size of the underlying tables. For example, a query might join
two tables of a billion rows each, but because of the filters the optimizer
expects data sets of 5 rows each.

• The join condition is an efficient method of accessing the inner table.

In general, nested loops joins work best on small tables with indexes on the join
conditions. If a row source has only one row, as with an equality lookup on a primary
key value (for example, WHERE employee_id=101), then the join is a simple lookup.
The optimizer always tries to put the smallest row source first, making it the driving
table.
Various factors enter into the optimizer decision to use nested loops. For example, the
database may read several rows from the outer row source in a batch. Based on the
number of rows retrieved, the optimizer may choose either a nested loop or a hash join
to the inner row source (see “Adaptive Plans”). For example, if a query joins
departments to driving table employees, and if the predicate specifies a value in
employees.last_name, then the database might read enough entries in the index
on last_name to determine whether an internal threshold is passed. If the threshold
is not passed, then the optimizer picks a nested loop join to departments, and if the
threshold is passed, then the database performs a hash join, which means reading the
rest of employees, hashing it into memory, and then joining to departments.
If the access path for the inner loop is not dependent on the outer loop, then the result
can be a Cartesian product: for every iteration of the outer loop, the inner loop
produces the same set of rows. To avoid this problem, use other join methods to join
two independent row sources.

How Nested Loop Joins Work

Conceptually, nested loops are equivalent to two nested for loops.
For example, if a query joins employees and departments, then a nested loop in
pseudocode might be:
FOR erow IN (select * from employees where X=Y) LOOP
FOR drow IN (select * from departments where erow is matched) LOOP
output values from erow and drow
END LOOP
END LOOP

The inner loop is executed for every row of the outer loop. The employees table is the
"outer" data set because it is in the exterior for loop. The outer table is sometimes

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 Join Methods

called a driving table. The departments table is the "inner" data set because it is in
the interior for loop.
A nested loops join involves the following basic steps:

1. The optimizer determines the driving row source and designates it as the outer
loop.
The outer loop produces a set of rows for driving the join condition. The row
source can be a table accessed using an index scan, a full table scan, or any other
operation that generates rows.
The number of iterations of the inner loop depends on the number of rows
retrieved in the outer loop. For example, if 10 rows are retrieved from the outer
table, then the database must perform 10 lookups in the inner table. If 10,000,000
rows are retrieved from the outer table, then the database must perform
10,000,000 lookups in the inner table.

2. The optimizer designates the other row source as the inner loop.
The outer loop appears before the inner loop in the execution plan, as follows:
NESTED LOOPS
outer_loop
inner_loop

3. For every fetch request from the client, the basic process is as follows:

a. Fetch a row from the outer row source

b. Probe the inner row source to find rows that match the predicate criteria

c. Repeat the preceding steps until all rows are obtained by the fetch request
Sometimes the database sorts rowids to obtain a more efficient buffer access
pattern.

Nested Nested Loops

The outer loop of a nested loop can itself be a row source generated by a different
nested loop. The database can nest two or more outer loops to join as many tables as
needed. Each loop is a data access method.
The following template shows how the database iterates through three nested loops:
SELECT STATEMENT
NESTED LOOPS 3
NESTED LOOPS 2 - Row source becomes OUTER LOOP 3.1
NESTED LOOPS 1 - Row source becomes OUTER LOOP 2.1
OUTER LOOP 1.1
INNER LOOP 1.2
INNER LOOP 2.2
INNER LOOP 3.2

The database orders the loops as follows:

1. The database iterates through NESTED LOOPS 1:

NESTED LOOPS 1
OUTER LOOP 1.1
INNER LOOP 1.2

The output of NESTED LOOP 1 is a row source.

Joins 9-7
Join Methods

2. The database iterates through NESTED LOOPS 2, using the row source generated
by NESTED LOOPS 1 as its outer loop:
NESTED LOOPS 2
OUTER LOOP 2.1 - Row source generated by NESTED LOOPS 1
INNER LOOP 2.2

The output of NESTED LOOPS 2 is another row source.

3. The database iterates through NESTED LOOPS 3, using the row source generated
by NESTED LOOPS 2 as its outer loop:
NESTED LOOPS 3
OUTER LOOP 3.1 - Row source generated by NESTED LOOPS 2
INNER LOOP 3.2

Example 9-2 Nested Nested Loops Join

Suppose you join the employees and departments tables as follows:
SELECT /*+ ORDERED USE_NL(d) */ e.last_name, e.first_name, d.department_name
FROM employees e, departments d
WHERE e.department_id=d.department_id
AND e.last_name like 'A%';

The plan reveals that the optimizer chose two nested loops (Step 1 and Step 2) to
access the data:
SQL_ID ahuavfcv4tnz4, child number 0
-------------------------------------
SELECT /*+ ORDERED USE_NL(d) */ e.last_name, d.department_name FROM
employees e, departments d WHERE e.department_id=d.department_id AND
e.last_name like 'A%'

Plan hash value: 1667998133

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation |Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost(%CPU)|Time|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | |5 (100)| |
| 1| NESTED LOOPS | | | | | |
| 2| NESTED LOOPS | | 3|102|5 (0)|00:00:01|
| 3| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID BATCHED| EMPLOYEES | 3| 54|2 (0)|00:00:01|
|*4| INDEX RANGE SCAN | EMP_NAME_IX | 3| |1 (0)|00:00:01|
|*5| INDEX UNIQUE SCAN | DEPT_ID_PK | 1| |0 (0)| |
| 6| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID | DEPARTMENTS | 1| 16|1 (0)|00:00:01|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

4 - access("E"."LAST_NAME" LIKE 'A%')

filter("E"."LAST_NAME" LIKE 'A%')
5 - access("E"."DEPARTMENT_ID"="D"."DEPARTMENT_ID")

In this example, the basic process is as follows:

1. The database begins iterating through the inner nested loop (Step 2) as follows:

a. The database searches the emp_name_ix for the rowids for all last names that
begins with A (Step 4).
For example:

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 Join Methods

Abel,employees_rowid
Ande,employees_rowid
Atkinson,employees_rowid
Austin,employees_rowid

b. Using the rowids from the previous step, the database retrieves a batch of
rows from the employees table (Step 3). For example:
Abel,Ellen,80
Abel,John,50

These rows become the outer row source for the innermost nested loop.
The batch step is typically part of adaptive execution plans. To determine
whether a nested loop is better than a hash join, the optimizer needs to
determine many rows come back from the row source. If too many rows are
returned, then the optimizer switches to a different join method.

c. For each row in the outer row source, the database scans the dept_id_pk
index to obtain the rowid in departments of the matching department ID
(Step 5), and joins it to the employees rows. For example:
Abel,Ellen,80,departments_rowid
Ande,Sundar,80,departments_rowid
Atkinson,Mozhe,50,departments_rowid
Austin,David,60,departments_rowid

These rows become the outer row source for the outer nested loop (Step 1).

2. The database iterates through the outer nested loop as follows:

a. The database reads the first row in outer row source.

For example:
Abel,Ellen,80,departments_rowid

b. The database uses the departments rowid to retrieve the corresponding

row from departments (Step 6), and then joins the result to obtain the
requested values (Step 1).
For example:
Abel,Ellen,80,Sales

c. The database reads the next row in the outer row source, uses the
departments rowid to retrieve the corresponding row from departments
(Step 6), and iterates through the loop until all rows are retrieved.
The result set has the following form:
Abel,Ellen,80,Sales
Ande,Sundar,80,Sales
Atkinson,Mozhe,50,Shipping
Austin,David,60,IT

Current Implementation for Nested Loops Joins

Oracle Database 11g introduced a new implementation for nested loops that reduces
overall latency for physical I/O. When an index or a table block is not in the buffer
cache and is needed to process the join, a physical I/O is required. The database can
batch multiple physical I/O requests and process them using a vector I/O instead of

Joins 9-9
Join Methods

one at a time. A vector is an array. The database obtains a set of rowids, and then
sends them in an array to the operating system, which performs the read.
As part of the new implementation, two NESTED LOOPS join row sources might
appear in the execution plan where only one would have appeared in prior releases. In
such cases, Oracle Database allocates one NESTED LOOPS join row source to join the
values from the table on the outer side of the join with the index on the inner side. A
second row source is allocated to join the result of the first join, which includes the
rowids stored in the index, with the table on the inner side of the join.
Consider the query in “Original Implementation for Nested Loops Joins”. In the
current implementation, the execution plan for this query might be as follows:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost%CPU| Time |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 19 | 722 | 3 (0)|00:00:01|
| 1 | NESTED LOOPS | | | | | |
| 2 | NESTED LOOPS | | 19 | 722 | 3 (0)|00:00:01|
|* 3 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | DEPARTMENTS | 2 | 32 | 2 (0)|00:00:01|
|* 4 | INDEX RANGE SCAN | EMP_DEPARTMENT_IX | 10 | | 0 (0)|00:00:01|
| 5 | TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID| EMPLOYEES | 10 | 220 | 1 (0)|00:00:01|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------
3 - filter("D"."DEPARTMENT_NAME"='Marketing' OR "D"."DEPARTMENT_NAME"='Sales')
4 - access("E"."DEPARTMENT_ID"="D"."DEPARTMENT_ID")

In this case, rows from the hr.departments table form the outer row source (Step 3)
of the inner nested loop (Step 2). The index emp_department_ix is the inner row
source (Step 4) of the inner nested loop. The results of the inner nested loop form the
outer row source (Row 2) of the outer nested loop (Row 1). The hr.employees table
is the outer row source (Row 5) of the outer nested loop.
For each fetch request, the basic process is as follows:

1. The database iterates through the inner nested loop (Step 2) to obtain the rows
requested in the fetch:

a. The database reads the first row of departments to obtain the department
IDs for departments named Marketing or Sales (Step 3). For example:
Marketing,20

This row set is the outer loop. The database caches the data in the PGA.

b. The database scans emp_department_ix, which is an index on the

employees table, to find employees rowids that correspond to this
department ID (Step 4), and then joins the result (Step 2).
The result set has the following form:
Marketing,20,employees_rowid
Marketing,20,employees_rowid
Marketing,20,employees_rowid

c. The database reads the next row of departments, scans

emp_department_ix to find employees rowids that correspond to this
department ID, and then iterates through the loop until the client request is
satisfied.

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In this example, the database only iterates through the outer loop twice
because only two rows from departments satisfy the predicate filter.
Conceptually, the result set has the following form:
Marketing,20,employees_rowid
Marketing,20,employees_rowid
Marketing,20,employees_rowid
.
.
.
Sales,80,employees_rowid
Sales,80,employees_rowid
Sales,80,employees_rowid
.
.
.

These rows become the outer row source for the outer nested loop (Step 1).
This row set is cached in the PGA.

2. The database organizes the rowids obtained in the previous step so that it can
more efficiently access them in the cache.

3. The database begins iterating through the outer nested loop as follows:

a. The database retrieves the first row from the row set obtained in the previous
step, as in the following example:
Marketing,20,employees_rowid

b. Using the rowid, the database retrieves a row from employees to obtain the
requested values (Step 1), as in the following example:
Michael,Hartstein,13000,Marketing

c. The database retrieves the next row from the row set, uses the rowid to probe
employees for the matching row, and iterates through the loop until all rows
are retrieved.
The result set has the following form:
Michael,Hartstein,13000,Marketing
Pat,Fay,6000,Marketing
John,Russell,14000,Sales
Karen,Partners,13500,Sales
Alberto,Errazuriz,12000,Sales
.
.
.
In some cases, a second join row source is not allocated, and the execution plan looks
the same as it did before Oracle Database 11g. The following list describes such cases:

• All of the columns needed from the inner side of the join are present in the index,
and there is no table access required. In this case, Oracle Database allocates only
one join row source.

• The order of the rows returned might be different from the order returned in
releases earlier than Oracle Database 12c. Thus, when Oracle Database tries to
preserve a specific ordering of the rows, for example to eliminate the need for an
ORDER BY sort, Oracle Database might use the original implementation for nested
loops joins.

Joins 9-11
Join Methods

• The OPTIMIZER_FEATURES_ENABLE initialization parameter is set to a release

before Oracle Database 11g. In this case, Oracle Database uses the original
implementation for nested loops joins.

Original Implementation for Nested Loops Joins

In the current release, both the new and original implementation are possible. For an
example of the original implementation, consider the following join of the
hr.employees and hr.departments tables:
SELECT e.first_name, e.last_name, e.salary, d.department_name
FROM hr.employees e, hr.departments d
WHERE d.department_name IN ('Marketing', 'Sales')
AND e.department_id = d.department_id;

In releases before Oracle Database 11g, the execution plan for this query might appear
as follows:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 19 | 722 | 3 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 1 | TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID| EMPLOYEES | 10 | 220 | 1 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 2 | NESTED LOOPS | | 19 | 722 | 3 (0)| 00:00:01 |
|* 3 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | DEPARTMENTS | 2 | 32 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
|* 4 | INDEX RANGE SCAN | EMP_DEPARTMENT_IX | 10 | | 0 (0)| 00:00:01 |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------
3 - filter("D"."DEPARTMENT_NAME"='Marketing' OR "D"."DEPARTMENT_NAME"='Sales')
4 - access("E"."DEPARTMENT_ID"="D"."DEPARTMENT_ID")

For each fetch request, the basic process is as follows:

1. The database iterates through the loop to obtain the rows requested in the fetch:

a. The database reads the first row of departments to obtain the department
IDs for departments named Marketing or Sales (Step 3). For example:
Marketing,20

This row set is the outer loop. The database caches the row in the PGA.

b. The database scans emp_department_ix, which is an index on the

employees.department_id column, to find employees rowids that
correspond to this department ID (Step 4), and then joins the result (Step 2).
Conceptually, the result set has the following form:
Marketing,20,employees_rowid
Marketing,20,employees_rowid
Marketing,20,employees_rowid

c. The database reads the next row of departments, scans

emp_department_ix to find employees rowids that correspond to this
department ID, and iterates through the loop until the client request is
satisfied.
In this example, the database only iterates through the outer loop twice
because only two rows from departments satisfy the predicate filter.
Conceptually, the result set has the following form:

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 Join Methods

Marketing,20,employees_rowid
Marketing,20,employees_rowid
Marketing,20,employees_rowid
.
.
.
Sales,80,employees_rowid
Sales,80,employees_rowid
Sales,80,employees_rowid
.
.
.

2. Depending on the circumstances, the database may organize the cached rowids
obtained in the previous step so that it can more efficiently access them.

3. For each employees rowid in the result set generated by the nested loop, the
database retrieves a row from employees to obtain the requested values (Step 1).
Thus, the basic process is to read a rowid and retrieve the matching employees
row, read the next rowid and retrieve the matching employees row, and so on.
Conceptually, the result set has the following form:
Michael,Hartstein,13000,Marketing
Pat,Fay,6000,Marketing
John,Russell,14000,Sales
Karen,Partners,13500,Sales
Alberto,Errazuriz,12000,Sales
.
.
.

Nested Loops Controls

For some SQL examples, the data is small enough for the optimizer to prefer full table
scans and hash joins. However, you can add a USE_NL to instruct the optimizer to
change the join method to nested loops. This hint instructs the optimizer to join each
specified table to another row source with a nested loops join, using the specified table
as the inner table.
The related hint USE_NL_WITH_INDEX ( table index ) hint instructs the optimizer
to join the specified table to another row source with a nested loops join using the
specified table as the inner table. The index is optional. If no index is specified, then
the nested loops join uses an index with at least one join predicate as the index key.
Example 9-3 Nested Loops Hint
Assume that the optimizer chooses a hash join for the following query:
SELECT e.last_name, d.department_name
FROM employees e, departments d
WHERE e.department_id=d.department_id;

The plan looks as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes |Cost(%CPU)| Time |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 5 (100)| |
|*1 | HASH JOIN | | 106 | 2862 | 5 (20)| 00:00:01 |
| 2 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| DEPARTMENTS | 27 | 432 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |

Joins 9-13
Join Methods

| 3 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| EMPLOYEES | 107 | 1177 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To force a nested loops join using departments as the inner table, add the USE_NL
hint as in the following query:
SELECT /*+ ORDERED USE_NL(d) */ e.last_name, d.department_name
FROM employees e, departments d
WHERE e.department_id=d.department_id;

The plan looks as follows:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes |Cost (%CPU)| Time |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 34 (100)| |
| 1 | NESTED LOOPS | | 106 | 2862 | 34 (3)| 00:00:01 |
| 2 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| EMPLOYEES | 107 | 1177 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
|* 3 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| DEPARTMENTS | 1 | 16 | 0 (0)| |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

3 - filter("E"."DEPARTMENT_ID"="D"."DEPARTMENT_ID")

The database obtains the result set as follows:

1. In the nested loop, the database reads employees to obtain the last name and
department ID for an employee (Step 2). For example:
De Haan,90

2. For the row obtained in the previous step, the database scans departments to
find the department name that matches the employees department ID (Step 3),
and joins the result (Step 1). For example:
De Haan,Executive

3. The database retrieves the next row in employees, retrieves the matching row
from departments, and then repeats this process until all rows are retrieved.
The result set has the following form:
De Haan,Executive
Kochnar,Executive
Baer,Public Relations
King,Executive
.
.
.

See Also:

• “Guidelines for Join Order Hints” to learn more about the USE_NL hint

• Oracle Database SQL Language Reference to learn about the USE_NL hint

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Hash Joins
The database uses a hash join to join larger data sets. The optimizer uses the smaller
of two data sets to build a hash table on the join key in memory, using a deterministic
hash function to specify the location in the hash table in which to store each row. The
database then scans the larger data set, probing the hash table to find the rows that
meet the join condition.

When the Optimizer Considers Hash Joins

In general, the optimizer considers a hash join when the following conditions are true:

• A relatively large amount of data must be joined, or a large fraction of a small table
must be joined.

• The join is an equijoin.

A hash join is most cost effective when the smaller data set fits in memory. In this case,
the cost is limited to a single read pass over the two data sets.
Because the hash table is in the PGA, Oracle Database can access rows without
latching them. This technique reduces logical I/O by avoiding the necessity of
repeatedly latching and reading blocks in the database buffer cache.
If the data sets do not fit in memory, then the database partitions the row sources, and
the join proceeds partition by partition. This can use a lot of sort area memory, and
I/O to the temporary tablespace. This method can still be the most cost effective,
especially when the database uses parallel query servers.

How Hash Joins Work

A hashing algorithm takes a set of inputs and applies a deterministic hash function to
generate a hash value between 1 and n, where n is the size of the hash table. In a hash
join, the input values are the join keys. The output values are indexes (slots) in an
array, which is the hash table.

Hash Tables
To illustrate a hash table, assume that the database hashes hr.departments in a join
of departments and employees. The join key column is department_id. The first
5 rows of departments are as follows:
SQL> select * from departments where rownum < 6;

DEPARTMENT_ID DEPARTMENT_NAME MANAGER_ID LOCATION_ID

------------- ------------------------------ ---------- -----------
10 Administration 200 1700
20 Marketing 201 1800
30 Purchasing 114 1700
40 Human Resources 203 2400
50 Shipping 121 1500

The database applies the hash function to each department_id in the table,
generating a hash value for each. For this illustration, the hash table has 5 slots (it
could have more or less). Because n is 5, the possible hash values range from 1 to 5.
The hash functions might generate the following values for the department IDs:
f(10) = 4
f(20) = 1
f(30) = 4

Joins 9-15
Join Methods

f(40) = 2
f(50) = 5

Note that the hash function happens to generate the same hash value of 4 for
departments 10 and 30. This is known as a hash collision. In this case, the database
puts the records for departments 10 and 30 in the same slot, using a linked list.
Conceptually, the hash table looks as follows:
1 20,Marketing,201,1800
2 40,Human Resources,203,2400
3
4 10,Administration,200,1700 -> 30,Purchasing,114,1700
5 50,Shipping,121,1500

Hash Join: Basic Steps

The optimizer uses the smaller data source to build a hash table on the join key in
memory, and then scans the larger table to find the joined rows.
The basic steps are as follows:

1. The database performs a full scan of the smaller data set, called the build table,
and then applies a hash function to the join key in each row to build a hash table
in the PGA.
In pseudocode, the algorithm might look as follows:
FOR small_table_row IN (SELECT * FROM small_table)
LOOP
slot_number := HASH(small_table_row.join_key);
INSERT_HASH_TABLE(slot_number,small_table_row);
END LOOP;

2. The database probes the second data set, called the probe table, using whichever
access mechanism has the lowest cost.
Typically, the database performs a full scan of both the smaller and larger data set.
The algorithm in pseudocode might look as follows:
FOR large_table_row IN (SELECT * FROM large_table)
LOOP
slot_number := HASH(large_table_row.join_key);
small_table_row = LOOKUP_HASH_TABLE(slot_number,large_table_row.join_key);
IF small_table_row FOUND
THEN
output small_table_row + large_table_row;
END IF;
END LOOP;

For each row retrieved from the larger data set, the database does the following:

a. Applies the same hash function to the join column or columns to calculate the
number of the relevant slot in the hash table.
For example, to probe the hash table for department ID 30, the database
applies the hash function to 30, which generates the hash value 4.

b. Probes the hash table to determine whether rows exists in the slot.
If no rows exist, then the database processes the next row in the larger data
set. If rows exist, then the database proceeds to the next step.

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c. Checks the join column or columns for a match. If a match occurs, then the
database either reports the rows or passes them to the next step in the plan,
and then processes the next row in the larger data set.
If multiple rows exist in the hash table slot, the database walks through the
linked list of rows, checking each one. For example, if department 30 hashes
to slot 4, then the database checks each row until it finds 30.
Example 9-4 Hash Joins
An application queries the oe.orders and oe.order_items tables, joining on the
order_id column.
SELECT o.customer_id, l.unit_price * l.quantity
FROM orders o, order_items l
WHERE l.order_id = o.order_id;

The execution plan is as follows:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 665 | 13300 | 8 (25)|
|* 1 | HASH JOIN | | 665 | 13300 | 8 (25)|
| 2 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | ORDERS | 105 | 840 | 4 (25)|
| 3 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | ORDER_ITEMS | 665 | 7980 | 4 (25)|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------
1 - access("L"."ORDER_ID"="O"."ORDER_ID")

Because the orders table is small relative to the order_items table, which is 6 times
larger, the database hashes orders. In a hash join, the data set for the build table
always appears first in the list of operations (Step 2). In Step 3, the database performs a
full scan of the larger order_items later, probing the hash table for each row.

How Hash Joins Work When the Hash Table Does Not Fit in the PGA
The database must use a different technique when the hash table does not fit entirely
in the PGA. In this case, the database uses a temporary space to hold portions (called
partitions) of the hash table, and sometimes portions of the larger table that probes the
hash table.
The basic process is as follows:

1. The database performs a full scan of the smaller data set, and then builds an array
of hash buckets in both the PGA and on disk.
When the PGA hash area fills up, the database finds the largest partition within
the hash table and writes it to temporary space on disk. The database stores any
new row that belongs to this on-disk partition on disk, and all other rows in the
PGA. Thus, part of the hash table is in memory and part of it on disk.

2. The database takes a first pass at reading the other data set.
For each row, the database does the following:

a. Applies the same hash function to the join column or columns to calculate the
number of the relevant hash bucket.

b. Probes the hash table to determine whether rows exist in the bucket in
memory.

Joins 9-17
Join Methods

If the hashed value points to a row in memory, then the database completes
the join and returns the row. If the value points to a hash partition on disk,
however, then the database stores this row in the temporary tablespace, using
the same partitioning scheme used for the original data set.

3. The database reads each on-disk temporary partition one by one

4. The database joins each partition row to the row in the corresponding on-disk
temporary partition.

Hash Join Controls

The USE_HASH hint instructs the optimizer to use a hash join when joining two tables
together. See “Guidelines for Join Order Hints”.

Sort Merge Joins

A sort merge join is a variation on a nested loops join. The database sorts two data sets
(the SORT JOIN operations), if they are not already sorted. For each row in the first
data set, the database probes the second data set for matching rows and joins them
(the MERGE JOIN operation), basing its start position on the match made in the
previous iteration:

MERGE JOIN

SORT JOIN SORT JOIN

First Row Second Row

Source Source

When the Optimizer Considers Sort Merge Joins

A hash join requires one hash table and one probe of this table, whereas a sort merge
join requires two sorts. The optimizer may choose a sort merge join over a hash join
for joining large amounts of data when any of the following conditions is true:

• The join condition between two tables is not an equijoin, that is, uses an inequality
condition such as <, <=, >, or >=.
In contrast to sort merges, hash joins require an equality condition.

• Because of sorts required by other operations, the optimizer finds it cheaper to use
a sort merge.
If an index exists, then the database can avoid sorting the first data set. However,
the database always sorts the second data set, regardless of indexes.
A sort merge has the same advantage over a nested loops join as the hash join: the
database accesses rows in the PGA rather than the SGA, reducing logical I/O by

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avoiding the necessity of repeatedly latching and reading blocks in the database buffer
cache. In general, hash joins perform better than sort merge joins because sorting is
expensive. However, sort merge joins offer the following advantages over a hash join:

• After the initial sort, the merge phase is optimized, resulting in faster generation of
output rows.

• A sort merge can be more cost-effective than a hash join when the hash table does
not fit completely in memory.
A hash join with insufficient memory requires both the hash table and the other
data set to be copied to disk. In this case, the database may have to read from disk
multiple times. In a sort merge, if memory cannot hold the two data sets, then the
database writes them both to disk, but reads each data set no more than once.

How Sort Merge Joins Work

As in a nested loops join, a sort merge join reads two data sets, but sorts them when
they are not already sorted. For each row in the first data set, the database finds a
starting row in the second data set, and then reads the second data set until it finds a
nonmatching row. In pseudocode, the high-level algorithm might look as follows:
READ data_set_1 SORT BY JOIN KEY TO temp_ds1
READ data_set_2 SORT BY JOIN KEY TO temp_ds2

READ ds1_row FROM temp_ds1

READ ds2_row FROM temp_ds2

WHILE NOT eof ON temp_ds1,temp_ds2

LOOP
IF ( temp_ds1.key = temp_ds2.key ) OUTPUT JOIN ds1_row,ds2_row
ELSIF ( temp_ds1.key <= temp_ds2.key ) READ ds1_row FROM temp_ds1
ELSIF ( temp_ds1.key => temp_ds2.key ) READ ds2_row FROM temp_ds2
END LOOP

For example, the database sorts the first data set as follows:
10,20,30,40,50,60,70

The database sorts the second data set as follows:

20,20,40,40,40,40,40,60,70,70

The database begins by reading 10 in the first data set, and then starts at the beginning
of data set 2:
20 too high, stop, get next ds1_row

The database proceeds to the second row of data set 1 (20). The database proceeds
through the second data set as follows:
20 match, proceed
20 match, proceed
40 too high, stop, get next ds1_row

The database gets the next row in data set 1, which is 30. The database starts at the
number of its last match, which was 20, and then walks through data set 2 looking for
a match:

Joins 9-19
Join Methods

20 too low, proceed

20 too low, proceed
40 too high, stop, get next ds1_row

The database gets the next row in data set 1, which is 40. The database starts at the
number of its last match, which was 20, and then proceeds through data set 2 looking
for a match:
20 too low, proceed
20 too low, proceed
40 match, proceed
40 match, proceed
40 match, proceed
40 match, proceed
40 match, proceed
60 too high, stop, get next ds1_row

As the database proceeds through data set 1, the database does not need to read every
row in data set 2. This is an advantage over a nested loops join.
Example 9-5 Sort Merge Join Using Index
The following query joins the employees and departments tables on the
department_id column, ordering the rows on department_id as follows:
SELECT e.employee_id, e.last_name, e.first_name, e.department_id,
d.department_name
FROM employees e, departments d
WHERE e.department_id = d.department_id
ORDER BY department_id;

A query of DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR shows that the plan uses a sort merge

join:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes |Cost (%CPU)| Time |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 5(100)| |
| 1| MERGE JOIN | |106 | 4028 | 5 (20)| 00:00:01 |
| 2| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID| DEPARTMENTS | 27 | 432 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 3| INDEX FULL SCAN | DEPT_ID_PK | 27 | | 1 (0)| 00:00:01 |
|*4| SORT JOIN | |107 | 2354 | 3 (34)| 00:00:01 |
| 5| TABLE ACCESS FULL | EMPLOYEES |107 | 2354 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

4 - access("E"."DEPARTMENT_ID"="D"."DEPARTMENT_ID")
filter("E"."DEPARTMENT_ID"="D"."DEPARTMENT_ID")

The two data sets are the departments table and the employees table. Because an
index orders the departments table by department_id, the database can read this
index and avoid a sort (Step 3). The database only needs to sort the employees table
(Step 4), which is the most CPU-intensive operation.
Example 9-6 Sort Merge Join Without an Index
You join the employees and departments tables on the department_id column,
ordering the rows on department_id as follows. In this example, you specify
NO_INDEX and USE_MERGE to force the optimizer to choose a sort merge:

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SELECT /*+ USE_MERGE(d e) NO_INDEX(d) */ e.employee_id, e.last_name, e.first_name,

e.department_id, d.department_name
FROM employees e, departments d
WHERE e.department_id = d.department_id
ORDER BY department_id;

A query of DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR shows that the plan uses a sort merge

join:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 6 (100)| |
| 1 | MERGE JOIN | | 106 | 9540 | 6 (34)| 00:00:01|
| 2 | SORT JOIN | | 27 | 567 | 3 (34)| 00:00:01|
| 3 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| DEPARTMENTS | 27 | 567 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01|
|*4 | SORT JOIN | | 107 | 7383 | 3 (34)| 00:00:01|
| 5 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| EMPLOYEES | 107 | 7383 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

4 - access("E"."DEPARTMENT_ID"="D"."DEPARTMENT_ID")
filter("E"."DEPARTMENT_ID"="D"."DEPARTMENT_ID")

Because the departments.department_id index is ignored, the optimizer

performs a sort, which increases the combined cost of Step 2 and Step 3 by 67% (from
3 to 5).

Sort Merge Join Controls

The USE_MERGE hint instructs the optimizer to use a sort merge join. In some
situations it may make sense to override the optimizer with the USE_MERGE hint. For
example, the optimizer can choose a full scan on a table and avoid a sort operation in a
query. However, there is an increased cost because a large table is accessed through an
index and single block reads, as opposed to faster access through a full table scan.

See Also:

Oracle Database SQL Language Reference to learn about the USE_MERGE hint

Cartesian Joins
The database uses a Cartesian join when one or more of the tables does not have any
join conditions to any other tables in the statement. The optimizer joins every row
from one data source with every row from the other data source, creating the
Cartesian product of the two sets. Therefore, the total number of rows resulting from
the join is calculated using the following formula, where rs1 is the number of rows in
first row set and rs2 is the number of rows in the second row set:
rs1 X rs2 = total rows in result set

When the Optimizer Considers Cartesian Joins

The optimizer uses a Cartesian join for two row sources in any of the following
circumstances:

Joins 9-21
Join Methods

• No join condition exists.

In some cases, the optimizer could pick up a common filter condition between the
two tables as a possible join condition.

Note:

If a Cartesian join appears in a query plan, it could be caused by an

inadvertently omitted join condition. In general, if a query joins n tables, then
n-1 join conditions are required to avoid a Cartesian join.

• A Cartesian join is an efficient method.

For example, the optimizer may decide to generate a Cartesian product of two very
small tables that are both joined to the same large table.

• The ORDERED hint specifies a table before its join table is specified.

How Cartesian Joins Work

At a high level, the algorithm for a Cartesian join looks as follows, where ds1 is
typically the smaller data set, and ds2 is the larger data set:
FOR ds1_row IN ds1 LOOP
FOR ds2_row IN ds2 LOOP
output ds1_row and ds2_row
END LOOP
END LOOP

Example 9-7 Cartesian Join

In this example, a user intends to perform an inner join of the employees and
departments tables, but accidentally leaves off the join condition:
SELECT e.last_name, d.department_name
FROM employees e, departments d

The execution plan is as follows:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes |Cost (%CPU)| Time |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | |11 (100)| |
| 1 | MERGE JOIN CARTESIAN | | 2889 | 57780 |11 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 2 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | DEPARTMENTS | 27 | 324 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 3 | BUFFER SORT | | 107 | 856 | 9 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 4 | INDEX FAST FULL SCAN| EMP_NAME_IX | 107 | 856 | 0 (0)| |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In Step 1 of the preceding plan, the CARTESIAN keyword indicates the presence of a
Cartesian join. The number of rows (2889) is the product of 27 and 107.
In Step 3, the BUFFER SORT operation indicates that the database is copying the data
blocks obtained by the scan of emp_name_ix from the SGA to the PGA. This strategy
avoids multiple scans of the same blocks in the database buffer cache, which would
generate many logical reads and permit resource contention.

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Cartesian Join Controls

The ORDERED hint instructs the optimizer to join tables in the order in which they
appear in the FROM clause. By forcing a join between two row sources that have no
direct connection, the optimizer must perform a Cartesian join.

See Also:

Oracle Database SQL Language Reference to learn about the ORDERED hint

Example 9-8 ORDERED Hint

In the following example, the ORDERED hint instructs the optimizer to join employees
and locations, but no join condition connects these two row sources:
SELECT /*+ORDERED*/ e.last_name, d.department_name, l.country_id, l.state_province
FROM employees e, locations l, departments d
WHERE e.department_id = d.department_id
AND d.location_id = l.location_id

The following execution plan shows a Cartesian product (Step 3) between locations
(Step 6) and employees (Step 4), which is then joined to the departments table
(Step 2):
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes |Cost (%CPU)|Time |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 37 (100)| |
|*1 | HASH JOIN | | 106 | 4664 | 37 (6)| 00:00:01 |
| 2 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | DEPARTMENTS | 27 | 513 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 3 | MERGE JOIN CARTESIAN| | 2461 | 61525 | 34 (3)| 00:00:01 |
| 4 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | EMPLOYEES | 107 | 1177 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 5 | BUFFER SORT | | 23 | 322 | 32 (4)| 00:00:01 |
| 6 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | LOCATIONS | 23 | 322 | 0 (0)| |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Join Types
A join type is determined by the type of join condition. This section contains the
following topics:

• Inner Joins

• Outer Joins

• Semijoins

• Antijoins

Inner Joins
An inner join (sometimes called a simple join) is a join that returns only rows that
satisfy the join condition. Inner joins are either equijoins or nonequijoins.

Joins 9-23
Join Types

Equijoins
An equijoin is an inner join whose join condition contains an equality operator. The
following example is an equijoin because the join condition contains only an equality
operator:
SELECT e.employee_id, e.last_name, d.department_name
FROM employees e, departments d
WHERE e.department_id=d.department_id;

In the preceding query, the join condition is

e.department_id=d.department_id. If a row in the employees table has a
department ID that matches the value in a row in the departments table, then the
database returns the joined result; otherwise, the database does not return a result.

Nonequijoins
A nonequijoin is an inner join whose join condition contains an operator that is not an
equality operator. The following query lists all employees whose hire date occurred
when employee 176 (who is listed in job_history because he changed jobs in 2007)
was working at the company:
SELECT e.employee_id, e.first_name, e.last_name, e.hire_date
FROM employees e, job_history h
WHERE h.employee_id = 176
AND e.hire_date BETWEEN h.start_date AND h.end_date;

In the preceding example, the condition joining employees and job_history does
not contain an equality operator, so it is a nonequijoin. Nonequijoins are relatively
rare.
Note that a hash join requires at least a partial equijoin. The following SQL script
contains an equality join condition (e1.empno = e2.empno) and a nonequality
condition:
SET AUTOTRACE TRACEONLY EXPLAIN
SELECT *
FROM scott.emp e1 JOIN scott.emp e2
ON ( e1.empno = e2.empno
AND e1.hiredate BETWEEN e2.hiredate-1 AND e2.hiredate+1 )

The optimizer chooses a hash join for the preceding query, as shown in the following
plan:
Execution Plan
----------------------------------------------------------
Plan hash value: 3638257876

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1 | 174 | 5 (20)| 00:00:01 |
|* 1 | HASH JOIN | | 1 | 174 | 5 (20)| 00:00:01 |
| 2 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| EMP | 14 | 1218 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 3 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| EMP | 14 | 1218 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

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1 - access("E1"."EMPNO"="E2"."EMPNO")
filter("E1"."HIREDATE">=INTERNAL_FUNCTION("E2"."HIREDATE")-1 AND
"E1"."HIREDATE"<=INTERNAL_FUNCTION("E2"."HIREDATE")+1)

Outer Joins
An outer join returns all rows that satisfy the join condition and also returns some or
all of those rows from one table for which no rows from the other satisfy the join
condition. Thus, an outer join extends the result of a simple join.
In ANSI syntax, the OUTER JOIN clause specifies an outer join. In the FROM clause, the
left table appears to the left of the OUTER JOIN keywords, and the right table
appears to the right of these keywords. The left table is also called the outer table, and
the right table is also called the inner table. For example, in the following statement the
employees table is the left or outer table:
SELECT employee_id, last_name, first_name
FROM employees LEFT OUTER JOIN departments
ON (employees.department_id=departments.departments_id);

Outer joins require the outer joined table to be the driving table. In the preceding
example, employees is the driving table, and departments is the driven-to table.
This section contains the following topics:

• Nested Loop Outer Joins

• Hash Join Outer Joins

• Sort Merge Outer Joins

• Full Outer Joins

• Multiple Tables on the Left of an Outer Join

Nested Loop Outer Joins

The database uses this operation to loop through an outer join between two tables. The
outer join returns the outer (preserved) table rows, even when no corresponding rows
are in the inner (optional) table.
In a standard nested loop, the optimizer chooses the order of tables—which is the
driving table and which the driven table—based on the cost. However, in a nested
loop outer join, the join condition determines the order of tables. The database uses the
outer, row-preserved table to drive to the inner table.
The optimizer uses nested loops joins to process an outer join in the following
circumstances:

• It is possible to drive from the outer table to the inner table.

• Data volume is low enough to make the nested loop method efficient.
For an example of a nested loop outer join, you can add the USE_NL hint to Example
9-9 to instruct the optimizer to use a nested loop. For example:
SELECT /*+ USE_NL(c o) */ cust_last_name,
SUM(NVL2(o.customer_id,0,1)) "Count"
FROM customers c, orders o
WHERE c.credit_limit > 1000
AND c.customer_id = o.customer_id(+)
GROUP BY cust_last_name;

Joins 9-25
Join Types

Hash Join Outer Joins

The optimizer uses hash joins for processing an outer join when either of the following
conditions is met:

• The data volume is large enough to make the hash join method efficient.

• It is not possible to drive from the outer table to the inner table.
The cost determines the order of tables. The outer table, including preserved rows,
may be used to build the hash table, or it may be used to probe the hash table.
Example 9-9 Hash Join Outer Joins
This example shows a typical hash join outer join query, and its execution plan. In this
example, all the customers with credit limits greater than 1000 are queried. An outer
join is needed so that the query captures customers who have no orders.

• The outer table is customers.

• The inner table is orders.

• The join preserves the customers rows, including those rows without a
corresponding row in orders.
You could use a NOT EXISTS subquery to return the rows. However, because you are
querying all the rows in the table, the hash join performs better (unless the NOT
EXISTS subquery is not nested).
SELECT cust_last_name, SUM(NVL2(o.customer_id,0,1)) "Count"
FROM customers c, orders o
WHERE c.credit_limit > 1000
AND c.customer_id = o.customer_id(+)
GROUP BY cust_last_name;

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 7 (100)| |
| 1 | HASH GROUP BY | | 168 | 3192 | 7 (29)| 00:00:01 |
|* 2 | HASH JOIN OUTER | | 318 | 6042 | 6 (17)| 00:00:01 |
|* 3 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| CUSTOMERS | 260 | 3900 | 3 (0)| 00:00:01 |
|* 4 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| ORDERS | 105 | 420 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

2 - access("C"."CUSTOMER_ID"="O"."CUSTOMER_ID")

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3 - filter("C"."CREDIT_LIMIT">1000)
4 - filter("O"."CUSTOMER_ID">0)

The query looks for customers which satisfy various conditions. An outer join returns
NULL for the inner table columns along with the outer (preserved) table rows when it

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does not find any corresponding rows in the inner table. This operation finds all the
customers rows that do not have any orders rows.
In this case, the outer join condition is the following:
customers.customer_id = orders.customer_id(+)

The components of this condition represent the following:

Example 9-10 Outer Join to a Multitable View
In this example, the outer join is to a multitable view. The optimizer cannot drive into
the view like in a normal join or push the predicates, so it builds the entire row set of
the view.
SELECT c.cust_last_name, sum(revenue)
FROM customers c, v_orders o
WHERE c.credit_limit > 2000
AND o.customer_id(+) = c.customer_id
GROUP BY c.cust_last_name;

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 144 | 4608 | 16 (32)|
| 1 | HASH GROUP BY | | 144 | 4608 | 16 (32)|
|* 2 | HASH JOIN OUTER | | 663 | 21216 | 15 (27)|
|* 3 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | CUSTOMERS | 195 | 2925 | 6 (17)|
| 4 | VIEW | V_ORDERS | 665 | 11305 | |
| 5 | HASH GROUP BY | | 665 | 15960 | 9 (34)|
|* 6 | HASH JOIN | | 665 | 15960 | 8 (25)|
|* 7 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| ORDERS | 105 | 840 | 4 (25)|
| 8 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| ORDER_ITEMS | 665 | 10640 | 4 (25)|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------
2 - access("O"."CUSTOMER_ID"(+)="C"."CUSTOMER_ID")
3 - filter("C"."CREDIT_LIMIT">2000)
6 - access("O"."ORDER_ID"="L"."ORDER_ID")
7 - filter("O"."CUSTOMER_ID">0)

The view definition is as follows:

CREATE OR REPLACE view v_orders AS
SELECT l.product_id, SUM(l.quantity*unit_price) revenue,
o.order_id, o.customer_id
FROM orders o, order_items l
WHERE o.order_id = l.order_id
GROUP BY l.product_id, o.order_id, o.customer_id;

Sort Merge Outer Joins

When an outer join cannot drive from the outer (preserved) table to the inner
(optional) table, it cannot use a hash join or nested loops joins. In this case, it uses the
sort merge outer join.
The optimizer uses sort merge for an outer join in the following cases:

• A nested loops join is inefficient. A nested loops join can be inefficient because of
data volumes.

Joins 9-27
Join Types

• The optimizer finds it is cheaper to use a sort merge over a hash join because of
sorts required by other operations.

Full Outer Joins

A full outer join is a combination of the left and right outer joins. In addition to the
inner join, rows from both tables that have not been returned in the result of the inner
join are preserved and extended with nulls. In other words, full outer joins join tables
together, yet show rows with no corresponding rows in the joined tables.
Example 9-11 Full Outer Join
The following query retrieves all departments and all employees in each department,
but also includes:

• Any employees without departments

• Any departments without employees

SELECT d.department_id, e.employee_id
FROM employees e FULL OUTER JOIN departments d
ON e.department_id = d.department_id
ORDER BY d.department_id;

The statement produces the following output:

DEPARTMENT_ID EMPLOYEE_ID
------------- -----------
10 200
20 201
20 202
30 114
30 115
30 116
...
270
280
178
207

125 rows selected.

Example 9-12 Execution Plan for a Full Outer Join

Starting with Oracle Database 11g, Oracle Database automatically uses a native
execution method based on a hash join for executing full outer joins whenever
possible. When the database uses the new method to execute a full outer join, the
execution plan for the query contains HASH JOIN FULL OUTER. The query in Example
9-11 uses the following execution plan:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation | Name |Rows |Bytes |Cost (%CPU)| Time |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 122 | 4758 | 6 (34)| 00:0 0:01 |
| 1 | SORT ORDER BY | | 122 | 4758 | 6 (34)| 00:0 0:01 |
| 2 | VIEW | VW_FOJ_0 | 122 | 4758 | 5 (20)| 00:0 0:01 |
|*3 | HASH JOIN FULL OUTER | | 122 | 1342 | 5 (20)| 00:0 0:01 |
| 4 | INDEX FAST FULL SCAN| DEPT_ID_PK | 27 | 108 | 2 (0)| 00:0 0:01 |
| 5 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | EMPLOYEES | 107 | 749 | 2 (0)| 00:0 0:01 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

9-28 SQL Tuning Guide

 Join Types

---------------------------------------------------
3 - access("E"."DEPARTMENT_ID"="D"."DEPARTMENT_ID")

HASH JOIN FULL OUTER is included in the preceding plan (Step 3), indicating that the
query uses the hash full outer join execution method. Typically, when the full outer
join condition between two tables is an equijoin, the hash full outer join execution
method is possible, and Oracle Database uses it automatically.
To instruct the optimizer to consider using the hash full outer join execution method,
apply the NATIVE_FULL_OUTER_JOIN hint. To instruct the optimizer not to consider
using the hash full outer join execution method, apply the
NO_NATIVE_FULL_OUTER_JOIN hint. The NO_NATIVE_FULL_OUTER_JOIN hint
instructs the optimizer to exclude the native execution method when joining each
specified table. Instead, the full outer join is executed as a union of left outer join and
an antijoin.

Multiple Tables on the Left of an Outer Join

In Oracle Database 12c, multiple tables may exist on the left of an outer-joined table.
This enhancement enables Oracle Database to merge a view that contains multiple
tables and appears on the left of outer join.
In releases before Oracle Database 12c, a query such as the following was invalid, and
would trigger an ORA-01417 error message:
SELECT t1.d, t3.c
FROM t1, t2, t3
WHERE t1.z = t2.z
AND t1.x = t3.x (+)
AND t2.y = t3.y (+);

Starting in Oracle Database 12c, the preceding query is valid.

Semijoins
A semijoin is a join between two data sets that returns a row from the first set when a
matching row exists in the subquery data set. The database stops processing the
second data set at the first match. Thus, optimization does not duplicate rows from the
first data set when multiple rows in the second data set satisfy the subquery criteria.

Note:

Semijoins and antijoins are considered join types even though the SQL
constructs that cause them are subqueries. They are internal algorithms that
the optimizer uses to flatten subquery constructs so that they can be resolved
in a join-like way.

When the Optimizer Considers Semijoins

A semijoin avoids returning a huge number of rows when a query only needs to
determine whether a match exists. With large data sets, this optimization can result in
significant time savings over a nested loops join that must loop through every record
returned by the inner query for every row in the outer query. The optimizer can apply
the semijoin optimization to nested loops joins, hash joins, and sort merge joins.
The optimizer may choose a semijoin in the following circumstances:

• The statement uses either an IN or EXISTS clause.

Joins 9-29
Join Types

• The statement contains a subquery in the IN or EXISTS clause.

• The IN or EXISTS clause is not contained inside an OR branch.

How Semijoins Work

The semijoin optimization is implemented differently depending on what type of join
is used. The following pseudocode shows a semijoin for a nested loops join:
FOR ds1_row IN ds1 LOOP
match := false;
FOR ds2_row IN ds2_subquery LOOP
IF (ds1_row matches ds2_row) THEN
match := true;
EXIT -- stop processing second data set when a match is found
END IF
END LOOP
IF (match = true) THEN
RETURN ds1_row
END IF
END LOOP

In the preceding pseudocode, ds1 is the first data set, and ds2_subquery is the
subquery data set. The code obtains the first row from the first data set, and then loops
through the subquery data set looking for a match. The code exits the inner loop as
soon as it finds a match, and then begins processing the next row in the first data set.
Example 9-13 Semijoin Using WHERE EXISTS
The following query uses a WHERE EXISTS clause to list only the departments that
contain employees:
SELECT department_id, department_name
FROM departments
WHERE EXISTS (SELECT 1
FROM employees
WHERE employees.department_id = departments.department_id)

The execution plan reveals a NESTED LOOPS SEMI operation in Step 1:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost (%CPU)| Time |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 2 (100)| |
| 1 | NESTED LOOPS SEMI | | 11 | 209 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 2 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| DEPARTMENTS | 27 | 432 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
|*3 | INDEX RANGE SCAN | EMP_DEPARTMENT_IX | 44 | 132 | 0 (0)| |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For each row in departments, which forms the outer loop, the database obtains the
department ID, and then probes the employees.department_id index for
matching entries. Conceptually, the index looks as follows:
10,rowid
10,rowid
10,rowid
10,rowid
30,rowid
30,rowid
30,rowid
...

9-30 SQL Tuning Guide

 Join Types

If the first entry in the departments table is department 30, then the database
performs a range scan of the index until it finds the first 30 entry, at which point it
stops reading the index and returns the matching row from departments. If the next
row in the outer loop is department 20, then the database scans the index for a 20
entry, and not finding any matches, performs the next iteration of the outer loop. The
database proceeds in this way until all matching rows are returned.
Example 9-14 Semijoin Using IN
The following query uses a IN clause to list only the departments that contain
employees:
SELECT department_id, department_name
FROM departments
WHERE department_id IN
(SELECT department_id
FROM employees);

The execution plan reveals a NESTED LOOPS SEMI operation in Step 1:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost (%CPU)| Time |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 2 (100)| |
| 1 | NESTED LOOPS SEMI | | 11 | 209 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 2 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| DEPARTMENTS | 27 | 432 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
|*3 | INDEX RANGE SCAN | EMP_DEPARTMENT_IX | 44 | 132 | 0 (0)| |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The plan is identical to the plan in Example 9-13.

Antijoins
An antijoin is a join between two data sets that returns a row from the first set when a
matching row does not exist in the subquery data set. Like a semijoin, an antijoin stops
processing the subquery data set when the first match is found. Unlike a semijoin, the
antijoin only returns a row when no match is found.

When the Optimizer Considers Antijoins

An antijoin avoids unnecessary processing when a query only needs to return a row
when a match does not exist. With large data sets, this optimization can result in
significant time savings over a nested loops join that must loop through every record
returned by the inner query for every row in the outer query. The optimizer can apply
the antijoin optimization to nested loops joins, hash joins, and sort merge joins.
The optimizer may choose an antijoin in the following circumstances:

• The statement uses either the NOT IN or NOT EXISTS clause.

• The statement has a subquery in the NOT IN or NOT EXISTS clause.

• The NOT IN or NOT EXISTS clause is not contained inside an OR branch.

• The statement performs an outer join and applies an IS NULL condition to a join
column, as in the following example:
SET AUTOTRACE TRACEONLY EXPLAIN
SELECT emp.*
FROM emp, dept
WHERE emp.deptno = dept.deptno(+)

Joins 9-31
Join Types

AND dept.deptno IS NULL

Execution Plan
----------------------------------------------------------
Plan hash value: 1543991079

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 14 | 1400 | 5 (20)| 00:00:01 |
|* 1 | HASH JOIN ANTI | | 14 | 1400 | 5 (20)| 00:00:01 |
| 2 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| EMP | 14 | 1218 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 3 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| DEPT | 4 | 52 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

1 - access("EMP"."DEPTNO"="DEPT"."DEPTNO")

Note
-----
- dynamic statistics used: dynamic sampling (level=2)

How Antijoins Work

The antijoin optimization is implemented differently depending on what type of join is
used. The following pseudocode shows an antijoin for a nested loops join:
FOR ds1_row IN ds1 LOOP
match := true;
FOR ds2_row IN ds2 LOOP
IF (ds1_row matches ds2_row) THEN
match := false;
EXIT -- stop processing second data set when a match is found
END IF
END LOOP
IF (match = true) THEN
RETURN ds1_row
END IF
END LOOP

In the preceding pseudocode, ds1 is the first data set, and ds2 is the second data set.
The code obtains the first row from the first data set, and then loops through the
second data set looking for a match. The code exits the inner loop as soon as it finds a
match, and begins processing the next row in the first data set.
Example 9-15 Semijoin Using WHERE EXISTS
The following query uses a WHERE EXISTS clause to list only the departments that
contain employees:
SELECT department_id, department_name
FROM departments
WHERE EXISTS (SELECT 1
FROM employees
WHERE employees.department_id = departments.department_id)

The execution plan reveals a NESTED LOOPS SEMI operation in Step 1:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes |Cost(%CPU)| Time |

9-32 SQL Tuning Guide

 Join Types

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 2 (100)| |
| 1 | NESTED LOOPS SEMI | | 11 | 209 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 2 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| DEPARTMENTS | 27 | 432 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
|*3 | INDEX RANGE SCAN | EMP_DEPARTMENT_IX | 44 | 132 | 0 (0)| |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For each row in departments, which forms the outer loop, the database obtains the
department ID, and then probes the employees.department_id index for
matching entries. Conceptually, the index looks as follows:
10,rowid
10,rowid
10,rowid
10,rowid
30,rowid
30,rowid
30,rowid
...

If the first record in the departments table is department 30, then the database
performs a range scan of the index until it finds the first 30 entry, at which point it
stops reading the index and returns the matching row from departments. If the next
row in the outer loop is department 20, then the database scans the index for a 20
entry, and not finding any matches, performs the next iteration of the outer loop. The
database proceeds in this way until all matching rows are returned.

How Antijoins Handle Nulls

For semijoins, IN and EXISTS are functionally equivalent. However, NOT IN and NOT
EXISTS are not functionally equivalent. The difference is because of nulls. If a null
value is returned to a NOT IN operator, then the statement returns no records. To see
why, consider the following WHERE clause:
WHERE department_id NOT IN (null, 10, 20)

The database tests the preceding expression as follows:

WHERE (department_id != null)
AND (department_id != 10)
AND (department_id != 20)

For the entire expression to be true, each individual condition must be true.
However, a null value cannot be compared to another value, so the
department_id !=null condition cannot be true, and thus the whole expression
cannot be true. The following techniques enable a statement to return records even
when nulls are returned to the NOT IN operator:

• Apply an NVL function to the columns returned by the subquery.

• Add an IS NOT NULL predicate to the subquery.

• Implement NOT NULL constraints.

In contrast to NOT IN, the NOT EXISTS clause only considers predicates that return
the existence of a match, and ignores any row that does not match or could not be
determined because of nulls. If at least one row in the subquery matches the row from
the outer query, then NOT EXISTS returns false. If no tuples match, then NOT
EXISTS returns true. The presence of nulls in the subquery does not affect the
search for matching records.

Joins 9-33
Join Types

In releases earlier than Oracle Database 11g, the optimizer could not use an antijoin
optimization when nulls could be returned by a subquery. However, starting in Oracle
Database 11g, the ANTI NA (and ANTI SNA) optimizations described in the following
sections enable the optimizer to use an antijoin even when nulls are possible.
Example 9-16 Antijoin Using NOT IN
Suppose that a user issues the following query with a NOT IN clause to list the
departments that contain no employees:
SELECT department_id, department_name
FROM departments
WHERE department_id NOT IN
(SELECT department_id
FROM employees);

The preceding query returns no rows even though several departments contain no
employees. This result, which was not intended by the user, occurs because the
employees.department_id column is nullable.
The execution plan reveals a NESTED LOOPS ANTI SNA operation in Step 2:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost (%CPU)| Time |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 4(100)| |
|*1 | FILTER | | | | | |
| 2 | NESTED LOOPS ANTI SNA| | 17 | 323 | 4 (50)| 00:00:01 |
| 3 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | DEPARTMENTS | 27 | 432 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
|*4 | INDEX RANGE SCAN | EMP_DEPARTMENT_IX | 41 | 123 | 0 (0)| |
|*5 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | EMPLOYEES | 1 | 3 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------
1 - filter( IS NULL)
4 - access("DEPARTMENT_ID"="DEPARTMENT_ID")
5 - filter("DEPARTMENT_ID" IS NULL)

The ANTI SNA stands for "single null-aware antijoin." ANTI NA stands for "null-
aware antijoin." The null-aware operation enables the optimizer to use the semijoin
optimization even on a nullable column. In releases earlier than Oracle Database 11g,
the database could not perform antijoins on NOT IN queries when nulls were possible.
Suppose that the user rewrites the query by applying an IS NOT NULL condition to
the subquery:
SELECT department_id, department_name
FROM departments
WHERE department_id NOT IN
(SELECT department_id
FROM employees
WHERE department_id IS NOT NULL);

The preceding query returns 16 rows, which is the expected result. Step 1 in the plan
shows a standard NESTED LOOPS ANTI join instead of an ANTI NA or ANTI SNA
join because the subquery cannot returns nulls:

9-34 SQL Tuning Guide

 Join Optimizations

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name | Rows| Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 2 (100)| |
| 1| NESTED LOOPS ANTI | | 17 | 323 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
| 2| TABLE ACCESS FULL| DEPARTMENTS | 27 | 432 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
|*3| INDEX RANGE SCAN | EMP_DEPARTMENT_IX | 41 | 123 | 0 (0)| |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------

3 - access("DEPARTMENT_ID"="DEPARTMENT_ID")
filter("DEPARTMENT_ID" IS NOT NULL)

Example 9-17 Antijoin Using NOT EXISTS

Suppose that a user issues the following query with a NOT EXISTS clause to list the
departments that contain no employees:
SELECT department_id, department_name
FROM departments d
WHERE NOT EXISTS
(SELECT null
FROM employees e
WHERE e.department_id = d.department_id)

The preceding query avoids the null problem for NOT IN clauses. Thus, even though
employees.department_id column is nullable, the statement returns the desired
result.
Step 1 of the execution plan reveals a NESTED LOOPS ANTI operation, not the ANTI
NA variant, which was necessary for NOT IN when nulls were possible:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)|Time|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 2 (100)| |
| 1 | NESTED LOOPS ANTI | | 17 | 323 | 2 (0)|00:00:01|
| 2 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| DEPARTMENTS | 27 | 432 | 2 (0)|00:00:01|
|*3 | INDEX RANGE SCAN | EMP_DEPARTMENT_IX | 41 | 123 | 0 (0)| |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------

3 - access("E"."DEPARTMENT_ID"="D"."DEPARTMENT_ID")

Join Optimizations
This section describes common join optimizations:

• Bloom Filters

• Partition-Wise Joins

Joins 9-35
Join Optimizations

Bloom Filters
A Bloom filter, named after its creator Burton Bloom, is a low-memory data structure
that tests membership in a set. A Bloom filter correctly indicates when an element is
not in a set, but can incorrectly indicate when an element is in a set. Thus, false
negatives are impossible but false positives are possible.

Purpose of Bloom Filters

A Bloom filter tests one set of values to determine whether they are members another
set, for example, set (10,20,30,40) and set (10,30,60,70). The filter determines that 60 and
70 are guaranteed not to be members of the first set, and that 10 and 30 are probably
members. Bloom filters are especially useful when the amount of memory needed to
store the filter is small relative to the amount of data in the data set, and when most
data is expected to fail the membership test.
Oracle Database uses Bloom filters to various specific goals, including the following:

• Reduce the amount of data transferred to slave processes in a parallel query,

especially when the database discards most rows because they do not fulfill a join
condition

• Eliminate unneeded partitions when building a partition access list in a join,

known as partition pruning

• Test whether data exists in the server result cache, thereby avoiding a disk read

• Filter members in Exadata cells, especially when joining a large fact table and small
dimension tables in a star schema
Bloom filters can occur in both parallel and serial processing.

How Bloom Filters Work

A Bloom filter uses an array of bits to indicate inclusion in a set. For example, 8
elements (an arbitrary number used for this example) in an array are initially set to 0:
e1 e2 e3 e4 e5 e6 e7 e8
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

This array represents a set. To represent an input value i in this array, three separate
hash functions (an arbitrary number used for this example) are applied to i, each
generating a hash value between 1 and 8:
f1(i) = h1
f2(i) = h2
f3(i) = h3

For example, to store the value 17 in this array, the hash functions set i to 17, and then
return the following hash values:
f1(17) = 5
f2(17) = 3
f3(17) = 5

In the preceding example, two of the hash functions happened to return the same
value of 5, known as a hash collision. Because the distinct hash values are 5 and 3, the
5th and 3rd elements in the array are set to 1:

9-36 SQL Tuning Guide

 Join Optimizations

e1 e2 e3 e4 e5 e6 e7 e8
0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0

Testing the membership of 17 in the set reverses the process. To test whether the set
excludes the value 17, element 3 or element 5 must contain a 0. If a 0 is present in
either element, then the set cannot contain 17. No false negatives are possible.
To test whether the set includes 17, both element 3 and element 5 must contain 1
values. However, if the test indicates a 1 for both elements, then it is still possible for
the set not to include 17. False positives are possible. For example, the following array
might represent the value 22, which also has a 1 for both element 3 and element 5:
e1 e2 e3 e4 e5 e6 e7 e8
1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0

Bloom Filter Controls

The optimizer automatically determines whether to use Bloom filters. To override
optimizer decisions, use the hints PX_JOIN_FILTER and NO_PX_JOIN_FILTER.

See Also:

Oracle Database SQL Language Reference to learn more about the bloom filter
hints

Bloom Filter Metadata

The following dynamic performance views contain metadata about Bloom filters:

• V$SQL_JOIN_FILTER
This view shows the number of rows filtered out (FILTERED column) and tested
(PROBED column) by an active Bloom filter.

• V$PQ_TQSTAT
This view displays the number of rows processed through each parallel execution
server at each stage of the execution tree. You can use it to monitor how much
Bloom filters have reduced data transfer among parallel processes.
In an execution plan, a Bloom filter is indicated by keywords JOIN FILTER in the
Operation column, and the prefix :BF in the Name column, as in the 9th step of the
following plan snippet:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | TQ |IN-OUT| PQ Distrib |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
...
| 9 | JOIN FILTER CREATE | :BF0000 | Q1,03 | PCWP | |

In the Predicate Information section of the plan, filters that contain functions
beginning with the string SYS_OP_BLOOM_FILTER indicate use of a Bloom filter.

Bloom Filters: Scenario

The following parallel query joins the sales fact table to the products and times
dimension tables, and filters on fiscal week 18:
SELECT /*+ parallel(s) */ p.prod_name, s.quantity_sold
FROM sh.sales s, sh.products p, sh.times t

Joins 9-37
Join Optimizations

WHERE s.prod_id = p.prod_id

AND s.time_id = t.time_id
AND t.fiscal_week_number = 18;

Querying DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR provides the following output:

SELECT * FROM
TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR(format => 'BASIC,+PARALLEL,+PREDICATE'));

EXPLAINED SQL STATEMENT:

------------------------
SELECT /*+ parallel(s) */ p.prod_name, s.quantity_sold FROM sh.sales s,
sh.products p, sh.times t WHERE s.prod_id = p.prod_id AND s.time_id =
t.time_id AND t.fiscal_week_number = 18

Plan hash value: 1183628457

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | TQ |IN-OUT| PQ Distrib |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | | |
| 1 | PX COORDINATOR | | | | |
| 2 | PX SEND QC (RANDOM) | :TQ10003 | Q1,03 | P->S | QC (RAND) |
|* 3 | HASH JOIN BUFFERED | | Q1,03 | PCWP | |
| 4 | PX RECEIVE | | Q1,03 | PCWP | |
| 5 | PX SEND BROADCAST | :TQ10001 | Q1,01 | S->P | BROADCAST |
| 6 | PX SELECTOR | | Q1,01 | SCWC | |
| 7 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | PRODUCTS | Q1,01 | SCWP | |
|* 8 | HASH JOIN | | Q1,03 | PCWP | |
| 9 | JOIN FILTER CREATE | :BF0000 | Q1,03 | PCWP | |
| 10 | BUFFER SORT | | Q1,03 | PCWC | |
| 11 | PX RECEIVE | | Q1,03 | PCWP | |
| 12 | PX SEND HYBRID HASH| :TQ10000 | | S->P | HYBRID HASH|
|* 13 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | TIMES | | | |
| 14 | PX RECEIVE | | Q1,03 | PCWP | |
| 15 | PX SEND HYBRID HASH | :TQ10002 | Q1,02 | P->P | HYBRID HASH|
| 16 | JOIN FILTER USE | :BF0000 | Q1,02 | PCWP | |
| 17 | PX BLOCK ITERATOR | | Q1,02 | PCWC | |
|* 18 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | SALES | Q1,02 | PCWP | |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

3 - access("S"."PROD_ID"="P"."PROD_ID")
8 - access("S"."TIME_ID"="T"."TIME_ID")
13 - filter("T"."FISCAL_WEEK_NUMBER"=18)
18 - access(:Z>=:Z AND :Z<=:Z)
filter(SYS_OP_BLOOM_FILTER(:BF0000,"S"."TIME_ID"))

A single server process scans the times table (Step 13), and then uses a hybrid hash
distribution method to send the rows to the parallel execution servers (Step 12). The
processes in set Q1,03 create a bloom filter (Step 9). The processes in set Q1,02 scan
sales in parallel (Step 18), and then use the Bloom filter to discard rows from sales
(Step 16) before sending them on to set Q1,03 using hybrid hash distribution (Step
15). The processes in set Q1,03 hash join the times rows to the filtered sales rows
(Step 8). The processes in set Q1,01 scan products (Step 7), and then send the rows
to Q1,03 (Step 5). Finally, the processes in Q1,03 join the products rows to the rows
generated by the previous hash join (Step 3).
The basic process looks as follows:

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 Join Optimizations

Q1, 03

Create

Bloom filter
:BF0000

Q1, 01 Q1, 02

Partition-Wise Joins
A partition-wise join is a join optimization that divides a large join of two tables, one
of which must be partitioned on the join key, into several smaller joins. Partition-wise
joins are either of the following:

• Full partition-wise join

Both tables must be equipartitioned on their join keys, or use reference partitioning
(that is, be related by referential constraints). The database divides a large join into
smaller joins between two partitions from the two joined tables.

• Partial partition-wise joins

Only one table is partitioned on the join key. The other table may or may not be
partitioned.

See Also:

Oracle Database VLDB and Partitioning Guide explains partition-wise joins in

detail

Purpose of Partition-Wise Joins

Partition-wise joins reduce query response time by minimizing the amount of data
exchanged among parallel execution servers when joins execute in parallel. This
technique significantly reduces response time and improves the use of CPU and
memory. In Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) environments, partition-
wise joins also avoid or at least limit the data traffic over the interconnect, which is the
key to achieving good scalability for massive join operations.

How Partition-Wise Joins Work

When the database serially joins two partitioned tables without using a partition-wise
join, a single server process performs the join, as shown in Figure 9-6. In this example,
the join is not partition-wise because the server process joins every partition of table t1
to every partition of table t2.

Joins 9-39
Join Optimizations

Figure 9-6 Join That Is Not Partition-Wise

Server
Process

t1 t2

How a Full Partition-Wise Join Works

Figure 9-7 shows a full partition-wise join performed in parallel (it can also be
performed in serial). In this case, the granule of parallelism is a partition. Each parallel
execution server joins the partitions in pairs. For example, the first parallel execution
server joins the first partition of t1 to the first partition of t2. The parallel execution
coordinator then assembles the result.

Figure 9-7 Full Partition-Wise Join in Parallel

PE Coordinator
t1 t2

PE Server

PE Server

PE Server

PE Server

9-40 SQL Tuning Guide

 Join Optimizations

A full partition-wise join can also join partitions to subpartitions, which is useful when
the tables use different partitioning methods. For example, customers is partitioned
by hash, but sales is partitioned by range. If you subpartition sales by hash, then
the database can perform a full partition-wise join between the hash partitions of the
customers and the hash subpartitions of sales.
In the execution plan, the presence of a partition operation before the join signals the
presence of a full partition-wise join, as in the following snippet:
| 8 | PX PARTITION HASH ALL|
|* 9 | HASH JOIN |

See Also:

Oracle Database VLDB and Partitioning Guide explains full partition-wise joins
in detail, and includes several examples

How a Partial Partition-Wise Join Works

In contrast, the example in Figure 9-8 shows a partial partition-wise join between t1,
which is partitioned, and t2, which is not partitioned. Partial partition-wise joins,
unlike their full partition-wise counterpart, must execute in parallel.
Because t2 is not partitioned, a set of parallel execution servers must generate
partitions from t2 as needed. A different set of parallel execution servers then joins
the t1 partitions to the dynamically generated partitions. The parallel execution
coordinator assembles the result.

Figure 9-8 Partial Partition-Wise Join

PE Coordinator
t1 t2

PE Server

PE Server t1 t2

PE Server

PE Server

PE Server

PE Server

PE Server

PE Server
Dynamically created
partitions

In the execution plan, the operation PX SEND PARTITION (KEY) signals a partial
partition-wise join, as in the following snippet:

Joins 9-41
Join Optimizations

| 11 | PX SEND PARTITION (KEY) |

See Also:

Oracle Database VLDB and Partitioning Guide explains full partition-wise joins
in detail, and includes several examples

9-42 SQL Tuning Guide

 Part V
Optimizer Statistics

This part contains the following chapters:

• Optimizer Statistics Concepts

• Histograms

• Managing Optimizer Statistics: Basic Topics

• Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics

 10
Optimizer Statistics Concepts

This chapter explains basic concepts relating to optimizer statistics.

This chapter includes the following topics:

• Introduction to Optimizer Statistics

• About Optimizer Statistics Types

• How the Database Gathers Optimizer Statistics

• When the Database Gathers Optimizer Statistics

See Also:

• Query Optimizer Concepts

• Histograms

• Managing Optimizer Statistics: Basic Topics

• Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics

Introduction to Optimizer Statistics

Oracle Database optimizer statistics describe details about the database and its objects.
The optimizer cost model relies on statistics collected about the objects involved in a
query, and the database and host where the query runs. Statistics are critical to the
optimizer's ability to pick the best execution plan for a SQL statement.
Optimizer statistics include the following:

• Table statistics

– Number of rows

– Number of blocks

– Average row length

• Column statistics

– Number of distinct values (NDV) in a column

– Number of nulls in a column

– Data distribution (histogram)

Optimizer Statistics Concepts 10-1

Introduction to Optimizer Statistics

– Extended statistics

• Index statistics

– Number of leaf blocks

– Number of levels

– Index clustering factor

• System statistics

– I/O performance and utilization

– CPU performance and utilization

As shown in Figure 10-1, the database stores optimizer statistics for tables, columns,
indexes, and the system in the data dictionary. You can access these statistics using
data dictionary views.

Note:

The optimizer statistics are different from the performance statistics visible
through V$ views.

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 About Optimizer Statistics Types

Figure 10-1 Optimizer Statistics

Database

Optimizer
Data Dictionary

Optimizer Statistics

Index Table Column System

PERSON
Table GB Execution
Plan
ID Name HJ
100 Kumar HJ
PERSON_ID_IX

CPU and I/O

About Optimizer Statistics Types

The optimizer collects statistics on different types of database objects and
characteristics of the database environment. This section contains the following topics:

• Table Statistics

• Column Statistics

• Index Statistics

• Session-Specific Statistics for Global Temporary Tables

• System Statistics

• User-Defined Optimizer Statistics

Table Statistics
In Oracle Database, table statistics include information about rows and blocks. The
optimizer uses these statistics to determine the cost of table scans and table joins.
DBMS_STATS can gather statistics for both permanent and temporary tables.

Optimizer Statistics Concepts 10-3

About Optimizer Statistics Types

The database tracks all relevant statistics about permanent tables.

DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS commits before gathering statistics on
permanent tables. For example, table statistics stored in DBA_TAB_STATISTICS track
the following:

• Number of rows and average row length

The database uses the row count stored in DBA_TAB_STATISTICS when
determining cardinality.

• Number of data blocks

The optimizer uses the number of data blocks with the
DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT initialization parameter to determine the
base table access cost.
Example 10-1 Table Statistics
This example queries some table statistics for the sh.customers table.
sys@PROD> SELECT NUM_ROWS, AVG_ROW_LEN, BLOCKS, LAST_ANALYZED
2 FROM DBA_TAB_STATISTICS
3 WHERE OWNER='SH'
4 AND TABLE_NAME='CUSTOMERS';

NUM_ROWS AVG_ROW_LEN BLOCKS LAST_ANAL

---------- ----------- ---------- ---------
55500 181 1486 14-JUN-10

See Also:

• “About Optimizer Initialization Parameters”

• “Gathering Schema and Table Statistics”

• Oracle Database Reference for a description of the DBA_TAB_STATISTICS

view and the DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT initialization
parameter

Column Statistics
Column statistics track information about column values and data distribution. The
optimizer uses these statistics to generate accurate cardinality estimates and make
better decisions about index usage, join orders, join methods, and so on.
For example, index statistics in DBA_TAB_COL_STATISTICS track the following:

• Number of distinct values (NDV)

• Number of nulls

• High and low values

• Histogram-related information (see “Histograms ”)

The optimizer can use extended statistics, which are a special type of column statistics.
These statistics are useful for informing the optimizer of logical relationships among
columns.

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 About Optimizer Statistics Types

See Also:

• “About Statistics on Column Groups”

• Oracle Database Reference for a description of the

DBA_TAB_COL_STATISTICS view

Index Statistics
The index statistics include information about the number of index levels, the number
of index blocks, and the relationship between the index and the data blocks. The
optimizer uses these statistics to determine the cost of index scans.

Types of Index Statistics

Index statistics stored in the DBA_IND_STATISTICS view track the following:

• Levels
The BLEVEL column shows the number of blocks required to go from the root
block to a leaf block. A B-tree index has two types of blocks: branch blocks for
searching and leaf blocks that store values. See Oracle Database Concepts for a
conceptual overview of B-tree indexes.

• Distinct keys
This columns tracks the number of distinct indexed values. If a unique constraint is
defined, and if no NOT NULL constraint is defined, then this value equals the
number of non-null values.

• Average number of leaf blocks for each distinct indexed key

• Average number of data blocks pointed to by each distinct indexed key

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference for a description of the DBA_IND_STATISTICS view

Example 10-2 Index Statistics

This example queries some index statistics for the cust_lname_ix and
customers_pk indexes on the sh.customers table (sample output included):
SELECT INDEX_NAME, BLEVEL, LEAF_BLOCKS AS "LEAFBLK", DISTINCT_KEYS AS "DIST_KEY",
AVG_LEAF_BLOCKS_PER_KEY AS "LEAFBLK_PER_KEY",
AVG_DATA_BLOCKS_PER_KEY AS "DATABLK_PER_KEY"
FROM DBA_IND_STATISTICS
WHERE OWNER = 'SH'
AND INDEX_NAME IN ('CUST_LNAME_IX','CUSTOMERS_PK');

INDEX_NAME BLEVEL LEAFBLK DIST_KEY LEAFBLK_PER_KEY DATABLK_PER_KEY

-------------- ------ ------- -------- --------------- ---------------
CUSTOMERS_PK 1 115 55500 1 1
CUST_LNAME_IX 1 141 908 1 10

Optimizer Statistics Concepts 10-5

About Optimizer Statistics Types

Index Clustering Factor

For a B-tree index, the index clustering factor measures the physical grouping of rows
in relation to an index value, such as last name. The index clustering factor helps the
optimizer decide whether an index scan or full table scan is more efficient for certain
queries). A low clustering factor indicates an efficient index scan.
A clustering factor that is close to the number of blocks in a table indicates that the
rows are physically ordered in the table blocks by the index key. If the database
performs a full table scan, then the database tends to retrieve the rows as they are
stored on disk sorted by the index key. A clustering factor that is close to the number
of rows indicates that the rows are scattered randomly across the database blocks in
relation to the index key. If the database performs a full table scan, then the database
would not retrieve rows in any sorted order by this index key.
The clustering factor is a property of a specific index, not a table (see Oracle Database
Concepts for an overview). If multiple indexes exist on a table, then the clustering
factor for one index might be small while the factor for another index is large. An
attempt to reorganize the table to improve the clustering factor for one index may
degrade the clustering factor of the other index.
Example 10-3 Index Clustering Factor
This example shows how the optimizer uses the index clustering factor to determine
whether using an index is more effective than a full table scan.

1. Start SQL*Plus and connect to a database as sh, and then query the number of
rows and blocks in the sh.customers table (sample output included):
SELECT table_name, num_rows, blocks
FROM user_tables
WHERE table_name='CUSTOMERS';

TABLE_NAME NUM_ROWS BLOCKS

------------------------------ ---------- ----------
CUSTOMERS 55500 1486

2. Create an index on the customers.cust_last_name column.

For example, execute the following statement:
CREATE INDEX CUSTOMERS_LAST_NAME_IDX ON customers(cust_last_name);

3. Query the index clustering factor of the newly created index.

The following query shows that the customers_last_name_idx index has a
high clustering factor because the clustering factor is significantly more than the
number of blocks in the table:
SELECT index_name, blevel, leaf_blocks, clustering_factor
FROM user_indexes
WHERE table_name='CUSTOMERS'
AND index_name= 'CUSTOMERS_LAST_NAME_IDX';

INDEX_NAME BLEVEL LEAF_BLOCKS CLUSTERING_FACTOR

------------------------------ ---------- ----------- -----------------
CUSTOMERS_LAST_NAME_IDX 1 141 9859

4. Create a new copy of the customers table, with rows ordered by

cust_last_name.

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For example, execute the following statements:

DROP TABLE customers3 PURGE;
CREATE TABLE customers3 AS
SELECT *
FROM customers
ORDER BY cust_last_name;

5. Gather statistics on the customers3 table.

For example, execute the GATHER_TABLE_STATS procedure as follows:
EXEC DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS(null,'CUSTOMERS3');

6. Query the number of rows and blocks in the customers3 table .

For example, enter the following query (sample output included):
SELECT TABLE_NAME, NUM_ROWS, BLOCKS
FROM USER_TABLES
WHERE TABLE_NAME='CUSTOMERS3';

TABLE_NAME NUM_ROWS BLOCKS

------------------------------ ---------- ----------
CUSTOMERS3 55500 1485

7. Create an index on the cust_last_name column of customers3.

For example, execute the following statement:
CREATE INDEX CUSTOMERS3_LAST_NAME_IDX ON customers3(cust_last_name);

8. Query the index clustering factor of the customers3_last_name_idx index.

The following query shows that the customers3_last_name_idx index has a
lower clustering factor:
SELECT INDEX_NAME, BLEVEL, LEAF_BLOCKS, CLUSTERING_FACTOR
FROM USER_INDEXES
WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'CUSTOMERS3'
AND INDEX_NAME = 'CUSTOMERS3_LAST_NAME_IDX';

INDEX_NAME BLEVEL LEAF_BLOCKS CLUSTERING_FACTOR

------------------------------ ---------- ----------- -----------------
CUSTOMERS3_LAST_NAME_IDX 1 141 1455

The table customers3 has the same data as the original customers table, but
the index on customers3 has a much lower clustering factor because the data in
the table is ordered by the cust_last_name. The clustering factor is now about
10 times the number of blocks instead of 70 times.

9. Query the customers table.

For example, execute the following query (sample output included):
SELECT cust_first_name, cust_last_name
FROM customers
WHERE cust_last_name BETWEEN 'Puleo' AND 'Quinn';

CUST_FIRST_NAME CUST_LAST_NAME
-------------------- ----------------------------------------
Vida Puleo
Harriett Quinlan

Optimizer Statistics Concepts 10-7

About Optimizer Statistics Types

Madeleine Quinn
Caresse Puleo

10. Display the cursor for the query.

For example, execute the following query (partial sample output included):
SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR());

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows |Bytes|Cost (%CPU)| Time |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 405 (100)| |
|* 1| TABLE ACCESS STORAGE FULL| CUSTOMERS | 2335|35025| 405 (1)|00:00:01|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The preceding plan shows that the optimizer did not use the index on the original
customers tables.

11. Query the customers3 table.

For example, execute the following query (sample output included):

SELECT cust_first_name, cust_last_name
FROM customers3
WHERE cust_last_name BETWEEN 'Puleo' AND 'Quinn';

CUST_FIRST_NAME CUST_LAST_NAME
-------------------- ----------------------------------------
Vida Puleo
Harriett Quinlan
Madeleine Quinn
Caresse Puleo

12. Display the cursor for the query.

For example, execute the following query (partial sample output included):
SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR());

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost(%CPU)| Time|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | |69(100)| |
| 1| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID|CUSTOMERS3 |2335|35025|69(0) |00:00:01|
|*2| INDEX RANGE SCAN |CUSTOMERS3_LAST_NAME_IDX|2335| |7(0) |00:00:01|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The result set is the same, but the optimizer chooses the index. The plan cost is
much less than the cost of the plan used on the original customers table.

13. Query customers with a hint that forces the optimizer to use the index.
For example, execute the following query (partial sample output included):
SELECT /*+ index (Customers CUSTOMERS_LAST_NAME_IDX) */ cust_first_name,
cust_last_name
FROM customers
WHERE cust_last_name BETWEEN 'Puleo' and 'Quinn';

CUST_FIRST_NAME CUST_LAST_NAME
-------------------- ----------------------------------------
Vida Puleo
Caresse Puleo

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 About Optimizer Statistics Types

Harriett Quinlan
Madeleine Quinn

14. Display the cursor for the query.

For example, execute the following query (partial sample output included):
SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR());

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost(%CPU)| Time |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 422(100) | |
| 1| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID|CUSTOMERS |335 |35025| 422(0) |00:00:01|
|*2| INDEX RANGE SCAN |CUSTOMERS_LAST_NAME_IDX|2335| | 7(0) |00:00:01|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The preceding plan shows that the cost of using the index on customers is
higher than the cost of a full table scan. Thus, using an index does not necessarily
improve performance. The index clustering factor is a measure of whether an
index scan is more effective than a full table scan.

Effect of Index Clustering Factor on Cost: Example

To illustrate how the index clustering factor can influence the cost of table access,
consider the following scenario:

• A table contains 9 rows that are stored in 3 data blocks.

• The col1 column currently stores the values A, B, and C.

• A nonunique index named col1_idx exists on col1 for this table.

Example 10-4 Collocated Data
Assume that the rows are stored in the data blocks as follows:
Block 1 Block 2 Block 3
------- ------- -------
A A A B B B C C C

In this example, the index clustering factor for col1_idx is low. The rows that have
the same indexed column values for col1 are in the same data blocks in the table.
Thus, the cost of using an index range scan to return all rows with value A is low
because only one block in the table must be read.
Example 10-5 Scattered Data
Assume that the same rows are scattered across the data blocks as follows:
Block 1 Block 2 Block 3
------- ------- -------
A B C A C B B A C

In this example, the index clustering factor for col1_idx is higher. The database must
read all three blocks in the table to retrieve all rows with the value A in col1.

See Also:
Oracle Database Reference for a description of the DBA_INDEXES view

Optimizer Statistics Concepts 10-9

About Optimizer Statistics Types

Session-Specific Statistics for Global Temporary Tables

A global temporary table is a special table that stores intermediate session-private data
for a specific duration. The ON COMMIT clause of CREATE GLOBAL TEMPORARY
TABLE indicates whether the table is transaction-specific (DELETE ROWS) or session-
specific (PRESERVE ROWS). Thus, a temporary table holds intermediate result sets for
the duration of either a transaction or a session.
When you create a global temporary table, you create a definition that is visible to all
sessions. No physical storage is allocated. When a session first puts data into the table,
the database allocates storage space. The data in the temporary table is only visible to
the current session.

Shared and Session-Specific Statistics for Global Temporary Tables

In releases before Oracle Database 12c, the database did not maintain statistics for
global temporary tables and non-global temporary tables differently. The database
maintained one version of the statistics shared by all sessions, even though data in
different sessions could differ.
Starting in Oracle Database 12c, you can set the table-level preference
GLOBAL_TEMP_TABLE_STATS to make statistics on a global temporary table shared
or session-specific. When set to session-specific, you can gather statistics for a global
temporary table in one session, and then use the statistics for this session only.
Meanwhile, users can continue to maintain a shared version of the statistics. During
optimization, the optimizer first checks whether a global temporary table has session-
specific statistics. If yes, the optimizer uses them. Otherwise, the optimizer uses shared
statistics if they exist.
Session-specific statistics have the following characteristics:

• Dictionary views that track statistics show both the shared statistics and the
session-specific statistics in the current session.
The views are DBA_TAB_STATISTICS, DBA_IND_STATISTICS,
DBA_TAB_HISTOGRAMS, and DBA_TAB_COL_STATISTICS (each view has a
corresponding USER_ and ALL_ version). The SCOPE column shows whether
statistics are session-specific or shared.

• Other sessions do not share the cursor using the session-specific statistics.
Different sessions can share the cursor using shared statistics, as in releases earlier
than Oracle Database 12c. The same session can share the cursor using session-
specific statistics.

• Pending statistics are not supported for session-specific statistics.

• When the GLOBAL_TEMP_TABLE_STATS preference is set to SESSION, by default

GATHER_TABLE_STATS immediately invalidates previous cursors compiled in the
same session. However, this procedure does not invalidate cursors compiled in
other sessions.

Effect of DBMS_STATS on Transaction-Specific Temporary Tables

DBMS_STATS commits changes to session-specific global temporary tables, but not to
transaction-specific global temporary tables. Before Oracle Database 12c, running
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS on a transaction-specific temporary table (ON
COMMIT DELETE ROWS) would delete all rows, making the statistics show the table as

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 About Optimizer Statistics Types

empty. Starting in Oracle Database 12c, the following procedures do not commit for
transaction-specific temporary tables, so that rows in these tables are not deleted:

• GATHER_TABLE_STATS

• DELETE_TABLE_STATS

• DELETE_COLUMN_STATS

• DELETE_INDEX_STATS

• SET_TABLE_STATS

• SET_COLUMN_STATS

• SET_INDEX_STATS

• GET_TABLE_STATS

• GET_COLUMN_STATS

• GET_INDEX_STATS
The preceding program units observe the GLOBAL_TEMP_TABLE_STATS preference.
For example, if the table preference is set to SESSION, then SET_TABLE_STATS sets
the session statistics, and GATHER_TABLE_STATS preserves all rows in a transaction-
specific temporary table. If the table preference is set to SHARED, then
SET_TABLE_STATS sets the shared statistics, and GATHER_TABLE_STATS deletes all
rows from a transaction-specific temporary table.

See Also:

• “Gathering Schema and Table Statistics”

• Oracle Database Concepts to learn about global temporary tables

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS procedure

System Statistics
The system statistics describe hardware characteristics such as I/O and CPU
performance and utilization. System statistics enable the query optimizer to more
accurately estimate I/O and CPU costs when choosing execution plans.
The database does not invalidate previously parsed SQL statements when updating
system statistics. The database parses all new SQL statements using new statistics.

See Also:
“Gathering System Statistics Manually”

User-Defined Optimizer Statistics

The extensible optimizer enables authors of user-defined functions and indexes to
create statistics collection, selectivity, and cost functions for the optimizer to use when

Optimizer Statistics Concepts 10-11

How the Database Gathers Optimizer Statistics

choosing a execution plan. The optimizer cost model is extended to integrate

information supplied by the user to assess CPU and the I/O cost.
Statistics types act as interfaces for user-defined functions that influence the choice of
execution plan by the optimizer. However, to use a statistics type, the optimizer
requires a mechanism to bind the type to a database object such as a column,
standalone function, object type, index, indextype, or package. The SQL statement
ASSOCIATE STATISTICS creates this association.
Functions for user-defined statistics are relevant for columns that use both standard
SQL data types and object types, and for domain indexes. When you associate a
statistics type with a column or domain index, the database calls the statistics
collection method in the statistics type whenever DBMS_STATS gathers statistics for
database objects.

See Also:

• “Gathering Schema and Table Statistics”

• Oracle Database Data Cartridge Developer's Guide to learn about the

extensible optimizer and user-defined statistics

How the Database Gathers Optimizer Statistics

Oracle Database provides several mechanisms to gather statistics. This section
contains the following topics:

• DBMS_STATS Package

• Dynamic Statistics

• Online Statistics Gathering for Bulk Loads

See Also:

• “Controlling Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection” or “Gathering

Optimizer Statistics Manually”

• “Locking and Unlocking Optimizer Statistics”

DBMS_STATS Package
The DBMS_STATS PL/SQL package collects and manages optimizer statistics. This
package enables you to control what and how statistics are collected, including the
degree of parallelism for statistics collection, sampling methods, granularity of
statistics collection in partitioned tables, and so on.

Note:
Do not use the COMPUTE and ESTIMATE clauses of the ANALYZE statement to
collect optimizer statistics. These clauses have been deprecated. Instead, use
DBMS_STATS.

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 How the Database Gathers Optimizer Statistics

Statistics gathered with the DBMS_STATS package are required for the creation of
accurate execution plans. For example, table statistics gathered by DBMS_STATS
include the number of rows, number of blocks, and average row length.
By default, Oracle Database uses automatic optimizer statistics collection. In this case,
the database automatically runs DBMS_STATS to collect optimizer statistics for all
schema objects for which statistics are missing or stale. The process eliminates many
manual tasks associated with managing the optimizer, and significantly reduces the
risks of generating suboptimal execution plans because of missing or stale statistics.
You can also update and manage optimizer statistics by manually executing
DBMS_STATS.

See Also:

• “Controlling Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection”

• “Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually”

• Oracle Database Administrator's Guide to learn more about automated

maintenance tasks

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about

DBMS_STATS

Dynamic Statistics
By default, when optimizer statistics are missing, stale, or insufficient, the database
automatically gathers dynamic statistics during a parse. The database uses recursive
SQL to scan a small random sample of table blocks.

Note:

Dynamic statistics augment statistics rather than providing an alternative to

them.

Dynamic statistics can supplement statistics such as table and index block counts, table
and join cardinalities (estimated number of rows), join column statistics, and GROUP
BY statistics. This information helps the optimizer improve plans by making better
estimates for predicate selectivity.
Dynamic statistics are beneficial in the following situations:

• An execution plan is suboptimal because of complex predicates.

• The sampling time is a small fraction of total execution time for the query.

• The query is executed many times so that the sampling time is amortized.

Optimizer Statistics Concepts 10-13

How the Database Gathers Optimizer Statistics

See Also:

• “When the Database Samples Data”

• “Guideline for Accurate Statistics”

• “Controlling Dynamic Statistics”

Online Statistics Gathering for Bulk Loads

Starting in Oracle Database 12c, the database can gather table statistics automatically
during the following types of bulk load operations:

• CREATE TABLE AS SELECT

• INSERT INTO ... SELECT into an empty table using a direct path insert

Note:

By default, a parallel insert uses a direct path insert. You can force a direct
path insert by using the /*+APPEND */ hint.

This section contains the following topics:

• Purpose of Online Statistics Gathering for Bulk Loads

• Global Statistics During Inserts into Empty Partitioned Tables

• Index Statistics and Histograms During Bulk Loads

• Restrictions for Online Statistics Gathering for Bulk Loads

• Hints for Online Statistics Gathering for Bulk Loads

See Also:

Oracle Database Data Warehousing Guide to learn more about bulk loads

Purpose of Online Statistics Gathering for Bulk Loads

Data warehouses typically load large amounts of data into the database. For example,
a sales data warehouse might load sales data nightly.
In releases earlier than Oracle Database 12c, to avoid the possibility of a suboptimal
plan caused by stale statistics, you needed to gather statistics manually after a bulk
load. The ability to gather statistics automatically during bulk loads has the following
benefits:

• Improved performance
Gathering statistics during the load avoids an additional table scan to gather table
statistics.

• Improved manageability

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No user intervention is required to gather statistics after a bulk load.

Global Statistics During Inserts into Empty Partitioned Tables

When inserting rows into an empty partitioned table, the database gathers global
statistics during the insert. For example, if you run INSERT INTO sales SELECT,
and if sales is an empty partitioned table, then the database gathers global statistics
for sales, but does not gather partition-level statistics.
If you insert rows into a empty partitioned table using extended syntax, and if the
specified partition or subpartition is empty, then the database gathers the statistics on
the specified partition or subpartition during the insert. No global level statistics are
gathered. For example, if you run INSERT INTO sales PARTITION
(sales_q4_2000) SELECT, and if partition sales_q4_2000 is empty before the
insert (other partitions need not be empty), then the database gathers statistics during
the insert. Moreover, if the INCREMENTAL preference is enabled for sales, then the
database also gathers synopses for sales_q4_2000. Statistics are immediately
available after the INSERT statement. However, if you roll back the transaction, then
the database automatically deletes statistics gathered during the bulk load.

See Also:

“How to Enable Incremental Statistics Maintenance”

Index Statistics and Histograms During Bulk Loads

While gathering online statistics, the database does not gather index statistics or create
histograms. If these statistics are required, then Oracle recommends running
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS with the options parameter set to GATHER
AUTO after the bulk load. For example, the following command gathers statistics for
the bulk-loaded sh_ctas table:
EXEC DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS( user, 'SH_CTAS', options => 'GATHER AUTO' );

The preceding example only gathers missing or stale statistics. The database does not
gather table and basic column statistics collected during the bulk load.

Note:

You can set the table preference options to GATHER AUTO on the tables that
you plan to bulk load. In this way, you need not explicitly set the options
parameter when running GATHER_TABLE_STATS.

See Also:
“Gathering Schema and Table Statistics”

Restrictions for Online Statistics Gathering for Bulk Loads

Currently, statistics gathering does not occur automatically for bulk loads when any of
the following conditions apply to the target table, partition, or subpartition:

• It is not empty, and you perform an INSERT INTO ... SELECT.

Optimizer Statistics Concepts 10-15

How the Database Gathers Optimizer Statistics

In this case, an OPTIMIZER STATISTICS GATHERING row source appears in the

plan, but this row source is only a pass-through. The database does not actually
gather optimizer statistics.

Note:
The DBA_TAB_COL_STATISTICS.NOTES column is set to STATS_ON_LOAD
by a bulk load into an empty table. However, subsequent bulk loads into the
non-empty table do not reset the NOTES column. One method for determining
whether the database gathered statistics is to execute
DBMS_STATS.FLUSH_DATABASE_MONITORING_INFO, and then query
USER_TAB_MODIFICATIONS.INSERTS. If the query returns a row indicating
the number of rows loaded, then the statistics were not gathered automatically
during the most recent bulk load.

• It is in an Oracle-owned schema such as SYS.

• It is a nested table.

• It is an index-organized table (IOT).

• It is an external table.

• It is a global temporary table defined as ON COMMIT DELETE ROWS.

• It has virtual columns.

• It has a PUBLISH preference set to FALSE.

/? Bug 16922369 ?/

• Its statistics are locked.

• It is partitioned, INCREMENTAL is set to true, and extended syntax is not used.

For example, assume that you execute DBMS_STATS.SET_TABLE_PREFS(null,
'sales', incremental', 'true'). In this case, the database does not gather
statistics for INSERT INTO sales SELECT, even when sales is empty.
However, the database does gather statistics automatically for INSERT INTO
sales PARTITION (sales_q4_2000) SELECT.

• It is loaded using a multitable insert statement.

See Also:
“Gathering Schema and Table Statistics”

Hints for Online Statistics Gathering for Bulk Loads

By default, the database gathers statistics during bulk loads. You can disable the
feature at the statement level by using the NO_GATHER_OPTIMIZER_STATISTICS
hint, and enable the feature at the statement level by using the
GATHER_OPTIMIZER_STATISTICS hint. For example, the following statement
disables online statistics gathering for bulk loads:
CREATE TABLE employees2 AS
SELECT /*+NO_GATHER_OPTIMIZER_STATISTICS */* FROM employees

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 When the Database Gathers Optimizer Statistics

See Also:

Oracle Database SQL Language Reference to learn about the

GATHER_OPTIMIZER_STATISTICS and
NO_GATHER_OPTIMIZER_STATISTICS hints

When the Database Gathers Optimizer Statistics

The database collects optimizer statistics at various times and from various sources.
This section contains the following topics:

• Sources for Optimizer Statistics

• SQL Plan Directives

• When the Database Samples Data

• How the Database Samples Data

Sources for Optimizer Statistics

The database uses the following sources:

• DBMS_STATS execution, automatic or manual

This PL/SQL package is the primary means of gathering optimizer statistics. See
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS procedure.

• SQL compilation
During SQL compilation, the database can augment the statistics previously
gathered by DBMS_STATS. In this stage, the database runs additional queries to
obtain more accurate information on how many rows in the tables satisfy the
WHERE clause predicates in the SQL statement (see “When the Database Samples
Data”).

• SQL execution
During execution, the database can further augment previously gathered statistics.
In this stage, Oracle Database collects the number of rows produced by every row
source during the execution of a SQL statement. At the end of execution, the
optimizer determines whether the estimated number of rows is inaccurate enough
to warrant reparsing at the next statement execution. If the cursor is marked for
reparsing, then the optimizer uses actual row counts from the previous execution
instead of estimates.

• SQL profiles
A SQL profile is a collection of auxiliary statistics on a query. The profile stores
these supplemental statistics in the data dictionary. The optimizer uses SQL
profiles during optimization to determine the most optimal plan (see “About SQL
Profiles”).
The database stores optimizer statistics in the data dictionary and updates or replaces
them as needed. You can query statistics in data dictionary views.

Optimizer Statistics Concepts 10-17

When the Database Gathers Optimizer Statistics

SQL Plan Directives

A SQL plan directive is additional information and instructions that the optimizer can
use to generate a more optimal plan. For example, a SQL plan directive can instruct
the optimizer to record a missing extension.

About SQL Plan Directives

During SQL execution, if a cardinality misestimate occurs, then the database creates
SQL plan directives. During SQL compilation, the optimizer examines the query
corresponding to the directive to determine whether missing extensions or histograms
exist (see “Managing Extended Statistics”). The optimizer records any missing
extensions. Subsequent DBMS_STATS calls collect statistics for the extensions.
The optimizer uses dynamic statistics whenever it does not have sufficient statistics
corresponding to the directive. For example, the optimizer gathers dynamic statistics
until the creation of column group statistics, and also after this point when
misestimates occur. Currently, the optimizer monitors only column groups. The
optimizer does not create an extension on expressions.
SQL plan directives are not tied to a specific SQL statement or SQL ID. The optimizer
can use directives for statements that are nearly identical because directives are
defined on a query expression. For example, directives can help the optimizer with
queries that use similar patterns, such as queries that are identical except for a select
list item.
The database automatically manages SQL plan directives. The database initially
creates directives in the shared pool. The database periodically writes the directives to
the SYSAUX tablespace. You can manage directives with the APIs available in the
DBMS_SPD package.

See Also:

“About Statistics on Column Groups”

How the Optimizer Uses SQL Plan Directives: Example

This example shows how the database automatically creates and uses SQL plan
directives for SQL statements.
Assumptions
You plan to run queries against the sh schema, and you have privileges on this
schema and on data dictionary and V$ views.
To see how the database uses a SQL plan directive:

1. Query the sh.customers table.

SELECT /*+gather_plan_statistics*/ *
FROM customers
WHERE cust_state_province='CA'
AND country_id='US';

The gather_plan_statistics hint shows the actual number of rows returned

from each operation in the plan. Thus, you can compare the optimizer estimates
with the actual number of rows returned.

10-18 SQL Tuning Guide

 When the Database Gathers Optimizer Statistics

2. Query the plan for the preceding query.

The following example shows the execution plan (sample output included):
SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR(FORMAT=>'ALLSTATS LAST'));

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
-------------------------------------
SQL_ID b74nw722wjvy3, child number 0
-------------------------------------
select /*+gather_plan_statistics*/ * from customers where
CUST_STATE_PROVINCE='CA' and country_id='US'

Plan hash value: 1683234692

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation | Name | Starts |E-Rows| A-Rows | A-Time |Buffers | Reads |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1 | | 29 |00:00:00.01 | 17 | 14 |
|*1 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| CUSTOMERS | 1 | 8 | 29 |00:00:00.01 | 17 | 14 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

1 - filter(("CUST_STATE_PROVINCE"='CA' AND "COUNTRY_ID"='US'))

The actual number of rows (A-Rows) returned by each operation in the plan
varies greatly from the estimates (E-Rows). This statement is a candidate for
automatic reoptimization (see “Automatic Reoptimization”).

3. Check whether the customers query can be reoptimized.

The following statement queries the V$SQL.IS_REOPTIMIZABLE value (sample
output included):
SELECT SQL_ID, CHILD_NUMBER, SQL_TEXT, IS_REOPTIMIZABLE
FROM V$SQL
WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE 'SELECT /*+gather_plan_statistics*/%';

SQL_ID CHILD_NUMBER SQL_TEXT I

------------- ------------ ----------- -
b74nw722wjvy3 0 select /*+g Y
ather_plan_
statistics*
/ * from cu
stomers whe
re CUST_STA
TE_PROVINCE
='CA' and c
ountry_id='
US'

The IS_REOPTIMIZABLE column is marked Y, so the database will perform a

hard parse of the customers query on the next execution. The optimizer uses the
execution statistics from this initial execution to determine the plan. The database
persists the information learned from reoptimization as a SQL plan directive.

4. Display the directives for the sh schema.

The following example uses DBMS_SPD to write the SQL plan directives to disk,
and then shows the directives for the sh schema only:

Optimizer Statistics Concepts 10-19

When the Database Gathers Optimizer Statistics

EXEC DBMS_SPD.FLUSH_SQL_PLAN_DIRECTIVE;

SELECT TO_CHAR(d.DIRECTIVE_ID) dir_id, o.OWNER AS "OWN", o.OBJECT_NAME AS "OBJECT",

o.SUBOBJECT_NAME col_name, o.OBJECT_TYPE, d.TYPE, d.STATE, d.REASON
FROM DBA_SQL_PLAN_DIRECTIVES d, DBA_SQL_PLAN_DIR_OBJECTS o
WHERE d.DIRECTIVE_ID=o.DIRECTIVE_ID
AND o.OWNER IN ('SH')
ORDER BY 1,2,3,4,5;

DIR_ID OWN OBJECT COL_NAME OBJECT TYPE STATE REASON

------------------- --- --------- ----------- ------ ---------------- ------ ------------
1484026771529551585 SH CUSTOMERS COUNTRY_ID COLUMN DYNAMIC_SAMPLING USABLE SINGLE TABLE
CARDINALITY
MISESTIMATE
1484026771529551585 SH CUSTOMERS CUST_STATE_ COLUMN DYNAMIC_SAMPLING USABLE SINGLE TABLE
PROVINCE CARDINALITY
MISESTIMATE
1484026771529551585 SH CUSTOMERS TABLE DYNAMIC_SAMPLING USABLE SINGLE TABLE
CARDINALITY
MISESTIMATE

Initially, the database stores SQL plan directives in memory, and then writes them
to disk every 15 minutes. Thus, the preceding example calls
DBMS_SPD.FLUSH_SQL_PLAN_DIRECTIVE to force the database to write the
directives to the SYSAUX tablespace.
Monitor directives using the views DBA_SQL_PLAN_DIRECTIVES and
DBA_SQL_PLAN_DIR_OBJECTS. Three entries appear in the views, one for the
customers table itself, and one for each of the correlated columns. Because the
customers query has the IS_REOPTIMIZABLE value of Y, if you reexecute the
statement, then the database will hard parse it again, and then generate a plan
based on the previous execution statistics.

5. Query the customers table again.

For example, enter the following statement:
SELECT /*+gather_plan_statistics*/ *
FROM customers
WHERE cust_state_province='CA'
AND country_id='US';

6. Query the plan in the cursor.

The following example shows the execution plan (sample output included):
SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR(FORMAT=>'ALLSTATS LAST'));

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
-------------------------------------
SQL_ID b74nw722wjvy3, child number 1
-------------------------------------
select /*+gather_plan_statistics*/ * from customers where
CUST_STATE_PROVINCE='CA' and country_id='US'

Plan hash value: 1683234692

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id | Operation |Name |Start|E-Rows|A-Rows| A-Time |Buffers|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | 1| | 29|00:00:00.01| 17|
|* 1| TABLE ACCESS FULL|CUSTOMERS| 1| 29| 29|00:00:00.01| 17|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

10-20 SQL Tuning Guide

 When the Database Gathers Optimizer Statistics

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

1 - filter(("CUST_STATE_PROVINCE"='CA' AND "COUNTRY_ID"='US'))

Note
-----
- cardinality feedback used for this statement

The Note section indicates that the database used reoptimization for this
statement. The estimated number of rows (E-Rows) is now correct. The SQL plan
directive has not been used yet.

7. Query the cursors for the customers query.

For example, run the following query (sample output included):
SELECT SQL_ID, CHILD_NUMBER, SQL_TEXT, IS_REOPTIMIZABLE
FROM V$SQL
WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE 'SELECT /*+gather_plan_statistics*/%';

SQL_ID CHILD_NUMBER SQL_TEXT I

------------- ------------ ----------- -
b74nw722wjvy3 0 select /*+g Y
ather_plan_
statistics*
/ * from cu
stomers whe
re CUST_STA
TE_PROVINCE
='CA' and c
ountry_id='
US'

b74nw722wjvy3 1 select /*+g N

ather_plan_
statistics*
/ * from cu
stomers whe
re CUST_STA
TE_PROVINCE
='CA' and c
ountry_id='
US'

A new plan exists for the customers query, and also a new child cursor.

8. Confirm that a SQL plan directive exists and is usable for other statements.
For example, run the following query, which is similar but not identical to the
original customers query (the state is MA instead of CA):
SELECT /*+gather_plan_statistics*/ CUST_EMAIL
FROM CUSTOMERS
WHERE CUST_STATE_PROVINCE='MA'
AND COUNTRY_ID='US';

9. Query the plan in the cursor.

The following statement queries the cursor (sample output included).:

Optimizer Statistics Concepts 10-21

When the Database Gathers Optimizer Statistics

SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR(FORMAT=>'ALLSTATS LAST'));

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
-------------------------------------
SQL_ID 3tk6hj3nkcs2u, child number 0
-------------------------------------
Select /*+gather_plan_statistics*/ cust_email From customers Where
cust_state_province='MA' And country_id='US'

Plan hash value: 1683234692

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id | Operation | Name |Starts|E-Rows|A-Rows| A-Time |Buffers|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1 | | 2 |00:00:00.01| 16 |
|*1 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| CUSTOMERS | 1 | 2 | 2 |00:00:00.01| 16 |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

1 - filter(("CUST_STATE_PROVINCE"='MA' AND "COUNTRY_ID"='US'))

Note
-----
- dynamic sampling used for this statement (level=2)
- 1 Sql Plan Directive used for this statement

The Note section of the plan shows that the optimizer used the SQL directive for
this statement, and also used dynamic statistics.

See Also:

• “Managing SQL Plan Directives”

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about DBA_SQL_PLAN_DIRECTIVES, V

$SQL, and other database views

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about DBMS_SPD

How the Optimizer Uses Extensions and SQL Plan Directives: Example
This example is a continuation of “How the Optimizer Uses SQL Plan Directives:
Example”. The example shows how the database uses a SQL plan directive until the
optimizer verifies that an extension exists and the statistics are applicable. At this
point, the directive changes its status to SUPERSEDED. Subsequent compilations use
the statistics instead of the directive.
Assumptions
This example assumes you have already followed the steps in “How the Optimizer
Uses SQL Plan Directives: Example”.
To see how the optimizer uses an extension and SQL plan directive:

1. Gather statistics for the sh.customers table.

For example, execute the following PL/SQL program:

10-22 SQL Tuning Guide

 When the Database Gathers Optimizer Statistics

BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS('SH','CUSTOMERS');
END;
/

2. Check whether an extension exists on the customers table.

For example, execute the following query (sample output included):
SELECT TABLE_NAME, EXTENSION_NAME, EXTENSION
FROM DBA_STAT_EXTENSIONS
WHERE OWNER='SH'
AND TABLE_NAME='CUSTOMERS';

TABLE_NAM EXTENSION_NAME EXTENSION

--------- ------------------------------ -----------------------
CUSTOMERS SYS_STU#S#WF25Z#QAHIHE#MOFFMM_ ("CUST_STATE_PROVINCE",
"COUNTRY_ID")

The preceding output indicates that a column group extension exists on the
cust_state_province and country_id columns.

3. Query the state of the SQL plan directive.

Example 10-6 queries the data dictionary for information about the directive.
Although column group statistics exist, the directive has a state of USABLE
because the database has not yet recompiled the statement. During the next
compilation, the optimizer verifies that the statistics are applicable. If they are
applicable, then the status of the directive changes to SUPERSEDED. Subsequent
compilations use the statistics instead of the directive.

4. Query the sh.customers table.

SELECT /*+gather_plan_statistics*/ *
FROM customers
WHERE cust_state_province='CA'
AND country_id='US';

5. Query the plan in the cursor.

Example 10-7 shows the execution plan (sample output included).
The Note section shows that the optimizer used the directive and not the
extended statistics. During the compilation, the database verified the extended
statistics.

6. Query the state of the SQL plan directive.

Example 10-8 queries the data dictionary for information about the directive.
The state of the directive, which has changed to SUPERSEDED, indicates that the
corresponding column or groups have an extension or histogram, or that another
SQL plan directive exists that can be used for the directive.

7. Query the sh.customers table again, using a slightly different form of the
statement.
For example, run the following query:
SELECT /*+gather_plan_statistics*/ /* force reparse */ *
FROM customers
WHERE cust_state_province='CA'
AND country_id='US';

Optimizer Statistics Concepts 10-23

When the Database Gathers Optimizer Statistics

If the cursor is in the shared SQL area, then the database typically shares the
cursor. To force a reparse, this step changes the SQL text slightly by adding a
comment.

8. Query the plan in the cursor.

Example 10-9 shows the execution plan (sample output included).
The absence of a Note shows that the optimizer used the extended statistics
instead of the SQL plan directive. If the directive is not used for 53 weeks, then the
database automatically purges it.

See Also:

• “Managing SQL Plan Directives”

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about DBA_SQL_PLAN_DIRECTIVES, V

$SQL, and other database views

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about DBMS_SPD

Example 10-6 Display Directives for sh Schema

EXEC DBMS_SPD.FLUSH_SQL_PLAN_DIRECTIVE;

SELECT TO_CHAR(d.DIRECTIVE_ID) dir_id, o.OWNER, o.OBJECT_NAME,

o.SUBOBJECT_NAME col_name, o.OBJECT_TYPE, d.TYPE, d.STATE, d.REASON
FROM DBA_SQL_PLAN_DIRECTIVES d, DBA_SQL_PLAN_DIR_OBJECTS o
WHERE d.DIRECTIVE_ID=o.DIRECTIVE_ID
AND o.OWNER IN ('SH')
ORDER BY 1,2,3,4,5;

DIR_ID OWN OBJECT_NA COL_NAME OBJECT TYPE STATE REASON

------------------- --- --------- ---------- ------- ---------------- ------ ------------
1484026771529551585 SH CUSTOMERS COUNTRY_ID COLUMN DYNAMIC_SAMPLING USABLE SINGLE TABLE
CARDINALITY
MISESTIMATE
1484026771529551585 SH CUSTOMERS CUST_STATE_ COLUMN DYNAMIC_SAMPLING USABLE SINGLE TABLE
PROVINCE CARDINALITY
MISESTIMATE
1484026771529551585 SH CUSTOMERS TABLE DYNAMIC_SAMPLING USABLE SINGLE TABLE
CARDINALITY
MISESTIMATE

Example 10-7 Execution Plan

SQL> SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR(FORMAT=>'ALLSTATS LAST'));

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
-------------------------------------
SQL_ID b74nw722wjvy3, child number 0
-------------------------------------
select /*+gather_plan_statistics*/ * from customers where
CUST_STATE_PROVINCE='CA' and country_id='US'

Plan hash value: 1683234692

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Starts | E-Rows | A-Rows | A-Time | Buffers |

10-24 SQL Tuning Guide

 When the Database Gathers Optimizer Statistics

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1 | | 29 |00:00:00.01 | 16 |
|* 1 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| CUSTOMERS | 1 | 29 | 29 |00:00:00.01 | 16 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

1 - filter(("CUST_STATE_PROVINCE"='CA' AND "COUNTRY_ID"='US'))

Note
-----
- dynamic sampling used for this statement (level=2)
- 1 Sql Plan Directive used for this statement

Example 10-8 Display Directives for sh Schema

EXEC DBMS_SPD.FLUSH_SQL_PLAN_DIRECTIVE;

SELECT TO_CHAR(d.DIRECTIVE_ID) dir_id, o.OWNER, o.OBJECT_NAME,

o.SUBOBJECT_NAME col_name, o.OBJECT_TYPE, d.TYPE, d.STATE, d.REASON
FROM DBA_SQL_PLAN_DIRECTIVES d, DBA_SQL_PLAN_DIR_OBJECTS o
WHERE d.DIRECTIVE_ID=o.DIRECTIVE_ID
AND o.OWNER IN ('SH')
ORDER BY 1,2,3,4,5;

DIR_ID OWN OBJECT_NA COL_NAME OBJECT TYPE STATE REASON

------------------- --- --------- ---------- ------ -------- --------- ------------
1484026771529551585 SH CUSTOMERS COUNTRY_ID COLUMN DYNAMIC_ SUPERSEDED SINGLE TABLE
SAMPLING CARDINALITY
MISESTIMATE
1484026771529551585 SH CUSTOMERS CUST_STATE_ COLUMN DYNAMIC_ SUPERSEDED SINGLE TABLE
PROVINCE SAMPLING CARDINALITY
MISESTIMATE
1484026771529551585 SH CUSTOMERS TABLE DYNAMIC_ SUPERSEDED SINGLE TABLE
SAMPLING CARDINALITY
MISESTIMATE

Example 10-9 Execution Plan

SQL> SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR(FORMAT=>'ALLSTATS LAST'));

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
-------------------------------------
SQL_ID b74nw722wjvy3, child number 0
-------------------------------------
select /*+gather_plan_statistics*/ * from customers where
CUST_STATE_PROVINCE='CA' and country_id='US'

Plan hash value: 1683234692

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Starts | E-Rows | A-Rows | A-Time | Buffers |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1 | | 29 |00:00:00.01 | 17 |
|* 1 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| CUSTOMERS | 1 | 29 | 29 |00:00:00.01 | 17 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

Optimizer Statistics Concepts 10-25

When the Database Gathers Optimizer Statistics

1 - filter(("CUST_STATE_PROVINCE"='CA' AND "COUNTRY_ID"='US'))

19 rows selected.

When the Database Samples Data

In releases earlier than Oracle Database 12c, the database always gathered dynamic
statistics (formerly called dynamic sampling) during optimization, and only when a
table in the query had no statistics. Starting in Oracle Database 12c, the optimizer
automatically decides whether dynamic statistics are useful and which statistics level
to use for all SQL statements.
The primary factor in the decision to use dynamic statistics is whether available
statistics are sufficient to generate an optimal plan. If statistics are insufficient, then the
optimizer uses dynamic statistics.
Automatic dynamic statistics are enabled when any of the following conditions is true:

• The OPTIMIZER_DYNAMIC_SAMPLING initialization parameter uses its default

value, which means that it is not explicitly set.

• The dynamic statistics level is set to 11 either through the

OPTIMIZER_DYNAMIC_SAMPLING initialization parameter or a SQL hint (see
“Controlling Dynamic Statistics”).
In general, the optimizer uses default statistics rather than dynamic statistics to
compute statistics needed during optimizations on tables, indexes, and columns. The
optimizer decides whether to use dynamic statistics based on several factors. For
example, the database uses automatic dynamic statistics in the following situations:

• The SQL statement uses parallel execution.

• A SQL plan directive exists.

• The SQL statement is known to the database, which means that it was captured in
SQL Plan Management or Automatic Workload Repository, or is currently in the
shared SQL area.
Figure 10-2 illustrates the process of gathering dynamic statistics.

10-26 SQL Tuning Guide

 When the Database Gathers Optimizer Statistics

Figure 10-2 Dynamic Statistics

Optimizer
GB Execution
Plan
Statistics missing?
Statistics stale? HJ
No HJ
Statistics insufficient?
SQL directive exists?
Parallel execution?

Yes

SELECT ... CLIENT

Determine sampling SQL
level FROM sales
WHERE ...

SELECT ... Recursive

SQL
WHERE ...

Sales

As shown in Figure 10-2, the optimizer automatically gathers dynamic statistics in the
following cases:

• Missing statistics
When tables in a query have no statistics, the optimizer gathers basic statistics on
these tables before optimization. Statistics can be missing because the application
creates new objects without a follow-up call to DBMS_STATS to gather statistics, or
because statistics were locked on an object before statistics were gathered.
In this case, the statistics are not as high-quality or as complete as the statistics
gathered using the DBMS_STATS package. This trade-off is made to limit the
impact on the compile time of the statement.

• Stale statistics
Statistics gathered by DBMS_STATS can become out-of-date. Typically, statistics are
stale when 10% or more of the rows in the table have changed since the last time
statistics were gathered.
For an example of the problem posed by stale statistics, consider a sales table that
includes the sales date. After an application inserts new rows, the maximum
statistics on the sales date column becomes stale because new rows have a higher
sales date than the maximum value seen during the last statistics gathering. For
any query that fetches the most recently added sales data, the optimizer assumes
that table access will return very few or no rows, which leads to the selection of a
suboptimal access path to the sales table (for example, the index on the sales date
column), a suboptimal join method (typically a cartesian product), or an inefficient
join order. This is commonly known as the out-of-range condition: the value specified
in the predicate on the sales date column is outside the column statistics value
domain.

• Insufficient statistics

Optimizer Statistics Concepts 10-27

When the Database Gathers Optimizer Statistics

Statistics can be insufficient whenever the optimizer estimates the selectivity of

predicates (filter or join) or the GROUP BY clause without taking into account
correlation between columns, skew in the column data distribution, statistics on
expressions, and so on.
Extended statistics help the optimizer obtain accurate quality cardinality estimates
for complex predicate expressions (see “About Statistics on Column Groups”). The
optimizer can use dynamic statistics to compensate for the lack of extended
statistics or when it cannot use extended statistics, for example, for non-equality
predicates.

Note:

The database does not use dynamic statistics for queries that contain the AS
OF clause.

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference to learn about the OPTIMIZER_DYNAMIC_SAMPLING

initialization parameter

How the Database Samples Data

At the beginning of optimization, when deciding whether a table is a candidate for
dynamic statistics, the optimizer checks for the existence of persistent SQL plan
directives on the table (see Figure 10-2). For each directive, the optimizer registers a
statistics expression that the optimizer computes when it must determine the
selectivity of a predicate involving the table.
When sampling is necessary, the database must determine the sample size (see Figure
10-2). Starting in Oracle Database 12c, if the OPTIMIZER_DYNAMIC_SAMPLING
initialization parameter is not explicitly set to a value other than 11, then the optimizer
automatically decides whether to use dynamic statistics and which level to use.
In Figure 10-2, the database issues a recursive SQL statement to scan a small random
sample of the table blocks. The database applies the relevant single-table predicates
and joins to estimate predicate selectivities.
The database persists the results of dynamic statistics as sharable statistics. The
database can share the results during the SQL compilation of one query with
recompilations of the same query. The database can also reuse the results for queries
that have the same patterns. If no rows have been inserted, deleted, or updated in the
table being sampled, then the use of dynamic statistics is repeatable.

See Also:

• “Controlling Dynamic Statistics” to learn how to set the dynamic statistics

level

• Oracle Database Reference for details about the

OPTIMIZER_DYNAMIC_SAMPLING initialization parameter

10-28 SQL Tuning Guide

 11
Histograms

A histogram is a special type of column statistic that provides more detailed

information about the data distribution in a table column. A histogram sorts values
into "buckets," as you might sort coins into buckets.
Based on the NDV and the distribution of the data, the database chooses the type of
histogram to create. (In some cases, when creating a histogram, the database samples
an internally predetermined number of rows.) The types of histograms are as follows:

• Frequency histograms and top frequency histograms

• Height-Balanced histograms (legacy)

• Hybrid histograms
This section contains the following topics:

• Purpose of Histograms

• When Oracle Database Creates Histograms

• Cardinality Algorithms When Using Histograms

• Frequency Histograms

• Height-Balanced Histograms (Legacy)

• Hybrid Histograms

Purpose of Histograms
By default the optimizer assumes a uniform distribution of rows across the distinct
values in a column. For columns that contain data skew (a nonuniform distribution of
data within the column), a histogram enables the optimizer to generate accurate
cardinality estimates for filter and join predicates that involve these columns.
For example, a California-based book store ships 95% of the books to California, 4% to
Oregon, and 1% to Nevada. The book orders table has 300,000 rows. A table column
stores the state to which orders are shipped. A user queries the number of books
shipped to Oregon. Without a histogram, the optimizer assumes an even distribution
of 300000/3 (the NDV is 3), estimating cardinality at 100,000 rows. With this estimate,
the optimizer chooses a full table scan. With a histogram, the optimizer calculates that
4% of the books are shipped to Oregon, and chooses an index scan.

See Also:
“Introduction to Access Paths”

Histograms 11-1
When Oracle Database Creates Histograms

When Oracle Database Creates Histograms

If DBMS_STATS gathers statistics for a table, and if queries have referenced the
columns in this table, then Oracle Database creates histograms automatically as
needed according to the previous query workload.
The basic process is as follows:

1. You run DBMS_STATS for a table with the METHOD_OPT parameter set to the
default SIZE AUTO.

2. A user queries the table.

3. The database notes the predicates in the preceding query and updates the data
dictionary table SYS.COL_USAGE$.

4. You run DBMS_STATS again, causing DBMS_STATS to query SYS.COL_USAGE$ to

determine which columns require histograms based on the previous query
workload.
Consequences of the AUTO feature include the following:

• As queries change over time, DBMS_STATS may change which statistics it gathers.
For example, even if the data in a table does not change, queries and DBMS_STATS
operations can cause the plans for queries that reference these tables to change.

• If you gather statistics for a table and do not query the table, then the database does
not create histograms for columns in this table. For the database to create the
histograms automatically, you must run one or more queries to populate the
column usage information in SYS.COL_USAGE$.
Example 11-1 Automatic Histogram Creation
Assume that sh.sh_ext is an external table that contains the same rows as the
sh.sales table. You create new table sales2 and perform a bulk load using sh_ext
as a source, which automatically creates statistics for sales2 (see “Online Statistics
Gathering for Bulk Loads”). You also create indexes as follows:
SQL> CREATE TABLE sales2 AS SELECT * FROM sh_ext;
SQL> CREATE INDEX sh_12c_idx1 ON sales2(prod_id);
SQL> CREATE INDEX sh_12c_idx2 ON sales2(cust_id,time_id);

You query the data dictionary to determine whether histograms exist for the sales2
columns. Because sales2 has not yet been queried, the database has not yet created
histograms:
SQL> SELECT COLUMN_NAME, NOTES, HISTOGRAM
2 FROM USER_TAB_COL_STATISTICS
3 WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'SALES2';

COLUMN_NAME NOTES HISTOGRAM

------------- -------------- ---------
AMOUNT_SOLD STATS_ON_LOAD NONE
QUANTITY_SOLD STATS_ON_LOAD NONE
PROMO_ID STATS_ON_LOAD NONE
CHANNEL_ID STATS_ON_LOAD NONE
TIME_ID STATS_ON_LOAD NONE
CUST_ID STATS_ON_LOAD NONE
PROD_ID STATS_ON_LOAD NONE

11-2 SQL Tuning Guide

 How Oracle Database Chooses the Histogram Type

You query sales2 for the number of rows for product 42, and then gather table
statistics using the GATHER AUTO option:
SQL> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM sales2 WHERE prod_id = 42;

COUNT(*)
----------
12116

SQL> EXEC DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS(USER,'SALES2',OPTIONS=>'GATHER AUTO');

A query of the data dictionary now shows that the database created a histogram on
the prod_id column based on the information gather during the preceding query:
SQL> SELECT COLUMN_NAME, NOTES, HISTOGRAM
2 FROM USER_TAB_COL_STATISTICS
3 WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'SALES2';

COLUMN_NAME NOTES HISTOGRAM

------------- -------------- ---------
AMOUNT_SOLD STATS_ON_LOAD NONE
QUANTITY_SOLD STATS_ON_LOAD NONE
PROMO_ID STATS_ON_LOAD NONE
CHANNEL_ID STATS_ON_LOAD NONE
TIME_ID STATS_ON_LOAD NONE
CUST_ID STATS_ON_LOAD NONE
PROD_ID HISTOGRAM_ONLY FREQUENCY

How Oracle Database Chooses the Histogram Type

Oracle Database uses several criteria to determine which histogram to create:
frequency, top frequency, height-balanced, or hybrid.
The histogram formula uses the following variables:

• NDV
This represents the number of distinct values in a column. For example, if a column
only contains the values 100, 200, and 300, then the NDV for this column is 3.

• n
This variable represents the number of histogram buckets. The default is 254.

• p
This variable represents an internal percentage threshold that is equal to (1–(1/n)) *
100. For example, if n = 254, then p is 99.6.
An additional criterion is whether the estimate_percent parameter in the
DBMS_STATS statistics gathering procedure is set to AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZE (default).
The following diagram shows the decision tree for histogram creation.

Histograms 11-3
Cardinality Algorithms When Using Histograms

Figure 11-1 Decision Tree for Histogram Creation

Yes Yes Percentage Yes Top n

? ESTIMATE_PERCENT= of rows for top n Frequency
NDV>n AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZE frequent values >= p Histogram

No No No

Frequency Height-Balanced Hybrid

Histogram Histogram Histogram

NDV = Number of distinct values

n = Number of histogram buckets (default is 254)
p = (1-(1/n))*100

Cardinality Algorithms When Using Histograms

For histograms, the algorithm for cardinality depends on factors such as the endpoint
numbers and values, and whether column values are popular or nonpopular.
This section contains the following topics:

• Endpoint Numbers and Values

• Popular and Nonpopular Values

• Bucket Compression

Endpoint Numbers and Values

An endpoint number is a number that uniquely identifies a bucket. In frequency and
hybrid histograms, the endpoint number is the cumulative frequency of all values
included in the current and previous buckets. For example, a bucket with endpoint
number 100 means the total frequency of values in the current and all previous
buckets is 100. In height-balanced histograms, the optimizer numbers buckets
sequentially, starting at 0 or 1. In all cases, the endpoint number is the bucket number.
An endpoint value is the highest value in the range of values in a bucket. For example,
if a bucket contains only the values 52794 and 52795, then the endpoint value is
52795.

Popular and Nonpopular Values

The popularity of a value in a histogram affects the cardinality estimate algorithm as
follows:

• Popular values
A popular value occurs as an endpoint value of multiple buckets. The optimizer
determines whether a value is popular by first checking whether it is the endpoint
value for a bucket. If so, then for frequency histograms, the optimizer subtracts the
endpoint number of the previous bucket from the endpoint number of the current
bucket. Hybrid histograms already store this information for each endpoint
individually. If this value is greater than 1, then the value is popular.

11-4 SQL Tuning Guide

 Cardinality Algorithms When Using Histograms

The optimizer calculates its cardinality estimate for popular values using the
following formula:
cardinality of popular value =
(num of rows in table) *
(num of endpoints spanned by this value / total num of endpoints)

• Nonpopular values
Any value that is not popular is a nonpopular value. The optimizer calculates the
cardinality estimates for nonpopular values using the following formula:
cardinality of nonpopular value =
(num of rows in table) * density

The optimizer calculates density using an internal algorithm based on factors such
as the number of buckets and the NDV. Density is expressed as a decimal number
between 0 and 1. Values close to 1 indicate that the optimizer expects many rows
to be returned by a query referencing this column in its predicate list. Values close
to 0 indicate that the optimizer expects few rows to be returned.

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference to learn about the

DBA_TAB_COL_STATISTICS.DENSITY column

Bucket Compression
In some cases, to reduce the total number of buckets, the optimizer compresses
multiple buckets into a single bucket. For example, the following frequency histogram
indicates that the first bucket number is 1 and the last bucket number is 23:
ENDPOINT_NUMBER ENDPOINT_VALUE
--------------- --------------
1 52792
6 52793
8 52794
9 52795
10 52796
12 52797
14 52798
23 52799

Several buckets are "missing." Originally, buckets 2 through 6 each contained a single
instance of value 52793. The optimizer compressed all of these buckets into the
bucket with the highest endpoint number (bucket 6), which now contains 5 instances
of value 52793. This value is popular because the difference between the endpoint
number of the current bucket (6) and the previous bucket (1) is 5. Thus, before
compression the value 52793 was the endpoint for 5 buckets.
The following annotations show which buckets are compressed, and which values are
popular:
ENDPOINT_NUMBER ENDPOINT_VALUE
--------------- --------------
1 52792 -> nonpopular
6 52793 -> buckets 2-6 compressed into 6; popular
8 52794 -> buckets 7-8 compressed into 8; popular
9 52795 -> nonpopular

Histograms 11-5
Frequency Histograms

10 52796 -> nonpopular

12 52797 -> buckets 11-12 compressed into 12; popular
14 52798 -> buckets 13-14 compressed into 14; popular
23 52799 -> buckets 15-23 compressed into 23; popular

Frequency Histograms
In a frequency histogram, each distinct column value corresponds to a single bucket
of the histogram. Because each value has its own dedicated bucket, some buckets may
have many values, whereas others have few.
An analogy to a frequency histogram is sorting coins so that each individual coin
initially gets its own bucket. For example, the first penny is in bucket 1, the second
penny is in bucket 2, the first nickel is in bucket 3, and so on. You then consolidate all
the pennies into a single penny bucket, all the nickels into a single nickel bucket, and
so on with the remainder of the coins.
This section contains the following topics:

• Criteria For Frequency Histograms

• Generating a Frequency Histogram

Criteria For Frequency Histograms

Frequency histograms depend on the number of requested histogram buckets.
As shown in the logic diagram in “How Oracle Database Chooses the Histogram
Type”, the database creates a frequency histogram when the following criteria are met:

• NDV is less than or equal to n, where n is the number of histogram buckets (default
254).
For example, the sh.countries.country_subregion_id column has 8
distinct values, ranging sequentially from 52792 to 52799. If n is the default of
254, then the optimizer creates a frequency histogram because 8 <= 254.

• The estimate_percent parameter in the DBMS_STATS statistics gathering

procedure is set to either a user-specified value or to AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZE.
Starting in Oracle Database 12c, if the sampling size is the default of
AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZE, then the database creates frequency histograms from a full table
scan. For all other sampling percentage specifications, the database derives frequency
histograms from a sample. In releases earlier than Oracle Database 12c, the database
gathered histograms based on a small sample, which meant that low-frequency values
often did not appear in the sample. Using density in this case sometimes led the
optimizer to overestimate selectivity.

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about
AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZE , and Oracle Database Administrator’s Guide *** to learn
about application common objects BPT this is a test ***

Generating a Frequency Histogram

This scenario shows how to generate a frequency histogram using the sample
schemas.

11-6 SQL Tuning Guide

 Frequency Histograms

Assumptions
This scenario assumes that you want to generate a frequency histogram on the
sh.countries.country_subregion_id column. This table has 23 rows.
The following query shows that the country_subregion_id column contains 8
distinct values (sample output included) that are unevenly distributed:
SELECT country_subregion_id, count(*)
FROM sh.countries
GROUP BY country_subregion_id
ORDER BY 1;

COUNTRY_SUBREGION_ID COUNT(*)
-------------------- ----------
52792 1
52793 5
52794 2
52795 1
52796 1
52797 2
52798 2
52799 9

To generate a frequency histogram:

1. Gather statistics for sh.countries and the country_subregion_id column,

letting the number of buckets default to 254.
For example, execute the following PL/SQL anonymous block:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS (
ownname => 'SH'
, tabname => 'COUNTRIES'
, method_opt => 'FOR COLUMNS COUNTRY_SUBREGION_ID'
);
END;

2. Query the histogram information for the country_subregion_id column.

For example, use the following query (sample output included):
SELECT TABLE_NAME, COLUMN_NAME, NUM_DISTINCT, HISTOGRAM
FROM USER_TAB_COL_STATISTICS
WHERE TABLE_NAME='COUNTRIES'
AND COLUMN_NAME='COUNTRY_SUBREGION_ID';

TABLE_NAME COLUMN_NAME NUM_DISTINCT HISTOGRAM

---------- -------------------- ------------ ---------------
COUNTRIES COUNTRY_SUBREGION_ID 8 FREQUENCY

The optimizer chooses a frequency histogram because n or fewer distinct values

exist in the column, where n defaults to 254.

3. Query the endpoint number and endpoint value for the

country_subregion_id column.
For example, use the following query (sample output included):
SELECT ENDPOINT_NUMBER, ENDPOINT_VALUE
FROM USER_HISTOGRAMS
WHERE TABLE_NAME='COUNTRIES'

Histograms 11-7
Frequency Histograms

AND COLUMN_NAME='COUNTRY_SUBREGION_ID';

ENDPOINT_NUMBER ENDPOINT_VALUE
--------------- --------------
1 52792
6 52793
8 52794
9 52795
10 52796
12 52797
14 52798
23 52799

Figure 11-2 is a graphical illustration of the 8 buckets in the histogram. Each value
is represented as a coin that is dropped into a bucket.

11-8 SQL Tuning Guide

 Frequency Histograms

Figure 11-2 Frequency Histogram

52793 52793

52792 52793 52793 52793 52794 52794

Endpoint Value Endpoint Value Endpoint Value

52792 52793 52794
Endpoint Endpoint Endpoint
Number: 1 Number: 6 Number: 8

52795 52796 52797 52797

Endpoint Value Endpoint Value Endpoint Value

52795 52796 52797
Endpoint Endpoint Endpoint
Number: 9 Number: 10 Number: 12

52799

52799 52799

52799 52799 52799

52798 52798 52799 52799 52799

Endpoint Value Endpoint Value

52798 52799
Endpoint Endpoint
Number: 14 Number: 23

As shown in Figure 11-2, each distinct value has its own bucket. Because this is a
frequency histogram, the endpoint number is the cumulative frequency of
endpoints. For 52793, the endpoint number 6 indicates that the value appears 5
times (6 - 1). For 52794, the endpoint number 8 indicates that the value appears 2
times (8 - 6).
Every bucket whose endpoint is at least 2 greater than the previous endpoint
contains a popular value. Thus, buckets 6, 8, 12, 14, and 23 contain popular
values. The optimizer calculates their cardinality based on endpoint numbers. For

Histograms 11-9
Top Frequency Histograms

example, the optimizer calculates the cardinality (C) of value 52799 using the
following formula, where the number of rows in the table is 23:
C = 23 * ( 9 / 23 )

Buckets 1, 9, and 10 contain nonpopular values. The optimizer estimates their

cardinality based on density.

See Also:

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS procedure

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the USER_TAB_COL_STATISTICS

view

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the USER_HISTOGRAMS view

Top Frequency Histograms

A top frequency histogram is a variation on a frequency histogram that ignores
nonpopular values that are statistically insignificant. For example, if a pile of 1000
coins contains only a single penny, then you can ignore the penny when sorting the
coins into buckets. A top frequency histogram can produce a better histogram for
highly popular values.
This section contains the following topics:

• Criteria For Top Frequency Histograms

• Generating a Top Frequency Histogram

Criteria For Top Frequency Histograms

If a small number of values occupies most of the rows, then creating a frequency
histogram on this small set of values is useful even when the NDV is greater than the
number of requested histogram buckets. To create a better quality histogram for
popular values, the optimizer ignores the nonpopular values and creates a top
frequency histogram.
As shown in the logic diagram in “How Oracle Database Chooses the Histogram
Type”, the database creates a top frequency histogram when the following criteria are
met:

• NDV is greater than n, where n is the number of histogram buckets (default 254).

• The percentage of rows occupied by the top n frequent values is equal to or greater
than threshold p, where p is (1-(1/n))*100.

• The estimate_percent parameter in the DBMS_STATS statistics gathering

procedure is set to AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZE.

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about
AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZE

11-10 SQL Tuning Guide

 Top Frequency Histograms

Generating a Top Frequency Histogram

This scenario shows how to generate a top frequency histogram using the sample
schemas.

Assumptions
This scenario assumes that you want to generate a top frequency histogram on the
sh.countries.country_subregion_id column. This table has 23 rows.
The following query shows that the country_subregion_id column contains 8
distinct values (sample output included) that are unevenly distributed:
SELECT country_subregion_id, count(*)
FROM sh.countries
GROUP BY country_subregion_id
ORDER BY 1;

COUNTRY_SUBREGION_ID COUNT(*)
-------------------- ----------
52792 1
52793 5
52794 2
52795 1
52796 1
52797 2
52798 2
52799 9

To generate a top frequency histogram:

1. Gather statistics for sh.countries and the country_subregion_id column,

specifying fewer buckets than distinct values.
For example, enter the following command to specify 7 buckets:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS (
ownname => 'SH'
, tabname => 'COUNTRIES'
, method_opt => 'FOR COLUMNS COUNTRY_SUBREGION_ID SIZE 7'
);
END;

2. Query the histogram information for the country_subregion_id column.

For example, use the following query (sample output included):
SELECT TABLE_NAME, COLUMN_NAME, NUM_DISTINCT, HISTOGRAM
FROM USER_TAB_COL_STATISTICS
WHERE TABLE_NAME='COUNTRIES'
AND COLUMN_NAME='COUNTRY_SUBREGION_ID';

TABLE_NAME COLUMN_NAME NUM_DISTINCT HISTOGRAM

---------- -------------------- ------------ ---------------
COUNTRIES COUNTRY_SUBREGION_ID 7 TOP-FREQUENCY

The sh.countries.country_subregion_id column contains 8 distinct

values, but the histogram only contains 7 buckets, making n=7. In this case, the
database can only create a top frequency or hybrid histogram. In the

Histograms 11-11
Top Frequency Histograms

country_subregion_id column, the top 7 most frequent values occupy 95.6%

of the rows, which exceeds the threshold of 85.7%, generating a top frequency
histogram (see “Criteria For Frequency Histograms”).

3. Query the endpoint number and endpoint value for the column.
For example, use the following query (sample output included):
SELECT ENDPOINT_NUMBER, ENDPOINT_VALUE
FROM USER_HISTOGRAMS
WHERE TABLE_NAME='COUNTRIES'
AND COLUMN_NAME='COUNTRY_SUBREGION_ID';

ENDPOINT_NUMBER ENDPOINT_VALUE
--------------- --------------
1 52792
6 52793
8 52794
9 52796
11 52797
13 52798
22 52799

Figure 11-3 is a graphical illustration of the 7 buckets in the top frequency

histogram. The values are represented in the diagram as coins.

11-12 SQL Tuning Guide

 Top Frequency Histograms

Figure 11-3 Top Frequency Histogram

52793 52793

52792 52793 52793 52793 52794 52794

Endpoint Value Endpoint Value Endpoint Value

52792 52793 52794
Endpoint Endpoint Endpoint
Number: 1 Number: 6 Number: 8

52796 52797 52797

Endpoint Value Endpoint Value

52796 52797
Endpoint Endpoint
Number: 9 Number: 11

52799

52799 52799

52799 52799 52799

52798 52798 52799 52799 52799

Endpoint Value Endpoint Value

52798 52799
Endpoint Endpoint
Number: 13 Number: 22

As shown in Figure 11-3, each distinct value has its own bucket except for 52795,
which is excluded from the histogram because it is nonpopular and statistically
insignificant. As in a standard frequency histogram, the endpoint number
represents the cumulative frequency of values.

Histograms 11-13
Height-Balanced Histograms (Legacy)

See Also:

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS procedure

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the USER_TAB_COL_STATISTICS

view

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the USER_HISTOGRAMS view

Height-Balanced Histograms (Legacy)

In a legacy height-balanced histogram, column values are divided into buckets so that
each bucket contains approximately the same number of rows. For example, if you
have 99 coins to distribute among 4 buckets, each bucket contains about 25 coins. The
histogram shows where the endpoints fall in the range of values.
This section contains the following topics:

• Criteria for Height-Balanced Histograms

• Generating a Height-Balanced Histogram

Criteria for Height-Balanced Histograms

Before Oracle Database 12c, the database created a height-balanced histogram when
the NDV was greater than n. This type of histogram was useful for range predicates,
and equality predicates on values that appear as endpoints in at least two buckets.
As shown in the logic diagram in “How Oracle Database Chooses the Histogram
Type”, the database creates a height-balanced histogram when the following criteria
are met:

• NDV is greater than n, where n is the number of histogram buckets (default 254).

• The estimate_percent parameter in the DBMS_STATS statistics gathering

procedure is not set to AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZE.

Note:

If you upgrade Oracle Database 11g to Oracle Database 12c, then any height-
based histograms created before the upgrade remain in use. If Oracle Database
12c creates new histograms, and if the sampling percentage is
AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZE, then the histograms are either top frequency or hybrid,
but not height-balanced.

Generating a Height-Balanced Histogram

This scenario shows how to generate a height-balanced histogram using the sample
schemas.

Assumptions
This scenario assumes that you want to generate a height-balanced histogram on the
sh.countries.country_subregion_id column. This table has 23 rows.

11-14 SQL Tuning Guide

 Height-Balanced Histograms (Legacy)

The following query shows that the country_subregion_id column contains 8

distinct values (sample output included) that are unevenly distributed:
SELECT country_subregion_id, count(*)
FROM sh.countries
GROUP BY country_subregion_id
ORDER BY 1;

COUNTRY_SUBREGION_ID COUNT(*)
-------------------- ----------
52792 1
52793 5
52794 2
52795 1
52796 1
52797 2
52798 2
52799 9

To generate a height-balanced histogram:

1. Gather statistics for sh.countries and the country_subregion_id column,

specifying fewer buckets than distinct values.

Note:

To simulate Oracle Database 11g behavior, which is necessary to create a

height-based histogram, set estimate_percent to a nondefault value. If
you specify a nondefault percentage, then the database creates frequency or
height-balanced histograms.

For example, enter the following command:

BEGIN DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS (
ownname => 'SH'
, tabname => 'COUNTRIES'
, method_opt => 'FOR COLUMNS COUNTRY_SUBREGION_ID SIZE 7'
, estimate_percent => 100
);
END;

2. Query the histogram information for the country_subregion_id column.

For example, use the following query (sample output included):
SELECT TABLE_NAME, COLUMN_NAME, NUM_DISTINCT, HISTOGRAM
FROM USER_TAB_COL_STATISTICS
WHERE TABLE_NAME='COUNTRIES'
AND COLUMN_NAME='COUNTRY_SUBREGION_ID';

TABLE_NAME COLUMN_NAME NUM_DISTINCT HISTOGRAM

---------- -------------------- ------------ ---------------
COUNTRIES COUNTRY_SUBREGION_ID 8 HEIGHT BALANCED

The optimizer chooses a height-balanced histogram because the number of

distinct values (8) is greater than the number of buckets (7), and the
estimate_percent value is nondefault.

3. Query the number of rows occupied by each distinct value.

Histograms 11-15
Height-Balanced Histograms (Legacy)

For example, use the following query (sample output included):

SELECT COUNT(country_subregion_id) AS NUM_OF_ROWS, country_subregion_id
FROM countries
GROUP BY country_subregion_id
ORDER BY 2;

NUM_OF_ROWS COUNTRY_SUBREGION_ID
----------- --------------------
1 52792
5 52793
2 52794
1 52795
1 52796
2 52797
2 52798
9 52799

4. Query the endpoint number and endpoint value for the

country_subregion_id column.
For example, use the following query (sample output included):
SELECT ENDPOINT_NUMBER, ENDPOINT_VALUE
FROM USER_HISTOGRAMS
WHERE TABLE_NAME='COUNTRIES'
AND COLUMN_NAME='COUNTRY_SUBREGION_ID';

ENDPOINT_NUMBER ENDPOINT_VALUE
--------------- --------------
0 52792
2 52793
3 52795
4 52798
7 52799

Figure 11-4 is a graphical illustration of the height-balanced histogram. The values

are represented in the diagram as coins.

11-16 SQL Tuning Guide

 Height-Balanced Histograms (Legacy)

Figure 11-4 Height-Balanced Histogram

52793 52793 52794

52792 52793 52793 52793 52794 52795

Endpoint Value Endpoint Value Endpoint Value

52792 52793 52795
Endpoint Endpoint Endpoint
Number: 0 Number: 2 Number: 3

52799

52799 52799

52797 52797 52799 52799 52799

52798 52798 52799 52799 52799

Endpoint Value Endpoint Value

52798 52799
Endpoint Endpoint
Number: 4 Number: 7

The bucket number is identical to the endpoint number. The optimizer records the
value of the last row in each bucket as the endpoint value, and then checks to
ensure that the minimum value is the endpoint value of the first bucket, and the
maximum value is the endpoint value of the last bucket. In this example, the
optimizer adds bucket 0 so that the minimum value 52792 is the endpoint of a
bucket.
The optimizer must evenly distribute 23 rows into the 7 specified histogram
buckets, so each bucket contains approximately 3 rows. However, the optimizer
compresses buckets with the same endpoint. So, instead of bucket 1 containing 2
instances of value 52793, and bucket 2 containing 3 instances of value 52793, the
optimizer puts all 5 instances of value 52793 into bucket 2. Similarly, instead of
having buckets 5, 6, and 7 contain 3 values each, with the endpoint of each bucket
as 52799, the optimizer puts all 9 instances of value 52799 into bucket 7.
In this example, buckets 3 and 4 contain nonpopular values because the
difference between the current endpoint number and previous endpoint number
is 1. The optimizer calculates cardinality for these values based on density. The
remaining buckets contain popular values. The optimizer calculates cardinality for
these values based on endpoint numbers.

Histograms 11-17
Hybrid Histograms

See Also:

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS procedure

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the USER_TAB_COL_STATISTICS

view

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the USER_HISTOGRAMS view

Hybrid Histograms
A hybrid histogram combines characteristics of both height-based histograms and
frequency histograms. This "best of both worlds" approach enables the optimizer to
obtain better selectivity estimates in some situations.
The height-based histogram sometimes produces inaccurate estimates for values that
are almost popular. For example, a value that occurs as an endpoint value of only one
bucket but almost occupies two buckets is not considered popular.
To solve this problem, a hybrid histogram distributes values so that no value occupies
more than one bucket, and then stores the endpoint repeat count value, which is the
number of times the endpoint value is repeated, for each endpoint (bucket) in the
histogram. By using the repeat count, the optimizer can obtain accurate estimates for
almost popular values.
This section contains the following topics:

• How Endpoint Repeat Counts Work

• Criteria for Hybrid Histograms

• Generating a Hybrid Histogram

How Endpoint Repeat Counts Work

To illustrate the utility of endpoint repeat counts, assume that a column coins
contains the following values, sorted from low to high:

1 1 1 5 5 5 10 10 25 25 25 25 50 100 100

You gather statistics for this table, setting the method_opt argument of
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS to FOR ALL COLUMNS SIZE 3. In this case,
the optimizer initially groups the values in coins into three buckets, as follows:

11-18 SQL Tuning Guide

 Hybrid Histograms

1 1 1 5 10 10 25 25 50

5 5 25 25 100 100

Endpoint Value Endpoint Value Endpoint Value

5 25 100

Bucket 1 Bucket 2 Bucket 3

If a bucket border splits a value so that some occurrences of the value are in one
bucket and some in another, then the optimizer shifts the bucket border (and all other
following bucket borders) forward to include all occurrences of the value. For
example, the optimizer shifts value 5 so that it is now wholly in the first bucket, and
the value 25 is now wholly in the second bucket:

1 1 1 10 10 50

5 5 25 25 100 100

5 25 25

Endpoint Value Endpoint Value Endpoint Value

5 25 100

Bucket 1 Bucket 2 Bucket 3

The endpoint repeat count measures the number of times that the corresponding
bucket endpoint, which is the value at the right bucket border, repeats itself. For
example, in the first bucket, the value 5 is repeated 3 times, so the endpoint repeat
count is 3:

Histograms 11-19
Hybrid Histograms

1 1 1 10 10 50

5 5 25 25 100 100

5 25 25

Endpoint Value Endpoint Value Endpoint Value

5 25 100
Repeat Count: 3 Repeat Count: 4 Repeat Count: 2

Bucket 1 Bucket 2 Bucket 3

Height-balanced histograms do not store as much information as hybrid histograms.

By using repeat counts, the optimizer can determine exactly how many occurrences of
an endpoint value exist. For example, the optimizer knows that the value 5 appears 3
times, the value 25 appears 4 times, and the value 100 appears 2 times. This frequency
information helps the optimizer to generate better cardinality estimates.

Criteria for Hybrid Histograms

The only differentiating criterion for hybrid histograms as compared to top frequency
histograms is that the top n frequent values is less than internal threshold p.
As shown in the logic diagram in “How Oracle Database Chooses the Histogram
Type”, the database creates a hybrid histogram when the following criteria are met:

• NDV is greater than n, where n is the number of histogram buckets (default is 254).

• The criteria for top frequency histograms do not apply.

This is another way to stating that the percentage of rows occupied by the top n
frequent values is less than threshold p, where p is (1-(1/n))*100. See “Criteria
For Top Frequency Histograms.”

• The estimate_percent parameter in the DBMS_STATS statistics gathering

procedure is set to AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZE.
If users specify their own percentage, then the database creates frequency or
height-balanced histograms.

See Also:
“Height-Balanced Histograms (Legacy)”

Generating a Hybrid Histogram

This scenario shows how to generate a hybrid histogram using the sample schemas.

11-20 SQL Tuning Guide

 Hybrid Histograms

Assumptions
This scenario assumes that you want to generate a hybrid histogram on the
sh.products.prod_subcategory_id column. This table has 72 rows. The
prod_subcategory_id column contains 22 distinct values.

To generate a hybrid histogram:

1. Gather statistics for sh.products and the prod_subcategory_id column,

specifying 10 buckets.
For example, enter the following command:
BEGIN DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS (
ownname => 'SH'
, tabname => 'PRODUCTS'
, method_opt => 'FOR COLUMNS PROD_SUBCATEGORY_ID SIZE 10'
);
END;

2. Query the number of rows occupied by each distinct value.

For example, use the following query (sample output included):
SELECT COUNT(prod_subcategory_id) AS NUM_OF_ROWS, prod_subcategory_id
FROM products
GROUP BY prod_subcategory_id
ORDER BY 1 DESC;

NUM_OF_ROWS PROD_SUBCATEGORY_ID
----------- -------------------
8 2014
7 2055
6 2032
6 2054
5 2056
5 2031
5 2042
5 2051
4 2036
3 2043
2 2033
2 2034
2 2013
2 2012
2 2053
2 2035
1 2022
1 2041
1 2044
1 2011
1 2021
1 2052

22 rows selected.

The column contains 22 distinct values. Because the number of buckets (10) is less
than 22, the optimizer cannot create a frequency histogram. The optimizer
considers both hybrid and top frequency histograms. To qualify for a top
frequency histogram, the percentage of rows occupied by the top 10 most frequent
values must be equal to or greater than threshold p, where p is (1-(1/10))*100, or

Histograms 11-21
Hybrid Histograms

90%. However, in this case the top 10 most frequent values occupy 54 rows out of
72, which is only 75% of the total. Therefore, the optimizer chooses a hybrid
histogram because the criteria for a top frequency histogram do not apply.

3. Query the histogram information for the country_subregion_id column.

For example, use the following query (sample output included):
SELECT TABLE_NAME, COLUMN_NAME, NUM_DISTINCT, HISTOGRAM
FROM USER_TAB_COL_STATISTICS
WHERE TABLE_NAME='PRODUCTS'
AND COLUMN_NAME='PROD_SUBCATEGORY_ID';

TABLE_NAME COLUMN_NAME NUM_DISTINCT HISTOGRAM

---------- ------------------- ------------ ---------
PRODUCTS PROD_SUBCATEGORY_ID 22 HYBRID

4. Query the endpoint number, endpoint value, and endpoint repeat count for the
country_subregion_id column.
For example, use the following query (sample output included):
SELECT ENDPOINT_NUMBER, ENDPOINT_VALUE, ENDPOINT_REPEAT_COUNT
FROM USER_HISTOGRAMS
WHERE TABLE_NAME='PRODUCTS'
AND COLUMN_NAME='PROD_SUBCATEGORY_ID'
ORDER BY 1;

ENDPOINT_NUMBER ENDPOINT_VALUE ENDPOINT_REPEAT_COUNT

--------------- -------------- ---------------------
1 2011 1
13 2014 8
26 2032 6
36 2036 4
45 2043 3
51 2051 5
52 2052 1
54 2053 2
60 2054 6
72 2056 5

10 rows selected.

In a height-based histogram, the optimizer would evenly distribute 72 rows into

the 10 specified histogram buckets, so that each bucket contains approximately 7
rows. Because this is a hybrid histogram, the optimizer distributes the values so
that no value occupies more than one bucket. For example, the optimizer does not
put some instances of value 2036 into one bucket and some instances of this value
into another bucket: all instances are in bucket 36.
The endpoint repeat count shows the number of times the highest value in the
bucket is repeated. By using the endpoint number and repeat count for these
values, the optimizer can estimate cardinality. For example, bucket 36 contains
instances of values 2033, 2034, 2035, and 2036. The endpoint value 2036 has an
endpoint repeat count of 4, so the optimizer knows that 4 instances of this value
exist. For values such as 2033, which are not endpoints, the optimizer estimates
cardinality using density.

11-22 SQL Tuning Guide

 Hybrid Histograms

See Also:

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS procedure

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the USER_TAB_COL_STATISTICS

view

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the USER_HISTOGRAMS view

Histograms 11-23
Hybrid Histograms

11-24 SQL Tuning Guide

 12
Managing Optimizer Statistics: Basic
Topics

This chapter explains basic tasks relating to optimizer statistics management.

This chapter contains the following topics:

• Setting Optimizer Statistics Preferences

• Configuring Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection

• Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually

• Gathering System Statistics Manually

See Also:

• “Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics ” for advanced concepts

and tasks relating to optimizer statistics

• “Optimizer Statistics Concepts ”

• “Query Optimizer Concepts ”

About Optimizer Statistics Collection

In Oracle Database, optimizer statistics collection is the gathering of optimizer
statistics for database objects, including fixed objects. The database can collect
optimizer statistics automatically. You can also collect them manually using the
DBMS_STATS package.

See Also:
“Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually”

Purpose of Optimizer Statistics Collection

The contents of tables and associated indexes change frequently, which can lead the
optimizer to choose suboptimal execution plan for queries. Thus, statistics must be
kept current to avoid any potential performance issues because of suboptimal plans.
To minimize DBA involvement, Oracle Database automatically gathers optimizer
statistics at various times. Some automatic options are configurable, such enabling
AutoTask to run DBMS_STATS.

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Basic Topics 12-1

About Optimizer Statistics Collection

User Interfaces for Optimizer Statistics Management

You can manage optimizer statistics either through Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud
Control (Cloud Control) or using PL/SQL on the command line.

Graphical Interface for Optimizer Statistics Management

The Manage Optimizer Statistics page in Cloud Control is a GUI that enables you to
manage optimizer statistics.

Accessing the Database Home Page in Cloud Control

Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control enables you to manage multiple databases
within a single GUI-based framework.

To access a database home page using Cloud Control:

1. Log in to Cloud Control with the appropriate credentials.

2. Under the Targets menu, select Databases.

3. In the list of database targets, select the target for the Oracle Database instance
that you want to administer.

4. If prompted for database credentials, then enter the minimum credentials

necessary for the tasks you intend to perform.

See Also:

Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control Introduction for an overview of Cloud

Control

Accessing the Manage Optimizer Statistics Page

You can perform most necessary tasks relating to optimizer statistics through pages
linked to by the Manage Optimizer Statistics page.

To manage optimizer statistics using Cloud Control:

1. Access the Database Home page.

2. From the Performance menu, select SQL, then Optimizer Statistics.

The Manage Optimizer Statistics appears.

12-2 SQL Tuning Guide

 Configuring Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection

See Also:

Online Help for Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control

Command-Line Interface for Optimizer Statistics Management

The DBMS_STATS package performs most optimizer statistics tasks. To enable and
disable automatic statistics gathering, use the DBMS_AUTO_TASK_ADMIN PL/SQL
package.

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn how to use
DBMS_STATS and DBMS_AUTO_TASK_ADMIN

Configuring Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection

This topic explains how to configure Oracle Database to gather optimizer statistics
automatically.
This section contains the following topics:

• About Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection

• Configuring Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection Using Cloud Control

• Configuring Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection from the Command Line

About Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection

The automated maintenance tasks infrastructure (known as AutoTask) schedules tasks
to run automatically in Oracle Scheduler windows known as maintenance windows.
By default, one window is scheduled for each day of the week. Automatic optimizer
statistics collection runs as part of AutoTask. By default, the collection runs in all
predefined maintenance windows.

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Basic Topics 12-3

Configuring Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection

Note:

Data visibility and privilege requirements may differ when using automatic
optimizer statistics collection with pluggable databases. See Oracle Database
Administrator’s Guide for a table that summarizes how manageability features
work in a container database (CDB).

To collect the optimizer statistics, the database calls an internal procedure that
operates similarly to the GATHER_DATABASE_STATS procedure with the GATHER
AUTO option. Automatic statistics collection honors all preferences set in the database.
The principal difference between manual and automatic collection is that the latter
prioritizes database objects that need statistics. Before the maintenance window closes,
automatic collection assesses all objects and prioritizes objects that have no statistics or
very old statistics.

Note:

When gathering statistics manually, you can reproduce the object

prioritization of automatic collection by using the
DBMS_AUTO_TASK_IMMEDIATE package. This package runs the same
statistics gathering job that is executed during the automatic nightly statistics
gathering job.

Configuring Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection Using Cloud Control

You can enable and disable all automatic maintenance tasks, including automatic
optimizer statistics collection, using Cloud Control.
The default window timing works well for most situations. However, you may have
operations such as bulk loads that occur during the window. In such cases, to avoid
potential conflicts that result from operations occurring at the same time as automatic
statistics collection, Oracle recommends that you change the window accordingly.

To control automatic optimizer statistics collection using Cloud Control:

1. Access the Database Home page, as described in “Accessing the Database Home
Page in Cloud Control.”

2. From the Administration menu, select Oracle Scheduler, then Automated

Maintenance Tasks.
The Automated Maintenance Tasks page appears.
This page shows the predefined tasks. To retrieve information about each task,
click the corresponding link for the task.

3. Click Configure.
The Automated Maintenance Tasks Configuration page appears.

12-4 SQL Tuning Guide

 Configuring Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection

By default, automatic optimizer statistics collection executes in all predefined

maintenance windows in MAINTENANCE_WINDOW_GROUP.

4. Perform the following steps:

a. In the Task Settings section for Optimizer Statistics Gathering, select either
Enabled or Disabled to enable or disable an automated task.

Note:

Oracle strongly recommends that you not disable automatic statistics

gathering because it is critical for the optimizer to generate optimal plans for
queries against dictionary and user objects. If you disable automatic collection,
ensure that you have a good manual statistics collection strategy for dictionary
and user schemas.

b. To disable statistics gathering for specific days in the week, check the
appropriate box next to the window name.

c. To change the characteristics of a window group, click Edit Window Group.

d. To change the times for a window, click the name of the window (for
example, Monday Window), and then in the Schedule section, click Edit.
The Edit Window page appears.

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Basic Topics 12-5

Configuring Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection

In this page, you can change the parameters such as duration and start time
for window execution.

e. Click Apply.

See Also:

Online Help for Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control

Configuring Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection from the Command Line

If you do not use Cloud Control to enable and disable automatic optimizer statistics
collection, then you have the following options:

• Run the ENABLE or DISABLE procedure in the DBMS_AUTO_TASK_ADMIN PL/SQL

package.
This package is the recommended command-line technique. For both the ENABLE
or DISABLE procedures, you can specify a particular maintenance window with
the window_name parameter. See Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types
Reference for complete reference information.

• Set the STATISTICS_LEVEL initialization level to BASIC to disable collection of all

advisories and statistics, including Automatic SQL Tuning Advisor.

Note:
Because monitoring and many automatic features are disabled, Oracle
strongly recommends that you do not set STATISTICS_LEVEL to BASIC.

12-6 SQL Tuning Guide

 Configuring Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection

To control automatic statistics collection using DBMS_AUTO_TASK_ADMIN:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with administrator privileges, and then do one
of the following:

• To enable the automated task, execute the following PL/SQL block:

BEGIN
DBMS_AUTO_TASK_ADMIN.ENABLE (
client_name => 'auto optimizer stats collection'
, operation => NULL
, window_name => NULL
);
END;
/

• To disable the automated task, execute the following PL/SQL block:

BEGIN
DBMS_AUTO_TASK_ADMIN.DISABLE (
client_name => 'auto optimizer stats collection'
, operation => NULL
, window_name => NULL
);
END;
/

2. Query the data dictionary to confirm the change.

For example, query DBA_AUTOTASK_CLIENT as follows:
COL CLIENT_NAME FORMAT a31

SELECT CLIENT_NAME, STATUS

FROM DBA_AUTOTASK_CLIENT
WHERE CLIENT_NAME = 'auto optimizer stats collection';

Sample output appears as follows:

CLIENT_NAME STATUS
------------------------------- --------
auto optimizer stats collection ENABLED

To change the window attributes for automatic statistics collection:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with administrator privileges.

2. Change the attributes of the maintenance window as needed.

For example, to change the Monday maintenance window so that it starts at 5
a.m., execute the following PL/SQL program:
BEGIN
DBMS_SCHEDULER.SET_ATTRIBUTE (
'MONDAY_WINDOW'
, 'repeat_interval'
, 'freq=daily;byday=MON;byhour=05;byminute=0;bysecond=0'
);
END;
/

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Basic Topics 12-7

Setting Optimizer Statistics Preferences

See Also:

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_AUTO_TASK_ADMIN package

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the STATISTICS_LEVEL

initialization parameter

Setting Optimizer Statistics Preferences

This topic explains how to set optimizer statistics defaults using
DBMS_STATS.SET_*_PREFS procedures.
This section contains the following topics:

• About Optimizer Statistics Preferences

• Setting Global Optimizer Statistics Preferences Using Cloud Control

• Setting Object-Level Optimizer Statistics Preferences Using Cloud Control

• Setting Optimizer Statistics Preferences from the Command Line

About Optimizer Statistics Preferences

The optimizer statistics preferences set the default values of the parameters used by
automatic statistics collection and the DBMS_STATS statistics gathering procedures.
You can set optimizer statistics preferences at the table, schema, database (all tables),
and global (tables with no preferences and any tables created in the future) levels. The
procedure names follow the form SET_*_PREFS.

See Also:

“Maintaining Incremental Statistics for Partition Maintenance Operations”

DBMS_STATS Procedures for Setting Statistics Preferences

The DBMS_STATS.SET_*_PREFS procedures change the defaults of parameters used
by the DBMS_STATS.GATHER_*_STATS procedures. To query the current
preferences, use the DBMS_STATS.GET_PREFS function.
When setting statistics preferences, the order of precedence is:

1. Table preference (set for a specific table, all tables in a schema, or all tables in the
database)

2. Global preference

3. Default preference
The following table summarizes the relevant DBMS_STATS procedures.

Table 12-1 DBMS_STATS Procedures for Setting Optimizer Statistics Preferences

12-8 SQL Tuning Guide

 Setting Optimizer Statistics Preferences

Table 12-1 (Cont.) DBMS_STATS Procedures for Setting Optimizer Statistics

Preferences

Procedure Scope
SET_TABLE_PREFS Specified table only.

SET_SCHEMA_PREFS All existing tables in the specified schema.

This procedure calls SET_TABLE_PREFS for each table in the
specified schema. Calling SET_SCHEMA_PREFS does not affect
any new tables created after it has been run. New tables use the
GLOBAL_PREF values for all parameters.

SET_DATABASE_PREFS All user-defined schemas in the database. You can include

system-owned schemas such as SYS and SYSTEM by setting the
ADD_SYS parameter to true.
This procedure calls SET_TABLE_PREFS for each table in the
specified schema. Calling SET_DATABASE_PREFS does not
affect any new objects created after it has been run. New
objects use the GLOBAL_PREF values for all parameters.

SET_GLOBAL_PREFS Any table in the database that does not have an existing table
preference.
All parameters default to the global setting unless a table
preference is set or the parameter is explicitly set in the
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_*_STATS command. Changes made
by this procedure affect any new objects created after it runs.
New objects use the SET_GLOBAL_PREF values for all
parameters.
With SET_GLOBAL_PREFS, you can set a default value for the
parameter AUTOSTAT_TARGET. This additional parameter
controls which objects the automatic statistic gathering job
running in the nightly maintenance window looks after.
Possible values for this parameter are ALL, ORACLE, and AUTO
(default).
You can only set the CONCURRENT preference at the global
level). You cannot set the preference INCREMENTAL_LEVEL
using SET_GLOBAL_PREFS.

See Also:

• “About Concurrent Statistics Gathering”

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS procedures for setting optimizer statistics

Setting Statistics Preferences: Example

Table 12-2 illustrates the relationship between SET_TABLE_PREFS,
SET_SCHEMA_STATS, and SET_DATABASE_PREFS.

Table 12-2 Changing Preferences for Statistics Gathering Procedures

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Basic Topics 12-9

Setting Optimizer Statistics Preferences

Table 12-2 (Cont.) Changing Preferences for Statistics Gathering Procedures

Action Description

You query the INCREMENTAL

SQL> SELECT DBMS_STATS.GET_PREFS
preference for costs and determine
('incremental', 'sh','costs')
AS "STAT_PREFS" FROM DUAL; that it is set to true.

STAT_PREFS
----------
TRUE

You use SET_TABLE_PREFS to set the

SQL> EXEC DBMS_STATS.SET_TABLE_PREFS
INCREMENTAL preference to false for
('sh', 'costs', 'incremental', 'false');
the costs table only.
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

You query the INCREMENTAL

SQL> SELECT DBMS_STATS.GET_PREFS
preference for costs and confirm that it
('incremental', 'sh', 'costs')
AS "STAT_PREFS" FROM DUAL; is set to false.

STAT_PREFS
----------
FALSE

You use SET_SCHEMA_PREFS to set the

SQL> EXEC DBMS_STATS.SET_SCHEMA_PREFS
INCREMENTAL preference to true for
('sh', 'incremental', 'true');
every table in the sh schema, including
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed. costs.

You query the INCREMENTAL

SQL> SELECT DBMS_STATS.GET_PREFS
preference for costs and confirm that it
('incremental', 'sh', 'costs')
AS "STAT_PREFS" FROM DUAL; is set to true.

STAT_PREFS
----------
TRUE

You use SET_DATABASE_PREFS to set

SQL> EXEC DBMS_STATS.SET_DATABASE_PREFS
the INCREMENTAL preference for all
('incremental', 'false');
tables in all user-defined schemas to
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed. false.

You query the INCREMENTAL

SQL> SELECT DBMS_STATS.GET_PREFS
preference for costs and confirm that it
('incremental', 'sh', 'costs')
AS "STAT_PREFS" FROM DUAL; is set to false.

STAT_PREFS
----------
FALSE

12-10 SQL Tuning Guide

 Setting Optimizer Statistics Preferences

Setting Global Optimizer Statistics Preferences Using Cloud Control

A global preference applies to any object in the database that does not have an existing
table preference. You can set optimizer statistics preferences at the global level using
Cloud Control. See the Cloud Control Help for an explanation of the options on the
preference page.

To set global optimizer statistics preferences using Cloud Control:

1. Go to the Manage Optimizer Statistics page, as explained in “Accessing the

Manage Optimizer Statistics Page”.

2. Click Global Statistics Gathering Options.

The Global Statistics Gathering Options page appears.

3. Make your desired changes, and click Apply.

See Also:

Online Help for Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control

Setting Object-Level Optimizer Statistics Preferences Using Cloud Control

You can set optimizer statistics preferences at the database, schema, and table level
using Cloud Control.

To set object-level optimizer statistics preferences using Cloud Control:

1. Go to the Manage Optimizer Statistics page, as explained in “Accessing the

Manage Optimizer Statistics Page”.

2. Click Object Level Statistics Gathering Preferences.

The Object Level Statistics Gathering Preferences page appears.

3. To modify table preferences for a table that has preferences set at the table level,
do the following (otherwise, skip to the next step):

a. Enter values in Schema and Table. Leave Table blank to see all tables in the
schema.
The page refreshes with the table names.

b. Select the desired tables and click Edit Preferences.

The General subpage of the Edit Preferences page appears.

c. Change preferences as needed and click Apply.

4. To set preferences for a table that does not have preferences set at the table level,
do the following (otherwise, skip to the next step):

a. Click Add Table Preferences.

The General subpage of the Add Table Preferences page appears.

b. In Table Name, enter the schema and table name.

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Basic Topics 12-11

Setting Optimizer Statistics Preferences

c. Change preferences as needed and click OK.

5. To set preferences for a schema, do the following:

a. Click Edit Schema Preferences.

The General subpage of the Edit Schema Preferences page appears.

b. In Schema, enter the schema name.

c. Change preferences as needed and click OK.

See Also:

Online Help for Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control

Setting Optimizer Statistics Preferences from the Command Line

If you do not use Cloud Control to set optimizer statistics preferences, then you can
invoke the DBMS_STATS procedures described in Table 12-1.

Prerequisites
This task has the following prerequisites:

• To set the global or database preferences, you must have SYSDBA privileges, or
both ANALYZE ANY DICTIONARY and ANALYZE ANY system privileges.

• To set schema preferences, you must connect as owner, or have SYSDBA privileges,
or have the ANALYZE ANY system privilege.

• To set table preferences, you must connect as owner of the table or have the
ANALYZE ANY system privilege.

To set optimizer statistics preferences from the command line:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the necessary privileges.

2. Optionally, call the DBMS_STATS.GET_PREFS procedure to see preferences set at

the object level, or at the global level if a specific table is not set.
For example, obtain the STALE_PERCENT parameter setting for the sh.sales
table as follows:
SELECT DBMS_STATS.GET_PREFS('STALE_PERCENT', 'SH', 'SALES')
FROM DUAL;

3. Execute the appropriate procedure from Table 12-1, specifying the following
parameters:

• ownname - Set schema name (SET_TAB_PREFS and SET_SCHEMA_PREFS

only)

• tabname - Set table name (SET_TAB_PREFS only)

• pname - Set parameter name

• pvalue - Set parameter value

12-12 SQL Tuning Guide

 Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually

• add_sys - Include system tables (optional, SET_DATABASE_PREFS only)

The following example specifies that 13% of rows in sh.sales must change
before the statistics on that table are considered stale:
EXEC DBMS_STATS.SET_TABLE_PREFS('SH', 'SALES', 'STALE_PERCENT', '13');

4. Optionally, query the *_TAB_STAT_PREFS view to confirm the change.

For example, query DBA_TAB_STAT_PREFS as follows:
COL OWNER FORMAT a5
COL TABLE_NAME FORMAT a15
COL PREFERENCE_NAME FORMAT a20
COL PREFERENCE_VALUE FORMAT a30
SELECT * FROM DBA_TAB_STAT_PREFS;

Sample output appears as follows:

OWNER TABLE_NAME PREFERENCE_NAME PREFERENCE_VALUE
----- --------------- -------------------- ------------------------------
OE CUSTOMERS NO_INVALIDATE DBMS_STATS.AUTO_INVALIDATE
SH SALES STALE_PERCENT 13

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for descriptions of the
parameter names and values for program units

Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually

As an alternative or supplement to automatic statistics gathering, you can use the
DBMS_STATS package to gather statistics manually.
This section contains the following topics:

• About Manual Statistics Collection with DBMS_STATS

• Guidelines for Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually

• Determining When Optimizer Statistics Are Stale

• Gathering Schema and Table Statistics

• Gathering Statistics for Fixed Objects

• Gathering Statistics for Volatile Tables Using Dynamic Statistics

• Gathering Optimizer Statistics Concurrently

• Gathering Incremental Statistics on Partitioned Objects

See Also:

• “Controlling Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection”

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS packages

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Basic Topics 12-13

Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually

About Manual Statistics Collection with DBMS_STATS

Use the DBMS_STATS package to manipulate optimizer statistics. You can gather
statistics on objects and columns at various levels of granularity: object, schema, and
database. You can also gather statistics for the physical system, as explained in
“Gathering System Statistics Manually”.
Table 12-3 summarizes the DBMS_STATS procedures for gathering optimizer statistics.
This package does not gather statistics for table clusters. However, you can gather
statistics on individual tables in a table cluster.

Table 12-3 DBMS_STATS Procedures for Gathering Optimizer Statistics

Procedure Purpose
GATHER_INDEX_STATS Collects index statistics

GATHER_TABLE_STATS Collects table, column, and index statistics

GATHER_SCHEMA_STATS Collects statistics for all objects in a schema

GATHER_DICTIONARY_STATS Collects statistics for all system schemas, including SYS

and SYSTEM, and other optional schemas, such as
CTXSYS and DRSYS

GATHER_DATABASE_STATS Collects statistics for all objects in a database

When the OPTIONS parameter is set to GATHER STALE or GATHER AUTO, the
GATHER_SCHEMA_STATS and GATHER_DATABASE_STATS procedures gather
statistics for any table that has stale statistics and any table that is missing statistics. If
a monitored table has been modified more than 10%, then the database considers these
statistics stale and gathers them again.

Note:

As explained in “Controlling Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection”, you

can configure a nightly job to gather statistics automatically.

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for complete syntax and
semantics for the DBMS_STATS package

Guidelines for Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually

In most cases, automatic statistics collection is sufficient for database objects modified
at a moderate speed. However, automatic collection may sometimes be inadequate or
unavailable, as in the following cases:

• You perform certain types of bulk load and cannot wait for the maintenance
window to collect statistics because queries must be executed immediately. See
“Online Statistics Gathering for Bulk Loads”.

12-14 SQL Tuning Guide

 Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually

• During a nonrepresentative workload, automatic statistics collection gathers

statistics for fixed tables. See “Gathering Statistics for Fixed Objects”.

• Automatic statistics collection does not gather system statistics. See “Gathering
System Statistics Manually”.

• Volatile tables are being deleted or truncated, and then rebuilt during the day. See
“Gathering Statistics for Volatile Tables Using Dynamic Statistics”.
This section offers guidelines for typical situations in which you may choose to gather
statistically manually:

• Guideline for Accurate Statistics

• Guideline for Gathering Statistics in Parallel

• Guideline for Partitioned Objects

• Guideline for Frequently Changing Objects

• Guideline for External Tables

Guideline for Accurate Statistics

In the context of optimizer statistics, sampling is the gathering of statistics from a
random subset of table rows. By enabling the database to avoid full table scans and
sorts of entire tables, sampling minimizes the resources necessary to gather statistics.
The database gathers the most accurate statistics when it processes all rows in the
table, which is a 100% sample. However, the larger the sample size, the longer the
statistics gathering operation. The problem is determining a sample size that provides
accurate statistics in a reasonable time.
DBMS_STATS uses sampling when a user specifies the parameter
ESTIMATE_PERCENT, which controls the percentage of the rows in the table to
sample. To maximize performance gains while achieving necessary statistical
accuracy, Oracle recommends that you set the ESTIMATE_PERCENT parameter to
DBMS_STATS.AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZE (the default). This setting enables the use of:

• A hash-based algorithm that is much faster than sampling

This algorithm reads all rows and produces statistics that are nearly as accurate as
statistics from a 100% sample. The statistics computed using this technique are
deterministic.

• Incremental statistics

• Concurrent statistics

• New histogram types (see “Hybrid Histograms”)

Guideline for Gathering Statistics in Parallel

By default, the database gathers statistics with the parallelism degree specified at the
table or index level. You can override this setting with the degree argument to the
DBMS_STATS gathering procedures. Oracle recommends setting degree to
DBMS_STATS.AUTO_DEGREE. This setting enables the database to choose an
appropriate degree of parallelism based on the object size and the settings for the
parallelism-related initialization parameters.

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Basic Topics 12-15

Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually

The database can gather most statistics serially or in parallel. However, the database
does not gather some index statistics in parallel, including cluster indexes, domain
indexes, and bitmap join indexes. The database can use sampling when gathering
parallel statistics.

Note:
Do not confuse gathering statistics in parallel with gathering statistics
concurrently. See “About Concurrent Statistics Gathering”.

Guideline for Partitioned Objects

For partitioned tables and indexes, DBMS_STATS can gather separate statistics for each
partition and global statistics for the entire table or index. Similarly, for composite
partitioning, DBMS_STATS can gather separate statistics for subpartitions, partitions,
and the entire table or index.
Use the granularity argument to the DBMS_STATS procedures to determine the
type of partitioning statistics to be gathered. Oracle recommends setting
granularity to the default value of AUTO to gather subpartition, partition, or global
statistics, depending on partition type. The ALL setting gathers statistics for all types.

See Also:

“Gathering Incremental Statistics on Partitioned Objects”

Guideline for Frequently Changing Objects

When tables are frequently modified, gather statistics often enough so that they do not
go stale, but not so often that collection overhead degrades performance. You may
only need to gather new statistics every week or month. The best practice is to use a
script or job scheduler to regularly run the DBMS_STATS.GATHER_SCHEMA_STATS
and DBMS_STATS.GATHER_DATABASE_STATS procedures.

Guideline for External Tables

Because the database does not permit data manipulation against external tables, the
database never marks statistics on external tables as stale. If new statistics are required
for an external table, for example, because the underlying data files change, then
regather the statistics. Gather statistics manually for external tables with the same
procedures that you use for regular tables.

Determining When Optimizer Statistics Are Stale

Stale statistics on a table do not accurately reflect its data. The database provides a
table monitoring facility to help determine when a database object needs new
statistics. Monitoring tracks the approximate number of DML operations on a table
and whether the table has been truncated since the most recent statistics collection.
Run DBMS_STATS.FLUSH_DATABASE_MONITORING_INFO to immediately reflect the
outstanding monitored information stored in memory. After running this procedure,
check whether statistics are stale by querying the STALE_STATS column in
DBA_TAB_STATISTICS and DBA_IND_STATISTICS. This column is based on data in
the DBA_TAB_MODIFICATIONS view and the STALE_PERCENT preference for
DBMS_STATS. The STALE_STATS column has the following possible values:

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 Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually

• YES
The statistics are stale.

• NO
The statistics are not stale.

• null
The statistics are not collected.
Executing GATHER_SCHEMA_STATS or GATHER_DATABASE_STATS with the GATHER
AUTO option collects statistics only for objects with no statistics or stale statistics.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• Table monitoring is enabled for sh.sales. It is enabled by default when the

STATISTICS_LEVEL initialization parameter is set to TYPICAL or ALL.

• You have the ANALYZE_ANY system privilege so you can run the
DBMS_STATS.FLUSH_DATABASE_MONITORING_INFO procedure.

To determine stale statistics:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the necessary privileges.

2. Optionally, write the database monitoring information from memory to disk.

For example, execute the following procedure:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.FLUSH_DATABASE_MONITORING_INFO;
END;
/

3. Query the data dictionary for stale statistics.

The following example queries stale statistics for the sh.sales table (partial
output included):
COL PARTITION_NAME FORMAT a15

SELECT PARTITION_NAME, STALE_STATS

FROM DBA_TAB_STATISTICS
WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'SALES'
AND OWNER = 'SH'
ORDER BY PARTITION_NAME;

PARTITION_NAME STA
--------------- ---
SALES_1995 NO
SALES_1996 NO
SALES_H1_1997 NO
SALES_H2_1997 NO
SALES_Q1_1998 NO
SALES_Q1_1999 NO
.
.
.

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Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually

See Also:

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the DBA_TAB_MODIFICATIONS

view

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.FLUSH_DATABASE_MONITORING_INFO procedure

Gathering Schema and Table Statistics

Use GATHER_TABLE_STATS to collect table statistics, and GATHER_SCHEMA_STATS to
collect statistics for all objects in a schema.

To gather schema statistics using DBMS_STATS:

1. Start SQL*Plus, and connect to the database with the appropriate privileges for
the procedure that you intend to run.

2. Run the GATHER_TABLE_STATS or GATHER_SCHEMA_STATS procedure,

specifying the desired parameters.
Typical parameters include:

• Owner - ownname

• Object name - tabname, indname, partname

• Degree of parallelism - degree

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
GATHER_TABLE_STATS procedure

Example 12-1 Gathering Statistics for a Table

This example uses the DBMS_STATS package to gather statistics on the
sh.customers table with a parallelism setting of 2.
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS (
ownname => 'sh'
, tabname => 'customers'
, degree => 2
);
END;
/

Gathering Statistics for Fixed Objects

Fixed objects are dynamic performance tables and their indexes. These objects record
current database activity.
Unlike other database tables, the database does not automatically use dynamic
statistics for SQL statement referencing X$ tables when optimizer statistics are
missing. Instead, the optimizer uses predefined default values. These defaults may not

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 Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually

be representative and could potentially lead to a suboptimal execution plan. Thus, it is

important to keep fixed object statistics current.
Oracle Database automatically gathers fixed object statistics as part of automated
statistics gathering if they have not been previously collected (see “Controlling
Automatic Optimizer Statistics Collection”). You can also manually collect statistics on
fixed objects by calling DBMS_STATS.GATHER_FIXED_OBJECTS_STATS. Oracle
recommends that you gather statistics when the database has representative activity.

Prerequisites
You must have the SYSDBA or ANALYZE ANY DICTIONARY system privilege to
execute this procedure.

To gather schema statistics using GATHER_FIXED_OBJECTS_STATS:

1. Start SQL*Plus, and connect to the database with the appropriate privileges for
the procedure that you intend to run.

2. Run the DBMS_STATS.GATHER_FIXED_OBJECTS_STATS procedure, specifying

the desired parameters.
Typical parameters include:

• Table identifier describing where to save the current statistics - stattab

• Identifier to associate with these statistics within stattab (optional) - statid

• Schema containing stattab (if different from current schema) - statown

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
GATHER_TABLE_STATS procedure

Example 12-2 Gathering Statistics for a Table

This example uses the DBMS_STATS package to gather fixed object statistics.
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_FIXED_OBJECTS_STATS;
END;
/

Gathering Statistics for Volatile Tables Using Dynamic Statistics

Statistics for volatile tables, which are tables modified significantly during the day, go
stale quickly. For example, a table may be deleted or truncated, and then rebuilt.
When you set the statistics of a volatile object to null, Oracle Database dynamically
gathers the necessary statistics during optimization using dynamic statistics. The
OPTIMIZER_DYNAMIC_SAMPLING initialization parameter controls this feature.

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Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually

Note:

As described in “Locking and Unlocking Optimizer Statistics,” gathering

representative statistics and them locking them is an alternative technique for
preventing statistics for volatile tables from going stale.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• The oe.orders table is extremely volatile.

• You want to delete and then lock the statistics on the orders table to prevent the
database from gathering statistics on the table. In this way, the database can
dynamically gather necessary statistics as part of query optimization.

• The oe user has the necessary privileges to query

DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR.

To delete and the lock optimizer statistics:

1. Connect to the database as user oe, and then delete the statistics for the oe table.
For example, execute the following procedure:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.DELETE_TABLE_STATS('OE','ORDERS');
END;
/

2. Lock the statistics for the oe table.

For example, execute the following procedure:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.LOCK_TABLE_STATS('OE','ORDERS');
END;
/

3. You query the orders table.

For example, use the following statement:
SELECT COUNT(order_id) FROM orders;

4. You query the plan in the cursor.

You run the following commands (partial output included):
SET LINESIZE 150
SET PAGESIZE 0

SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR);

SQL_ID aut9632fr3358, child number 0

-------------------------------------
SELECT COUNT(order_id) FROM orders

Plan hash value: 425895392

---------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Cost (%CPU)| Time |

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 Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually

---------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | 2 (100)| |
| 1 | SORT AGGREGATE | | 1 | | |
| 2 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| ORDERS | 105 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Note
-----
- dynamic statistics used for this statement (level=2)

The Note in the preceding execution plan shows that the database used dynamic
statistics for the SELECT statement.

See Also:

“Controlling Dynamic Statistics”

Gathering Optimizer Statistics Concurrently

Oracle Database enables you to gather statistics on multiple tables or partitions
concurrently. This section contains the following topics:

• About Concurrent Statistics Gathering

• Enabling Concurrent Statistics Gathering

• Configuring the System for Parallel Execution and Concurrent Statistics Gathering

• Monitoring Statistics Gathering Operations

About Concurrent Statistics Gathering

By default, each partition of a partition table is gathered sequentially. When
concurrent statistics gathering mode is enabled, the database can simultaneously
gather optimizer statistics for multiple tables in a schema, or multiple partitions or
subpartitions in a table. Concurrency can reduce the overall time required to gather
statistics by enabling the database to fully use multiple processors.

Note:

Concurrent statistics gathering mode does not rely on parallel query

processing, but is usable with it.

How DBMS_STATS Gathers Statistics Concurrently

Oracle Database employs the following tools and technologies to create and manage
multiple statistics gathering jobs concurrently:

• Oracle Scheduler

• Oracle Database Advanced Queuing (AQ)

• Oracle Database Resource Manager (the Resource Manager)

Enable concurrent statistics gathering by setting the CONCURRENT preference with
DBMS_STATS.SET_GLOBAL_PREF (see “Enabling Concurrent Statistics Gathering”).

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Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually

The database runs as many concurrent jobs as possible. The Job Scheduler decides
how many jobs to execute concurrently and how many to queue. As running jobs
complete, the scheduler dequeues and runs more jobs until the database has gathered
statistics on all tables, partitions, and subpartitions. The maximum number of jobs is
bounded by the JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES initialization parameter and available
system resources.
In most cases, the DBMS_STATS procedures create a separate job for each table
partition or subpartition. However, if the partition or subpartition is very small or
empty, the database may automatically batch the object with other small objects into a
single job to reduce the overhead of job maintenance.
The following figure illustrates the creation of jobs at different levels, where Table 3 is
a partitioned table, and the other tables are nonpartitioned. Job 3 acts as a coordinator
job for Table 3, and creates a job for each partition in that table, and a separate job for
the global statistics of Table 3. This example assumes that incremental statistics
gathering is disabled; if enabled, then the database derives global statistics from
partition-level statistics after jobs for partitions complete.

Gather Database/Schema/Dictionary Statistics

Level 1

Job 1 Job 2 Job 3 Job 4

Table 1 Table 2 Table 3 Table 4

Global Global Coordinator Global
Statistics Statistics Job Statistics

Level 2

Job 3.1 Job 3.2 Job 3.3

Table 3 Table 3 Table 3

Partition 1 Partition 2 Global
Statistics

See Also:

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS package

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES

initialization parameter

Concurrent Statistics Gathering and Resource Management

The DBMS_STATS package does not explicitly manage resources used by concurrent
statistics gathering jobs that are part of a user-initiated statistics gathering call. Thus,
the database may use system resources fully during concurrent statistics gathering. To
address this situation, use the Resource Manager to cap resources consumed by
concurrent statistics gathering jobs. The Resource Manager must be enabled to gather
statistics concurrently.

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The system-supplied consumer group ORA$AUTOTASK registers all statistics gathering

jobs. You can create a resource plan with proper resource allocations for ORA
$AUTOTASK to prevent concurrent statistics gathering from consuming all available
resources. If you lack your own resource plan, and if choose not to create one, then
consider activating the Resource Manager with the system-supplied DEFAULT_PLAN.

Note:
The ORA$AUTOTASK consumer group is shared with the maintenance tasks
that automatically run during the maintenance windows. Thus, when
concurrency is activated for automatic statistics gathering, the database
automatically manages resources, with no extra steps required.

See Also:

Oracle Database Administrator's Guide to learn about the Resource Manager

Enabling Concurrent Statistics Gathering

To enable concurrent statistics gathering, use the DBMS_STATS.SET_GLOBAL_PREFS
procedure to set the CONCURRENT preference. Possible values are as follows:

• MANUAL
Concurrency is enabled only for manual statistics gathering.

• AUTOMATIC
Concurrency is enabled only for automatic statistics gathering.

• ALL
Concurrency is enabled for both manual and automatic statistics gathering.

• OFF
Concurrency is disabled for both manual and automatic statistics gathering. This is
the default value.
This tutorial in this section explains how to enable concurrent statistics gathering.

Prerequisites
This tutorial has the following prerequisites:

• In addition to the standard privileges for gathering statistics, you must have the
following privileges:

– CREATE JOB

– MANAGE SCHEDULER

– MANAGE ANY QUEUE

• The SYSAUX tablespace must be online because the scheduler stores its internal
tables and views in this tablespace.

• The JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES initialization parameter must be set to at least 4.

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Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually

• The Resource Manager must be enabled.

By default, the Resource Manager is disabled. If you do not have a resource plan,
then consider enabling the Resource Manager with the system-supplied
DEFAULT_PLAN (see Oracle Database Administrator's Guide).

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes that you want to do the following:

• Enable concurrent statistics gathering

• Gather statistics for the sh schema

• Monitor the gathering of the sh statistics

To enable concurrent statistics gathering:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then
enable the Resource Manager.
The following example uses the default plan for the Resource Manager:
ALTER SYSTEM SET RESOURCE_MANAGER_PLAN = 'DEFAULT_PLAN';

2. Set the JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES initialization parameter to at least twice the

number of CPU cores.
In Oracle Real Application Clusters, the JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES setting applies
to each node.
Assume that the system has 4 CPU cores. The following example sets the
parameter to 8 (twice the number of cores):
ALTER SYSTEM SET JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES=8;

3. Confirm that the parameter change took effect.

For example, enter the following command in SQL*Plus (sample output
included):
SHOW PARAMETER PROCESSES;

NAME TYPE VALUE

-------------------------------- ----------- -----
_high_priority_processes string VKTM
aq_tm_processes integer 1
db_writer_processes integer 1
gcs_server_processes integer 0
global_txn_processes integer 1
job_queue_processes integer 8
log_archive_max_processes integer 4
processes integer 100

4. Enable concurrent statistics.

For example, execute the following PL/SQL anonymous block:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.SET_GLOBAL_PREFS('CONCURRENT','ALL');
END;
/

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5. Confirm that the statistics were enabled.

For example, execute the following query (sample output included):
SELECT DBMS_STATS.GET_PREFS('CONCURRENT') FROM DUAL;

DBMS_STATS.GET_PREFS('CONCURRENT')
----------------------------------
ALL

6. Gather the statistics for the SH schema.

For example, execute the following procedure:
EXEC DBMS_STATS.GATHER_SCHEMA_STATS('SH');

7. In a separate session, monitor the job progress by querying

DBA_OPTSTAT_OPERATION_TASKS.
For example, execute the following query (sample output included):
SET LINESIZE 1000

COLUMN TARGET FORMAT a8

COLUMN TARGET_TYPE FORMAT a25
COLUMN JOB_NAME FORMAT a14
COLUMN START_TIME FORMAT a40

SELECT TARGET, TARGET_TYPE, JOB_NAME,

TO_CHAR(START_TIME, 'dd-mon-yyyy hh24:mi:ss')
FROM DBA_OPTSTAT_OPERATION_TASKS
WHERE STATUS = 'IN PROGRESS'
AND OPID = (SELECT MAX(ID)
FROM DBA_OPTSTAT_OPERATIONS
WHERE OPERATION = 'gather_schema_stats');

TARGET TARGET_TYPE JOB_NAME TO_CHAR(START_TIME,'

--------- ------------------------- -------------- --------------------
SH.SALES TABLE (GLOBAL STATS ONLY) ST$T292_1_B29 30-nov-2012 14:22:47
SH.SALES TABLE (COORDINATOR JOB) ST$SD290_1_B10 30-nov-2012 14:22:08

8. In the original session, disable concurrent statistics gathering.

For example, execute the following query:
EXEC DBMS_STATS.SET_GLOBAL_PREFS('CONCURRENT','OFF');

See Also:

• “Monitoring Statistics Gathering Operations”

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn how to use the
DBMS_STATS.SET_GLOBAL_PREFS procedure

Configuring the System for Parallel Execution and Concurrent Statistics Gathering
When CONCURRENT statistics gathering is enabled, you can execute each statistics
gathering job in parallel. This combination is useful when you are analyzing large

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Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually

tables, partitions, or subpartitions. This topic describes the recommended

configuration.

To configure the system for parallel execution and concurrent statistics

gathering:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the administrator privileges.

2. Disable the parallel adaptive multiuser initialization parameter.

For example, use the following SQL statement:
ALTER SYSTEM SET PARALLEL_ADAPTIVE_MULTI_USER=false;

3. Configure the database to use a resource plan that has parallel queuing enabled.
Perform the following steps:

a. If Oracle Database Resource Manager (the Resource Manager) is not

activated, then activate it. By default, the Resource Manager is activated only
during the maintenance windows.

b. Create a temporary resource plan in which the consumer group

OTHER_GROUPS has queuing enabled.
The following sample script illustrates one way to create a temporary resource
plan (pqq_test), and enable the Resource Manager with this plan:
BEGIN
DBMS_RESOURCE_MANAGER.CREATE_PENDING_AREA();
DBMS_RESOURCE_MANAGER.CREATE_PLAN('pqq_test', 'pqq_test');
DBMS_RESOURCE_MANAGER.CREATE_PLAN_DIRECTIVE(
'pqq_test'
, 'OTHER_GROUPS'
, 'OTHER_GROUPS directive for pqq'
, parallel_server_limit => 90
, max_utilization_limit => 90
);
DBMS_RESOURCE_MANAGER.SUBMIT_PENDING_AREA();
END;
/
ALTER SYSTEM SET RESOURCE_MANAGER_PLAN = 'pqq_test' SID='*';

See Also:

• Oracle Database Administrator’s Guide to learn how to manage resources

with the Resource Manager

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the

PARALLEL_ADAPTIVE_MULTI_USER initialization parameter

Monitoring Statistics Gathering Operations

To monitor statistics gathering jobs, use the following views:

• DBA_OPTSTAT_OPERATION_TASKS
This view contains the history of tasks that are performed or currently in progress
as part of statistics gathering operations (recorded in

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 Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually

DBA_OPTSTAT_OPERATIONS). Each task represents a target object to be processed

in the corresponding parent operation.

• DBA_OPTSTAT_OPERATIONS
This view contains a history of statistics operations performed or currently in
progress at the table, schema, and database level using the DBMS_STATS package.
The TARGET column in the preceding views shows the target object for that statistics
gathering job in the following form:
OWNER.TABLE_NAME.PARTITION_OR_SUBPARTITION_NAME

All statistics gathering job names start with the string ST$.

To display currently running statistics tasks and jobs:

• To list statistics gathering currently running tasks from all user sessions, use the
following SQL statement (sample output included):
SELECT OPID, TARGET, JOB_NAnME,
(SYSTIMESTAMP - START_TIME) AS elapsed_time
FROM DBA_OPTSTAT_OPERATION_TASKS
WHERE STATUS = 'IN PROGRESS';

OPID TARGET JOB_NAME ELAPSED_TIME

---- ------------------------- ------------- --------------------------
981 SH.SALES.SALES_Q4_1998 ST$T82_1_B29 +000000000 00:00:00.596321
981 SH.SALES ST$SD80_1_B10 +000000000 00:00:27.972033

To display completed statistics tasks and jobs:

• To list only completed tasks and jobs from a particular operation, first identify the
operation ID from the DBA_OPTSTAT_OPERATIONS view based on the statistics
gathering operation name, target, and start time. After you identify the operation
ID, you can query the DBA_OPTSTAT_OPERATION_TASKS view to find the
corresponding tasks in that operation
For example, to list operations with the ID 981, use the following commands in
SQL*Plus (sample output included):
VARIABLE id NUMBER
EXEC :id := 985

SELECT TARGET, JOB_NAME, (END_TIME - START_TIME) AS ELAPSED_TIME

FROM DBA_OPTSTAT_OPERATION_TASKS
WHERE STATUS <> 'IN PROGRESS'
AND OPID = :id;

TARGET JOB_NAME ELAPSED_TIME

------------------------- ------------- --------------------------
SH.SALES_TRANSACTIONS_EXT +000000000 00:00:45.479233
SH.CAL_MONTH_SALES_MV ST$SD88_1_B10 +000000000 00:00:45.382764
SH.CHANNELS ST$SD88_1_B10 +000000000 00:00:45.307397

To display statistics gathering tasks and jobs that have failed:

• Use the following SQL statement (partial sample output included):

SET LONG 10000

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Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually

SELECT TARGET, JOB_NAME,

(END_TIME - START_TIME) AS ELAPSED_TIME, NOTES
FROM DBA_OPTSTAT_OPERATION_TASKS
WHERE STATUS = 'FAILED';

TARGET JOB_NAME ELAPSED_TIME NOTES

------------------ -------- -------------------------- ----------------------
SYS.OPATCH_XML_INV +000000007 02:36:31.130314 <error>ORA-20011:
Approximate NDV failed:
ORA-29913: error in
.
.
.

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference to learn about the DBA_SCHEDULER_JOBS view

Gathering Incremental Statistics on Partitioned Objects

Incremental statistics scan only changed partitions. Starting in Oracle Database 11g,
incremental statistics maintenance improves the performance of gathering statistics
on large partitioned table by deriving global statistics from partition-level statistics.
This section contains the following topics:

• Purpose of Incremental Statistics

• How Incremental Statistics Maintenance Derives Global Statistics

• How to Enable Incremental Statistics Maintenance

• Maintaining Incremental Statistics for Partition Maintenance Operations

• Maintaining Incremental Statistics for Tables with Stale or Locked Partition

Statistics

Purpose of Incremental Statistics

In a typical case, an application loads data into a new partition of a range-partitioned
table. As applications add new partitions and load data, the database must gather
statistics on the new partition and keep global statistics up to date.
Without incremental statistics, statistics collection typically uses a two-pass approach:

1. The database scans the table to gather the global statistics.

2. The database scans the changed partitions to gather their partition-level statistics.
The full scan of the table for global statistics collection can be very expensive,
depending on the size of the table. As the table adds partitions, the longer the
execution time for GATHER_TABLE_STATS because of the full table scan required for
the global statistics. The database must perform the scan of the entire table even if only
a small subset of partitions change. In contrast, incremental statistics enable the
database to avoid these full table scans.

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How Incremental Statistics Maintenance Derives Global Statistics

When incremental statistics maintenance is enabled, the database gathers statistics and
creates synopses for changed partitions only. The database also automatically merges
partition-level synopses into a global synopsis, and derives global statistics from the
partition-level statistics and global synopses.
Starting in Oracle Database 11g, the database avoids a full table scan when computing
global statistics by deriving global statistics from the partition statistics. The database
can accurately derive some statistics from partition statistics. For example, the number
of rows at the global level is the sum of number of rows of partitions. Even global
histograms can be derived from partition histograms.
However, the database cannot derive all statistics from partition-level statistics,
including theNDV of a column. The following example shows the NDV for two
partitions in a table:

Object Column Values NDV

Partition 1 1,3,3,4,5 4
Partition 2 2,3,4,5,6 5

Calculating the NDV in the table by adding the NDV of the individual partitions
produces an NDV of 9, which is incorrect. To solve this problem, the database
maintains a structure called a synopsis for each column at the partition level. A
synopsis can be viewed as a sample of distinct values. The database can accurately
derive the NDV for each column by merging partition-level synopses. In this example,
the database can correctly calculate the NDV as 6.
Example 12-3 Deriving Global Statistics
The following graphic shows how the database gathers statistics for the initial six
partitions of the sales table, and then creates synopses for each partition (S1, S2, and
so on). The database creates global statistics by aggregating the partition-level
statistics and synopses.

1 The database gathers partition-level

Sales Table statistics, and creates synopses

May 18 2012 S1
2 The database generates
1
global statistics by
May 19 2012 S2 aggregating partition-level
statistics and synopses

May 20 2012 S3
Global
Statistics
May 21 2012 S4

May 22 2012 S5

May 23 2012 S6
Sysaux
Tablespace

The following graphic shows a new partition, containing data for May 24, being added
to the sales table. The database gathers statistics for the newly added partition,

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Basic Topics 12-29

Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually

retrieves synopses for the other partitions, and then aggregates the synopses to create
global statistics.

Sales Table

May 18 2012 S1
1 The database generates
6
global statistics by
May 19 2012 S2 aggregating partition-level
synopses.

May 20 2012 S3
Global
Statistics
May 21 2012 S4

May 22 2012 S5 1 The database retrieves

5
statistics and synopses
for other partitions.
May 23 2012 S6

May 24 2012 S7

1 The table adds a

3 1 The database gathers statistics
4
new partition. and synopses for the new partition.

Sysaux
Tablespace

How to Enable Incremental Statistics Maintenance

Use DBMS_STATS.SET_TABLE_PREFS to set the INCREMENTAL value, and in this
way control incremental statistics maintenance. When INCREMENTAL is set to false
(default), the database always uses a full table scan to maintain global statistics. When
the following criteria are met, the database updates global statistics incrementally by
scanning only the partitions that have changed:

• The INCREMENTAL value for the partitioned table is true.

• The PUBLISH value for the partitioned table is true.

• The user specifies AUTO_SAMPLE_SIZE for ESTIMATE_PERCENT and AUTO for

GRANULARITY when gathering statistics on the table.
Enabling incremental statistics maintenance has the following consequences:

• The SYSAUX tablespace consumes additional space to maintain global statistics for
partitioned tables.

• If a table uses composite partitioning, then the database only gathers statistics for
modified subpartitions. The database does not gather statistics at the subpartition
level for unmodified subpartitions. In this way, the database reduces work by
skipping unmodified partitions.

• If a table uses incremental statistics, and if this table has a locally partitioned index,
then the database gathers index statistics at the global level and for modified (not
unmodified) index partitions. The database does not generate global index statistics
from the partition-level index statistics. Rather, the database gathers global index
statistics by performing a full index scan.

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See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn more about
DBMS_STATS

Maintaining Incremental Statistics for Partition Maintenance Operations

A partition maintenance operation is a partition-related operation such as adding,
exchanging, merging, or splitting table partitions. Oracle Database 12c introduces the
following enhancements for maintaining incremental statistics:

• If a partition maintenance operation triggers statistics gathering, then the database

can reuse synopses that would previously have been dropped with the old
segments.

• DBMS_STATS can create a synopsis on a nonpartitioned table. The synopsis enables

the database to maintain incremental statistics as part of a partition exchange
operation without having to explicitly gather statistics on the partition after the
exchange.
When the DBMS_STATS preference INCREMENTAL is set to true on a table, the
INCREMENTAL_LEVEL preference controls which synopses are collected and when.
This preference takes the following values:

• TABLE
DBMS_STATS gathers table-level synopses on this table. You can only set
INCREMENTAL_LEVEL to TABLE at the table level, not at the schema, database, or
global level.

• PARTITION (default)
DBMS_STATS only gathers synopsis at the partition level of partitioned tables.
When performing a partition exchange, to have synopses after the exchange for the
partition being exchanged, set INCREMENTAL to true and INCREMENTAL_LEVEL to
TABLE on the table to be exchanged with the partition.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You want to load empty partition p_sales_01_2010 in a sales table.

• You create a staging table t_sales_01_2010, and then populate the table.

• You want the database to maintain incremental statistics as part of the partition
exchange operation without having to explicitly gather statistics on the partition
after the exchange.

To maintain incremental statistics as part of a partition exchange operation:

1. Set incremental statistics preferences for staging table t_sales_01_2010.

For example, run the following statement:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.SET_TABLE_PREFS (
'sh'

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Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually

, 't_sales_01_2010'
, 'INCREMENTAL'
, 'true'
);
DBMS_STATS.SET_TABLE_PREFS (
'sh'
, 't_sales_01_2010'
, 'INCREMENTAL_LEVEL'
, 'table'
);
END;

2. Gather statistics on staging table t_sales_01_2010.

For example, run the following PL/SQL code:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS (
ownname => 'SH'
, tabname => 'T_SALES_01_2010'
);
END;
/

DBMS_STATS gathers table-level synopses on t_sales_01_2010.

3. Ensure that the INCREMENTAL preference is true on the sh.sales table.

For example, run the following PL/SQL code:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.SET_TABLE_PREFS (
'sh'
, 'sales'
, 'INCREMENTAL'
, 'true'
);
END;
/

4. If you have never gathered statistics on sh.sales before with INCREMENTAL set
to true, then gather statistics on the partition to be exchanged.
For example, run the following PL/SQL code:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS (
'sh'
, 'sales'
, 'p_sales_01_2010'
, granularity=>'partition'
);
END;
/

5. Perform the partition exchange.

For example, use the following SQL statement:
ALTER TABLE sales EXCHANGE PARTITION p_sales_01_2010 WITH TABLE t_sales_01_2010

After the exchange, the partitioned table has both statistics and a synopsis for
partition p_sales_01_2010.

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 Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually

In releases before Oracle Database 12c, the preceding statement swapped the
segment data and statistics of p_sales_01_2010 with t_sales_01_2010. The
database did not maintain synopses for nonpartitioned tables such as
t_sales_01_2010. To gather global statistics on the partitioned table, you
needed to rescan the p_sales_01_2010 partition to obtain its synopses.

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn more about
DBMS_STATS.SET_TABLE_PREFS

Maintaining Incremental Statistics for Tables with Stale or Locked Partition Statistics
Starting in Oracle Database 12c, incremental statistics can automatically calculate
global statistics for a partitioned table even if the partition or subpartition statistics are
stale and locked.
When incremental statistics are enabled in releases before Oracle Database 12c, if any
DML occurs on a partition, then the optimizer considers statistics on this partition to
be stale. Thus, DBMS_STATS must gather the statistics again to accurately aggregate
the global statistics. Furthermore, if DML occurs on a partition whose statistics are
locked, then DBMS_STATS cannot regather the statistics on the partition, so a full table
scan is the only means of gathering global statistics. The necessity to regather statistics
creates performance overhead.
In Oracle Database 12c, the statistics preference INCREMENTAL_STALENESS controls
how the database determines whether the statistics on a partition or subpartition are
stale. This preference takes the following values:

• USE_STALE_PERCENT
A partition or subpartition is not considered stale if DML changes are less than the
STALE_PERCENT preference specified for the table. The default value of
STALE_PERCENT is 10, which means that if DML causes more than 10% of row
changes, then the table is considered stale.

• USE_LOCKED_STATS
Locked partition or subpartition statistics are not considered stale, regardless of
DML changes.

• NULL (default)
A partition or subpartition is considered stale if it has any DML changes. This
behavior is identical to the Oracle Database 11g behavior. When the default value is
used, statistics gathered in incremental mode are guaranteed to be the same as
statistics gathered in nonincremental mode. When a nondefault value is used,
statistics gathered in incremental mode might be less accurate than those gathered
in nonincremental mode.
You can specify USE_STALE_PERCENT and USE_LOCKED_STATS together. For
example, you can write the following anonymous block:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.SET_TABLE_PREFS (
null
, 't'
, 'incremental_staleness'
, 'use_stale_percent, use_locked_stats'

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Basic Topics 12-33

Gathering Optimizer Statistics Manually

);
END;

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• The STALE_PERCENT for a partitioned table is set to 10.

• The INCREMENTAL value is set to true.

• The table has had statistics gathered in INCREMENTAL mode before.

• You want to discover how statistics gathering changes depending on the setting for
INCREMENTAL_STALENESS, whether the statistics are locked, and the percentage
of DML changes.

To test for tables with stale or locked partition statistics:

1. Set INCREMENTAL_STALENESS to NULL.

Afterward, 5% of the rows in one partition change because of DML activity.

2. Use DBMS_STATS to gather statistics on the table.

DBMS_STATS regathers statistics for the partition that had the 5% DML activity,
and incrementally maintains the global statistics.

3. Set INCREMENTAL_STALENESS to USE_STALE_PERCENT.

Afterward, 5% of the rows in one partition change because of DML activity.

4. Use DBMS_STATS to gather statistics on the table.

DBMS_STATS does not regather statistics for the partition that had DML activity
(because the changes are under the staleness threshold of 10%), and incrementally
maintains the global statistics.

5. Lock the partition statistics.

Afterward, 20% of the rows in one partition change because of DML activity.

6. Use DBMS_STATS to gather statistics on the table.

DBMS_STATS does not regather statistics for the partition because the statistics are
locked. The database gathers the global statistics with a full table scan.
Afterward, 5% of the rows in one partition change because of DML activity.

7. Use DBMS_STATS to gather statistics on the table.

When you gather statistics on this table, DBMS_STATS does not regather statistics
for the partition because they are not considered stale. The database maintains
global statistics incrementally using the existing statistics for this partition.

8. Set INCREMENTAL_STALENESS to USE_LOCKED_STATS and

USE_STALE_PERCENT.
Afterward, 20% of the rows in one partition change because of DML activity.

9. Use DBMS_STATS to gather statistics on the table.

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 Gathering System Statistics Manually

Because USE_LOCKED_STATS is set, DBMS_STATS ignores the fact that the

statistics are stale and uses the locked statistics. The database maintains global
statistics incrementally using the existing statistics for this partition.

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn more about
DBMS_STATS.SET_TABLE_PREFS

Gathering System Statistics Manually

System statistics describe the system's hardware characteristics, such as I/O and CPU
performance and utilization, to the optimizer. System statistics enable the optimizer to
choose a more efficient execution plan. Oracle recommends that you gather system
statistics when a physical change occurs in the environment, for example, the server
has faster CPUs, more memory, or different disk storage.

About Gathering System Statistics with DBMS_STATS

To gather system statistics, use DBMS_STATS.GATHER_SYSTEM_STATS. When the
database gathers system statistics, it analyzes activity in a specified time period
(workload statistics) or simulates a workload (noworkload statistics). The input
arguments to DBMS_STATS.GATHER_SYSTEM_STATS are:

• NOWORKLOAD
The optimizer gathers statistics based on system characteristics only, without
regard to the workload.

• INTERVAL
After the specified number of minutes has passed, the optimizer updates system
statistics either in the data dictionary, or in an alternative table (specified by
stattab). Statistics are based on system activity during the specified interval.

• START and STOP

START initiates gathering statistics. STOP calculates statistics for the elapsed period
(since START) and refreshes the data dictionary or an alternative table (specified by
stattab). The optimizer ignores INTERVAL.

• EXADATA
The system statistics consider the unique capabilities provided by using Exadata,
such as large I/O size and high I/O throughput. The optimizer sets the multiblock
read count and I/O throughput statistics along with CPU speed.
Table 12-4 lists the optimizer system statistics gathered by DBMS_STATS and the
options for gathering or manually setting specific system statistics.

Table 12-4 Optimizer System Statistics in the DBMS_STAT Package

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Basic Topics 12-35

Gathering System Statistics Manually

Table 12-4 (Cont.) Optimizer System Statistics in the DBMS_STAT Package

Parameter Description Initialization Options for Gathering Unit

Name or Setting Statistics
cpuspeedNW Represents At system Set gathering_mode Millions/
noworkload CPU startup = NOWORKLOAD or set sec.
speed. CPU speed is statistics manually.
the average number
of CPU cycles in each
second.

ioseektim Represents the time At system Set gathering_mode ms

it takes to position startup = NOWORKLOAD or set
the disk head to read 10 (default) statistics manually.
data. I/O seek time
equals seek time +
latency time +
operating system
overhead time.

iotfrspeed Represents the rate at At system Set gathering_mode Bytes/ms

which an Oracle startup = NOWORKLOAD or set
database can read 4096 (default) statistics manually.
data in the single
read request.

cpuspeed Represents workload None Set gathering_mode Millions/

CPU speed. CPU = NOWORKLOAD, sec.
speed is the average INTERVAL, or
number of CPU START|STOP, or set
cycles in each statistics manually.
second.

maxthr Maximum I/O None Set gathering_mode Bytes/

throughput is the = NOWORKLOAD, sec.
maximum INTERVAL, or
throughput that the START|STOP, or set
I/O subsystem can statistics manually.
deliver.

slavethr Slave I/O None Set gathering_mode Bytes/

throughput is the = INTERVAL or sec.
average parallel START|STOP, or set
execution server I/O statistics manually.
throughput.

sreadtim Single-block read None Set gathering_mode ms

time is the average = INTERVAL or
time to read a single START|STOP, or set
block randomly. statistics manually.

mreadtim Multiblock read is None Set gathering_mode ms

the average time to = INTERVAL or
read a multiblock START|STOP, or set
sequentially. statistics manually.

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 Gathering System Statistics Manually

Table 12-4 (Cont.) Optimizer System Statistics in the DBMS_STAT Package

Parameter Description Initialization Options for Gathering Unit

Name or Setting Statistics
mbrc Multiblock count is None Set gathering_mode blocks
the average = INTERVAL or
multiblock read START|STOP, or set
count sequentially. statistics manually.

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for detailed information
on the procedures in the DBMS_STATS package for implementing system
statistics

Guidelines for Gathering System Statistics

The database automatically gathers essential parts of system statistics at startup. CPU
and I/O characteristics tend to remain constant over time. Typically, these
characteristics only change when some aspect of the configuration is upgraded. For
this reason, Oracle recommends that you gather system statistics only when a physical
change occurs in your environment, for example, the server gets faster CPUs, more
memory, or different disk storage.
Note the following guidelines:

• Oracle Database initializes noworkload statistics to default values at the first

instance startup. Oracle recommends that you gather noworkload statistics after
you create new tablespaces on storage that is not used by any other tablespace.

• The best practice is to capture statistics in the interval of time when the system has
the most common workload. Gathering workload statistics does not generate
additional overhead.

Gathering Workload Statistics

Use DBMS_STATS.GATHER_SYSTEM_STATS to capture statistics when the database
has the most typical workload. For example, database applications can process OLTP
transactions during the day and generate OLAP reports at night.

About Workload Statistics

Workload statistics include the following statistics listed in Table 12-4:

• Single block (sreadtim) and multiblock (mreadtim) read times

• Multiblock count (mbrc)

• CPU speed (cpuspeed)

• Maximum system throughput (maxthr)

• Average parallel execution throughput (slavethr)

The database computes sreadtim, mreadtim, and mbrc by comparing the number
of physical sequential and random reads between two points in time from the

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Basic Topics 12-37

Gathering System Statistics Manually

beginning to the end of a workload. The database implements these values through
counters that change when the buffer cache completes synchronous read requests.
Because the counters are in the buffer cache, they include not only I/O delays, but also
waits related to latch contention and task switching. Thus, workload statistics depend
on system activity during the workload window. If system is I/O bound (both latch
contention and I/O throughput), then the statistics promote a less I/O-intensive plan
after the database uses the statistics.
As shown in Figure 12-1, if you gather workload statistics, then the optimizer uses the
mbrc value gathered for workload statistics to estimate the cost of a full table scan.

Figure 12-1 Workload Statistics Counters

Database Buffer Cache Optimizer

Counters for Workload Estimate

Statistics costs of
full table
mreadtim scans
mbrc May not be
available if
sreadtim no full table May use if mbrc and mreadtim
cpuspeed scans occur are not available
maxthr
slavethr
DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT

When gathering workload statistics, the database may not gather the mbrc and
mreadtim values if no table scans occur during serial workloads, as is typical of OLTP
systems. However, full table scans occur frequently on DSS systems. These scans may
run parallel and bypass the buffer cache. In such cases, the database still gathers the
sreadtim because index lookups use the buffer cache.
If the database cannot gather or validate gathered mbrc or mreadtim values, but has
gathered sreadtim and cpuspeed, then the database uses only sreadtim and
cpuspeed for costing. In this case, the optimizer uses the value of the initialization
parameter DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT to cost a full table scan. However, if
DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT is 0 or is not set, then the optimizer uses a
value of 8 for calculating cost.
Use the DBMS_STATS.GATHER_SYSTEM_STATS procedure to gather workload
statistics. The GATHER_SYSTEM_STATS procedure refreshes the data dictionary or a
staging table with statistics for the elapsed period. To set the duration of the collection,
use either of the following techniques:

• Specify START the beginning of the workload window, and then STOP at the end of
the workload window.

• Specify INTERVAL and the number of minutes before statistics gathering

automatically stops. If needed, you can use GATHER_SYSTEM_STATS
(gathering_mode=>'STOP') to end gathering earlier than scheduled.

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
initialization parameter DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT

12-38 SQL Tuning Guide

 Gathering System Statistics Manually

Starting and Stopping System Statistics Gathering

This tutorial explains how to set the workload interval with the START and STOP
parameters of GATHER_SYSTEM_STATS.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• The hour between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. is representative of the daily workload.

• You intend to collect system statistics directly in the data dictionary.

To gather workload statistics using START and STOP:

1. Start SQL*Plus and connect to the database with administrator privileges.

2. Start statistics collection.

For example, at 10 a.m., execute the following procedure to start collection:
EXECUTE DBMS_STATS.GATHER_SYSTEM_STATS( gathering_mode => 'START' );

3. Generate the workload.

4. End statistics collection.

For example, at 11 a.m., execute the following procedure to end collection:
EXECUTE DBMS_STATS.GATHER_SYSTEM_STATS( gathering_mode => 'STOP' );

The optimizer can now use the workload statistics to generate execution plans
that are effective during the normal daily workload.

5. Optionally, query the system statistics.

For example, run the following query:
COL PNAME FORMAT a15
SELECT PNAME, PVAL1
FROM SYS.AUX_STATS$
WHERE SNAME = 'SYSSTATS_MAIN';

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_SYSTEM_STATS procedure

Gathering System Statistics During a Specified Interval

This tutorial explains how to set the workload interval with the INTERVAL parameter
of GATHER_SYSTEM_STATS.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Basic Topics 12-39

Gathering System Statistics Manually

• The database application processes OLTP transactions during the day and runs
OLAP reports at night. To gather representative statistics, you collect them during
the day for two hours and then at night for two hours.

• You want to store statistics in a table named workload_stats.

• You intend to switch between the statistics gathered.

To gather workload statistics using INTERVAL:

1. Start SQL*Plus and connect to the production database as administrator dba1.

2. Create a table to hold the production statistics.

For example, execute the following PL/SQL program to create user statistics table
workload_stats:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.CREATE_STAT_TABLE (
ownname => 'dba1'
, stattab => 'workload_stats'
);
END;
/

3. Ensure that JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES is not 0 so that DBMS_JOB jobs and Oracle

Scheduler jobs run.
ALTER SYSTEM SET JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES = 1;

4. Gather statistics during the day.

For example, gather statistics for two hours with the following program:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_SYSTEM_STATS (
interval => 120
, stattab => 'workload_stats'
, statid => 'OLTP'
);
END;
/

5. Gather statistics during the evening.

For example, gather statistics for two hours with the following program:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_SYSTEM_STATS (
interval => 120
, stattab => 'workload_stats'
, statid => 'OLAP'
);
END;
/

6. In the day or evening, import the appropriate statistics into the data dictionary.
For example, during the day you can import the OLTP statistics from the staging
table into the dictionary with the following program:
BEGIN
EXECUTE DBMS_STATS.IMPORT_SYSTEM_STATS (

12-40 SQL Tuning Guide

 Gathering System Statistics Manually

stattab => 'workload_stats'

, statid => 'OLTP'
);
END;
/

For example, during the night you can import the OLAP statistics from the
staging table into the dictionary with the following program:
BEGIN
EXECUTE DBMS_STATS.IMPORT_SYSTEM_STATS (
stattab => 'workload_stats'
, statid => 'OLAP'
);
END;
/

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_SYSTEM_STATS procedure

Gathering Noworkload Statistics

Noworkload statistics capture characteristics of the I/O system. By default, Oracle
Database uses noworkload statistics and the CPU cost model. The values of
noworkload statistics are initialized to defaults at the first instance startup. You can
also use the DBMS_STATS.GATHER_SYSTEM_STATS procedure to gather noworkload
statistics manually.
Noworkload statistics include the following system statistics listed in Table 12-4:

• I/O transfer speed (iotfrspeed)

• I/O seek time (ioseektim)

• CPU speed (cpuspeednw)

The major difference between workload statistics and noworkload statistics is in the
gathering method. Noworkload statistics gather data by submitting random reads
against all data files, whereas workload statistics uses counters updated when
database activity occurs. If you gather workload statistics, then Oracle Database uses
them instead of noworkload statistics.
To gather noworkload statistics, run DBMS_STATS.GATHER_SYSTEM_STATS with no
arguments or with the gathering mode set to noworkload. There is an overhead on
the I/O system during the gathering process of noworkload statistics. The gathering
process may take from a few seconds to several minutes, depending on I/O
performance and database size.
When you gather noworkload statistics, the database analyzes the information and
verifies it for consistency. In some cases, the values of noworkload statistics may retain
their default values. You can either gather the statistics again, or use
SET_SYSTEM_STATS to set the values manually to the I/O system specifications.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes that you want to gather noworkload statistics manually.

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Basic Topics 12-41

Gathering System Statistics Manually

To gather noworkload statistics manually:

1. Start SQL*Plus and connect to the database with administrator privileges.

2. Gather the noworkload statistics.

For example, run the following statement:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_SYSTEM_STATS (
gathering_mode => 'NOWORKLOAD'
);
END;

3. Optionally, query the system statistics.

For example, run the following query:
COL PNAME FORMAT a15

SELECT PNAME, PVAL1

FROM SYS.AUX_STATS$
WHERE SNAME = 'SYSSTATS_MAIN';

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_SYSTEM_STATS procedure

Deleting System Statistics

Use the DBMS_STATS.DELETE_SYSTEM_STATS function to delete system statistics.
This procedure deletes workload statistics collected using the INTERVAL or START
and STOP options, and then resets the default to noworkload statistics. However, if the
stattab parameter specifies a table for storing statistics, then the subprogram deletes
all system statistics with the associated statid from the statistics table.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You gathered statistics for a specific intensive workload, but no longer want the
optimizer to use these statistics.

• You stored workload statistics in the default location, not in a user-specified table.

To delete system statistics:

1. Start SQL*Plus and connect to the database as a user with administrative

privileges.

2. Delete the system statistics.

For example, run the following statement:
EXEC DBMS_STATS.DELETE_SYSTEM_STATS;

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 Gathering System Statistics Manually

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.DELETE_SYSTEM_STATS procedure

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Basic Topics 12-43

Gathering System Statistics Manually

12-44 SQL Tuning Guide

 13
Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced
Topics

This chapter explains advanced concepts and tasks relating to optimizer statistics
management, including extended statistics.
This chapter contains the following topics:

• Controlling Dynamic Statistics

• Publishing Pending Optimizer Statistics

• Managing Extended Statistics

• Locking and Unlocking Optimizer Statistics

• Restoring Optimizer Statistics

• Managing Optimizer Statistics Retention

• Importing and Exporting Optimizer Statistics

• Running Statistics Gathering Functions in Reporting Mode

• Reporting on Past Statistics Gathering Operations

• Managing SQL Plan Directives

See Also:

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Basic Topics

Controlling Dynamic Statistics

By default, when optimizer statistics are missing, stale, or insufficient, dynamic
statistics automatically run recursive SQL during parsing to scan a small random
sample of table blocks.
This section contains the following topics:

• About Dynamic Statistics Levels

• Setting Dynamic Statistics Levels Manually

• Disabling Dynamic Statistics

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics 13-1

Controlling Dynamic Statistics

See Also:

“Dynamic Statistics”

About Dynamic Statistics Levels

The dynamic statistics level controls both when the database gathers dynamic
statistics, and the size of the sample that the optimizer uses to gather the statistics. Set
the dynamic statistics level using either the OPTIMIZER_DYNAMIC_SAMPLING
initialization parameter (dynamic statistics were called dynamic sampling in releases
earlier than Oracle Database 12c) or a statement hint.
Dynamic statistics are enabled in the database by default. Table 13-1 describes the
levels. The default level is 2.

Table 13-1 Dynamic Statistics Levels

Level When the Optimizer Uses Dynamic Statistics Sample Size (Blocks)
0 Do not use dynamic statistics n/a

1 Use dynamic statistics for all tables that do not have 32

statistics, but only if the following criteria are met:
• There is at least 1 nonpartitioned table in the query that
does not have statistics.
• This table has no indexes.
• This table has more blocks than the number of blocks
that would be used for dynamic statistics of this table.

2 Use dynamic statistics if at least one table in the statement 64

has no statistics. This is the default setting.

3 Use dynamic statistics if any of the following conditions is 64

true:
• The statement meets level 2 criteria.
• The statement has one or more expressions used in the
WHERE clause predicates, for example, WHERE
SUBSTR(CUSTLASTNAME,1,3).

4 Use dynamic statistics if any of the following conditions is 64

true:
• The statement meets level 3 criteria.
• The statement uses complex predicates (an OR or AND
operator between multiple predicates on the same
table).

5 Use dynamic statistics if the statement meets level 4 criteria. 128

6 Use dynamic statistics if the statement meets level 4 criteria. 256

7 Use dynamic statistics if the statement meets level 4 criteria. 512

8 Use dynamic statistics if the statement meets level 4 criteria. 1024

9 Use dynamic statistics if the statement meets level 4 criteria. 4086

10 Use dynamic statistics if the statement meets level 4 criteria. All blocks

13-2 SQL Tuning Guide

 Controlling Dynamic Statistics

Table 13-1 (Cont.) Dynamic Statistics Levels

Level When the Optimizer Uses Dynamic Statistics Sample Size (Blocks)
11 Use dynamic statistics automatically when the optimizer Automatically
deems it necessary. The resulting statistics are persistent in determined
the statistics repository, making them available to other
queries.

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference to learn about the OPTIMIZER_DYNAMIC_SAMPLING

initialization parameter

Setting Dynamic Statistics Levels Manually

When setting the level for dynamic statistics, the best practice is to use ALTER
SESSION to set the value for the OPTIMIZER_DYNAMIC_SAMPLING initialization
parameter. Determining a systemwide setting that would be beneficial to all SQL
statements can be difficult.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You want correct selectivity estimates for the following query, which has WHERE
clause predicates on two correlated columns:
SELECT *
FROM sh.customers
WHERE cust_city='Los Angeles'
AND cust_state_province='CA';

• The preceding query uses serial processing.

• The sh.customers table contains 932 rows that meet the conditions in the query.

• You have gathered statistics on the sh.customers table.

• You created an index on the cust_city and cust_state_province columns.

• The OPTIMIZER_DYNAMIC_SAMPLING initialization parameter is set to the default

level of 2.

To set the dynamic statistics level manually:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then
explain the execution plan as follows:
EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
SELECT *
FROM sh.customers
WHERE cust_city='Los Angeles'
AND cust_state_province='CA';

2. Query the plan as follows:

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics 13-3

Controlling Dynamic Statistics

SET LINESIZE 130

SET PAGESIZE 0
SELECT *
FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY);

The output appears below (the example has been reformatted to fit on the page):
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost | Time |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | 53| 9593|53(0)|00:00:01|
| 1| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID|CUSTOMERS | 53| 9593|53(0)|00:00:01|
|*2| INDEX RANGE SCAN |CUST_CITY_STATE_IND| 53| 9593| 3(0)|00:00:01|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

2 - access("CUST_CITY"='Los Angeles' AND "CUST_STATE_PROVINCE"='CA')

The columns in the WHERE clause have a real-world correlation, but the optimizer
is not aware that Los Angeles is in California and assumes both predicates reduce
the number of rows returned. Thus, the table contains 932 rows that meet the
conditions, but the optimizer estimates 53, as shown in bold.
If the database had used dynamic statistics for this plan, then the Note section of
the plan output would have indicated this fact. The optimizer did not use
dynamic statistics because the statement executed serially, standard statistics
exist, and the parameter OPTIMIZER_DYNAMIC_SAMPLING is set to the default of
2.

3. Set the dynamic statistics level to 4 in the session using the following statement:
ALTER SESSION SET OPTIMIZER_DYNAMIC_SAMPLING=4;

4. Explain the plan again:

EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
SELECT *
FROM sh.customers
WHERE cust_city='Los Angeles'
AND cust_state_province='CA';

The new plan shows a more accurate estimate of the number of rows, as shown by
the value 932 in bold:
PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plan hash value: 2008213504

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name |Rows | Bytes |Cost (%CPU)|Time |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 932 | 271K| 406 (1)| 00:00:05 |
|* 1 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| CUSTOMERS | 932 | 271K| 406 (1)| 00:00:05 |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

1 - filter("CUST_CITY"='Los Angeles' AND "CUST_STATE_PROVINCE"='CA')

13-4 SQL Tuning Guide

 Publishing Pending Optimizer Statistics

Note
-----
- dynamic statistics used for this statement (level=4)

The note at the bottom of the plan indicates that the sampling level is 4. The
additional dynamic statistics made the optimizer aware of the real-world
relationship between the cust_city and cust_state_province columns,
thereby enabling it to produce a more accurate estimate for the number of rows:
932 rather than 53.

See Also:

• Oracle Database SQL Language Reference to learn about setting sampling

levels with the DYNAMIC_SAMPLING hint

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
OPTIMIZER_DYNAMIC_SAMPLING initialization parameter

Disabling Dynamic Statistics

In general, the best practice is not to incur the cost of dynamic statistics for queries
whose compile times must be as fast as possible, for example, unrepeated OLTP
queries. You can disable the feature by setting the OPTIMIZER_DYNAMIC_SAMPLING
initialization parameter.

To disable dynamic statistics at the session level:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges.

2. Set the dynamic statistics level to 0.

For example, run the following statement:
ALTER SESSION SET OPTIMIZER_DYNAMIC_SAMPLING=0;

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
OPTIMIZER_DYNAMIC_SAMPLING initialization parameter

Publishing Pending Optimizer Statistics

By default, the database automatically publishes statistics when the statistics collection
ends. Alternatively, you can use pending statistics to save the statistics and not
publish them immediately after the collection. This technique is useful for testing
queries in a session with pending statistics. When the test results are satisfactory, you
can publish the statistics to make them available for the entire database.

About Pending Optimizer Statistics

The database stores pending statistics in the data dictionary just as for published
statistics. By default, the optimizer uses published statistics. You can change the
default behavior by setting the OPTIMIZER_USE_PENDING_STATISTICS
initialization parameter to true (the default is false).

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics 13-5

Publishing Pending Optimizer Statistics

The top part of Figure 13-1 shows the optimizer gathering statistics for the
sh.customers table and storing them in the data dictionary with pending status.
The bottom part of the diagram shows the optimizer using only published statistics to
process a query of sh.customers.

Figure 13-1 Published and Pending Statistics

Data Dictionary

GATHER_TABLE_STATS Optimizer Statistics

Published
1 0 0 1 1 1 Statistics
0 1 0 0 0 1
Optimizer

0 0 1 0 0 0 Pending
Statistics
1 1 0 0 1 0

Publishing
preferences
set to false

Customers
Table

Data Dictionary

Optimizer Statistics
Optimizer Published
SELECT ... 1 0 0 1 1 1 Statistics
FROM 0 1 0 0 0 1
customers

0 0 1 0 0 0 Pending
Statistics
1 1 0 0 1 0

OPTIMIZER_USE_PENDING_STATISTICS=false

In some cases, the optimizer can use a combination of published and pending
statistics. For example, the database stores both published and pending statistics for
the customers table. For the orders table, the database stores only published
statistics. If OPTIMIZER_USE_PENDING_STATS = true, then the optimizer uses
pending statistics for customers and published statistics for orders. If
OPTIMIZER_USE_PENDING_STATS = false, then the optimizer uses published
statistics for customers and orders.

See Also:
Oracle Database Reference to learn about the
OPTIMIZER_USE_PENDING_STATISTICS initialization parameter

13-6 SQL Tuning Guide

 Publishing Pending Optimizer Statistics

User Interfaces for Publishing Optimizer Statistics

You can use the DBMS_STATS package to perform operations relating to publishing
statistics. Table 13-2 lists the relevant program units.

Table 13-2 DBMS_STATS Program Units Relevant for Publishing Optimizer

Statistics

Program Unit Description

GET_PREFS Check whether the statistics are automatically published
as soon as DBMS_STATS gathers them. For the
parameter PUBLISH, true indicates that the statistics
must be published when the database gathers them,
whereas false indicates that the database must keep
the statistics pending.

SET_TABLE_PREFS Set the PUBLISH setting to true or false at the table

level.

SET_SCHEMA_PREFS Set the PUBLISH setting to true or false at the schema

level.

PUBLISH_PENDING_STATS Publish valid pending statistics for all objects or only

specified objects.

DELETE_PENDING_STATS Delete pending statistics.

EXPORT_PENDING_STATS Export pending statistics.

The initialization parameter OPTIMIZER_USE_PENDING_STATISTICS determines

whether the database uses pending statistics when they are available. The default
value is false, which means that the optimizer uses only published statistics. Set to
true to specify that the optimizer uses any existing pending statistics instead. The
best practice is to set this parameter at the session level rather than at the database
level.
You can use access information about published statistics from data dictionary views.
Table 13-3 lists relevant views.

Table 13-3 Views Relevant for Publishing Optimizer Statistics

View Description
USER_TAB_STATISTICS Displays optimizer statistics for the tables accessible
to the current user.

USER_TAB_COL_STATISTICS Displays column statistics and histogram

information extracted from ALL_TAB_COLUMNS.

USER_PART_COL_STATISTICS Displays column statistics and histogram

information for the table partitions owned by the
current user.

USER_SUBPART_COL_STATISTICS Describes column statistics and histogram

information for subpartitions of partitioned objects
owned by the current user.

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics 13-7

Publishing Pending Optimizer Statistics

Table 13-3 (Cont.) Views Relevant for Publishing Optimizer Statistics

View Description
USER_IND_STATISTICS Displays optimizer statistics for the indexes
accessible to the current user.

USER_TAB_PENDING_STATS Describes pending statistics for tables, partitions,

and subpartitions accessible to the current user.

USER_COL_PENDING_STATS Describes the pending statistics of the columns

accessible to the current user.

USER_IND_PENDING_STATS Describes the pending statistics for tables, partitions,

and subpartitions accessible to the current user
collected using the DBMS_STATS package.

See Also:

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS package

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about USER_TAB_PENDING_STATS and

related views

Managing Published and Pending Statistics

This section explains how to use DBMS_STATS program units to change the publishing
behavior of optimizer statistics, and also to export and delete these statistics.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You want to change the preferences for the sh.customers and sh.sales tables
so that newly collected statistics have pending status.

• You want the current session to use pending statistics.

• You want to gather and publish pending statistics on the sh.customers table.

• You gather the pending statistics on the sh.sales table, but decide to delete them
without publishing them.

• You want to change the preferences for the sh.customers and sh.sales tables
so that newly collected statistics are published.

To manage published and pending statistics:

1. Start SQL*Plus and connect to the database as user sh.

2. Query the global optimizer statistics publishing setting.

Run the following query (sample output included):

13-8 SQL Tuning Guide

 Publishing Pending Optimizer Statistics

sh@PROD> SELECT DBMS_STATS.GET_PREFS('PUBLISH') PUBLISH FROM DUAL;

PUBLISH
-------
TRUE

The value true indicates that the database publishes statistics as it gathers them.
Every table uses this value unless a specific table preference has been set.
When using GET_PREFS, you can also specify a schema and table name. The
function returns a table preference if it is set. Otherwise, the function returns the
global preference.

3. Query the pending statistics.

For example, run the following query (sample output included):
sh@PROD> SELECT * FROM USER_TAB_PENDING_STATS;

no rows selected

This example shows that the database currently stores no pending statistics for the
sh schema.

4. Change the publishing preferences for the sh.customers table.

For example, execute the following procedure so that statistics are marked as
pending:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.SET_TABLE_PREFS('sh', 'customers', 'publish', 'false');
END;
/

Subsequently, when you gather statistics on the customers table, the database
does not automatically publish statistics when the gather job completes. Instead,
the database stores the newly gathered statistics in the
USER_TAB_PENDING_STATS table.

5. Gather statistics for sh.customers.

For example, run the following program:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS('sh','customers');
END;
/

6. Query the pending statistics.

For example, run the following query (sample output included):
sh@PROD> SELECT TABLE_NAME, NUM_ROWS FROM USER_TAB_PENDING_STATS;

TABLE_NAME NUM_ROWS
------------------------------ ----------
CUSTOMERS 55500

This example shows that the database now stores pending statistics for the
sh.customers table.

7. Instruct the optimizer to use the pending statistics in this session.

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics 13-9

Publishing Pending Optimizer Statistics

Set the initialization parameter OPTIMIZER_USE_PENDING_STATISTICS to

true as shown:
ALTER SESSION SET OPTIMIZER_USE_PENDING_STATISTICS = true;

8. Run a workload.
The following example changes the email addresses of all customers named Bruce
Chalmers:
UPDATE sh.customers
SET cust_email='[email protected]'
WHERE cust_first_name = 'Bruce'
AND cust_last_name = 'Chalmers';
COMMIT;

The optimizer uses the pending statistics instead of the published statistics when
compiling all SQL statements in this session.

9. Publish the pending statistics for sh.customers.

For example, execute the following program:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.PUBLISH_PENDING_STATS('SH','CUSTOMERS');
END;
/

10. Change the publishing preferences for the sh.sales table.

For example, execute the following program:

BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.SET_TABLE_PREFS('sh', 'sales', 'publish', 'false');
END;
/

Subsequently, when you gather statistics on the sh.sales table, the database
does not automatically publish statistics when the gather job completes. Instead,
the database stores the statistics in the USER_TAB_PENDING_STATS table.

11. Gather statistics for sh.sales.

For example, run the following program:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS('sh','sales');
END;
/

12. Delete the pending statistics for sh.sales.

Assume you change your mind and now want to delete pending statistics for
sh.sales. Run the following program:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.DELETE_PENDING_STATS('sh','sales');
END;
/

13. Change the publishing preferences for the sh.customers and sh.sales tables
back to their default setting.
For example, execute the following program:

13-10 SQL Tuning Guide

 Managing Extended Statistics

BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.SET_TABLE_PREFS('sh', 'customers', 'publish', null);
DBMS_STATS.SET_TABLE_PREFS('sh', 'sales', 'publish', null);
END;
/

Managing Extended Statistics

DBMS_STATS enables you to collect extended statistics, which are statistics that can
improve cardinality estimates when multiple predicates exist on different columns of a
table, or when predicates use expressions. An extension is either a column group or an
expression.
Oracle Database supports the following types of extended statistics:

• Column group statistics

This type of extended statistics can improve cardinality estimates when multiple
columns from the same table occur together in a SQL statement. An example might
be a car make and model, or a city and state. See “Managing Column Group
Statistics”.

• Expression statistics
This type of extended statistics improves optimizer estimates when predicates use
expressions, for example, built-in or user-defined functions. An example might be
the UPPER function applied to an employee last name. See “Managing Expression
Statistics”.

Note:
You cannot create extended statistics on virtual columns. See Oracle Database
SQL Language Reference for a list of restrictions on virtual columns.

Managing Column Group Statistics

A column group is a set of columns that is treated as a unit. Essentially, a column
group is a virtual column. By gathering statistics on a column group, the optimizer can
more accurately determine the cardinality estimate when a query groups these
columns together.
The following sections provide an overview of column group statistics, and explain
how to manage them manually:

• About Statistics on Column Groups

• Detecting Useful Column Groups for a Specific Workload

• Creating Column Groups Detected During Workload Monitoring

• Creating and Gathering Statistics on Column Groups Manually

• Displaying Column Group Information

• Dropping a Column Group

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics 13-11

Managing Extended Statistics

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS package

About Statistics on Column Groups

Individual column statistics are useful for determining the selectivity of a single
predicate in a WHERE clause. However, when the WHERE clause includes multiple
predicates on different columns from the same table, individual column statistics do
not show the relationship between the columns. This is the problem solved by a
column group.
The optimizer calculates the selectivity of the predicates independently, and then
combines them. However, if a correlation between the individual columns exists, then
the optimizer cannot take it into account when determining a cardinality estimate,
which it creates by multiplying the selectivity of each table predicate by the number of
rows.
The following graphic contrasts two ways of gathering statistics on the
cust_state_province and country_id columns of the sh.customers table.
The diagram shows DBMS_STATS collecting statistics on each column individually
and on the group. The column group has a system-generated name.

Figure 13-2 Column Group Statistics

CUST_ID CUST_STATE_PROVINCE COUNTRY_ID ...

101095 CA 52790
103105 Sao Paulo 52775

SYS_STU#S#WF25Z#QAHIHE#MOFFMM_

Statistics for
Column Group

Statistics for Statistics for

CUST_STATE_PROVINCE COUNTRY_ID

DBMS_STATS

Note:
The optimizer uses column group statistics for equality predicates, inlist
predicates, and for estimating the GROUP BY cardinality.

Why Column Group Statistics Are Needed: Example

The following query of the DBA_TAB_COL_STATISTICS table shows information
about statistics that have been gathered on the columns cust_state_province and
country_id from the sh.customers table:
COL COLUMN_NAME FORMAT a20
COL NDV FORMAT 999

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 Managing Extended Statistics

SELECT COLUMN_NAME, NUM_DISTINCT AS "NDV", HISTOGRAM

FROM DBA_TAB_COL_STATISTICS
WHERE OWNER = 'SH'
AND TABLE_NAME = 'CUSTOMERS'
AND COLUMN_NAME IN ('CUST_STATE_PROVINCE', 'COUNTRY_ID');

Sample output is as follows:

COLUMN_NAME NDV HISTOGRAM
-------------------- ---------- ---------------
CUST_STATE_PROVINCE 145 FREQUENCY
COUNTRY_ID 19 FREQUENCY

As shown in the following query, 3341 customers reside in California:

SELECT COUNT(*)
FROM sh.customers
WHERE cust_state_province = 'CA';

COUNT(*)
----------
3341

Consider an explain plan for a query of customers in the state CA and in the country
with ID 52790 (USA):
EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
SELECT *
FROM sh.customers
WHERE cust_state_province = 'CA'
AND country_id=52790;

Explained.

sys@PROD> SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY);

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plan hash value: 1683234692

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 128 | 24192 | 442 (7)| 00:00:06 |
|* 1 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| CUSTOMERS | 128 | 24192 | 442 (7)| 00:00:06 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 - filter("CUST_STATE_PROVINCE"='CA' AND "COUNTRY_ID"=52790)

13 rows selected.

Based on the single-column statistics for the country_id and

cust_state_province columns, the optimizer estimates that the query of
California customers in the USA will return 128 rows. In fact, 3341 customers reside in

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics 13-13

Managing Extended Statistics

California, but the optimizer does not know that California is in the USA, and so
greatly underestimates cardinality by assuming that both predicates reduce the
number of returned rows.
You can make the optimizer aware of the real-world relationship between values in
country_id and cust_state_province by gathering column group statistics.
These statistics enable the optimizer to give a more accurate cardinality estimate.

See Also:

• “Detecting Useful Column Groups for a Specific Workload”

• “Creating Column Groups Detected During Workload Monitoring”

• “Creating and Gathering Statistics on Column Groups Manually”

User Interface for Column Group Statistics

Table 13-4 lists the DBMS_STATS program units that are relevant for detecting and
creating column groups.

Table 13-4 DBMS_STATS Column Group Program Units

Program Unit Description

SEED_COL_USAGE Iterates over the SQL statements in the specified workload,
compiles them, and then seeds column usage information
for the columns that appear in these statements.
To determine the appropriate column groups, the database
must observe a representative workload. You do not need to
run the queries themselves during the monitoring period.
Instead, you can run EXPLAIN PLAN for some longer-
running queries in your workload to ensure that the
database is recording column group information for these
queries.

REPORT_COL_USAGE Generates a report that lists the columns that were seen in
filter predicates, join predicates, and GROUP BY clauses in
the workload.
You can use this function to review column usage
information recorded for a specific table.

CREATE_EXTENDED_STATS Creates extensions, which are either column groups or

expressions. The database gathers statistics for the extension
when either a user-generated or automatic statistics
gathering job gathers statistics for the table.

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS package

13-14 SQL Tuning Guide

 Managing Extended Statistics

Detecting Useful Column Groups for a Specific Workload

You can use DBMS_STATS.SEED_COL_USAGE and REPORT_COL_USAGE to determine
which column groups are required for a table based on a specified workload. This
technique is useful when you do not know which extended statistics to create. This
technique does not work for expression statistics.

Note:

You can seed column usage from a SQL tuning set (see Managing SQL Tuning
Sets ).

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• Cardinality estimates have been incorrect for queries of the sh.customers_test

table (created from the customers table) that use predicates referencing the
columns country_id and cust_state_province.

• You want the database to monitor your workload for 5 minutes (300 seconds).

• You want the database to determine which column groups are needed
automatically.

To detect column groups:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database as user sh, and then create the
customers_test table and gather statistics for it:
CONNECT SH/SH
DROP TABLE customers_test;
CREATE TABLE customers_test AS SELECT * FROM customer;
EXEC DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS(user, 'customers_test');

2. Enable workload monitoring.

In a different SQL*Plus session, connect as SYS and run the following PL/SQL
program to enable monitoring for 300 seconds:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.SEED_COL_USAGE(null,null,300);
END;
/

3. As user sh, run explain plans for two queries in the workload.
The following examples show the explain plans for two queries on the
customers_test table:
EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
SELECT *
FROM customers_test
WHERE cust_city = 'Los Angeles'
AND cust_state_province = 'CA'
AND country_id = 52790;

SELECT PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY('plan_table', null,'basic rows'));

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics 13-15

Managing Extended Statistics

EXPLAIN PLAN FOR

SELECT country_id, cust_state_province, count(cust_city)
FROM customers_test
GROUP BY country_id, cust_state_province;

SELECT PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY('plan_table', null,'basic rows'));

Sample output appears below:

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plan hash value: 4115398853

----------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows |
----------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1 |
| 1 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| CUSTOMERS_TEST | 1 |
----------------------------------------------------

8 rows selected.

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plan hash value: 3050654408

-----------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows |
-----------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1949 |
| 1 | HASH GROUP BY | | 1949 |
| 2 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| CUSTOMERS_TEST | 55500 |
-----------------------------------------------------

9 rows selected.

The first plan shows a cardinality of 1 row for a query that returns 932 rows. The
second plan shows a cardinality of 1949 rows for a query that returns 145 rows.

4. Optionally, review the column usage information recorded for the table.
Call the DBMS_STATS.REPORT_COL_USAGE function to generate a report:
SET LONG 100000
SET LINES 120
SET PAGES 0
SELECT DBMS_STATS.REPORT_COL_USAGE(user, 'customers_test')
FROM DUAL;

The report appears below:

LEGEND:
.......

EQ : Used in single table EQuality predicate

RANGE : Used in single table RANGE predicate
LIKE : Used in single table LIKE predicate
NULL : Used in single table is (not) NULL predicate
EQ_JOIN : Used in EQuality JOIN predicate
NONEQ_JOIN : Used in NON EQuality JOIN predicate

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 Managing Extended Statistics

FILTER : Used in single table FILTER predicate

JOIN : Used in JOIN predicate
GROUP_BY : Used in GROUP BY expression
...........................................................................

###########################################################################

COLUMN USAGE REPORT FOR SH.CUSTOMERS_TEST

.........................................

1. COUNTRY_ID : EQ
2. CUST_CITY : EQ
3. CUST_STATE_PROVINCE : EQ
4. (CUST_CITY, CUST_STATE_PROVINCE,
COUNTRY_ID) : FILTER
5. (CUST_STATE_PROVINCE, COUNTRY_ID) : GROUP_BY
###########################################################################

In the preceding report, the first three columns were used in equality predicates in
the first monitored query:
...
WHERE cust_city = 'Los Angeles'
AND cust_state_province = 'CA'
AND country_id = 52790;

All three columns appeared in the same WHERE clause, so the report shows them
as a group filter. In the second query, two columns appeared in the GROUP BY
clause, so the report labels them as GROUP_BY. The sets of columns in the FILTER
and GROUP_BY report are candidates for column groups.

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS package

Creating Column Groups Detected During Workload Monitoring

As explained in Table 13-4, you can use the
DBMS_STATS.CREATE_EXTENDED_STATS function to create column groups that
were detected previously by executing DBMS_STATS.SEED_COL_USAGE.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes that you have performed the steps in “Detecting Useful Column
Groups for a Specific Workload”.

To create column groups:

1. Create column groups for the customers_test table based on the usage
information captured during the monitoring window.
For example, run the following query:
SELECT DBMS_STATS.CREATE_EXTENDED_STATS(user, 'customers_test') FROM DUAL;

Sample output appears below:

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics 13-17

Managing Extended Statistics

###########################################################################
EXTENSIONS FOR SH.CUSTOMERS_TEST
................................
1. (CUST_CITY, CUST_STATE_PROVINCE,
COUNTRY_ID) :SYS_STUMZ$C3AIHLPBROI#SKA58H_N created
2. (CUST_STATE_PROVINCE, COUNTRY_ID):SYS_STU#S#WF25Z#QAHIHE#MOFFMM_ created
###########################################################################

The database created two column groups for customers_test: one column
group for the filter predicate and one group for the GROUP BY operation.

2. Regather table statistics.

Run GATHER_TABLE_STATS to regather the statistics for customers_test:
EXEC DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS(user,'customers_test');

3. As user sh, run explain plans for two queries in the workload.
Check the USER_TAB_COL_STATISTICS view to determine which additional
statistics were created by the database:
SELECT COLUMN_NAME, NUM_DISTINCT, HISTOGRAM
FROM USER_TAB_COL_STATISTICS
WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'CUSTOMERS_TEST'
ORDER BY 1;

Partial sample output appears below:

CUST_CITY 620 HEIGHT BALANCED
...
SYS_STU#S#WF25Z#QAHIHE#MOFFMM_ 145 NONE
SYS_STUMZ$C3AIHLPBROI#SKA58H_N 620 HEIGHT BALANCED

This example shows the two column group names returned from the
DBMS_STATS.CREATE_EXTENDED_STATS function. The column group created
on CUST_CITY, CUST_STATE_PROVINCE, and COUNTRY_ID has a height-
balanced histogram.

4. Explain the plans again.

The following examples show the explain plans for two queries on the
customers_test table:
EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
SELECT *
FROM customers_test
WHERE cust_city = 'Los Angeles'
AND cust_state_province = 'CA'
AND country_id = 52790;

SELECT PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY('plan_table', null,'basic rows'));

EXPLAIN PLAN FOR

SELECT country_id, cust_state_province, count(cust_city)
FROM customers_test
GROUP BY country_id, cust_state_province;

SELECT PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY('plan_table', null,'basic rows'));

The new plans show more accurate cardinality estimates:

13-18 SQL Tuning Guide

 Managing Extended Statistics

----------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows |
----------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1093 |
| 1 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| CUSTOMERS_TEST | 1093 |
----------------------------------------------------

8 rows selected.

Plan hash value: 3050654408

-----------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows |
-----------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 145 |
| 1 | HASH GROUP BY | | 145 |
| 2 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| CUSTOMERS_TEST | 55500 |
-----------------------------------------------------
9 rows selected.

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS package

Creating and Gathering Statistics on Column Groups Manually

In some cases, you may know the column group that you want to create. The
METHOD_OPT argument of the DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS function can
create and gather statistics on a column group automatically. You can create a new
column group by specifying the group of columns using FOR COLUMNS.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You want to create a column group for the cust_state_province and

country_id columns in the customers table in sh schema.

• You want to gather statistics (including histograms) on the entire table and the new
column group.

To create a column group and gather statistics for this group:

1. Start SQL*Plus and connect to the database as the sh user.

2. Create the column group and gather statistics.

For example, execute the following PL/SQL program:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS( 'sh','customers',
METHOD_OPT => 'FOR ALL COLUMNS SIZE SKEWONLY ' ||
'FOR COLUMNS SIZE SKEWONLY (cust_state_province,country_id)' );
END;
/

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics 13-19

Managing Extended Statistics

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS procedure

Displaying Column Group Information

To obtain the name of a column group, use the
DBMS_STATS.SHOW_EXTENDED_STATS_NAME function or a database view. You can
also use views to obtain information such as the number of distinct values, and
whether the column group has a histogram.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You created a column group for the cust_state_province and country_id

columns in the customers table in sh schema.

• You want to determine the column group name, the number of distinct values, and
whether a histogram has been created for a column group.

To monitor a column group:

1. Start SQL*Plus and connect to the database as the sh user.

2. To determine the column group name, do one of the following.

• Execute the SHOW_EXTENDED_STATS_NAME function.

For example, run the following PL/SQL program:
SELECT SYS.DBMS_STATS.SHOW_EXTENDED_STATS_NAME( 'sh','customers',
'(cust_state_province,country_id)' ) col_group_name
FROM DUAL;

The output is similar to the following:

COL_GROUP_NAME
----------------
SYS_STU#S#WF25Z#QAHIHE#MOFFMM_

• Query the USER_STAT_EXTENSIONS view.

For example, run the following query:
SELECT EXTENSION_NAME, EXTENSION
FROM USER_STAT_EXTENSIONS
WHERE TABLE_NAME='CUSTOMERS';

EXTENSION_NAME EXTENSION
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SYS_STU#S#WF25Z#QAHIHE#MOFFMM_ ("CUST_STATE_PROVINCE","COUNTRY_ID")

3. Query the number of distinct values and find whether a histogram has been
created for a column group.
For example, run the following query:
SELECT e.EXTENSION col_group, t.NUM_DISTINCT, t.HISTOGRAM
FROM USER_STAT_EXTENSIONS e, USER_TAB_COL_STATISTICS t

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 Managing Extended Statistics

WHERE e.EXTENSION_NAME=t.COLUMN_NAME
AND e.TABLE_NAME=t.TABLE_NAME
AND t.TABLE_NAME='CUSTOMERS';

COL_GROUP NUM_DISTINCT HISTOGRAM

-------------------------------------------------------------------
("COUNTRY_ID","CUST_STATE_PROVINCE") 145 FREQUENCY

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.SHOW_EXTENDED_STATS_NAME function

Dropping a Column Group

Use the DBMS_STATS.DROP_EXTENDED_STATS function to delete a column group
from a table.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You created a column group for the cust_state_province and country_id

columns in the customers table in sh schema.

• You want to drop the column group.

To drop a column group:

1. Start SQL*Plus and connect to the database as the sh user.

2. Drop the column group.

For example, the following PL/SQL program deletes a column group from the
customers table:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.DROP_EXTENDED_STATS( 'sh', 'customers',
'(cust_state_province, country_id)' );
END;
/

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.DROP_EXTENDED_STATS function

Managing Expression Statistics

The type of extended statistics known as expression statistics improve optimizer
estimates when a WHERE clause has predicates that use expressions.
This section contains the following topics:

• About Expression Statistics

• Creating Expression Statistics

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics 13-21

Managing Extended Statistics

• Displaying Expression Statistics

• Dropping Expression Statistics

About Expression Statistics

When an expression is applied to a column in the WHERE clause in the
form(function(col)=constant), the optimizer has no way of knowing how this
SQL function affects the cardinality of the predicate unless a function-based index had
been created. Starting in Oracle Database 11g, you can gather expression statistics on
the expression(function(col) itself.
Figure 13-3 shows the optimizer using statistics to generate a plan for a query that uses
a function. The top shows the optimizer checking statistics for the column. The bottom
shows the optimizer checking statistics corresponding to the expression used in the
query. The expression statistics yield more accurate estimates.

Figure 13-3 Expression Statistics

SELECT * FROM sh.customers

WHERE LOWER (cust_state_province) = ‘ca’

Optimizer

Do
Use Yes expression No Use Default
Expression statistics Column
Statistics exist? Statistics

LOWER(cust_state_province) cust_state_province
Expression Statistics Column Statistics

Optimal Suboptimal
Estimate Estimate

As shown in Figure 13-3, when expression statistics are not available, the optimizer
can produce suboptimal plans.

See Also:
Oracle Database SQL Language Reference to learn about SQL functions

When Expression Statistics Are Useful: Example

The following query of the sh.customers table shows that 3341 customers are in the
state of California:
sys@PROD> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM sh.customers WHERE cust_state_province='CA';

COUNT(*)

13-22 SQL Tuning Guide

 Managing Extended Statistics

----------
3341

Consider the plan for the same query with the LOWER() function applied:
sys@PROD> EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
2 SELECT * FROM sh.customers WHERE LOWER(cust_state_province)='ca';
Explained.

sys@PROD> select * from table(dbms_xplan.display);

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plan hash value: 2008213504

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 555 | 108K| 406 (1)| 00:00:05 |
|* 1 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| CUSTOMERS | 555 | 108K| 406 (1)| 00:00:05 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

1 - filter(LOWER("CUST_STATE_PROVINCE")='ca')

Because no expression statistics exist for LOWER(cust_state_province)='ca',

the optimizer estimate is significantly off. You can use DBMS_STATS procedures to
correct these estimates.

Creating Expression Statistics

You can use DBMS_STATS to create statistics for a user-specified expression. You have
the option of using either of the following program units:

• GATHER_TABLE_STATS procedure

• CREATE_EXTENDED_STATISTICS function followed by the

GATHER_TABLE_STATS procedure

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• Selectivity estimates are inaccurate for queries of sh.customers that use the
UPPER(cust_state_province) function.

• You want to gather statistics on the UPPER(cust_state_province) expression.

To create expression statistics:

1. Start SQL*Plus and connect to the database as the sh user.

2. Gather table statistics.

For example, run the following command, specifying the function in the
method_opt argument:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS(

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics 13-23

Managing Extended Statistics

'sh'
, 'customers'
, method_opt => 'FOR ALL COLUMNS SIZE SKEWONLY FOR COLUMNS
(LOWER(cust_state_province)) SIZE SKEWONLY'
);
END;

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS procedure

Displaying Expression Statistics

You can use the database view DBA_STAT_EXTENSIONS and the
DBMS_STATS.SHOW_EXTENDED_STATS_NAME function to obtain information about
expression statistics. You can also use views to obtain information such as the number
of distinct values, and whether the column group has a histogram.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You created extended statistics for the LOWER(cust_state_province)

expression.

• You want to determine the column group name, the number of distinct values, and
whether a histogram has been created for a column group.

To monitor expression statistics:

1. Start SQL*Plus and connect to the database as the sh user.

2. Query the name and definition of the statistics extension.

For example, run the following query:
COL EXTENSION_NAME FORMAT a30
COL EXTENSION FORMAT a35

SELECT EXTENSION_NAME, EXTENSION

FROM USER_STAT_EXTENSIONS
WHERE TABLE_NAME='CUSTOMERS';

Sample output appears as follows:

EXTENSION_NAME EXTENSION
------------------------------ ------------------------------
SYS_STUBPHJSBRKOIK9O2YV3W8HOUE (LOWER("CUST_STATE_PROVINCE"))

3. Query the number of distinct values and find whether a histogram has been
created for the expression.
For example, run the following query:
SELECT e.EXTENSION expression, t.NUM_DISTINCT, t.HISTOGRAM
FROM USER_STAT_EXTENSIONS e, USER_TAB_COL_STATISTICS t
WHERE e.EXTENSION_NAME=t.COLUMN_NAME
AND e.TABLE_NAME=t.TABLE_NAME
AND t.TABLE_NAME='CUSTOMERS';

13-24 SQL Tuning Guide

 Locking and Unlocking Optimizer Statistics

EXPRESSION NUM_DISTINCT HISTOGRAM

-------------------------------------------------------------------
(LOWER("CUST_STATE_PROVINCE")) 145 FREQUENCY

See Also:

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.SHOW_EXTENDED_STATS_NAME procedure

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the DBA_STAT_EXTENSIONS view

Dropping Expression Statistics

Use the DBMS_STATS.DROP_EXTENDED_STATS function to delete a column group
from a table.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You created extended statistics for the LOWER(cust_state_province)

expression.

• You want to drop the expression statistics.

To drop expression statistics:

1. Start SQL*Plus and connect to the database as the sh user.

2. Drop the column group.

For example, the following PL/SQL program deletes a column group from the
customers table:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.DROP_EXTENDED_STATS(
'sh'
, 'customers'
, '(LOWER(cust_state_province))'
);
END;
/

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.DROP_EXTENDED_STATS procedure

Locking and Unlocking Optimizer Statistics

You can lock statistics to prevent them from changing. After statistics are locked, you
cannot make modifications to the statistics until the statistics have been unlocked.
Locking procedures are useful in a static environment when you want to guarantee
that the statistics and resulting plan never change. For example, you may want to

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics 13-25

Locking and Unlocking Optimizer Statistics

prevent new statistics from being gathered on a table or schema by the

DBMS_STATS_JOB process, such as highly volatile tables.
When you lock statistics on a table, all dependent statistics are locked. The locked
statistics include table statistics, column statistics, histograms, and dependent index
statistics. To overwrite statistics even when they are locked, you can set the value of
the FORCE argument in various DBMS_STATS procedures, for example,
DELETE_*_STATS and RESTORE_*_STATS, to true.

Locking Statistics
The DBMS_STATS package provides two procedures for locking statistics:
LOCK_SCHEMA_STATS and LOCK_TABLE_STATS.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You gathered statistics on the oe.orders table and on the hr schema.

• You want to prevent the oe.orders table statistics and hr schema statistics from
changing.

To lock statistics:

1. Start SQL*Plus and connect to the database as the oe user.

2. Lock the statistics on oe.orders.

For example, execute the following PL/SQL program:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.LOCK_TABLE_STATS('OE','ORDERS');
END;
/

3. Connect to the database as the hr user.

4. Lock the statistics in the hr schema.

For example, execute the following PL/SQL program:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.LOCK_SCHEMA_STATS('HR');
END;
/

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.LOCK_TABLE_STATS procedure

Unlocking Statistics
The DBMS_STATS package provides two procedures for unlocking statistics:
UNLOCK_SCHEMA_STATS and UNLOCK_TABLE_STATS.

13-26 SQL Tuning Guide

 Restoring Optimizer Statistics

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You locked statistics on the oe.orders table and on the hr schema.

• You want to unlock these statistics.

To unlock statistics:

1. Start SQL*Plus and connect to the database as the oe user.

2. Unlock the statistics on oe.orders.

For example, execute the following PL/SQL program:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.UNLOCK_TABLE_STATS('OE','ORDERS');
END;
/

3. Connect to the database as the hr user.

4. Unlock the statistics in the hr schema.

For example, execute the following PL/SQL program:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.UNLOCK_SCHEMA_STATS('HR');
END;
/

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.UNLOCK_TABLE_STATS procedure

Restoring Optimizer Statistics

This topic contains the following topics:

• About Restore Operations for Optimizer Statistics

• Guidelines for Restoring Optimizer Statistics

• Restrictions for Restoring Optimizer Statistics

• Restoring Optimizer Statistics Using DBMS_STATS

About Restore Operations for Optimizer Statistics

Whenever statistics in the data dictionary are modified, the database automatically
saves old versions of statistics. If newly collected statistics lead to suboptimal
execution plans, then you may want to revert to the previous statistics. In this way,
restoring optimizer statistics can aid in troubleshooting suboptimal plans.
Figure 13-4 illustrates a timeline for restoring statistics. In the graphic, statistics
collection occurs on August 10 and August 20. On August 24, the DBA determines that

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics 13-27

Restoring Optimizer Statistics

the current statistics may be causing the optimizer to generate suboptimal plans. On
August 25, the administrator restores the statistics collected on August 10.

Figure 13-4 Restoring Optimizer Statistics

8/10 8/20 8/24 8/25

AAAAA BBBBB BBBBB AAAAA

Statistics Statistics Recent Statistics 8/10 Statistics

Gathered Gathered May Be Causing Restored
Suboptimal Plans

Guidelines for Restoring Optimizer Statistics

Restoring statistics is similar to importing and exporting statistics. In general, restore
statistics instead of exporting them in the following situations:

• You want to recover older versions of the statistics. For example, you want to
restore the optimizer behavior to an earlier date.

• You want the database to manage the retention and purging of statistics histories.
Export statistics rather than restoring them in the following situations:

• You want to experiment with multiple sets of statistics and change the values back
and forth.

• You want to move the statistics from one database to another database. For
example, moving statistics from a production system to a test system.

• You want to preserve a known set of statistics for a longer period than the desired
retention date for restoring statistics.

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for an overview of the
procedures for restoring and importing statistics

Restrictions for Restoring Optimizer Statistics

When restoring previous versions of statistics, the following limitations apply:

• DBMS_STATS.RESTORE_*_STATS procedures cannot restore user-defined

statistics.

• Old versions of statistics are not stored when the ANALYZE command has been
used for collecting statistics.

• When you drop a table, workload information used by the auto-histogram

gathering feature and saved statistics history used by the RESTORE_*_STATS
procedures is lost. Without this data, these features do not function properly. To
remove all rows from a table, and to restore these statistics with DBMS_STATS, use
TRUNCATE instead of dropping and re-creating the same table.

13-28 SQL Tuning Guide

 Restoring Optimizer Statistics

Restoring Optimizer Statistics Using DBMS_STATS

You can restore statistics using the DBMS_STATS.RESTORE_*_STATS procedures.
The procedures listed in Table 13-5 accept a timestamp as an argument and restore
statistics as of the specified time (as_of_timestamp).

Table 13-5 DBMS_STATS Restore Procedures

Procedure Description

RESTORE_DICTIONARY_STATS Restores statistics of all dictionary tables (tables of

SYS, SYSTEM, and RDBMS component schemas) as of
a specified timestamp.

RESTORE_FIXED_OBJECTS_STATS Restores statistics of all fixed tables as of a specified

timestamp.

RESTORE_SCHEMA_STATS Restores statistics of all tables of a schema as of a

specified timestamp.

RESTORE_SYSTEM_STATS Restores system statistics as of a specified

timestamp.

RESTORE_TABLE_STATS Restores statistics of a table as of a specified

timestamp. The procedure also restores statistics of
associated indexes and columns. If the table statistics
were locked at the specified timestamp, then the
procedure locks the statistics.

Dictionary views display the time of statistics modifications. You can use the
following views to determine the time stamp to be use for the restore operation:

• The DBA_OPTSTAT_OPERATIONS view contain history of statistics operations

performed at schema and database level using DBMS_STATS.

• The DBA_TAB_STATS_HISTORY views contains a history of table statistics

modifications.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• After the most recent statistics collection for the oe.orders table, the optimizer
began choosing suboptimal plans for queries of this table.

• You want to restore the statistics from before the most recent statistics collection to
see if the plans improve.

To restore optimizer statistics:

1. Start SQL*Plus and connect to the database with administrator privileges.

2. Query the statistics history for oe.orders.

For example, run the following query:

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics 13-29

Managing Optimizer Statistics Retention

COL TABLE_NAME FORMAT a10

SELECT TABLE_NAME,
TO_CHAR(STATS_UPDATE_TIME,'YYYY-MM-DD:HH24:MI:SS') AS STATS_MOD_TIME
FROM DBA_TAB_STATS_HISTORY
WHERE TABLE_NAME='ORDERS'
AND OWNER='OE'
ORDER BY STATS_UPDATE_TIME DESC;

Sample output is as follows:

TABLE_NAME STATS_MOD_TIME
---------- -------------------
ORDERS 2012-08-20:11:36:38
ORDERS 2012-08-10:11:06:20

3. Restore the optimizer statistics to the previous modification time.

For example, restore the oe.orders table statistics to August 10, 2012:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.RESTORE_TABLE_STATS( 'OE','ORDERS',
TO_TIMESTAMP('2012-08-10:11:06:20','YYYY-MM-DD:HH24:MI:SS') );
END;
/

You can specify any date between 8/10 and 8/20 because DBMS_STATS restores
statistics as of the specified time.

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn more about the
DBMS_STATS.RESTORE_TABLE_STATS procedure

Managing Optimizer Statistics Retention

By default, the database retains optimizer statistics for 31 days, after which time the
statistics are scheduled for purging. You can use the DBMS_STATS package to
determine the retention period, change the period, and manually purge old statistics.
This section contains the following topics:

• Obtaining Optimizer Statistics History

• Changing the Optimizer Statistics Retention Period

• Purging Optimizer Statistics

Obtaining Optimizer Statistics History

You can use DBMS_STATS procedures to obtain historical information for optimizer
statistics. This information is useful when you want to determine how long the
database retains optimizer statistics, and how far back these statistics can be restored.
You can use the following procedure to obtain information about the optimizer
statistics history:

• GET_STATS_HISTORY_RETENTION
This function can retrieve the current statistics history retention value.

13-30 SQL Tuning Guide

 Managing Optimizer Statistics Retention

• GET_STATS_HISTORY_AVAILABILITY
This function retrieves the oldest time stamp when statistics history is available.
Users cannot restore statistics to a time stamp older than the oldest time stamp.

To obtain optimizer statistics history information:

1. Start SQL*Plus and connect to the database with the necessary privileges.

2. Execute the following PL/SQL program:

DECLARE
v_stats_retn NUMBER;
v_stats_date DATE;
BEGIN
v_stats_retn := DBMS_STATS.GET_STATS_HISTORY_RETENTION;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('The retention setting is ' || v_stats_retn || '.');
v_stats_date := DBMS_STATS.GET_STATS_HISTORY_AVAILABILITY;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Earliest restore date is ' || v_stats_date || '.');
END;
/

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.GET_STATS_HISTORY_RETENTION procedure

Changing the Optimizer Statistics Retention Period

By default, the database retains optimizer statistics for 31 days. You can configure the
retention period using the DBMS_STATS.ALTER_STATS_HISTORY_RETENTION
procedure.

Prerequisites
To run this procedure, you must have either the SYSDBA privilege, or both the
ANALYZE ANY DICTIONARY and ANALYZE ANY system privileges.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• The current retention period for optimizer statistics is 31 days.

• You run queries annually as part of an annual report. To keep the statistics history
for more than 365 days so that you have access to last year's plan (in case a
suboptimal plan occurs now), you set the retention period to 366 days.

• You want to create a PL/SQL procedure set_opt_stats_retention that you

can use to change the optimizer statistics retention period.

To change the optimizer statistics retention period:

1. Start SQL*Plus and connect to the database with the necessary privileges.

2. Create a procedure that changes the retention period.

For example, create the following procedure:

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics 13-31

Managing Optimizer Statistics Retention

CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE set_opt_stats_retention

( p_stats_retn IN NUMBER )
IS
v_stats_retn NUMBER;
BEGIN
v_stats_retn := DBMS_STATS.GET_STATS_HISTORY_RETENTION;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Old retention setting is ' ||v_stats_retn|| '.');
DBMS_STATS.ALTER_STATS_HISTORY_RETENTION(p_stats_retn);
v_stats_retn := DBMS_STATS.GET_STATS_HISTORY_RETENTION;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('New retention setting is ' ||v_stats_retn|| '.');
END;
/

3. Change the retention period to 366 days.

For example, execute the procedure that you created in the previous step (sample
output included):
SQL> EXECUTE set_opt_stats_retention(366)

The old retention setting is 31.

The new retention setting is 366.

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.ALTER_STATS_HISTORY_RETENTION procedure

Purging Optimizer Statistics

Automatic purging is enabled when the STATISTICS_LEVEL initialization parameter
is set to TYPICAL or ALL. The database purges all history older than the older of
(current time - the ALTER_STATS_HISTORY_RETENTION setting) and (time of the
most recent statistics gathering - 1).
You can purge old statistics manually using the PURGE_STATS procedure. If you do
not specify an argument, then this procedure uses the automatic purging policy. If you
specify the before_timestamp parameter, then the database purges statistics saved
before the specified timestamp.

Prerequisites
To run this procedure, you must have either the SYSDBA privilege, or both the
ANALYZE ANY DICTIONARY and ANALYZE ANY system privileges.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes that you want to purge statistics more than one week old.

To purge optimizer statistics:

1. Start SQL*Plus and connect to the database with the necessary privileges.

2. Execute the DBMS_STATS.PURGE_STATS procedure.

For example, execute the procedure as follows:

13-32 SQL Tuning Guide

 Importing and Exporting Optimizer Statistics

EXEC DBMS_STATS.PURGE_STATS( SYSDATE-7 );

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.PURGE_STATS procedure

Importing and Exporting Optimizer Statistics

You can export and import optimizer statistics from the data dictionary to user-
defined statistics tables. You can also copy statistics from one database to another
database.
Importing and exporting are especially useful for testing an application using
production statistics. You use DBMS_STATS to export schema statistics from a
production database to a test database so that developers can tune execution plans in a
realistic environment before deploying applications.

About Transporting Optimizer Statistics

When you transport optimizer statistics between databases, you must use
DBMS_STATS to copy the statistics to and from a staging table, and tools to make the
table contents accessible to the destination database. Figure 13-5 illustrates the process
using Oracle Data Pump and ftp.

Figure 13-5 Transporting Optimizer Statistics

Production Test
Database Database

Data Dictionary Data Dictionary

EXPORT_SCHEMA_STATS IMPORT_SCHEMA_STATS

Staging Table Staging Table

Data Pump Data Pump

Export Import
.dmp .dmp
file Transport ftp, nfs file

As shown in Figure 13-5, the basic steps are as follows:

1. In the production database, copy the statistics from the data dictionary to a
staging table using DBMS_STATS.EXPORT_SCHEMA_STATS.

2. Export the statistics from the staging table to a .dmp file using Oracle Data Pump.

3. Transfer the .dmp file from the production host to the test host using a transfer
tool such as ftp.

4. In the test database, import the statistics from the .dmp file to a staging table
using Oracle Data Pump.

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics 13-33

Importing and Exporting Optimizer Statistics

5. Copy the statistics from the staging table to the data dictionary using
DBMS_STATS.IMPORT_SCHEMA_STATS.

Transporting Optimizer Statistics to a Test Database

This section explains how to transport schema statistics from a production database to
a test database.

Prerequisites and Restrictions

When preparing to export optimizer statistics, note the following:

• Before exporting statistics, you must create a table to hold the statistics. The
procedure DBMS_STATS.CREATE_STAT_TABLE creates the statistics table.

• The optimizer does not use statistics stored in a user-owned table. The only
statistics used by the optimizer are the statistics stored in the data dictionary. To
make the optimizer use statistics in user-defined tables, import these statistics into
the data dictionary using the DBMS_STATS import procedure.

• The Data Pump Export and Import utilities export and import optimizer statistics
from the database along with the table. When a column has system-generated
names, Original Export (exp) does not export statistics with the data, but this
restriction does not apply to Data Pump Export.

Note:

Exporting and importing statistics using DBMS_STATS is a distinct operation

from using Data Pump Export and Import.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You want to generate representative sh schema statistics on a production database

and use DBMS_STATS to import them into a test database.

• Administrative user dba1 exists on both production and test databases.

• You intend to create table opt_stats to store the schema statistics.

• You intend to use Oracle Data Pump to export and import table opt_stats.

To generate schema statistics and import them into a separate database:

1. On the production host, start SQL*Plus and connect to the production database as
administrator dba1.

2. Create a table to hold the production statistics.

For example, execute the following PL/SQL program to create user statistics table
opt_stats:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.CREATE_STAT_TABLE (
ownname => 'dba1'
, stattab => 'opt_stats'
);

13-34 SQL Tuning Guide

 Importing and Exporting Optimizer Statistics

END;
/

3. Gather schema statistics.

For example, manually gather schema statistics as follows:
-- generate representative workload
EXEC DBMS_STATS.GATHER_SCHEMA_STATS('SH');

4. Use DBMS_STATS to export the statistics.

For example, retrieve schema statistics and store them in the opt_stats table
created previously:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.EXPORT_SCHEMA_STATS (
ownname => 'dba1'
, stattab => 'opt_stats'
);
END;
/

5. Use Oracle Data Pump to export the contents of the statistics table.
For example, run the expdp command at the operating schema prompt:
expdp dba1 DIRECTORY=dpump_dir1 DUMPFILE=stat.dmp TABLES=opt_stats

6. Transfer the dump file to the test database host.

7. Log in to the test host, and then use Oracle Data Pump to import the contents of
the statistics table.
For example, run the impdp command at the operating schema prompt:
impdp dba1 DIRECTORY=dpump_dir1 DUMPFILE=stat.dmp TABLES=opt_stats

8. On the test host, start SQL*Plus and connect to the test database as administrator
dba1.

9. Use DBMS_STATS to import statistics from the user statistics table and store them
in the data dictionary.
The following PL/SQL program imports schema statistics from table opt_stats
into the data dictionary:
BEGIN
DBMS_STATS.IMPORT_SCHEMA_STATS(
ownname => 'dba1'
, stattab => 'opt_stats'
);
END;
/

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics 13-35

Running Statistics Gathering Functions in Reporting Mode

See Also:

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS.CREATE_STAT_TABLE function

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for an overview of the
statistics transfer functions

• Oracle Database Utilities to learn about Oracle Data Pump

Running Statistics Gathering Functions in Reporting Mode

You can run the DBMS_STATS statistics gathering procedures in reporting mode. In
this case, the optimizer does not actually gather statistics, but reports objects that
would be processed if you were to use a specified statistics gathering function.
Table 13-6 lists the DBMS_STATS.REPORT_GATHER_*_STATS functions. For all
functions, the input parameters are the same as for the corresponding
GATHER_*_STATS procedure, with the following additional parameters:
detail_level and format. Supported formats are XML, HTML, and TEXT. See Oracle
Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for complete syntax and semantics for the
reporting mode functions.

Table 13-6 DBMS_STATS Reporting Mode Functions

Function Description

REPORT_GATHER_TABLE_STATS Runs GATHER_TABLE_STATS in reporting mode.

The procedure does not collect statistics, but
reports all objects that would be affected by
invoking GATHER_TABLE_STATS.

REPORT_GATHER_SCHEMA_STATS Runs GATHER_SCHEMA_STATS in reporting

mode. The procedure does not actually collect
statistics, but reports all objects that would be
affected by invoking GATHER_SCHEMA_STATS.

REPORT_GATHER_DICTIONARY_STATS Runs GATHER_DICTIONARY_STATS in reporting

mode. The procedure does not actually collect
statistics, but reports all objects that would be
affected by invoking
GATHER_DICTIONARY_STATS.

REPORT_GATHER_DATABASE_STATS Runs GATHER_DATABASE_STATS in reporting

mode. The procedure does not actually collect
statistics, but reports all objects that would be
affected by invoking
GATHER_DATABASE_STATS.

REPORT_GATHER_FIXED_OBJ_STATS Runs GATHER_FIXED_OBJ_STATS in reporting

mode. The procedure does not actually collect
statistics, but reports all objects that would be
affected by invoking
GATHER_FIXED_OBJ_STATS.

13-36 SQL Tuning Guide

 Running Statistics Gathering Functions in Reporting Mode

Table 13-6 (Cont.) DBMS_STATS Reporting Mode Functions

Function Description

REPORT_GATHER_AUTO_STATS Runs the automatic statistics gather job in

reporting mode. The procedure does not actually
collect statistics, but reports all objects that would
be affected by running the job.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes that you want to generate an HTML report of the objects that
would be affected by running GATHER_SCHEMA_STATS on the oe schema.

To report on objects affected by running GATHER_SCHEMA_STATS:

1. Start SQL*Plus and connect to the database with administrator privileges.

2. Run the DBMS_STATS.REPORT_GATHER_SCHEMA_STATS function.

For example, run the following commands in SQL*Plus:
SET LINES 200 PAGES 0
SET LONG 100000
COLUMN REPORT FORMAT A200

VARIABLE my_report CLOB;

BEGIN
:my_report :=DBMS_STATS.REPORT_GATHER_SCHEMA_STATS(
ownname => 'OE' ,
detail_level => 'TYPICAL' ,
format => 'HTML' );
END;
/

The following graphic shows a partial example report:

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics 13-37

Reporting on Past Statistics Gathering Operations

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn more about
DBMS_STATS

Reporting on Past Statistics Gathering Operations

You can use DBMS_STATS functions to report on a specific statistics gathering
operation or on operations that occurred during a specified time. This section shows
the command-line interface. To learn about the Cloud Control interface, see
“Graphical Interface for Optimizer Statistics Management”.
Table 13-7 lists the functions. See Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference
for complete syntax and semantics for the functions that report on statistics operations.

Table 13-7 DBMS_STATS Reporting Functions

Function Description

REPORT_STATS_OPERATIONS Generates a report of all statistics operations that

occurred between two points in time. You can
narrow the scope of the report to include only
automatic statistics gathering runs. You can also
provide a set of pluggable database (PDB) IDs so
that the database reports only statistics operations
from the specified PDBs.

13-38 SQL Tuning Guide

 Reporting on Past Statistics Gathering Operations

Table 13-7 (Cont.) DBMS_STATS Reporting Functions

Function Description

REPORT_SINGLE_STATS_OPERATION Generates a report of the specified operation.

Optionally, you can specify a particular PDB ID in a
container database (CDB).

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes that you want to generate HTML reports of the following:

• All statistics gathering operations within the last day

• The most recent statistics gathering operation

To report on all operations in the past day:

1. Start SQL*Plus and connect to the database with administrator privileges.

2. Run the DBMS_STATS.REPORT_STATS_OPERATIONS function.

For example, run the following commands:
SET LINES 200 PAGES 0
SET LONG 100000
COLUMN REPORT FORMAT A200

VARIABLE my_report CLOB;

BEGIN
:my_report := DBMS_STATS.REPORT_STATS_OPERATIONS (
since => SYSDATE-1
, until => SYSDATE
, detail_level => 'TYPICAL'
, format => 'HTML'
);
END;
/

The following graphic shows a sample report:

3. Run the DBMS_STATS.REPORT_SINGLE_STATS_OPERATION function for an

individual operation.
For example, run the following program to generate a report of operation 848:
BEGIN
:my_report :=DBMS_STATS.REPORT_SINGLE_STATS_OPERATION (
OPID => 848
, FORMAT => 'HTML'

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics 13-39

Managing SQL Plan Directives

);
END;

The following graphic shows a sample report:

See Also:

• “Graphical Interface for Optimizer Statistics Management” to learn about

the Cloud Control GUI for statistics management

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn more about
DBMS_STATS

Managing SQL Plan Directives

As explained in “SQL Plan Directives”, the database automatically manages SQL plan
directives. If the directives are not used in 53 weeks, then the database automatically
purges them.
You can use DBMS_SPD procedures and functions to manage directives manually.
Table 13-8 lists some of the more commonly used procedures and functions. See Oracle
Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for complete syntax and semantics for the
DBMS_SPD package.

Table 13-8 DBMS_SPD Procedures

Procedure Description

FLUSH_SQL_PLAN_DIRECTIVE Forces the database to write directives from memory to

persistent storage in the SYSAUX tablespace.

DROP_SQL_PLAN_DIRECTIVE Drops a SQL plan directive.

Prerequisites
You must have the Administer SQL Management Object privilege to execute the
DBMS_SPD APIs.

13-40 SQL Tuning Guide

 Managing SQL Plan Directives

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes that you want to do the following:

• Write all directives for the sh schema to persistent storage.

• Delete all directives for the sh schema.

To write and then delete all sh schema plan directives:

1. Start SQL*Plus and connect to the database with administrator privileges.

2. Force the database to write the SQL plan directives to disk.

For example, execute the following DBMS_SPD program:
BEGIN
DBMS_SPD.FLUSH_SQL_PLAN_DIRECTIVE;
END;
/

3. Query the data dictionary for information about existing directives in the sh
schema.
Example 13-1 queries the data dictionary for information about the directive.

4. Delete the existing SQL plan directive for the sh schema.

The following PL/SQL program unit deletes the SQL plan directive with the ID
1484026771529551585:
BEGIN
DBMS_SPD.DROP_SQL_PLAN_DIRECTIVE ( directive_id => 1484026771529551585 );
END;
/

See Also:

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about DBA_SQL_PLAN_DIRECTIVES

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_SPD.FLUSH_SQL_PLAN_DIRECTIVE procedure

Example 13-1 Display Directives for sh Schema

SELECT TO_CHAR(d.DIRECTIVE_ID) dir_id, o.OWNER, o.OBJECT_NAME,
o.SUBOBJECT_NAME col_name, o.OBJECT_TYPE, d.TYPE, d.STATE, d.REASON
FROM DBA_SQL_PLAN_DIRECTIVES d, DBA_SQL_PLAN_DIR_OBJECTS o
WHERE d.DIRECTIVE_ID=o.DIRECTIVE_ID
AND o.OWNER IN ('SH')
ORDER BY 1,2,3,4,5;

DIR_ID OWN OBJECT_NA COL_NAME OBJECT TYPE STATE REASON

------------------- --- --------- ---------- ------- -------- ----------------------
1484026771529551585 SH CUSTOMERS COUNTRY_ID COLUMN DYNAMIC_ SUPERSEDED SINGLE TABLE
SAMPLING CARDINALITY
MISESTIMATE
1484026771529551585 SH CUSTOMERS CUST_STATE_ COLUMN DYNAMIC_ SUPERSEDED SINGLE TABLE
PROVINCE SAMPLING CARDINALITY
MISESTIMATE

Managing Optimizer Statistics: Advanced Topics 13-41

Managing SQL Plan Directives

1484026771529551585 SH CUSTOMERS TABLE DYNAMIC_ SUPERSEDED SINGLE TABLE

SAMPLING CARDINALITY
MISESTIMATE

13-42 SQL Tuning Guide

 Part VI
Optimizer Controls

This part contains the following chapters:

• Influencing the Optimizer

• Controlling Cursor Sharing

 14
Influencing the Optimizer

This chapter contains the following topics:

• Techniques for Influencing the Optimizer

• Influencing the Optimizer with Initialization Parameters

• Influencing the Optimizer with Hints

Techniques for Influencing the Optimizer

In general, optimizer defaults are adequate for most operations. However, in some
cases you may have information unknown to the optimizer, or need to tune the
optimizer for a specific type of statement or workload. In such cases, influencing the
optimizer may provide better performance.
You can influence the optimizer using several techniques, including SQL profiles, SQL
Plan Management, initialization parameters, and hints. Figure 14-1 shows the
principal techniques for influencing the optimizer.

Figure 14-1 Techniques for Influencing the Optimizer

User

DBMS_STATS Initialization Parameters

SQL Plan Management

SQL Profiles
Hints

Optimizer

The overlapping squares in Figure 14-1 show that SQL plan management uses both
initialization parameters and hints. SQL profiles also technically include hints.
You can use the following techniques to influence the optimizer:

Influencing the Optimizer 14-1

Influencing the Optimizer with Initialization Parameters

• Initialization parameters
Parameters influence many types of optimizer behavior at the database instance
and session level. The most important parameters are covered in “Influencing the
Optimizer with Initialization Parameters”.

• Hints
A hint is a commented instruction in a SQL statement. Hints control a wide range
of behavior. See “Influencing the Optimizer with Hints”.

• DBMS_STATS
This package updates and manages optimizer statistics. The more accurate the
statistics, the better the optimizer estimates.
This chapter does not cover DBMS_STATS. See Managing Optimizer Statistics: Basic
Topics.

• SQL profiles
A SQL profile is a database object that contains auxiliary statistics specific to a SQL
statement. Conceptually, a SQL profile is to a SQL statement what a set of object-
level statistics is to a table or index. A SQL profile can correct suboptimal optimizer
estimates discovered during SQL tuning.
This chapter does not cover SQL profiles. See Managing SQL Profiles .

• SQL plan management and stored outlines

SQL plan management is a preventative mechanism that enables the optimizer to
automatically manage execution plans, ensuring that the database uses only known
or verified plans.
This chapter does not cover SQL plan management. See Managing SQL Plan
Baselines .

Note:

A stored outline is a legacy technique that serve a similar purpose to SQL plan
baselines. See Migrating Stored Outlines to SQL Plan Baselines to learn how to
migrate stored outlines to SQL plan baselines.

In some cases, multiple techniques optimize the same behavior. For example, you can
set optimizer goals using both initialization parameters and hints.

Influencing the Optimizer with Initialization Parameters

This section contains the following topics:

• About Optimizer Initialization Parameters

• Enabling Optimizer Features

• Choosing an Optimizer Goal

• Controlling Adaptive Optimization

14-2 SQL Tuning Guide

 Influencing the Optimizer with Initialization Parameters

About Optimizer Initialization Parameters

Oracle Database includes several initialization parameters that can influence optimizer
behavior. Table 14-1 lists some of the most important.

Table 14-1 Initialization Parameters That Control Optimizer Behavior

Initialization Parameter Description

CURSOR_SHARING Converts literal values in SQL statements to

bind variables. Converting the values
improves cursor sharing and can affect the
execution plans of SQL statements. The
optimizer generates the execution plan based
on the presence of the bind variables and not
the actual literal values.
Set to FORCE to enable the creation of a new
cursor when sharing an existing cursor, or
when the cursor plan is not optimal. Set to
EXACT to allow only statements with
identical text to share the same cursor.

DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT Specifies the number of blocks that are read

in a single I/O during a full table scan or
index fast full scan. The optimizer uses the
value of this parameter to calculate the cost of
full table scans and index fast full scans.
Larger values result in a lower cost for full
table scans, which may result in the optimizer
choosing a full table scan over an index scan.
The default value of this parameter
corresponds to the maximum I/O size that
the database can perform efficiently. This
value is platform-dependent and is 1MB for
most platforms. Because the parameter is
expressed in blocks, it is set to a value equal
to the maximum I/O size that can be
performed efficiently divided by the standard
block size. If the number of sessions is
extremely large, then the multiblock read
count value decreases to avoid the buffer
cache getting flooded with too many table
scan buffers.

Influencing the Optimizer 14-3

Influencing the Optimizer with Initialization Parameters

Table 14-1 (Cont.) Initialization Parameters That Control Optimizer Behavior

Initialization Parameter Description

OPTIMIZER_ADAPTIVE_REPORTING_ONLY Controls the reporting mode for automatic

reoptimization and adaptive plans (see
“Adaptive Plans”). By default, reporting
mode is off (false), which means that
adaptive optimizations are enabled.
If set to true, then adaptive optimizations
run in reporting-only mode. In this case, the
database gathers information required for an
adaptive optimization, but takes no action to
change the plan. For example, an adaptive
plan always choose the default plan, but the
database collects information about which
plan the database would use if the parameter
were set to false. You can view the report
by using DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR.

OPTIMIZER_MODE Sets the optimizer mode at database instance

startup. Possible values are ALL_ROWS,
FIRST_ROWS_n, and FIRST_ROWS.

OPTIMIZER_INDEX_CACHING Controls the cost analysis of an index probe

with a nested loop. The range of values 0 to
100 indicates percentage of index blocks in
the buffer cache, which modifies optimizer
assumptions about index caching for nested
loops and IN-list iterators. A value of 100
infers that 100% of the index blocks are likely
to be found in the buffer cache, so the
optimizer adjusts the cost of an index probe
or nested loop accordingly. Use caution when
setting this parameter because execution
plans can change in favor of index caching.

OPTIMIZER_INDEX_COST_ADJ Adjusts the cost of index probes. The range of

values is 1 to 10000. The default value is
100, which means that the optimizer
evaluates indexes as an access path based on
the normal cost model. A value of 10 means
that the cost of an index access path is one-
tenth the normal cost of an index access path.

OPTIMIZER_INMEMORY_AWARE This parameter enables (TRUE) or disables

(FALSE) all of the in-memory optimizer
features, including the cost model for in-
memory, table expansion, bloom filters, and
so on. Setting the parameter to FALSE causes
the optimizer to ignore the in-memory
property of tables during the optimization of
SQL statements.

14-4 SQL Tuning Guide

 Influencing the Optimizer with Initialization Parameters

Table 14-1 (Cont.) Initialization Parameters That Control Optimizer Behavior

Initialization Parameter Description

OPTIMIZER_USE_INVISIBLE_INDEXES Enables or disables the use of invisible

indexes.

RESULT_CACHE_MODE Controls whether the database uses the SQL

query result cache for all queries, or only for
the queries that are annotated with the result
cache hint. When set to MANUAL (the default),
you must use the RESULT_CACHE hint to
specify that a specific result is to be stored in
the cache. When set to FORCE, the database
stores all results in the cache.
When setting this parameter, consider how
the result cache handles PL/SQL functions.
The database invalidates query results in the
result cache using the same mechanism that
tracks data dependencies for PL/SQL
functions, but otherwise permits caching of
queries that contain PL/SQL functions.
Because PL/SQL function result cache
invalidation does not track all kinds of
dependencies (such as on sequences,
SYSDATE, SYS_CONTEXT, and package
variables), indiscriminate use of the query
result cache on queries calling such functions
can result in changes to results, that is,
incorrect results. Thus, consider correctness
and performance when choosing to enable
the result cache, especially when setting
RESULT_CACHE_MODE to FORCE.

RESULT_CACHE_MAX_SIZE Changes the memory allocated to the result

cache. If you set this parameter to 0, then the
result cache is disable. The value of this
parameter is rounded to the largest multiple
of 32 KB that is not greater than the specified
value. If the rounded value is 0, then the
feature is disabled.

RESULT_CACHE_MAX_RESULT Specifies the maximum amount of cache

memory that any single result can use. The
default value is 5%, but you can specify any
percentage value between 1 and 100.

Influencing the Optimizer 14-5

Influencing the Optimizer with Initialization Parameters

Table 14-1 (Cont.) Initialization Parameters That Control Optimizer Behavior

Initialization Parameter Description

RESULT_CACHE_REMOTE_EXPIRATION Specifies the number of minutes for which a

result that depends on remote database
objects remains valid. The default is 0, which
implies that the database should not cache
results using remote objects. Setting this
parameter to a nonzero value can produce
stale answers, such as if a remote database
modifies a table that is referenced in a result.

STAR_TRANSFORMATION_ENABLED Enables the optimizer to cost a star

transformation for star queries (if true). The
star transformation combines the bitmap
indexes on the various fact table columns. See
Oracle Database Data Warehousing Guide.

See Also:

• Oracle Database Reference for complete information about the preceding

initialization parameters

• Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide to learn how to tune the query
result cache

Enabling Optimizer Features

The OPTIMIZER_FEATURES_ENABLE initialization parameter controls a set of
optimizer-related features, depending on the release. The parameter accepts one of a
list of valid string values corresponding to the release numbers, such as 10.2.0.1 or
11.2.0.1.
You can use this parameter to preserve the old behavior of the optimizer after a
database upgrade. For example, if you upgrade Oracle Database 11g Release 1
(11.1.0.7) to Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.2), then the default value of the
OPTIMIZER_FEATURES_ENABLE parameter changes from 11.1.0.7 to 11.2.0.2.
This upgrade results in the optimizer enabling optimization features based on Oracle
Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.2).
For backward compatibility, you may not want the execution plans to change because
of new optimizer features in a new release. In such cases, you can set
OPTIMIZER_FEATURES_ENABLE to an earlier version. If you upgrade to a new
release, and if you want to enable the features in the new release, then you do not need
to explicitly set the OPTIMIZER_FEATURES_ENABLE initialization parameter.

14-6 SQL Tuning Guide

 Influencing the Optimizer with Initialization Parameters

Caution:

Oracle does not recommend explicitly setting the

OPTIMIZER_FEATURES_ENABLE initialization parameter to an earlier release.
To avoid SQL performance regression that may result from execution plan
changes, consider using SQL plan management instead. See Managing SQL
Plan Baselines .

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You recently upgraded the database from Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2.0.5)
to Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.2).

• You want to preserve the optimizer behavior from the earlier release.

To enable query optimizer features for a specific release:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then query
the current optimizer features settings.
For example, run the following SQL*Plus command:
SQL> SHOW PARAMETER optimizer_features_enable

NAME TYPE VALUE

------------------------------------ ----------- --------
optimizer_features_enable string 11.2.0.2

2. Set the optimizer features setting at the instance or session level.

For example, run the following SQL statement to set the optimizer version to
10.2.0.5:
SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET OPTIMIZER_FEATURES_ENABLE='10.2.0.5';

The preceding statement restores the optimizer functionality that existed in Oracle
Database 10g Release 2 (10.2.0.5).

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference to learn about optimizer features enabled when you
set OPTIMIZER_FEATURES_ENABLE to different release values

Choosing an Optimizer Goal

The optimizer goal is the prioritization of resource usage by the optimizer. Using the
OPTIMIZER_MODE initialization parameter, you can set the following optimizer goals:

• Best throughput (default)

When you set the OPTIMIZER_MODE value to ALL_ROWS, the database uses the
least amount of resources necessary to process all rows that the statement accessed.
For batch applications such as Oracle Reports, optimize for best throughput.
Usually, throughput is more important in batch applications because the user is
only concerned with the time necessary for the application to complete. Response

Influencing the Optimizer 14-7

Influencing the Optimizer with Initialization Parameters

time is less important because the user does not examine the results of individual
statements while the application is running.

• Best response time

When you set the OPTIMIZER_MODE value to FIRST_ROWS_n, the database
optimizes with a goal of best response time to return the first n rows, where n
equals 1, 10, 100, or 1000.
For interactive applications in Oracle Forms or SQL*Plus, optimize for response
time. Usually, response time is important because the interactive user is waiting to
see the first row or rows that the statement accessed.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• The primary application is interactive, so you want to set the optimizer goal for the
database instance to minimize response time.

• For the current session only, you want to run a report and optimize for throughput.

To enable query optimizer features for a specific release:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then query
the current optimizer mode.
For example, run the following SQL*Plus command:
dba1@PROD> SHOW PARAMETER OPTIMIZER_MODE

NAME TYPE VALUE

------------------------------------ ----------- --------
optimizer_mode string ALL_ROWS

2. At the instance level, optimize for response time.

For example, run the following SQL statement to configure the system to retrieve
the first 10 rows as quickly as possible:
SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET OPTIMIZER_MODE='FIRST_ROWS_10';

3. At the session level only, optimize for throughput before running a report.
For example, run the following SQL statement to configure only this session to
optimize for throughput:
SQL> ALTER SESSION SET OPTIMIZER_MODE='ALL_ROWS';

See Also:
Oracle Database Reference to learn about the OPTIMIZER_MODE initialization
parameter

Controlling Adaptive Optimization

In Oracle Database, adaptive query optimization is the process by which the optimizer
adapts an execution plan based on statistics collected at run time (see “About
Adaptive Query Optimization”). Adaptive optimization is enabled under the
following conditions:

14-8 SQL Tuning Guide

 Influencing the Optimizer with Initialization Parameters

• The OPTIMIZER_FEATURES_ENABLE initialization parameter is set to 12.1.0.1

or later.

• The OPTIMIZER_ADAPTIVE_REPORTING_ONLY initialization parameter is set to

false (default).
If OPTIMIZER_ADAPTIVE_REPORTING_ONLY is set to true, then adaptive
optimization runs in reporting-only mode. In this case, the database gathers
information required for adaptive optimization, but does not change the plans. An
adaptive plan always chooses the default plan, but the database collects information
about the execution as if the parameter were set to false.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• The OPTIMIZER_FEATURES_ENABLE initialization parameter is set to 12.1.0.1

or later.

• The OPTIMIZER_ADAPTIVE_REPORTING_ONLY initialization parameter is set to

false (default).

• You want to disable adaptive optimization for testing purposes so that the database
generates only reports.

To disable adaptive optimization and view reports:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database as SYSTEM, and then query the current settings.
For example, run the following SQL*Plus command:
SHOW PARAMETER OPTIMIZER_ADAPTIVE_REPORTING_ONLY

NAME TYPE VALUE

------------------------------------ ----------- -----
optimizer_adaptive_reporting_only boolean FALSE

2. At the session level, set the OPTIMIZER_ADAPTIVE_REPORTING_ONLY

initialization parameter to true.
For example, in SQL*Plus run the following SQL statement:
ALTER SESSION SET OPTIMIZER_ADAPTIVE_REPORTING_ONLY=true;

3. Run a query.

4. Run DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR to view the report.

Note:
The format argument that you pass to DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR must
include the +REPORT parameter. When this parameter is set, the report shows
the plan the optimizer would have picked if automatic reoptimization had
been enabled.

Influencing the Optimizer 14-9

Influencing the Optimizer with Hints

See Also:

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the

OPTIMIZER_ADAPTIVE_REPORTING_ONLY initialization parameter

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
+REPORT parameter of the DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR function

Influencing the Optimizer with Hints

Optimizer hints are special comments in a SQL statement that pass instructions to the
optimizer. The optimizer uses hints to choose an execution plan for the statement
unless prevented by some condition.
This section contains the following topics:

• About Optimizer Hints

• Guidelines for Join Order Hints

Note:

Oracle Database SQL Language Reference contains a complete reference for all
SQL hints

About Optimizer Hints

Use hints to influence the optimizer mode, query transformation, access path, join
order, and join methods. For example, Figure 14-2 shows how you can use a hint to tell
the optimizer to use a specific index for a specific statement. Oracle Database SQL
Language Reference lists the most common hints by functional category.

Figure 14-2 Optimizer Hint

SELECT /*+ INDEX (employees emp_dep_ix)*/ ...

Optimizer

Generate Plan

Id Operation Name
0 SELECT STATEMENT
1 TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID EMPLOYEES
*2 INDEX UNIQUE SCAN EMP_DEP_IX

The advantage of hints is that they enable you to make decisions normally made by
the optimizer. In a test environment, hints are useful for testing the performance of a
specific access path. For example, you may know that an index is more selective for

14-10 SQL Tuning Guide

 Influencing the Optimizer with Hints

certain queries, as in Figure 14-2. In this case, the hint may cause the optimizer to
generate a better plan.
The disadvantage of hints is the extra code that you must manage, check, and control.
Hints were introduced in Oracle7, when users had little recourse if the optimizer
generated suboptimal plans. Because changes in the database and host environment
can make hints obsolete or have negative consequences, a good practice is to test using
hints, but use other techniques to manage execution plans.
Oracle provides several tools, including SQL Tuning Advisor, SQL plan management,
and SQL Performance Analyzer, to address performance problems not solved by the
optimizer. Oracle strongly recommends that you use these tools instead of hints
because they provide fresh solutions as the data and database environment change.

Types of Hints
Hints fall into the following types:

• Single-table
Single-table hints are specified on one table or view. INDEX and USE_NL are
examples of single-table hints. The following statement uses a single-table hint:
SELECT /*+ INDEX (employees emp_department_ix)*/ employee_id, department_id
FROM employees
WHERE department_id > 50;

• Multi-table
Multi-table hints are like single-table hints except that the hint can specify multiple
tables or views. LEADING is an example of a multi-table hint. The following
statement uses a multi-table hint:
SELECT /*+ LEADING(e j) */ *
FROM employees e, departments d, job_history j
WHERE e.department_id = d.department_id
AND e.hire_date = j.start_date;

Note:

USE_NL(table1 table2) is not considered a multi-table hint because it is a

shortcut for USE_NL(table1) and USE_NL(table2).

• Query block
Query block hints operate on single query blocks. STAR_TRANSFORMATION and
UNNEST are examples of query block hints. The following statement uses a query
block hint:
SELECT /*+ STAR_TRANSFORMATION */ s.time_id, s.prod_id, s.channel_id
FROM sales s, times t, products p, channels c
WHERE s.time_id = t.time_id AND s.prod_id = p.prod_id
AND s.channel_id = c.channel_id AND c.channel_desc = 'Tele Sales';

• Statement
Statement hints apply to the entire SQL statement. ALL_ROWS is an example of a
statement hint. The following statement uses a statement hint:
SELECT /*+ ALL_ROWS */ * FROM sales;

Influencing the Optimizer 14-11

Influencing the Optimizer with Hints

Scope of Hints
When you specify a hint, it optimizes only the statement block in which it appears,
overriding any instance-level or session-level parameters. A statement block is one of
the following:

• A simple MERGE, SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE statement

• A parent statement or a subquery of a complex statement

• A part of a query using set operators (UNION, MINUS, INTERSECT)

Example 14-1 Query Using a Set Operator
The following query consists of two component queries and the UNION operator:
SELECT /*+ FIRST_ROWS(10) */ prod_id, time_id FROM 2010_sales
UNION ALL
SELECT /*+ ALL_ROWS */ prod_id, time_id FROM current_year_sales;

The preceding statement has two blocks, one for each component query. Hints in the
first component query apply only to its optimization, not to the optimization of the
second component query. For example, in the first week of 2015 you query current
year and last year sales. You apply FIRST_ROWS(10) to the query of last year's (2014)
sales and the ALL_ROWS hint to the query of this year's (2015) sales.

See Also:

Oracle Database SQL Language Reference for an overview of hints

Considerations for Hints

You must enclose hints within a SQL comment. The hint comment must immediately
follow the first keyword of a SQL statement block. You can use either style of
comment: a slash-star (/*) or pair of dashes (--). The plus-sign (+) hint delimiter must
come immediately after the comment delimiter, as in the following fragment:
SELECT /*+ hint_text */ ...

The database ignores incorrectly specified hints. The database also ignores
combinations of conflicting hints, even if these hints are correctly specified. If one hint
is incorrectly specified, but a hint in the same comment is correctly specified, then the
database considers the correct hint.

Caution:
The database does not issue error messages for hints that it ignores.

A statement block can have only one comment containing hints, but it can contain
many space-separated hints. For example, a complex query may include multiple table
joins. If you specify only the INDEX hint for a specified table, then the optimizer must
determine the remaining access paths and corresponding join methods. The optimizer
may not use the INDEX hint because the join methods and access paths prevent it.
Example 14-2 uses multiple hints to specify the exact join order.

14-12 SQL Tuning Guide

 Influencing the Optimizer with Hints

Example 14-2 Multiple Hints

SELECT /*+ LEADING(e2 e1) USE_NL(e1) INDEX(e1 emp_emp_id_pk)
USE_MERGE(j) FULL(j) */
e1.first_name, e1.last_name, j.job_id, sum(e2.salary) total_sal
FROM employees e1, employees e2, job_history j
WHERE e1.employee_id = e2.manager_id
AND e1.employee_id = j.employee_id
AND e1.hire_date = j.start_date
GROUP BY e1.first_name, e1.last_name, j.job_id
ORDER BY total_sal;

See Also:

Oracle Database SQL Language Reference to learn about the syntax rules for
comments and hints

Guidelines for Join Order Hints

The join order can have a significant effect on the performance of a SQL statement. In
some cases, you can specify join order hints in a SQL statement so that it does not
access rows that have no effect on the result.
The driving table in a join is the table to which other tables are joined. In general, the
driving table contains the filter condition that eliminates the highest percentage of
rows in the table.
Consider the following guidelines:

• Avoid a full table scan when an index retrieves the requested rows more efficiently.

• Avoid using an index that fetches many rows from the driving table when you can
use a different index that fetches a small number of rows.

• Choose the join order so that you join fewer rows to tables later in the join order.
The following example shows how to tune join order effectively:
SELECT *
FROM taba a, tabb b, tabc c
WHERE a.acol BETWEEN 100 AND 200

AND b.bcol BETWEEN 10000 AND 20000

AND c.ccol BETWEEN 10000 AND 20000
AND a.key1 = b.key1
AND a.key2 = c.key2;

1. Choose the driving table and the driving index (if any).
Each of the first three conditions in the previous example is a filter condition that
applies to a single table. The last two conditions are join conditions.
Filter conditions dominate the choice of driving table and index. In general, the
driving table contains the filter condition that eliminates the highest percentage of
rows. Thus, because the range of 100 to 200 is narrow compared with the range of
acol, but the ranges of 10000 and 20000 are relatively large, taba is the driving
table, all else being equal.

Influencing the Optimizer 14-13

Influencing the Optimizer with Hints

With nested loops joins, the joins occur through the join indexes, which are the
indexes on the primary or foreign keys used to connect that table to an earlier
table in the join tree. Rarely do you use the indexes on the non-join conditions,
except for the driving table. Thus, after taba is chosen as the driving table, use
the indexes on b.key1 and c.key2 to drive into tabb and tabc, respectively.

2. Choose the best join order, driving to the best unused filters earliest.
You can reduce the work of the following join by first joining to the table with the
best still-unused filter. Thus, if bcol BETWEEN ... is more restrictive (rejects a
higher percentage of the rows) than ccol BETWEEN ..., then the last join becomes
easier (with fewer rows) if tabb is joined before tabc.

3. You can use the ORDERED or STAR hint to force the join order.

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference to learn about OPTIMIZER_MODE

14-14 SQL Tuning Guide

 15
Improving Real-World Performance
Through Cursor Sharing

This chapter contains the following topics:

• Overview of Cursor Sharing

• CURSOR_SHARING Initialization Parameter

• Adaptive Cursor Sharing

• Real-World Performance Guidelines for Cursor Sharing

Overview of Cursor Sharing

Oracle Database can share cursors, which are pointers to private SQL areas in the
shared pool. Cursor sharing can improve database application performance by orders
of magnitude.
This section contains the following topics:

• About Cursors

• About Cursors and Parsing

• About Literals and Bind Variables

About Cursors
A private SQL area holds information about a parsed SQL statement and other
session-specific information for processing. When a server process executes SQL or
PL/SQL code, the process uses the private SQL area to store bind variable values,
query execution state information, and query execution work areas. The private SQL
areas for each execution of a statement are not shared and may contain different
values and data.
A cursor is a name or handle to a specific private SQL area. The cursor contains
session-specific state information such as bind variable values and result sets.
As shown in the following graphic, you can think of a cursor as a pointer on the client
side and as a state on the server side. Because cursors are closely associated with
private SQL areas, the terms are sometimes used interchangeably.

Improving Real-World Performance Through Cursor Sharing 15-1

Overview of Cursor Sharing

PGA
SQL Work Areas Server
Process
Session Memory Private SQL Area

Cursor
Data Area
Client
Pointer Process

Private and Shared SQL Areas

A cursor in the private SQL area points to a shared SQL area in the library cache.
Unlike the private SQL area, which contains session state information, the shared SQL
area contains the parse tree and execution plan for the statement.
For example, an execution of SELECT * FROM employees has a plan and parse tree
stored in one shared SQL area. An execution of SELECT * FROM departments,
which differs both syntactically and semantically, has a plan and parse tree stored in a
separate shared SQL area.
Multiple private SQL areas in the same or different sessions can reference a single
shared SQL area, a phenomenon known as cursor sharing. For example, an execution
of SELECT * FROM employees in one session and an execution of the SELECT *
FROM employees (accessing the same table) in a different session can use the same
parse tree and plan. A shared SQL area that is accessed by multiple statements is
known as a shared cursor.

15-2 SQL Tuning Guide

 Overview of Cursor Sharing

Instance

System Global Area (SGA)

Shared Pool
Library Cache
Shared SQL Area Private
SELECT * FROM SQL Area
employees (Shared
Server Only)

Data Server Other Reserved

Dictionary Result Pool
Cache Cache

PGA PGA
Server SQL Work Areas Server SQL Work Areas
Process Process
Session Memory Private SQL Area Session Memory Private SQL Area

SELECT * FROM employees SELECT * FROM employees

Client Client
Process Process

Oracle Database automatically determines whether the SQL statement or PL/SQL

block being issued is identical to another statement currently in the library cache,
using the following steps:

1. The text of the statement is hashed.

2. If no matching hash value exists, then the SQL statement does not currently exist
in the shared pool, so the database performs a hard parse.

3. The database looks for a matching hash value for an existing SQL statement in the
shared pool. The following options are possible:

• No matching hash value exists.

In this case, the SQL statement does not currently exist in the shared pool, so
the database performs a hard parse. This ends the shared pool check.

• A matching hash value exists.

In this case, the database compares the text of the matched statement to the text
of the hashed statement to see if they are identical. The text of the SQL
statements or PL/SQL blocks must be identical, character for character,
including spaces, case, and comments. For example, the following statements
cannot use the same shared SQL area:
SELECT * FROM employees;
SELECT * FROM Employees;
SELECT * FROM employees;

Improving Real-World Performance Through Cursor Sharing 15-3

Overview of Cursor Sharing

Usually, SQL statements that differ only in literals cannot use the same shared
SQL area. For example, the following statements do not resolve to the same
SQL area:
SELECT count(1) FROM employees WHERE manager_id = 121;
SELECT count(1) FROM employees WHERE manager_id = 247;

The only exception to this rule is when the parameter CURSOR_SHARING has
been set to FORCE, in which case similar statements can share SQL areas. The
costs involved in using CURSOR_SHARING are explained in “Do Not Use
CURSOR_SHARING = FORCE as a Permanent Fix”.

4. The database compares objects referenced in the issued statement to the

referenced objects of all existing statements in the pool to ensure that they are
identical.
References to schema objects in the SQL statements or PL/SQL blocks must
resolve to the same object in the same schema. For example, if two users issue the
following SQL statement, and if each user has its own employees table, then the
following statement is not identical because the statement references different
employees tables for each user:
SELECT * FROM employees;

5. The database determines whether bind variables in the SQL statements match in
name, data type, and length.
For example, the following statements cannot use the same shared SQL area
because the bind variable names differ:
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE department_id = :department_id;
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE department_id = :dept_id;

6. The database determines whether the session environment is identical.

For example, SQL statements must be optimized using the same optimizer goal
(see “Choosing an Optimizer Goal”).

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference to learn more about the CURSOR_SHARING

initialization parameter

Parent and Child Cursors

Every parsed SQL statement has a parent cursor and one or more child cursors. The
parent cursor stores the text of the SQL statement. If the text of two statements is
identical, then the statements share the same parent cursor. If the text is different,
however, then the database creates a separate parent cursor.
Example 15-1 Parent Cursors
In this example, the first two statements are syntactically different (the letter “c” is
lowercase in the first statement and uppercase in the second statement), but
semantically identical. Because of the syntactic difference, these statements have
different parent cursors. The third statement is syntactically identical to the first
statement (lowercase “c”), but semantically different because it refers to a customers
table in a different schema. Because of the syntactic identity, the third statement can
share a parent cursor with the first statement.

15-4 SQL Tuning Guide

 Overview of Cursor Sharing

SQL> CONNECT oe@inst1

Enter password: *******
Connected.
SQL> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM customers;

COUNT(*)
----------
319

SQL> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM Customers;

COUNT(*)
----------
319

SQL> CONNECT sh@inst1

Enter password: *******
Connected.
SQL> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM customers;

COUNT(*)
----------
155500

The following query of V$SQL indicates the two parents. The statement with the SQL
ID of 8h916vv2yw400, which is the lowercase “c” version of the statement, has one
parent cursor and two child cursors: child 0 and child 1. The statement with the SQL
ID of 5rn2uxjtpz0wd, which is the uppercase “c” version of the statement, has a
different parent cursor and only one child cursor: child 0.
SQL> CONNECT SYSTEM@inst1
Enter password: *******
Connected.

SQL> COL SQL_TEXT FORMAT a30

SQL> COL CHILD# FORMAT 99999
SQL> COL EXEC FORMAT 9999
SQL> COL SCHEMA FORMAT a6
SQL> SELECT SQL_ID, PARSING_SCHEMA_NAME AS SCHEMA, SQL_TEXT,
2 CHILD_NUMBER AS CHILD#, EXECUTIONS AS EXEC FROM V$SQL
3 WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE '%ustom%' AND SQL_TEXT NOT LIKE '%SQL_TEXT%' ORDER BY
SQL_ID;

SQL_ID SCHEMA SQL_TEXT CHILD# EXEC

------------- ------ ------------------------------ ------ -----
5rn2uxjtpz0wd OE SELECT COUNT(*) FROM Customers 0 1
8h916vv2yw400 OE SELECT COUNT(*) FROM customers 0 1
8h916vv2yw400 SH SELECT COUNT(*) FROM customers 1 1

Parent Cursors and V$SQLAREA

The V$SQLAREA view contains one row for every parent cursor.
In the following example, a query of V$SQLAREA shows two parent cursors, each
identified with a different SQL_ID. The VERSION_COUNT indicates the number of
child cursors.
COL SQL_TEXT FORMAT a30
SELECT SQL_TEXT, SQL_ID, VERSION_COUNT, HASH_VALUE
FROM V$SQLAREA
WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE '%mployee%'
AND SQL_TEXT NOT LIKE '%SQL_TEXT%';

Improving Real-World Performance Through Cursor Sharing 15-5

Overview of Cursor Sharing

SQL_TEXT SQL_ID VERSION_COUNT HASH_VALUE

------------------------------ ------------- ------------- ----------
SELECT * FROM Employees 5bzhzpaa0wy9m 1 2483976499
SELECT * FROM employees 4959aapufrm1k 2 1961610290

In the preceding output, the VERSION_COUNT of 2 for SELECT * FROM employees

indicates multiple child cursors, which were necessary because the statement was
executed against two different objects. In contrast, the statement SELECT * FROM
Employees (note the capital "E") was executed once, and so has one parent cursor,
and one child cursor (VERSION_COUNT of 1).

Child Cursors and V$SQL

Every parent cursor has one or more child cursors. A child cursor contains the
execution plan, bind variables, metadata about objects referenced in the query,
optimizer environment, and other information. In contrast to the parent cursor, the
child cursor does not store the text of the SQL statement.
V$SQL describes the statements that currently reside in the library cache. It contains
one row for every child cursor, as shown in the following example:
SELECT SQL_TEXT, SQL_ID, USERNAME AS USR, CHILD_NUMBER AS CHILD#,
HASH_VALUE, PLAN_HASH_VALUE AS PLAN_HASHV
FROM V$SQL s, DBA_USERS d
WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE '%mployee%'
AND SQL_TEXT NOT LIKE '%SQL_TEXT%'
AND d.USER_ID = s.PARSING_USER_ID;

SQL_TEXT SQL_ID USR CHILD# HASH_VALUE PLAN_HASHV

----------------------- ------------- --- ------ ---------- ----------
SELECT * FROM Employees 5bzhzpaa0wy9m HR 0 2483976499 1445457117
SELECT * FROM employees 4959aapufrm1k HR 0 1961610290 1445457117
SELECT * FROM employees 4959aapufrm1k SH 1 1961610290 1445457117

In the preceding results, the CHILD# of the bottom two statements is different (0 and
1), even though the SQL_ID is the same. This means that the statements have the same
parent cursor, but different child cursors. In contrast, the statement with the SQL_ID
of 5bzhzpaa0wy9m has one parent and one child (CHILD# of 0). All three SQL
statements use the same execution plan, as indicated by identical values in the
PLAN_HASH_VALUE column.

Cursor Mismatches and V$SQL_SHARED_CURSOR

If a parent cursor has multiple children, then the V$SQL_SHARED_CURSOR view
provides information about why the cursor was not shared. For several types of
incompatibility, the a column indicates a mismatch with the value Y or N.
Example 15-2 Translation Mismatch
In this example, the TRANSLATION_MISMATCH column shows that the two statements
(SELECT * FROM employees) referenced different objects, resulting in a
TRANSLATION_MISMATCH value of Y for the last statement. Because sharing was not
possible, each statement had a separate child cursor, as indicated by CHILD_NUMBER
of 0 and 1.
SELECT S.SQL_TEXT, S.CHILD_NUMBER, s.CHILD_ADDRESS,
C.TRANSLATION_MISMATCH
FROM V$SQL S, V$SQL_SHARED_CURSOR C
WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE '%employee%'
AND SQL_TEXT NOT LIKE '%SQL_TEXT%'

15-6 SQL Tuning Guide

 Overview of Cursor Sharing

AND S.CHILD_ADDRESS = C.CHILD_ADDRESS;

SQL_TEXT CHILD_NUMBER CHILD_ADDRESS T

------------------------------ ------------ ---------------- -
SELECT * FROM employees 0 0000000081EE8690 N
SELECT * FROM employees 1 0000000081F22508 Y

About Cursors and Parsing

If an application issues a statement, and if Oracle Database cannot reuse a cursor, then
it must build a new executable version of the application code. This operation is
known as a hard parse.
A soft parse is any parse that is not a hard parse, and occurs when the database can
reuse existing code (see “Shared Pool Check”). Some soft parses are less resource-
intensive than others. For example, if a parent cursor for the statement already exists,
then Oracle Database can perform various optimizations, and then store the child
cursor in the shared SQL area. If a parent cursor does not exist, however, then Oracle
Database must also store the parent cursor in the shared SQL area, which creates
additional memory overhead.
Effectively, a hard parse recompiles a statement before running it. Hard parsing a SQL
statement before every execution is analogous to recompiling a C program before
every execution. A hard parse performs operations such as the following:

• Checking the syntax of the SQL statement

• Checking the semantics of the SQL statement

• Checking the access rights of the user issuing the statement

• Creating an execution plan

• Accessing the library cache and data dictionary cache numerous times to check the
data dictionary
An especially resource-intensive aspect of hard parsing is accessing the library cache
and data dictionary cache numerous times to check the data dictionary. When the
database accesses these areas, it uses a serialization device called a latch on required
objects so that their definition does not change during the check. Latch contention
increases statement execution time and decreases concurrency.
For all of the preceding reasons, the CPU and memory overhead of hard parses can
create serious performance problems. The problems are especially evident in web
applications that accept user input from a form, and then generate SQL statements
dynamically. The Real-World Performance group strongly recommends reducing hard
parsing as much as possible.

Video:
RWP #3: Connection Pools and Hard Parsing

Example 15-3 Finding Parse Information Using V$SQL

You can use various techniques to monitor hard and soft parsing. This example
queries the session statistics to determine whether repeated executions of a DBA_JOBS
query increase tehu hard parse count. The first execution of the statement increases the

Improving Real-World Performance Through Cursor Sharing 15-7

Overview of Cursor Sharing

hard parse count to 49, but the second execution does not change the hard parse
count, which means that Oracle Database reused application code.
SQL> ALTER SYSTEM FLUSH SHARED_POOL;

System altered.

SQL> COL NAME FORMAT a18

SQL> SELECT s.NAME, m.VALUE

2 FROM V$STATNAME s, V$MYSTAT m
3 WHERE s.STATISTIC# = m.STATISTIC#
4 AND s.NAME LIKE '%(hard%';

NAME VALUE
------------------ ----------
parse count (hard) 48

SQL> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM DBA_JOBS;

COUNT(*)
----------
0

SQL> SELECT s.NAME, m.VALUE

2 FROM V$STATNAME s, V$MYSTAT m
3 WHERE s.STATISTIC# = m.STATISTIC#
4 AND s.NAME LIKE '%(hard%';

NAME VALUE
------------------ ----------
parse count (hard) 49

SQL> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM DBA_JOBS;

COUNT(*)
----------
0

SQL> SELECT s.NAME, m.VALUE

2 FROM V$STATNAME s, V$MYSTAT m
3 WHERE s.STATISTIC# = m.STATISTIC#
4 AND s.NAME LIKE '%(hard%';

NAME VALUE
------------------ ----------
parse count (hard) 49

Example 15-4 Finding Parse Information Using Trace Files

This example uses SQL Trace and the TKPROF utility to find parse information.
Assume that you log in to the database with administrator privileges, and run the
following statements, using TRACEFILE_IDENTIFIER to give the trace file a
meaningful name:
ALTER SESSION SET sql_trace=TRUE;
ALTER SESSION SET TRACEFILE_IDENTIFIER = "emp_stmt";
ALTER SESSION SET EVENTS '10053 trace name context forever, level 12';
SELECT * FROM hr.employees;
EXIT;

15-8 SQL Tuning Guide

 Overview of Cursor Sharing

The following query shows the directory location of the trace files
SQL> SET LINESIZE 120
COLUMN value FORMAT A80

SELECT value
FROM v$diag_info
WHERE name = 'Default Trace File';
VALUE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/disk1/oracle/log/diag/rdbms/orcl/orcl/trace/orcl_ora_23054.trc

You can search this directory for the trace file that you generated:
% ls *emp_stmt.trc
orcl_ora_17950_emp_stmt.trc

Use TKPROF to format the trace file, and then open the formatted file:
% tkprof orcl_ora_17950_emp_stmt.trc emp.out; vi emp.out

The formatted trace file contains the parse information for the query of
hr.employees.
SQL ID: brmjpfs7dcnub Plan Hash: 1445457117

SELECT *
FROM
hr.employees

call count cpu elapsed disk query current rows

------- ------ -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Parse 1 0.07 0.08 0 0 0 0
Execute 1 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0
Fetch 9 0.00 0.00 3 12 0 107
------- ------ -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
total 11 0.07 0.08 3 12 0 107

Misses in library cache during parse: 1

Optimizer mode: ALL_ROWS
Parsing user id: SYSTEM
Number of plan statistics captured: 1

Rows (1st) Rows (avg) Rows (max) Row Source Operation

---------- ---------- ---------- ---------------------------------------------------
107 107 107 TABLE ACCESS FULL EMPLOYEES (cr=12 pr=3 pw=0
time=497
us starts=1 cost=2 size=7383 card=107)

A library cache miss indicates a hard parse. Performing the same steps for a second
execution of the same statement produces the following trace output, which shows no
library cache misses:
SQL ID: brmjpfs7dcnub Plan Hash: 1445457117

SELECT *
FROM
hr.employees

call count cpu elapsed disk query current rows

Improving Real-World Performance Through Cursor Sharing 15-9

Overview of Cursor Sharing

------- ------ -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------

Parse 1 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0
Execute 1 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0
Fetch 9 0.00 0.00 3 12 0 107
------- ------ -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
total 11 0.00 0.00 3 12 0 107

Misses in library cache during parse: 0

Optimizer mode: ALL_ROWS
Parsing user id: SYSTEM
Number of plan statistics captured: 1

Rows (1st) Rows (avg) Rows (max) Row Source Operation

---------- ---------- ---------- ---------------------------------------------------
107 107 107 TABLE ACCESS FULL EMPLOYEES (cr=12 pr=3 pw=0
time=961
us starts=1 cost=2 size=7383 card=107)

About Literals and Bind Variables

This section contains the following topics:

• Literals and Cursors

• Bind Variables and Cursors

• Bind Variable Peeking

Literals and Cursors

When constructing SQL statements, some Oracle applications use literals instead of
bind variables. For example, the statement SELECT SUM(salary) FROM
hr.employees WHERE employee_id < 101 uses the literal value 101 for the
employee ID. By default, when similar statements do not use bind variables, Oracle
Database cannot take advantage of cursor sharing. Thus, Oracle Database sees a
statement that is identical except for the value 102, or any other random value, as a
completely new statement, requiring a hard parse.
Through decades of experience, the Real-World Performance group has found that
applications that use literals are a frequent cause of performance, scalability, and
security problems. In the real world, it is not uncommon for applications to be written
quickly, without considering cursor sharing. A classic example is a “screen scraping”
application that copies the contents out of a web form, and then concatenates strings to
construct the SQL statement dynamically.
Major problems that result from using literal values include the following:

• Applications that concatenate literals input by an end user are prone to SQL
injection attacks. Only rewriting the applications to use bind variables eliminates
this threat (see “Do Not Use CURSOR_SHARING = FORCE as a Permanent Fix”).

• If every statement is hard parsed, then cursors are not shared, and so the database
must consume more memory to create the cursors.

• Oracle Database must latch the shared pool and library cache when hard parsing.
As the number of hard parses increases, so does the number of processes waiting to
latch the shared pool. This situation decreases concurrency and increases
contention.

15-10 SQL Tuning Guide

 Overview of Cursor Sharing

Video:

RWP #4: Bind Variables and Soft Parsing

Example 15-5 Literals and Cursor Sharing

Consider an application that executes the following statements, which differ only in
literals:
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < 101;
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < 120;
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < 165;

The following query of V$SQLAREA shows that the three statements require three
different parent cursors. As shown by VERSION_COUNT, each parent cursor requires
its own child cursor.
COL SQL_TEXT FORMAT a30
SELECT SQL_TEXT, SQL_ID, VERSION_COUNT, HASH_VALUE
FROM V$SQLAREA
WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE '%mployee%'
AND SQL_TEXT NOT LIKE '%SQL_TEXT%';

SQL_TEXT SQL_ID VERSION_COUNT HASH_VALUE

------------------------------ ------------- ------------- ----------
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.emp b1tvfcc5qnczb 1 191509483
loyees WHERE employee_id < 165
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.emp cn5250y0nqpym 1 2169198547
loyees WHERE employee_id < 101
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.emp au8nag2vnfw67 1 3074912455
loyees WHERE employee_id < 120

Bind Variables and Cursors

You can develop Oracle applications to use bind variables instead of literals. A bind
variable is a placeholder in a query. For example, the statement SELECT
SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < :emp_id uses the
bind variable:emp_id for the employee ID.
The Real-World Performance group has found that applications that use bind
variables perform better, are more scalable, and are more secure. Major benefits that
result from using bind variables include the following:

• Applications that use bind variables are not vulnerable to the same SQL injection
attacks as applications that use literals.

• When identical statements use bind variables, Oracle Database can take advantage
of cursor sharing, and share the plan and other information when different values
are bound to the same statement.

• Oracle Database avoids the overhead of latching the shared pool and library cache
required for hard parsing.

Video:
RWP #4: Bind Variables and Soft Parsing

Improving Real-World Performance Through Cursor Sharing 15-11

Overview of Cursor Sharing

Example 15-6 Bind Variables and Shared Cursors

The following example uses the VARIABLE command in SQL*Plus to create the
emp_id bind variable, and then executes a query using three different bind values
(101, 120, and 165):
VARIABLE emp_id NUMBER

EXEC :emp_id := 101;

SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < :emp_id;
EXEC :emp_id := 120;
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < :emp_id;
EXEC :emp_id := 165;
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < :emp_id;

The following query of V$SQLAREA shows one unique SQL statement:

COL SQL_TEXT FORMAT a34
SELECT SQL_TEXT, SQL_ID, VERSION_COUNT, HASH_VALUE
FROM V$SQLAREA
WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE '%mployee%'
AND SQL_TEXT NOT LIKE '%SQL_TEXT%';

SQL_TEXT SQL_ID VERSION_COUNT HASH_VALUE

---------------------------------- ------------- ------------- ----------
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employe 4318cbskba8yh 1 615850960
es WHERE employee_id < :emp_id

The VERSION_COUNT value of 1 indicates that the database reused the same child
cursor rather than creating three separate child cursors. Using a bind variable made
this reuse possible.

Bind Variable Peeking

In bind variable peeking (also known as bind peeking), the optimizer looks at the value
in a bind variable when the database performs a hard parse of a statement. The
optimizer does not look at the bind variable values before every parse. Rather, the
optimizer peeks only when the optimizer is first invoked, which is during the hard
parse.
When a query uses literals, the optimizer can use the literal values to find the best
plan. However, when a query uses bind variables, the optimizer must select the best
plan without the presence of literals in the SQL text. This task can be extremely
difficult. By peeking at bind values during the initial hard parse, the optimizer can
determine the cardinality of a WHERE clause condition as if literals had been used,
thereby improving the plan.
Because the optimizer only peeks at the bind value during the hard parse, the plan
may not be optimal for all possible bind values. The following examples illustrate this
principle.
Example 15-7 Literals Result in Different Execution Plans
Assume that you execute the following statements, which execute three different
statements using different literals (101, 120, and 165), and then display the execution
plans for each:
SET LINESIZE 167
SET PAGESIZE 0
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < 101;
SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR());
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < 120;

15-12 SQL Tuning Guide

 Overview of Cursor Sharing

SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR());

SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < 165;
SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR());

The database hard parsed all three statements, which were not identical. The
DISPLAY_CURSOR output, which has been edited for clarity, shows that the optimizer
chose the same nested loops plan for the first two statements, but a full table scan plan
for the statement using literal 165:
SQL_ID cn5250y0nqpym, child number 0
-------------------------------------
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < 101

Plan hash value: 2410354593

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost(%CPU)|Time|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | |2 (100)| |
| 1| SORT AGGREGATE | |1 | 8 | | |
| 2| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID BATCHED| EMPLOYEES |1 | 8 |2 (0) | 00:00:01 |
|*3| INDEX RANGE SCAN | EMP_EMP_ID_PK |1 | |1 (0) | 00:00:01 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------

3 - access("EMPLOYEE_ID"<101)

SQL_ID au8nag2vnfw67, child number 0

-------------------------------------
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < 120

Plan hash value: 2410354593

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost(%CPU)|Time|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | |2 (100)| |
| 1| SORT AGGREGATE | |1 | 8 | | |
| 2| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID BATCHED| EMPLOYEES |20|160|2 (0) | 00:00:01 |
|*3| INDEX RANGE SCAN | EMP_EMP_ID_PK |20| |1 (0) | 00:00:01 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

3 - access("EMPLOYEE_ID"<120)

SQL_ID b1tvfcc5qnczb, child number 0

-------------------------------------
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < 165

Plan hash value: 1756381138

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name |Rows| Bytes |Cost(%CPU)| Time |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | | 2 (100)| |
| 1 | SORT AGGREGATE | | 1 | 8 | | |
|* 2 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| EMPLOYEES | 66 | 528 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |

Improving Real-World Performance Through Cursor Sharing 15-13

CURSOR_SHARING and Bind Variable Substitution

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

2 - filter("EMPLOYEE_ID"<165)

The preceding output shows that the optimizer considers a full table scan more
efficient than an index scan for the query that returns more rows.
Example 15-8 Bind Variables Result in Cursor Reuse
This example rewrites the queries executed in Example 15-7 to use bind variables
instead of literals. You bind the same values (101, 120, and 165) to the bind
variable :emp_id, and then display the execution plans for each:
VAR emp_id NUMBER

EXEC :emp_id := 101;

SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < :emp_id;
SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR());
EXEC :emp_id := 120;
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < :emp_id;
SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR());
EXEC :emp_id := 165;
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < :emp_id;
SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR());

The DISPLAY_CURSOR output shows that the optimizer chose exactly the same plan
for all three statements:
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < :emp_id

Plan hash value: 2410354593

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost (%CPU)|Time|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | |2 (100)| |
| 1 | SORT AGGREGATE | |1|8 | | |
| 2 | TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID BATCHED| EMPLOYEES |1|8 | 2 (0)| 00:00:01 |
|* 3 | INDEX RANGE SCAN | EMP_EMP_ID_PK |1| | 1 (0)| 00:00:01 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

3 - access("EMPLOYEE_ID"<:EMP_ID)

In contrast, when the preceding statements were executed with literals, the optimizer
chose a lower-cost full table scan when the employee ID value was 165. This is the
problem solved by adaptive cursor sharing (see “Adaptive Cursor Sharing”).

CURSOR_SHARING and Bind Variable Substitution

This topic explains what the CURSOR_SHARING initialization parameter is, and how
setting it to different values affects how Oracle Database uses bind variables.
This section contains the following topics:

15-14 SQL Tuning Guide

 CURSOR_SHARING and Bind Variable Substitution

CURSOR_SHARING Initialization Parameter

The CURSOR_SHARING initialization parameter controls how the database processes
statements with bind variables.
In Oracle Database 12c, the parameter supports the following values:

• EXACT
This is the default value. The database enables only textually identical statements
to share a cursor. The database does not attempt to replace literal values with
system-generated bind variables. In this case, the optimizer generates a plan for
each statement based on the literal value.

• FORCE
The database replaces all literals with system-generated bind variables. For
statements that are identical after the bind variables replace the literals, the
optimizer uses the same plan.

Note:

The SIMILAR value for CURSOR_SHARING is deprecated.

You can set CURSOR_SHARING at the system or session level, or use the
CURSOR_SHARING_EXACT hint at the statement level.

See Also:

“Do Not Use CURSOR_SHARING = FORCE as a Permanent Fix”

Parsing Behavior When CURSOR_SHARING = FORCE

When SQL statements use literals rather than bind variables, setting the
CURSOR_SHARING initialization parameter to FORCE enables the database to replace
literals with system-generated bind variables. Using this technique, the database can
sometimes reduce the number of parent cursors in the shared SQL area.

Note:

If a statement uses an ORDER BY clause, then the database does not perform
literal replacement in the clause because it is not semantically correct to
consider the constant column number as a literal. The column number in the
ORDER BY clause affects the query plan and execution, so the database cannot
share two cursors having different column numbers.

When CURSOR_SHARING is set to FORCE, the database performs the following steps
during the parse:

1. Copies all literals in the statement to the PGA, and replaces them with system-
generated bind variables
For example, an application could process the following statement:

Improving Real-World Performance Through Cursor Sharing 15-15

CURSOR_SHARING and Bind Variable Substitution

SELECT SUBSTR(last_name, 1, 4), SUM(salary)

FROM hr.employees
WHERE employee_id < 101 GROUP BY last_name

The optimizer replaces literals, including the literals in the SUBSTR function, as
follows:
SELECT SUBSTR(last_name, :"SYS_B_0", :"SYS_B_1"), SUM(salary)
FROM hr.employees
WHERE employee_id < :"SYS_B_2" GROUP BY last_name

2. Searches for an identical statement (same SQL hash value) in the shared pool
If an identical statement is not found, then the database performs a hard parse.
Otherwise, the database proceeds to the next step.

3. Performs a soft parse of the statement

As the preceding steps indicate, setting the CURSOR_SHARING initialization parameter
to FORCE does not reduce the parse count. Rather, in some cases, FORCE enables the
database to perform a soft parse instead of a hard parse. Also, FORCE does not the
prevent against SQL injection attacks because Oracle Database binds the values after
any injection has already occurred.
Example 15-9 Replacement of Literals with System Bind Variables
This example sets CURSOR_SHARING to FORCE at the session level, executes three
statements containing literals, and displays the plan for each statement:
ALTER SESSION SET CURSOR_SHARING=FORCE;
SET LINESIZE 170
SET PAGESIZE 0
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < 101;
SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR());
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < 120;
SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR());
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < 165;
SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR());

The following DISPLAY_CURSOR output, edited for readability, shows that all three
statements used the same plan. The optimizer chose the plan, an index range scan,
because it peeked at the first value (101) bound to the system bind variable, and
picked this plan as the best for all values. In fact, this plan is not the best plan for all
values. When the value is 165, a full table scan is more efficient.
SQL_ID cxx8n1cxr9khn, child number 0
-------------------------------------
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < :"SYS_B_0"

Plan hash value: 2410354593

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost(%CPU)|Time|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | |2 (100)| |
| 1 | SORT AGGREGATE | |1 | 8 | | |
| 2 | TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID BATCHED| EMPLOYEES |1 | 8 |2 (0) |00:00:01|
|* 3 | INDEX RANGE SCAN | EMP_EMP_ID_PK |1 | |1 (0) |00:00:01|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------

15-16 SQL Tuning Guide

 Adaptive Cursor Sharing

3 - access("EMPLOYEE_ID"<101)

A query of V$SQLAREA confirms that Oracle Database replaced with the literal with
system bind variable :”SYS_B_0”, and created one parent and one child cursor
(VERSION_COUNT=1) for all three statements, which means that all executions shared
the same plan.
COL SQL_TEXT FORMAT a36
SELECT SQL_TEXT, SQL_ID, VERSION_COUNT, HASH_VALUE
FROM V$SQLAREA
WHERE eee_TEXT LIKE '%mployee%'
AND SQL_TEXT NOT LIKE '%SQL_TEXT%';

SQL_TEXT SQL_ID VERSION_COUNT HASH_VALUE

------------------------------------ ------------- ------------- ----------
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees cxx8n1cxr9khn 1 997509652
WHERE employee_id < :"SYS_B_0"

See Also:

• “Private and Shared SQL Areas” for more details on the various checks
performed

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the CURSOR_SHARING initialization

parameter

Adaptive Cursor Sharing

The adaptive cursor sharing feature enables a single statement that contains bind
variables to use multiple execution plans. Cursor sharing is "adaptive" because the
cursor adapts its behavior so that the database does not always use the same plan for
each execution or bind variable value.
This section contains the following topics:

• Purpose of Adaptive Cursor Sharing

• How Adaptive Cursor Sharing Works: Example

• Bind-Sensitive Cursors

• Bind-Aware Cursors

• Cursor Merging

• Adaptive Cursor Sharing Views

Purpose of Adaptive Cursor Sharing

With bind peeking, the optimizer peeks at the values of user-defined bind variables on
the first invocation of a cursor. The optimizer determines the cardinality of any WHERE
clause condition as if literals had been used instead of bind variables. If a column in a
WHERE clause has skewed data, however, then a histogram may exist on this column.
When the optimizer peeks at the value of the user-defined bind variable and chooses a
plan, this plan may not be good for all values.

Improving Real-World Performance Through Cursor Sharing 15-17

Adaptive Cursor Sharing

In adaptive cursor sharing, the database monitors data accessed over time for different
bind values, ensuring the optimal choice of cursor for a specific bind value. For
example, the optimizer might choose one plan for bind value 10 and a different plan
for bind value 50. Cursor sharing is "adaptive" because the cursor adapts its behavior
so that the optimizer does not always choose the same plan for each execution or bind
variable value. Thus, the optimizer automatically detects when different execution of a
statement would benefit from different execution plans.

Note:

Adaptive cursor sharing is independent of the CURSOR_SHARING

initialization parameter. Adaptive cursor sharing is equally applicable to
statements that contain user-defined and system-generated bind variables.
Adaptive cursor sharing does not apply to statements that contain only
literals.

How Adaptive Cursor Sharing Works: Example

Adaptive cursor sharing monitors statements that use bind variables to determine
whether a new plan is more efficient.
Assume that an application executes the following statement five times, binding
different values every time:
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE salary = :sal AND department_id = :dept

Also assume in this example that a histogram exists on at least one of the columns in
the predicate. The database processes this statement as follows:

1. The application issues the statement for the first time, which causes a hard parse.
During the parse, the database performs the following tasks:

• Peeks at the bind variables to generate the initial plan.

• Marks the cursor as bind-sensitive. A bind-sensitive cursor is a cursor whose

optimal plan may depend on the value of a bind variable. To determine
whether a different plan is beneficial, the database monitors the behavior of a
bind-sensitive cursor that uses different bind values.

• Stores metadata about the predicate, including the cardinality of the bound
values (in this example, assume that only 5 rows were returned).

• Creates an execution plan (in this example, a nested loops join) based on the
peeked values.

2. The database executes the cursor, storing the bind values and execution statistics
in the cursor.

3. The application issues the statement a second time, using different bind variables,
causing the database to perform a soft parse, and find the matching cursor in the
library cache.

4. The database executes the cursor.

5. The database performs the following post-execution tasks:

15-18 SQL Tuning Guide

 Adaptive Cursor Sharing

a. The database compares the execution statistics for the second execution with
the first-execution statistics.

b. The database observes the pattern of statistics over all previous executions,
and then decides whether to mark the cursor as a bind-aware cursor. In this
example, assume that the database decides the cursor is bind-aware.

6. The application issues the statement a third time, using different bind variables,
which causes a soft parse. Because the cursor is bind-aware, the database does the
following:

• Determines whether the cardinality of the new values falls within the same
range as the stored cardinality. In this example, the cardinality is similar: 8
rows instead of 5 rows.

• Reuses the execution plan in the existing child cursor.

7. The database executes the cursor.

8. The application issues the statement a fourth time, using different bind variables,
causing a soft parse. Because the cursor is bind-aware, the database does the
following:

• Determines whether the cardinality of the new values falls within the same
range as the stored cardinality. In this example, the cardinality is vastly
different: 102 rows (in a table with 107 rows) instead of 5 rows.

• Does not find a matching child cursor.

9. The database performs a hard parse. As a result, the database does the following:

• Creates a new child cursor with a second execution plan (in this example, a
hash join)

• Stores metadata about the predicate, including the cardinality of the bound
values, in the cursor

10. The database executes the new cursor.

11. The database stores the new bind values and execution statistics in the new child
cursor.

12. The application issues the statement a fifth time, using different bind variables,
which causes a soft parse. Because the cursor is bind-aware, the database does the
following:

• Determines whether the cardinality of the new values falls within the same
range as the stored cardinality. In this example, the cardinality is 20.

• Does not find a matching child cursor.

13. The database performs a hard parse. As a result, the database does the following:

a. Creates a new child cursor with a third execution plan (in this example, a
nested loops join)

b. Determines that this nested loops join execution plan is the same as the nested
loops execution plan used for the first execution of the statement

Improving Real-World Performance Through Cursor Sharing 15-19

Adaptive Cursor Sharing

c. Merges the two child cursors containing nested loop plans, which involves
storing the combined cardinality statistics into one child cursor, and deleting
the other one

14. The database executes the cursor using the nested loops execution plan.

Bind-Sensitive Cursors
A bind-sensitive cursor is a cursor whose optimal plan may depend on the value of a
bind variable. The database has examined the bind value when computing cardinality,
and considers the query “sensitive” to plan changes based on different bind values.
The database monitors the behavior of a bind-sensitive cursor that uses different bind
values to determine whether a different plan is beneficial.
The optimizer uses the following criteria to decide whether a cursor is bind-sensitive:

• The optimizer has peeked at the bind values to generate cardinality estimates.

• The bind is used in an equality or a range predicate.

For each execution of the query with a new bind value, the database records the
execution statistics for the new value and compares them to the execution statistics for
the previous value. If execution statistics vary greatly, then the database marks the
cursor bind-aware.
Example 15-10 Column with Significant Data Skew
This example assumes that the hr.employees.department_id column has
significant data skew. SYSTEM executes the following setup code, which adds 100,000
employees in department 50 to the employees table in the sample schema, for a total
of 100,107 rows, and then gathers table statistics:
DELETE FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id > 999;

ALTER TABLE hr.employees DISABLE NOVALIDATE CONSTRAINT emp_email_uk;

DECLARE
v_counter NUMBER(7) := 1000;
BEGIN
FOR i IN 1..100000 LOOP
INSERT INTO hr.employees
VALUES (v_counter,null,'Doe','[email protected]',null,'07-
JUN-02','AC_ACCOUNT',null,null,null,50);
v_counter := v_counter + 1;
END LOOP;
END;
/
COMMIT;

EXEC DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS ( ownname => 'hr', tabname => 'employees');

ALTER SYSTEM FLUSH SHARED_POOL;

The following query shows a histogram on the employees.department_id

column:
COL TABLE_NAME FORMAT a15
COL COLUMN_NAME FORMAT a20
COL HISTOGRAM FORMAT a9

SELECT TABLE_NAME, COLUMN_NAME, HISTOGRAM

15-20 SQL Tuning Guide

 Adaptive Cursor Sharing

FROM DBA_TAB_COLS
WHERE OWNER = 'HR'
AND TABLE_NAME = 'EMPLOYEES'
AND COLUMN_NAME = 'DEPARTMENT_ID';

TABLE_NAME COLUMN_NAME HISTOGRAM

--------------- -------------------- ---------
EMPLOYEES DEPARTMENT_ID FREQUENCY

Example 15-11 Low-Cardinality Query

This example continues the example in Example 15-10. The following query shows
that the value 10 has extremely low cardinality for the column department_id,
occupying .00099% of the rows:
VARIABLE dept_id NUMBER
EXEC :dept_id := 10;
SELECT COUNT(*), MAX(employee_id) FROM hr.employees WHERE department_id = :dept_id;

COUNT(*) MAX(EMPLOYEE_ID)
---------- ----------------
1 200

The optimizer chooses an index range scan, as expected for such a low-cardinality
query:
SQL> SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR);

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
-------------------------------------
SQL_ID a9upgaqqj7bn5, child number 0
-------------------------------------
select COUNT(*), MAX(employee_id) FROM hr.employees WHERE department_id = :dept_id

Plan hash value: 1642965905

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost (%CPU)|Time |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | |2(100)| |
| 1| SORT AGGREGATE | |1 |8 | | |
| 2| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID BATCHED| EMPLOYEES |1 |8 |2 (0)|00:00:01|
|*3| INDEX RANGE SCAN | EMP_DEPARTMENT_IX |1 | |1 (0)|00:00:01|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

3 - access("DEPARTMENT_ID"=:DEPT_ID)

The following query of V$SQL obtains information about the cursor:

COL BIND_AWARE FORMAT a10
COL SQL_TEXT FORMAT a22
COL CHILD# FORMAT 99999
COL EXEC FORMAT 9999
COL BUFF_GETS FORMAT 999999999
COL BIND_SENS FORMAT a9
COL SHAREABLE FORMAT a9

SELECT SQL_TEXT, CHILD_NUMBER AS CHILD#, EXECUTIONS AS EXEC,

BUFFER_GETS AS BUFF_GETS, IS_BIND_SENSITIVE AS BIND_SENS,

Improving Real-World Performance Through Cursor Sharing 15-21

Adaptive Cursor Sharing

IS_BIND_AWARE AS BIND_AWARE, IS_SHAREABLE AS SHAREABLE

FROM V$SQL
WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE '%mployee%'
AND SQL_TEXT NOT LIKE '%SQL_TEXT%';

SQL_TEXT CHILD# EXEC BUFF_GETS BIND_SENS BIND_AWARE SHAREABLE

---------------------- ------ ----- ---------- --------- ---------- ---------
SELECT COUNT(*), MAX(e 0 1 196 Y N Y
mployee_id) FROM hr.em
ployees WHERE departme
nt_id = :dept_id

The preceding output shows one child cursor that has been executed once for the low-
cardinality query. The cursor has been marked bind-sensitive because the optimizer
believes the optimal plan may depend on the value of the bind variable.
When a cursor is marked bind-sensitive, Oracle Database monitors the behavior of the
cursor using different bind values, to determine whether a different plan for different
bind values is more efficient. The database marked this cursor bind-sensitive because
the optimizer used the histogram on the department_id column to compute the
selectivity of the predicate WHERE department_id = :dept_id. Because the
presence of the histogram indicates that the column is skewed, different values of the
bind variable may require different plans.
Example 15-12 High-Cardinality Query
This example continues the example in Example 15-11. The following code re-executes
the same query using the value 50, which occupies 99.9% of the rows:
EXEC :dept_id := 50;
SELECT COUNT(*), MAX(employee_id) FROM hr.employees WHERE department_id = :dept_id;

COUNT(*) MAX(EMPLOYEE_ID)
---------- ----------------
100045 100999

Even though such an unselective query would be more efficient with a full table scan,
the optimizer chooses the same index range scan used for department_id=10. This
reason is that the database assumes that the existing plan in the cursor can be shared:
SQL> SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR);

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
-------------------------------------
SQL_ID a9upgaqqj7bn5, child number 0
-------------------------------------
SELECT COUNT(*), MAX(employee_id) FROM hr.employees WHERE department_id = :dept_id

Plan hash value: 1642965905

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost (%CPU)|Time |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | |2(100)| |
| 1| SORT AGGREGATE | |1 |8 | | |
| 2| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID BATCHED| EMPLOYEES |1 |8 |2 (0)|00:00:01|
|*3| INDEX RANGE SCAN | EMP_DEPARTMENT_IX |1 | |1 (0)|00:00:01|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

15-22 SQL Tuning Guide

 Adaptive Cursor Sharing

3 - access("DEPARTMENT_ID"=:DEPT_ID)

A query of V$SQL shows that the child cursor has now been executed twice:
SELECT SQL_TEXT, CHILD_NUMBER AS CHILD#, EXECUTIONS AS EXEC,
BUFFER_GETS AS BUFF_GETS, IS_BIND_SENSITIVE AS BIND_SENS,
IS_BIND_AWARE AS BIND_AWARE, IS_SHAREABLE AS SHAREABLE
FROM V$SQL
WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE '%mployee%'
AND SQL_TEXT NOT LIKE '%SQL_TEXT%';

SQL_TEXT CHILD# EXEC BUFF_GETS BIND_SENS BIND_AWARE SHAREABLE

---------------------- ------ ----- ---------- --------- ---------- ---------
SELECT COUNT(*), MAX(e 0 2 1329 Y N Y
mployee_id) FROM hr.em
ployees WHERE departme
nt_id = :dept_id

At this stage, the optimizer has not yet marked the cursor as bind-aware.

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference to learn about V$SQL

Bind-Aware Cursors
A bind-aware cursor is a bind-sensitive cursor that is eligible to use different plans for
different bind values. After a cursor has been made bind-aware, the optimizer chooses
plans for future executions based on the bind value and its cardinality estimate. Thus,
“bind-aware” means essentially “best plan for the current bind value.”
When a statement with a bind-sensitive cursor executes, the optimizer uses an internal
algorithm to determine whether to mark the cursor bind-aware. The decision depends
on whether the cursor produces significantly different data access patterns for
different bind values, resulting in a performance cost that differs from expectations.
If the database marks the cursor bind-aware, then the next time that the cursor
executes the database does the following:

• Generates a new plan based on the bind value

• Marks the original cursor generated for the statement as not sharable (V
$SQL.IS_SHAREABLE is N). The original cursor is no longer usable and is eligible
to age out of the library cache
When the same query repeatedly executes with different bind values, the database
adds new bind values to the “signature” of the SQL statement (which includes the
optimizer environment, NLS settings, and so on), and categorizes the values. The
database examines the bind values, and considers whether the current bind value
results in a significantly different data volume, or whether an existing plan is
sufficient. The database does not need to create a new plan for each new value.
Consider a scenario in which you execute a statement with 12 distinct bind values
(executing each distinct value twice), which causes the database to trigger 5 hard
parses, and create 2 additional plans. Because the database performs 5 hard parses, it
creates 5 new child cursors, even though some cursors have the same execution plan

Improving Real-World Performance Through Cursor Sharing 15-23

Adaptive Cursor Sharing

as existing cursors. The database marks the superfluous cursors as not usable, which
means these cursors eventually age out of the library cache.
During the initial hard parses, the optimizer is essentially mapping out the
relationship between bind values and the appropriate execution plan. After this initial
period, the database eventually reaches a steady state. Executing with a new bind
value results in picking the best child cursor in the cache, without requiring a hard
parse. Thus, the number of parses does not scale with the number of different bind
values.
Example 15-13 Bind-Aware Cursors
This example continues the example in “Bind-Sensitive Cursors”. The following code
issues a second query employees with the bind variable set to 50:
EXEC :dept_id := 50;
SELECT COUNT(*), MAX(employee_id) FROM hr.employees WHERE department_id = :dept_id;

COUNT(*) MAX(EMPLOYEE_ID)
---------- ----------------
100045 100999

During the first two executions, the database was monitoring the behavior of the
queries, and determined that the different bind values caused the queries to differ
significantly in cardinality. Based on this difference, the database adapts its behavior
so that the same plan is not always shared for this query. Thus, the optimizer
generates a new plan based on the current bind value, which is 50:
SQL> SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR);

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
-------------------------------------
SQL_ID a9upgaqqj7bn5, child number 1
-------------------------------------
SELECT COUNT(*), MAX(employee_id) FROM hr.employees WHERE department_id = :dept_id

Plan hash value: 1756381138

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost(%CPU)| Time |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | | |254 (100)| |
| 1 | SORT AGGREGATE | | 1 | 8 | | |
|* 2 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| EMPLOYEES | 100K | 781K |254 (15)| 00:00:01 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------

2 - filter("DEPARTMENT_ID"=:DEPT_ID)

The following query of V$SQL obtains information about the cursor:

SELECT SQL_TEXT, CHILD_NUMBER AS CHILD#, EXECUTIONS AS EXEC,
BUFFER_GETS AS BUFF_GETS, IS_BIND_SENSITIVE AS BIND_SENS,
IS_BIND_AWARE AS BIND_AWARE, IS_SHAREABLE AS SHAREABLE
FROM V$SQL
WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE '%mployee%'
AND SQL_TEXT NOT LIKE '%SQL_TEXT%';

SQL_TEXT CHILD# EXEC BUFF_GETS BIND_SENS BIND_AWARE SHAREABLE

---------------------- ------ ----- ---------- --------- ---------- ---------

15-24 SQL Tuning Guide

 Adaptive Cursor Sharing

SELECT COUNT(*), MAX(e 0 2 1329 Y N N

mployee_id) FROM hr.em
ployees WHERE departme
nt_id = :dept_id

SELECT COUNT(*), MAX(e 1 1 800 Y Y Y

mployee_id) FROM hr.em
ployees WHERE departme
nt_id = :dept_id

The preceding output shows that the database created an additional child cursor
(CHILD# of 1). Cursor 0 is now marked as not shareable. Cursor 1 shows a number of
buffers gets lower than cursor 0, and is marked both bind-sensitive and bind-aware. A
bind-aware cursor may use different plans for different bind values, depending on the
selectivity of the predicates containing the bind variable.
Example 15-14 Bind-Aware Cursors: Choosing the Optimal Plan
This example continues the example in “Example 15-13”. The following code executes
the same employees query with the value of 10, which has extremely low cardinality
(only one row):
EXEC :dept_id := 10;
SELECT COUNT(*), MAX(employee_id) FROM hr.employees WHERE department_id = :dept_id;

COUNT(*) MAX(EMPLOYEE_ID)
---------- ----------------
1 200

The following output shows that the optimizer picked the best plan, which is an index
scan, based on the low cardinality estimate for the current bind value of 10:
SQL> SELECT * from TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR);

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
-------------------------------------
SQL_ID a9upgaqqj7bn5, child number 2
-------------------------------------
select COUNT(*), MAX(employee_id) FROM hr.employees WHERE department_id = :dept_id

Plan hash value: 1642965905

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation | Name |Rows|Bytes|Cost (%CPU)|Time |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0| SELECT STATEMENT | | | |2(100)| |
| 1| SORT AGGREGATE | |1 |8 | | |
| 2| TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID BATCHED| EMPLOYEES |1 |8 |2 (0)|00:00:01|
|*3| INDEX RANGE SCAN | EMP_DEPARTMENT_IX | 1| |1 (0)|00:00:01|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

---------------------------------------------------

3 - access("DEPARTMENT_ID"=:DEPT_ID)

The V$SQL output now shows that three child cursors exist:
SELECT SQL_TEXT, CHILD_NUMBER AS CHILD#, EXECUTIONS AS EXEC,
BUFFER_GETS AS BUFF_GETS, IS_BIND_SENSITIVE AS BIND_SENS,
IS_BIND_AWARE AS BIND_AWARE, IS_SHAREABLE AS SHAREABLE
FROM V$SQL

Improving Real-World Performance Through Cursor Sharing 15-25

Adaptive Cursor Sharing

WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE '%mployee%'

AND SQL_TEXT NOT LIKE '%SQL_TEXT%';

SQL_TEXT CHILD# EXEC BUFF_GETS BIND_SENS BIND_AWARE SHAREABLE

---------------------- ------ ----- ---------- --------- ---------- ---------
SELECT COUNT(*), MAX(e 0 2 1329 Y N N
mployee_id) FROM hr.em
ployees WHERE departme
nt_id = :dept_id

SELECT COUNT(*), MAX(e 1 1 800 Y Y Y

mployee_id) FROM hr.em
ployees WHERE departme
nt_id = :dept_id

SELECT COUNT(*), MAX(e 2 1 3 Y Y Y

mployee_id) FROM hr.em
ployees WHERE departme
nt_id = :dept_id

The database discarded the original cursor (CHILD# of 0) when the cursor switched to
bind-aware mode. This is a one-time overhead. The database marked cursor 0 as not
shareable (SHAREABLE is N), which means that this cursor is unusable and will be
among the first to age out of the cursor cache.

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference to learn about V$SQL

Cursor Merging
If the optimizer creates a plan for a bind-aware cursor, and if this plan is the same as
an existing cursor, then the optimizer can perform cursor merging. In this case, the
database merges cursors to save space in the library cache. The database increases the
selectivity range for the cursor to include the selectivity of the new bind value.
When a query uses a new bind variable, the optimizer tries to find a cursor that it
thinks is a good fit based on similarity in the selectivity of the bind value. If the
database cannot find such a cursor, then it creates a new one (see Example 15-10). If
the plan for the new cursor is the same as one of the existing cursors, then the database
merges the two cursors to save space in the library cache. The merge results in the
database marking one cursor as not shareable. If the library cache is under space
pressure, then the database ages out the non-shareable cursor first.

Adaptive Cursor Sharing Views

You can use the V$ views for adaptive cursor sharing to see selectivity ranges, cursor
information (such as whether a cursor is bind-aware or bind-sensitive), and execution
statistics:

• V$SQL shows whether a cursor is bind-sensitive or bind-aware.

• V$SQL_CS_HISTOGRAM shows the distribution of the execution count across a

three-bucket execution history histogram.

• V$SQL_CS_SELECTIVITY shows the selectivity ranges stored for every predicate

containing a bind variable if the selectivity was used to check cursor sharing. It

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 Real-World Performance Guidelines for Cursor Sharing

contains the text of the predicates, and the low and high values for the selectivity
ranges.

• V$SQL_CS_STATISTICS summarizes the information that the optimizer uses to

determine whether to mark a cursor bind-aware. For a sample of executions, the
database tracks the rows processed, buffer gets, and CPU time. The PEEKED
column shows YES when the bind set was used to build the cursor; otherwise, the
value is NO.

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference to learn about V$SQL and its related views

Real-World Performance Guidelines for Cursor Sharing

This section contains the following topics:

• Develop Applications with Bind Variables for Security and Performance

• Do Not Use CURSOR_SHARING = FORCE as a Permanent Fix

• Establish Coding Conventions to Increase Cursor Reuse

• Minimize Session-Level Changes to the Optimizer Environment

Develop Applications with Bind Variables for Security and Performance

The Real-World Performance group strongly suggests that all enterprise applications
use bind variables. Oracle Database applications were intended to be written with
bind variables. Avoid application designs that result in large numbers of users issuing
dynamic, unshared SQL statements.
Whenever Oracle Database fails to find a match for a statement in the library cache, it
must perform a hard parse. Despite the dangers of developing applications with
literals, not all real-world applications use bind variables. Developers sometimes find
that it is faster and easier to write programs that use literals. However, decreased
development time does not lead to better performance and security after deployment.

Video:

See RWP #3: Connection Pools and Hard Parsing for a demo illustrating the
performance problems caused by hard parsing

The primary benefits of using bind variables are as follows:

• Resource efficiency
Compiling a program before every execution does not use resources efficiently, but
this is essentially what Oracle Database does when it performs a hard parse. The
database server must expend significant CPU and memory to create cursors,
generate and evaluate execution plans, and so on. By enabling the database to share
cursors, soft parsing consumes far fewer resources. If an application uses literals
instead of bind variables, but executes only a few queries each day, then DBAs may
not perceive the extra overhead as a performance problem. However, if an
application executes hundreds or thousands of queries per second, then the extra

Improving Real-World Performance Through Cursor Sharing 15-27

Real-World Performance Guidelines for Cursor Sharing

resource overhead can easily degrade performance to unacceptable levels. Using

bind variables enables the database to perform a hard parse only once, no matter
how many times the statement executes.

• Scalability
When the database performs a hard parse, the database spends more time
acquiring and holding latches in the shared pool and library cache. Latches are
low-level serialization devices. The longer and more frequently the database
latches structures in shared memory, the longer the queue for these latches
becomes. When multiple statements share the same execution plan, the requests for
and durations of latches goes down, which increases scalability.

• Throughput and response time

When the database avoids constantly reparsing and creating cursors, more of its
time is spent in user space. The Real-World Performance group has found that
changing literals to use binds often leads to orders of magnitude improvements in
throughput and user response time.

Video:

See RWP #4: Bind Variables and Soft Parsing for a demo showing the
performance benefits of bind variables

• Security
The only way to prevent SQL injection attacks is to use bind variables. Malicious
users can exploit application that concatenate strings by “injecting” code into the
application.

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Language Reference for an example of an application

that fixes a security vulnerability created by literals

Do Not Use CURSOR_SHARING = FORCE as a Permanent Fix

The best practice is to write sharable SQL and use the default of EXACT for
CURSOR_SHARING. However, for applications with many similar statements, setting
CURSOR_SHARING to FORCE can sometimes significantly improve cursor sharing. The
replacement of literals with system-generated bind values can lead to reduced
memory usage, faster parses, and reduced latch contention. However, FORCE is not
meant to be a permanent development solution.
As a general guideline, the Real-World Performance group recommends against
setting CURSOR_SHARING to FORCE exception in rare situations, and then only when
all of the following conditions are met:

• Statements in the shared pool differ only in the values of literals.

• Response time is suboptimal because of a very high number of library cache

misses.

• Your existing code has a serious security and scalability bug—the absence of bind
variables—and you need a temporary band-aid until the source code can be fixed.

15-28 SQL Tuning Guide

 Real-World Performance Guidelines for Cursor Sharing

• You set this initialization parameter at the session level and not at the instance
level.
Setting CURSOR_SHARING to FORCE has the following drawbacks:

• It indicates that the application does not use user-defined bind variables, which
means that it is open to SQL injection. Setting CURSOR_SHARING to FORCE does not
fix SQL injection bugs or render the code any more secure. The database binds
values only after any malicious SQL text has already been injected.

Video:

See RWP #4: Bind Variables and Soft Parsing for an AWR analysis by the Real-
World Performance group of an application that uses FORCE.

• The database must perform extra work during the soft parse to find a similar
statement in the shared pool.

• The database removes every literal, which means that it can remove useful
information. For example, the database strips out literal values in SUBSTR and
TO_DATE functions. The use of system-generated bind variables where literals are
more optimal can have a negative impact on execution plans.

• There is an increase in the maximum lengths (as returned by DESCRIBE) of any

selected expressions that contain literals in a SELECT statement. However, the
actual length of the data returned does not change.

• Star transformation is not supported.

See Also:

• “CURSOR_SHARING and Bind Variable Substitution”

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the CURSOR_SHARING initialization

parameter

Establish Coding Conventions to Increase Cursor Reuse

By default, any variation in the text of two SQL statements prevents the database from
sharing a cursor, including the names of bind variables. Also, changes in the size of
bind variables can cause cursor mismatches. For this reason, using bind variables in
application code is not enough to guarantee cursor sharing.

The Real-World Performance group recommends that you standardize spacing and
capitalization conventions for SQL statements and PL/SQL blocks. Also establish
conventions for the naming and definitions of bind variables. If the database does not
share cursors as expected, begin your diagnosis by querying V
$SQL_SHARED_CURSOR.
Example 15-15 Variations in SQL Text
In this example, an application that uses bind variables executes 7 statements using the
same bind variable value, but the statements are not textually identical:

Improving Real-World Performance Through Cursor Sharing 15-29

Real-World Performance Guidelines for Cursor Sharing

VARIABLE emp_id NUMBER

EXEC :emp_id := 101;

SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < :emp_id;
EXEC :emp_id := 101;
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < :EMP_ID;
EXEC :emp_id := 101;
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < :Emp_Id;
EXEC :emp_id := 101;
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < :emp_id;
EXEC :emp_id := 101;
select sum(salary) from hr.employees where employee_id < :emp_id;
EXEC :emp_id := 101;
Select sum(salary) From hr.employees Where employee_id < :emp_id;
EXEC :emp_id := 101;
Select sum(salary) From hr.employees Where employee_id< :emp_id;

A query of V$SQLAREA shows that no cursor sharing occurred:

COL SQL_TEXT FORMAT a35
SELECT SQL_TEXT, SQL_ID, VERSION_COUNT, HASH_VALUE
FROM V$SQLAREA
WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE '%mployee%'
AND SQL_TEXT NOT LIKE '%SQL_TEXT%';

SQL_TEXT SQL_ID VERSION_COUNT HASH_VALUE

----------------------------------- ------------- ------------- ----------
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employee bkrfu3ggu5315 1 3751971877
s WHERE employee_id < :EMP_ID
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employee 70mdtwh7xj9gv 1 265856507
s WHERE employee_id < :Emp_Id
Select sum(salary) From hr.employee 18tt4ny9u5wkt 1 2476929625
s Where employee_id< :emp_id
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employe b6b21tbyaf8aq 1 4238811478
es WHERE employee_id < :emp_id
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employee 4318cbskba8yh 1 615850960
s WHERE employee_id < :emp_id
select sum(salary) from hr.employee 633zpx3xm71kj 1 4214457937
s where employee_id < :emp_id
Select sum(salary) From hr.employee 1mqbbbnsrrw08 1 830205960
s Where employee_id < :emp_id

7 rows selected.

Example 15-16 Bind Length Mismatch

The following code defines a bind variable with different lengths, and then executes
textually identical statements with the same bind values:
VARIABLE lname VARCHAR2(20)
EXEC :lname := 'Taylor';
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE last_name = :lname;
VARIABLE lname VARCHAR2(100)
EXEC :lname := 'Taylor';
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employees WHERE last_name = :lname;

The following query shows that the database did not share the cursor:
COL SQL_TEXT FORMAT a35
SELECT SQL_TEXT, SQL_ID, VERSION_COUNT, HASH_VALUE
FROM V$SQLAREA
WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE '%mployee%'

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 Real-World Performance Guidelines for Cursor Sharing

AND SQL_TEXT NOT LIKE '%SQL_TEXT%';

SQL_TEXT SQL_ID VERSION_COUNT HASH_VALUE

----------------------------------- ------------- ------------- ----------
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employee buh8j4557r0h1 2 1249608193
s WHERE last_name = :lname

The reason is because of the bind lengths:

COL BIND_LENGTH_UPGRADEABLE FORMAT a15
SELECT s.SQL_TEXT, s.CHILD_NUMBER,
c.BIND_LENGTH_UPGRADEABLE
FROM V$SQL s, V$SQL_SHARED_CURSOR c
WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE '%employee%'
AND SQL_TEXT NOT LIKE '%SQL_TEXT%'
AND s.CHILD_ADDRESS = c.CHILD_ADDRESS;

SQL_TEXT CHILD_NUMBER BIND_LENGTH_UPG

----------------------------------- ------------ ---------------
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employee 0 N
s WHERE last_name = :lname
SELECT SUM(salary) FROM hr.employee 1 Y
s WHERE last_name = :lname

Minimize Session-Level Changes to the Optimizer Environment

A best practice is to prevent users of the application from changing the optimization
approach and goal for their individual sessions. Any changes to the optimizer
environment can prevent otherwise identical statements from sharing cursors.
Example 15-17 Environment Mismatches
This example shows two textually identical statements that nevertheless do not share a
cursor:
VARIABLE emp_id NUMBER

EXEC :emp_id := 110;

ALTER SESSION SET OPTIMIZER_MODE = FIRST_ROWS;

SELECT salary FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < :emp_id;
ALTER SESSION SET OPTIMIZER_MODE = ALL_ROWS;
SELECT salary FROM hr.employees WHERE employee_id < :emp_id;

A query of V$SQL_SHARED_CURSOR shows a mismatch in the optimizer modes:

SELECT S.SQL_TEXT, S.CHILD_NUMBER, s.CHILD_ADDRESS,
C.OPTIMIZER_MODE_MISMATCH
FROM V$SQL S, V$SQL_SHARED_CURSOR C
WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE '%employee%'
AND SQL_TEXT NOT LIKE '%SQL_TEXT%'
AND S.CHILD_ADDRESS = C.CHILD_ADDRESS;

SQL_TEXT CHILD_NUMBER CHILD_ADDRESS O

----------------------------------- ------------ ---------------- -
SELECT salary FROM hr.employees WHE 0 0000000080293040 N
RE employee_id < :emp_id
SELECT salary FROM hr.employees WHE 1 000000008644E888 Y
RE employee_id < :emp_id

Improving Real-World Performance Through Cursor Sharing 15-31

Real-World Performance Guidelines for Cursor Sharing

15-32 SQL Tuning Guide

 Part VII
Monitoring and Tracing SQL

This part contains the following chapters:

• Monitoring Database Operations

• Gathering Diagnostic Data with SQL Test Case Builder

• Performing Application Tracing

 16
Monitoring Database Operations

This chapter describes how to monitor database operations.

This chapter contains the following topics:

• About Monitoring Database Operations

• Enabling and Disabling Monitoring of Database Operations

• Creating a Database Operation

• Reporting on Database Operations Using SQL Monitor

About Monitoring Database Operations

A database operation is a set of database tasks defined by end users or application
code, for example, a batch job or Extraction, Transformation, and Loading (ETL)
processing. You can define, monitor, and report on database operations.
Database operations are either simple or composite. A simple database operation is a
single SQL statement or PL/SQL procedure or function. A composite database
operation is activity between two points in time in a database session, with each
session defining its own beginning and end points. A session can participate in at most
one composite database operation at a time.
Real-Time SQL Monitoring, which was introduced in Oracle Database 11g, enables
you to monitor a single SQL statement or PL/SQL procedure. Starting in Oracle
Database 12c, Real-Time Database Operations provides the ability to monitor
composite operations automatically. The database automatically monitors parallel
queries, DML, and DDL statements as soon as execution begins. By default, Real-Time
SQL Monitoring automatically starts when a SQL statement runs in parallel, or when
it has consumed at least 5 seconds of CPU or I/O time in a single execution.
This section contains the following topics:

• Purpose of Monitoring Database Operations

• Database Operation Monitoring Concepts

• User Interfaces for Database Operations Monitoring

• Basic Tasks in Database Operations Monitoring

See Also:
Oracle Database Concepts for a brief conceptual overview of database
operations

Monitoring Database Operations 16-1

About Monitoring Database Operations

Purpose of Monitoring Database Operations

In general, monitoring database operations is useful for the following users:

• DBAs whose responsibilities include identifying expensive (high response time)

SQL statements and PL/SQL functions

• DBAs who manage batch jobs in a data warehouse or OLTP system

• Application or database developers who need to monitor the activities related to

particular operations, for example, Data Pump operations
Monitoring database operations is useful for performing the following tasks:

• Tracking and reporting

Tracking requires first defining a database operation, for example, though PL/SQL,
OCI, or JDBC APIs. After the operation is defined, the database infrastructure
determines what to track on behalf of this operation. You can then generate reports
on the operation. For example, your tuning task may involve determining which
SQL statements run on behalf of a specific batch job, what their execution statistics
were, what was occurring in the database when the operation was executing, and
so on.

• Monitoring execution progress

This task involves monitoring a currently executing database operation. The
information is particularly useful when you are investigating why an operation is
taking a long time to complete.

• Monitoring resource usage

You may want to detect when a SQL execution uses excessive CPU, issues an
excessive amount of I/O, or takes a long time to complete. With Oracle Database
Resource Manager (the Resource Manager), you can configure thresholds for each
consumer group that specify the maximum resource usage for all SQL executions
in the group. When a SQL operation reaches a specified threshold, Resource
Manager can switch the operation into a lower-priority consumer group, terminate
the session or call, or log the event (see Oracle Database Administrator's Guide). You
can then monitor these SQL operations (see “Reporting on Database Operations
Using SQL Monitor”).

• Tuning for response time

When tuning a database operation, you typically aim to improve the response
time. Often the database operation performance issues are mainly SQL
performance issues.
The following graphic illustrates the different tasks involved in monitoring database
operations:

Tracking and Monitoring Tuning for

Reporting Database Response Time
Operations

Monitoring
Progress

16-2 SQL Tuning Guide

 About Monitoring Database Operations

Simple Database Operation Use Cases

For simple operations, Real-Time SQL Monitoring helps determine where a currently
executing SQL statement is in its execution plan and where the statement is spending
its time. You can also see the breakdown of time and resource usage for recently
completed statements. In this way, you can better determine why a particular
operation is expensive.
Typical use cases for Real-Time SQL Monitoring include the following:

• A frequently executed SQL statement is executing more slowly than normal. You
must identify the root cause of this problem.

• A database session is experiencing slow performance.

• A parallel SQL statement is taking a long time. You want to determine how the
server processes are dividing the work.

Composite Database Operation Use Cases

In OLTP and data warehouse environments, a job often logically groups related SQL
statements. The job can involve multiple sessions. Database operation monitoring is
useful for digging through a suboptimally performing job to determine where
resources are being consumed. Thus, database operations enable you to track related
information and improve performance tuning time.
Typical use cases for monitoring composite operations include the following:

• A periodic batch job containing many SQL statements must complete in a certain
number of hours, but took twice as long as expected.

• After a database upgrade, the execution time of an important batch job doubled. To
resolve this problem, you must collect enough relevant statistical data from the
batch job before and after the upgrade, compare the two sets of data, and then
identify the changes.

• Packing a SQL tuning set (STS) took far longer than anticipated (see “About SQL
Tuning Sets”). To diagnose the problem, you need to know what was being
executed over time. Because this issue cannot be easily reproduced, you need to
monitor the process while it is running.

Database Operation Monitoring Concepts

This section describes the most important concepts for database monitoring:

• About the Architecture of Database Operations

• Composite Database Operations

• Attributes of Database Operations

About the Architecture of Database Operations

Setting the CONTROL_MANAGEMENT_PACK_ACCESS initialization parameter to
DIAGNOSTIC+TUNING (default) enables monitoring of database operations. Real-Time
SQL Monitoring is a feature of the Oracle Database Tuning Pack.
Figure 16-1 gives an overview of the architecture for database operations.

Monitoring Database Operations 16-3

About Monitoring Database Operations

Figure 16-1 Architecture for Database Operations

DBMS_SQL_MONITOR Database Operations AWR

BEGIN OPERATION User-Defined Operations V$SQL_MONITOR

... V$SQL_PLAN_MONITOR
END_OPERATION V$SQL_MONITOR_SESSTAT

DBMS_SQL_MONITOR
REPORT_SQL_MONITOR

Oracle
Enterprise
Manager

Real-Time SQL Monitoring

User

CONTROL_MANAGEMENT_PACK_ACCESS

As shown in Figure 16-1, you can use the DBMS_SQL_MONITOR package to define
database operations. After monitoring is initiated, the database stores metadata about
the database operations in AWR (see “Reporting on Database Operations Using SQL
Monitor”). The database refreshes monitoring statistics in close to real time as each
monitored statement executes, typically once every second. The database periodically
saves the data to disk.
Every monitored database operation has an entry in the V$SQL_MONITOR view. This
entry tracks key performance metrics collected for the execution, including the elapsed
time, CPU time, number of reads and writes, I/O wait time, and various other wait
times. The V$SQL_PLAN_MONITOR view includes monitoring statistics for each
operation in the execution plan of the SQL statement being monitored. You can access
reports by using DBMS_SQL_MONITOR.REPORT_SQL_MONITOR, which has an Oracle
Enterprise Manager Cloud Control (Cloud Control) interface.

16-4 SQL Tuning Guide

 About Monitoring Database Operations

See Also:

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the initialization parameters and

views related to database monitoring

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about

DBMS_SQLTUNE and DBMS_SQL_MONITOR packages

Composite Database Operations

A composite database operation consists of the activity of one session between two
points in time. Exactly one session exists for the duration of the database operation.
SQL statements or PL/SQL procedures running in this session are part of the
composite operation. Composite database operations can also be defined in the
database kernel. Typical composite operations include SQL*Plus scripts, batch jobs,
and ETL processing.

Attributes of Database Operations

A database operation is uniquely identified by the following information:

• Database operation name

This is a user-created name such as daily_sales_report. The name is the same
for a job even if it is executed concurrently by different sessions or on different
databases. Database operation names do not reside in different namespaces.

• Database operation execution ID

Two or more occurrences of the same DB operation can run at the same time, with
the same name but different execution IDs. This numeric ID uniquely identifies
different executions of the same database operation.
The database automatically creates an execution ID when you begin a database
operation. You can also specify a user-created execution ID.
The database uses the following triplet of values to identify each SQL and PL/SQL
statement monitored in the V$SQL_MONITOR view, regardless of whether the
statement is included in a database operation:

• SQL identifier to identify the SQL statement (SQL_ID)

• Start execution timestamp (SQL_EXEC_START)

• An internally generated identifier to ensure that this primary key is truly unique
(SQL_EXEC_ID)
You can use zero or more additional attributes to describe and identify the
characteristics of a DB operation. Each attribute has a name and value. For example,
for operation daily_sales_report, you might define the attribute db_name and
assign it the value prod.

Monitoring Database Operations 16-5

About Monitoring Database Operations

See Also:

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the V$SQL_MONITOR view

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_SQL_MONITOR.BEGIN_OPERATION function

User Interfaces for Database Operations Monitoring

This section contains the following topics:

• Monitored SQL Executions Page in Cloud Control

• DBMS_SQL_MONITOR Package

• Views for Database Operations Monitoring

Monitored SQL Executions Page in Cloud Control

The Monitored SQL Executions page in Cloud Control is the recommended interface
for reporting on database operations.

Accessing the Monitored SQL Executions Page

To access the Monitored SQL Executions page:

1. Access the Database Home page, as described in “Accessing the Database Home
Page in Cloud Control.”

2. From the Performance menu, select SQL Monitoring.

The Monitored SQL Executions page appears.

DBMS_SQL_MONITOR Package
You can use the DBMS_SQL_MONITOR package to define the beginning and ending of a
database operation, and generate a report of the database operations.

Table 16-1 DBMS_SQL_MONITOR

Program Unit Description

REPORT_SQL_MONITOR This function accepts several input parameters to specify the
execution, the level of detail in the report, and the report type. If
no parameters are specified, then the function generates a text
report for the last execution that was monitored.

BEGIN_OPERATION This function associates a session with a database operation.

16-6 SQL Tuning Guide

 About Monitoring Database Operations

Table 16-1 (Cont.) DBMS_SQL_MONITOR

Program Unit Description

END_OPERATION This function disassociates a session from the specified database
operation execution.

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_SQL_MONITOR package

Views for Database Operations Monitoring

You can monitor the statistics for SQL statement execution using the V
$SQL_MONITOR, V$SQL_PLAN_MONITOR, and V$SQL_MONITOR_SESSTAT views.
Table 16-2 summarizes these views.

Table 16-2 Views for Database Operations Monitoring

View Description
V$SQL_MONITOR This view contains global, high-level information about the
top SQL statements in a database operation.
Each monitored SQL statement has an entry in this view.
Each row contains a SQL statement whose statistics are
accumulated from multiple sessions and all of its executions
in the operation. The primary key is the combination of the
columns DBOP_NAME, DBOP_EXEC_ID, and SQL_ID.
The V$SQL_MONITOR view contains a subset of the statistics
available in V$SQL. However, unlike V$SQL, monitoring
statistics are not cumulative over several executions. Instead,
one entry in V$SQL_MONITOR is dedicated to a single
execution of a SQL statement. If the database monitors two
executions of the same SQL statement, then each execution
has a separate entry in V$SQL_MONITOR.
V$SQL_MONITOR has one entry for the parallel execution
coordinator process, and one entry for each parallel execution
server process. Each entry has corresponding entries in V
$SQL_PLAN_MONITOR. Because the processes allocated for
the parallel execution of a SQL statement are cooperating for
the same execution, these entries share the same execution
key (the composite SQL_ID, SQL_EXEC_START and
SQL_EXEC_ID). You can aggregate the execution key to
determine the overall statistics for a parallel execution.

V$SQL_MONITOR_SESSTAT This view contains the statistics for all sessions involved in
the database operation.
Most of the statistics are cumulative. The database stores the
statistics in XML format instead of using each column for
each statistic. This view is primarily intended for the report
generator. Oracle recommends that you use V$SESSTAT
instead of V$SQL_MONITOR_SESSTAT.

Monitoring Database Operations 16-7

Enabling and Disabling Monitoring of Database Operations

Table 16-2 (Cont.) Views for Database Operations Monitoring

View Description
V$SQL_PLAN_MONITOR This view contains monitoring statistics for each step in the
execution plan of the monitored SQL statement.
The database updates statistics in V$SQL_PLAN_MONITOR
every second while the SQL statement is executing. Multiple
entries exist in V$SQL_PLAN_MONITOR for every monitored
SQL statement. Each entry corresponds to a step in the
execution plan of the statement.

You can use the preceding views with the following views to get additional
information about the monitored execution:

• V$ACTIVE_SESSION_HISTORY

• V$SESSION

• V$SESSION_LONGOPS

• V$SQL

• V$SQL_PLAN

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference to learn about the V$ views for database operations
monitoring

Basic Tasks in Database Operations Monitoring

This section explains the basic tasks in database operations monitoring. Basic tasks are
as follows:

• “Enabling and Disabling Monitoring of Database Operations”

This task explains how you can enable automatic monitoring of database
operations at the system and statement level.

• “Creating a Database Operation”

This section explains how you can define the beginning and end of a database
operation using PL/SQL.

• “Reporting on Database Operations Using SQL Monitor”

This section explains how you can generate and interpret reports on a database
operation.

Enabling and Disabling Monitoring of Database Operations

This section contains the following topics:

• Enabling Monitoring of Database Operations at the System Level

• Enabling and Disabling Monitoring of Database Operations at the Statement Level

16-8 SQL Tuning Guide

 Enabling and Disabling Monitoring of Database Operations

Enabling Monitoring of Database Operations at the System Level

The SQL monitoring feature is enabled by default when the STATISTICS_LEVEL
initialization parameter is either set to TYPICAL (the default value) or ALL. SQL
monitoring starts automatically for all long-running queries.

Prerequisites
Because SQL monitoring is a feature of the Oracle Database Tuning Pack, the
CONTROL_MANAGEMENT_PACK_ACCESS initialization parameter must be set to
DIAGNOSTIC+TUNING (the default value).

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• The STATISTICS_LEVEL initialization parameter is set to BASIC.

• You want to enable automatic monitoring of database operations.

To enable monitoring of database operations:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then query
the current database operations settings.
For example, run the following SQL*Plus command:
SQL> SHOW PARAMETER statistics_level

NAME TYPE VALUE

----------------------------------- ----------- -----
statistics_level string BASIC

2. Set the statistics level to TYPICAL.

For example, run the following SQL statement:
SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET STATISTICS_LEVEL='TYPICAL';

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference to learn about the STATISTICS_LEVEL and

CONTROL_MANAGEMENT_PACK_ACCESS initialization parameter

Enabling and Disabling Monitoring of Database Operations at the Statement Level

When the CONTROL_MANAGEMENT_PACK_ACCESS initialization parameter is set to
DIAGNOSTIC+TUNING, you can use hints to enable or disable monitoring of specific
SQL statements. The MONITOR hint enables monitoring, whereas the NO_MONITOR
hint disables monitoring.
Two statement-level hints are available to force or prevent the database from
monitoring a SQL statement. To force SQL monitoring, use the MONITOR hint:
SELECT /*+ MONITOR */ SYSDATE FROM DUAL;

Monitoring Database Operations 16-9

Creating a Database Operation

This hint is effective only when the CONTROL_MANAGEMENT_PACK_ACCESS

parameter is set to DIAGNOSTIC+TUNING. To prevent the hinted SQL statement from
being monitored, use the NO_MONITOR reverse hint.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• Database monitoring is currently enabled at the system level.

• You want to disable automatic monitoring for the statement SELECT * FROM
sales ORDER BY time_id.

To disable monitoring of database operations for a SQL statement:

1. Execute the query with the NO_MONITOR hint.

For example, run the following statement:
SQL> SELECT * /*+NO_MONITOR*/ FROM sales ORDER BY time_id;

See Also:

Oracle Database SQL Language Reference for information about using the
MONITOR and NO_MONITOR hints

Creating a Database Operation

Creating a database operation involves explicitly defining its beginning and end
points. You can start a database operation by using the
DBMS_SQL_MONITOR.BEGIN_OPERATION function and end the operation by using
the DBMS_SQL_MONITOR.END_OPERATION procedure.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You are an administrator and want to query the number of items in the sh.sales
table and the number of customers in the sh.customers table.

• You want these two queries to be monitored as a database operation named

sh_count.

To create a database operation:

1. Start SQL*Plus and connect as a user with the appropriate privileges.

2. Define a variable to hold the execution ID.

For example, run the following SQL*Plus command:
VAR eid NUMBER

3. Begin the database operation.

For example, execute the BEGIN_OPERATION function as follows:
EXEC :eid := DBMS_SQL_MONITOR.BEGIN_OPERATION('sh_count');

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 Reporting on Database Operations Using SQL Monitor

4. Run the queries in the operation.

For example, run the following statements:
SQL> SELECT count(*) FROM sh.sales;

COUNT(*)
----------
918843

SQL> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM sh.customers;

COUNT(*)
----------
55500

5. End the database operation.

For example, execute the END_OPERATION procedure as follows:
EXEC DBMS_SQL_MONITOR.END_OPERATION('sh_count', :eid);

6. Confirm that the database operation completed.

For example, run the following query (sample output included):
SELECT SUBSTR(DBOP_NAME, 1, 10), DBOP_EXEC_ID,
SUBSTR(STATUS, 1, 10)
FROM V$SQL_MONITOR
WHERE DBOP_NAME IS NOT NULL
ORDER BY EXEC_ID;

DBOP_NAME EXEC_ID STATUS

---------- ---------- ----------
sh_count 1 DONE

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_SQL_MONITOR package

Reporting on Database Operations Using SQL Monitor

By default, AWR automatically captures SQL monitoring reports in XML format. The
reports capture only SQL statements that are not executing or queued and have
finished execution since the last capture cycle. AWR captures reports only for the most
expensive statements according to elapsed execution time.
The Monitored SQL Executions page in Cloud Control summarizes the activity for
monitored statements. You can use this page to drill down and obtain additional
details about particular statements. The Monitored SQL Executions Details page uses
data from several views, including the following:

• GV$SQL_MONITOR

• GV$SQL_PLAN_MONITOR

• GV$SQL_MONITOR_SESSTAT

• GV$SQL

Monitoring Database Operations 16-11

Reporting on Database Operations Using SQL Monitor

• GV$SQL_PLAN

• GV$ACTIVE_SESSION_HISTORY

• GV$SESSION_LONGOPS

• DBA_HIST_REPORTS

• DBA_HIST_REPORTS_DETAILS

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• The user sh is executing the following long-running parallel query of the sales
made to each customer:
SELECT c.cust_id, c.cust_last_name, c.cust_first_name,
s.prod_id, p.prod_name, s.time_id
FROM sales s, customers c, products p
WHERE s.cust_id = c.cust_id
AND s.prod_id = p.prod_id
ORDER BY c.cust_id, s.time_id;

• You want to ensure that the preceding query does not consume excessive
resources. While the statement executes, you want to determine basic statistics
about the database operation, such as the level of parallelism, the total database
time, and number of I/O requests.

• You use Cloud Control to monitor statement execution.

Note:

To generate the SQL monitor report from the command line, run the
REPORT_SQL_MONITOR function in the DBMS_SQLTUNE package, as in the
following sample SQL*Plus script:
VARIABLE my_rept CLOB
BEGIN
:my_rept :=DBMS_SQLTUNE.REPORT_SQL_MONITOR();
END;
/
PRINT :my_rept

To monitor SQL executions:

1. Access the Monitored SQL Executions page, as described in “Monitored SQL

Executions Page in Cloud Control”.
In the following graphic, the top row shows the parallel query.

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 Reporting on Database Operations Using SQL Monitor

In this example, the query has been executing for 1.4 minutes.

2. Click the value in the SQL ID column to see details about the statement.
The Monitored SQL Details page appears.

The preceding report shows the execution plan and statistics relating to statement
execution. For example, the Timeline column shows when each step of the
execution plan was active. Times are shown relative to the beginning and end of
the statement execution. The Executions column shows how many times an
operation was executed.

3. In the Overview section, click the link next to the SQL text.
A message shows the full text of the SQL statement.

4. In the Time & Wait Statistics section, next to Database Time, move the cursor over
the largest portion on the bar graph.

Monitoring Database Operations 16-13

Reporting on Database Operations Using SQL Monitor

A message shows that user I/O is consuming over half of database time.

Database Time measures the amount of time the database has spent working on
this SQL statement. This value includes CPU and wait times, such as I/O time.
The bar graph is divided into several color-coded portions to highlight CPU
resources, user I/O resources, and other resources. You can move the cursor over
any portion to view the percentage value of the total.

5. In the Details section, in the IO Requests column, move the cursor over the I/O
requests bar to view the percentage value of the total.
A message appears.

In the preceding graphic, the IO Requests message shows the total number of read
requests issued by the monitored SQL. The message shows that read requests
form 80% of the total I/O requests.

See Also:

• Cloud Control Online Help for descriptions of the elements on the

Monitored SQL Executions Details page, and for complete descriptions of
all statistics in the report.

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the V$ and data dictionary views
for database operations monitoring

16-14 SQL Tuning Guide

 17
Gathering Diagnostic Data with SQL Test
Case Builder

A SQL test case is a set of information that enables a developer to reproduce the
execution plan for a specific SQL statement that has encountered a performance
problem. SQL Test Case Builder is a tool that automatically gathers information
needed to reproduce the problem in a different database instance.
This chapter contains the following topics:

• Purpose of SQL Test Case Builder

• Concepts for SQL Test Case Builder

• User Interfaces for SQL Test Case Builder

• Running SQL Test Case Builder

Purpose of SQL Test Case Builder

In many cases, a reproducible test case makes it easier to resolve SQL-related
problems. SQL Test Case Builder automates the sometimes difficult and time-
consuming process of gathering and reproducing as much information as possible
about a problem and the environment in which it occurred.
The output of SQL Test Case Builder is a set of scripts in a predefined directory. These
scripts contain the commands required to re-create all the necessary objects and the
environment. After the test case is ready, you can create a zip file of the directory and
move it to another database, or upload the file to Oracle Support.

Concepts for SQL Test Case Builder

This section contains the following topics:

• SQL Incidents

• What SQL Test Case Builder Captures

• Output of SQL Test Case Builder

SQL Incidents
In the fault diagnosability infrastructure of Oracle Database, an incident is a single
occurrence of a problem. A SQL incident is a SQL-related problem. When a problem
(critical error) occurs multiple times, the database creates an incident for each
occurrence. Incidents are timestamped and tracked in the Automatic Diagnostic
Repository (ADR). Each incident is identified by a numeric incident ID, which is
unique within the ADR.

Gathering Diagnostic Data with SQL Test Case Builder 17-1

Concepts for SQL Test Case Builder

SQL Test Case Builder is accessible any time on the command line. In Oracle
Enterprise Manager Cloud Control (Cloud Control), the SQL Test Case pages are only
available after a SQL incident is found.

See Also:

• Oracle Database Concepts for a conceptual overview of ADR

• Oracle Database Administrator's Guide to learn how to investigate, report,

and resolve a problem

What SQL Test Case Builder Captures

SQL Test Case Builder captures permanent information such as the query being
executed, table and index definitions (but not the actual data), PL/SQL packages and
program units, optimizer statistics, SQL plan baselines, and initialization parameter
settings. Starting in Oracle Database 12c, SQL Test Case Builder also captures and
replays transient information, including information only available as part of
statement execution.
SQL Test Case Builder supports the following:

• Adaptive plans
SQL Test Case Builder captures inputs to the decisions made regarding adaptive
plans, and replays them at each decision point (see “Adaptive Plans”). For adaptive
plans, the final statistics value at each buffering statistics collector is sufficient to
decide on the final plan.

• Automatic memory management

The database automatically handles the memory requested for each SQL operation.
Actions such as sorting can affect performance significantly. SQL Test Case Builder
keeps track of the memory activities, for example, where the database allocated
memory and how much it allocated.

• Dynamic statistics
Regathering dynamic statistics on a different database does not always generate the
same results, for example, when data is missing (see “Dynamic Statistics”). To
reproduce the problem, SQL Test Case Builder exports the dynamic statistics result
from the source database. In the testing database, SQL Test Case Builder reuses the
same values captured from the source database instead of regathering dynamic
statistics.

• Multiple execution support

SQL Test Case Builder can capture dynamic information accumulated during
multiple executions of the query. This capability is important for automatic
reoptimization (see “Automatic Reoptimization”).

• Compilation environment and bind values replay

The compilation environment setting is an important part of the query
optimization context. SQL Test Case Builder captures nondefault settings altered
by the user when running the problem query in the source database. If any

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 Concepts for SQL Test Case Builder

nondefault parameter values are used, SQL Test Case Builder re-establishes the
same values before running the query.

• Object statistics history

The statistics history for objects is helpful to determine whether a plan change was
caused by a change in statistics values. DBMS_STATS stores the history in the data
dictionary. SQL Test Case Builder stores this statistics data into a staging table
during export. During import, SQL Test Case Builder automatically reloads the
statistics history data into the target database from the staging table.

• Statement history
The statement history is important for diagnosing problems related to adaptive
cursor sharing, statistics feedback, and cursor sharing bugs. The history includes
execution plans and compilation and execution statistics.

See Also:

• Managing SQL Plan Baselines

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_STATS package

Output of SQL Test Case Builder

The output of the SQL Test Case Builder is a set of files that contains the commands
required to re-create all the necessary objects and the environment. By default, SQL
Test Case Builder stores the files in the following location, where incnum refers to the
incident number and runnum refers to the run number:
$ADR_HOME/incident/incdir_incnum/SQLTCB_runnum

For example, a valid output file name could be as follows:

$ORACLE_HOME/log/diag/rdbms/dbsa/dbsa/incident/incdir_2657/SQLTCB_1

You can specify a nondefault location by creating an Oracle directory and invoking
DBMS_SQLDIAG.EXPORT_SQL_TESTCASE, as in the following example:
CREATE OR REPLACE DIRECTORY my_tcb_dir_exp '/tmp';

BEGIN
DBMS_SQLDIAG.EXPORT_SQL_TESTCASE (
directory => 'my_tcb_dir_exp'
, sql_text => 'SELECT COUNT(*) FROM sales'
, testcase => tco
);
END;

See Also:
Oracle Database Administrator's Guide to learn about the structure of the ADR
repository

Gathering Diagnostic Data with SQL Test Case Builder 17-3

User Interfaces for SQL Test Case Builder

User Interfaces for SQL Test Case Builder

You can access SQL Test Case Builder either through Cloud Control or using PL/SQL
on the command line.

Graphical Interface for SQL Test Case Builder

Within Cloud Control, you can access SQL Test Case Builder from the Incident
Manager page or the Support Workbench page.

Accessing the Incident Manager

This task explains how to navigate to the Incident Manager from the Incidents and
Problems section on the Database Home page.

To access the Incident Manager:

1. Access the Database Home page, as described in “Accessing the Database Home
Page in Cloud Control.”

2. In the Incidents and Problems section, locate the SQL incident to be investigated.
In the following example, the ORA 600 error is a SQL incident.

3. Click the summary of the incident.

The Problem Details page of the Incident Manager appears.

The Support Workbench page appears, with the incidents listed in a table.

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 Running SQL Test Case Builder

See Also:

• Oracle Database Administrator's Guide to learn how to view problems with

the Cloud Control Support Workbench

• Online help for Cloud Control

Accessing the Support Workbench

This task explains how to navigate to the Incident Manager from the Oracle Database
menu.

To access the Support Workbench:

1. Access the Database Home page, as described in “Accessing the Database Home
Page in Cloud Control.”

2. From the Oracle Database menu, select Diagnostics, then Support Workbench.
The Support Workbench page appears, with the incidents listed in a table.

See Also:

Online help for Cloud Control

Command-Line Interface for SQL Test Case Builder

The DBMS_SQLDIAG package performs tasks relating to SQL Test Case Builder. This
package consists of various subprograms for the SQL Test Case Builder, some of
which are listed in Table 17-1.

Table 17-1 SQL Test Case Functions in DBMS_SQLDIAG

Procedure Description
EXPORT_SQL_TESTCASE Exports a SQL test case to a user-specified
directory

EXPORT_SQL_TESTCASE_DIR_BY_INC Exports a SQL test case corresponding to the

incident ID passed as an argument

EXPORT_SQL_TESTCASE_DIR_BY_TXT Exports a SQL test case corresponding to the

SQL text passed as an argument

IMPORT_SQL_TESTCASE Imports a SQL test case into a schema

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn more about the
DBMS_SQLDIAG package

Running SQL Test Case Builder

This tutorial explains how to run SQL Test Case Builder using Cloud Control.

Gathering Diagnostic Data with SQL Test Case Builder 17-5

Running SQL Test Case Builder

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You ran the following EXPLAIN PLAN statement as user sh, which causes an
internal error:
EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
SELECT unit_cost, sold
FROM costs c,
( SELECT /*+ merge */ p.prod_id, SUM(quantity_sold) AS sold
FROM products p, sales s
WHERE p.prod_id = s.prod_id
GROUP BY p.prod_id ) v
WHERE c.prod_id = v.prod_id;

• In the Incidents and Problems section on the Database Home page, a SQL incident
generated by the internal error appears.

To run SQL Test Case Builder:

1. Access the Incident Details page, as explained in “Accessing the Incident

Manager”.

2. Click the Incidents tab.

The Problem Details page appears.

3. Click the summary for the incident.

The Incident Details page appears.

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 Running SQL Test Case Builder

4. In Guided Resolution, click View Diagnostic Data.

The Incident Details: incident_number page appears.

5. In the Application Information section, click Additional Diagnostics.

The Additional Diagnostics subpage appears.

6. Select SQL Test Case Builder, and then click Run.

The Run User Action page appears.

Gathering Diagnostic Data with SQL Test Case Builder 17-7

Running SQL Test Case Builder

7. Select a sampling percentage (optional), and then click Submit.

After processing completes, the Confirmation page appears.

8. Access the SQL Test Case files in the location described in “Output of SQL Test
Case Builder”.

See Also:

Online help for Cloud Control

17-8 SQL Tuning Guide

 18
Performing Application Tracing

This chapter contains the following sections:

• Overview of End-to-End Application Tracing

• Enabling Statistics Gathering for End-to-End Tracing

• Enabling End-to-End Application Tracing

• Generating Output Files Using SQL Trace and TKPROF

• Guidelines for Interpreting TKPROF Output

See Also:

SQL*Plus User's Guide and Reference for information about the use of Autotrace
to trace and tune SQL*Plus statements

Overview of End-to-End Application Tracing

End-to-End application tracing can identify the source of an excessive workload, such
as a high load SQL statement, by client identifier, service, module, action, session,
instance, or an entire database. This isolates the problem to a specific user, service,
session, or application component.
In multitier environments, the middle tier routes a request from an end client to
different database sessions, making it difficult to track a client across database
sessions. End-to-End application tracing is an infrastructure that uses a client ID to
uniquely trace a specific end-client through all tiers to the database.

Purpose of End-to-End Application Tracing

End-to-End application tracing simplifies diagnosing performance problems in
multitier environments. For example, you can identify the source of an excessive
workload, such as a high-load SQL statement, and contact the user responsible. Also, a
user having problems can contact you. You can then identify what this user's session is
doing at the database level.
End-to-End application tracing also simplifies management of application workloads
by tracking specific modules and actions in a service. The module and action names
are set by the application developer. For example, you would use the SET_MODULE
and SET_ACTION procedures in the DBMS_APPLICATION_INFO package to set these
values in a PL/SQL program.
End-to-End application tracing can identify workload problems for:

• Client identifier - specifies an end user based on the logon ID, such as HR.HR

Performing Application Tracing 18-1

Overview of End-to-End Application Tracing

• Service - specifies a group of applications with common attributes, service level

thresholds, and priorities; or a single application, such as ACCTG for an accounting
application

• Module - specifies a functional block, such as Accounts Receivable or General

Ledger, of an application

• Action - specifies an action, such as an INSERT or UPDATE operation, in a module

• Session - specifies a session based on a given database session identifier (SID), on

the local instance

• Instance - specifies a given instance based on the instance name

Tools for End-to-End Application Tracing

The TRCSESS command-line utility consolidates tracing information based on specific
criteria. The SQL Trace facility and TKPROF are two basic performance diagnostic
tools that can help you accurately assess the efficiency of the SQL statements an
application runs. For best results, use these tools with EXPLAIN PLAN rather than
using EXPLAIN PLAN alone. After tracing information is written to files, you can
consolidate this data with the TRCSESS utility, and then diagnose it with TKPROF or
SQL Trace.
The recommended interface for end-to-end application tracing is Oracle Enterprise
Manager Cloud Control (Cloud Control). Using Cloud Control, you can view the top
consumers for each consumer type, and enable or disable statistics gathering and SQL
tracing for specific consumers. If Cloud Control is unavailable, then you can manage
this feature using the DBMS_MONITOR APIs.

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for information about the
DBMS_MONITOR, DBMS_SESSION, DBMS_SERVICE, and
DBMS_APPLICATION_INFO packages

Overview of the SQL Trace Facility

The SQL Trace facility provides performance information on individual SQL
statements. It generates the following statistics for each statement:

• Parse, execute, and fetch counts

• CPU and elapsed times

• Physical reads and logical reads

• Number of rows processed

• Misses on the library cache

• User name under which each parse occurred

• Each commit and rollback

• Wait event data for each SQL statement, and a summary for each trace file

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 Enabling Statistics Gathering for End-to-End Tracing

If the cursor for the SQL statement is closed, then SQL Trace also provides row source
information that includes:

• Row operations showing the actual execution plan of each SQL statement

• Number of rows, number of consistent reads, number of physical reads, number of

physical writes, and time elapsed for each operation on a row
Although you can enable the SQL Trace facility for a session or an instance, Oracle
recommends that you use the DBMS_SESSION or DBMS_MONITOR packages instead.
When the SQL Trace facility is enabled for a session or for an instance, performance
statistics for all SQL statements executed in a user session or in the instance are placed
into trace files. Using the SQL Trace facility can affect performance and may result in
increased system overhead, excessive CPU usage, and inadequate disk space.
The TRCSESS command-line utility consolidates tracing information from several
trace files based on specific criteria, such as session or client ID. See “TRCSESS”.

See Also:

“Enabling End-to-End Application Tracing” to learn how to use the

DBMS_SESSION or DBMS_MONITOR packages to enable SQL tracing for a
session or an instance

Overview of TKPROF
You can run the TKPROF program to format the contents of the trace file and place the
output into a readable output file. TKPROF can also:

• Create a SQL script that stores the statistics in the database

• Determine the execution plans of SQL statements

Note:

If the cursor for a SQL statement is not closed, then TKPROF output does not
automatically include the actual execution plan of the SQL statement. In this
situation, use the EXPLAIN option with TKPROF to generate an execution
plan.

TKPROF reports each statement executed with the resources it has consumed, the
number of times it was called, and the number of rows which it processed. This
information enables you to locate those statements that are using the greatest resource.
With baselines available, you can assess whether the resources used are reasonable
given the work done.

Enabling Statistics Gathering for End-to-End Tracing

To gather the appropriate statistics using PL/SQL, you must enable statistics
gathering for client identifier, service, module, or action using procedures in
DBMS_MONITOR. The default level is the session-level statistics gathering. Statistics
gathering is global for the database and continues after a database instance is
restarted.
You can gather statistics by the following criteria:

Performing Application Tracing 18-3

Enabling Statistics Gathering for End-to-End Tracing

• Enabling Statistics Gathering for a Client ID

• Enabling Statistics Gathering for a Service_ Module_ and Action

Enabling Statistics Gathering for a Client ID

The procedure CLIENT_ID_STAT_ENABLE enables statistics gathering for a given
client ID, whereas the procedure CLIENT_ID_STAT_DISABLE disables it. You can
view client identifiers in the CLIENT_IDENTIFIER column in V$SESSION.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes that you want to enable and then disable statistics gathering for
the client with the ID oe.oe.

To enable and disable statistics gathering for a client identifier:

1. Start SQL*Plus, and then connect to the database with the appropriate privileges.

2. Enable statistics gathering for oe.oe.

For example, run the following command:
EXECUTE DBMS_MONITOR.CLIENT_ID_STAT_ENABLE(client_id => 'OE.OE');

3. Disable statistics gathering for oe.oe.

For example, run the following command:
EXECUTE DBMS_MONITOR.CLIENT_ID_STAT_DISABLE(client_id => 'OE.OE');

Enabling Statistics Gathering for a Service, Module, and Action

The procedure SERV_MOD_ACT_STAT_ENABLE enables statistic gathering for a
combination of service, module, and action, whereas the procedure
SERV_MOD_ACT_STAT_DISABLE disables statistic gathering for a combination of
service, module, and action.
When you change the module or action using the preceding DBMS_MONITOR
procedures, the change takes effect when the next user call is executed in the session.
For example, if a module is set to module1 in a session, and if the module is reset to
module2 in a user call in the session, then the module remains module1 during this
user call. The module is changed to module2 in the next user call in the session.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes that you want to gather statistics as follows:

• For the ACCTG service

• For all actions in the PAYROLL module

• For the INSERT ITEM action within the GLEDGER module

To enable and disable statistics gathering for a service, module, and action:

1. Start SQL*Plus, and then connect to the database with the appropriate privileges.

2. Enable statistics gathering for the desired service, module, and action.

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 Enabling End-to-End Application Tracing

For example, run the following commands:

BEGIN
DBMS_MONITOR.SERV_MOD_ACT_STAT_ENABLE(
service_name => 'ACCTG' ,
module_name => 'PAYROLL' );
END;

BEGIN
DBMS_MONITOR.SERV_MOD_ACT_STAT_ENABLE(
service_name => 'ACCTG' ,
module_name => 'GLEDGER' ,
action_name => 'INSERT ITEM' );
END;

3. Disable statistic gathering for the previously specified combination of service,

module, and action.
For example, run the following command:
BEGIN
DBMS_MONITOR.SERV_MOD_ACT_STAT_DISABLE(
service_name => 'ACCTG' ,
module_name => 'GLEDGER' ,
action_name => 'INSERT ITEM' );
END;

Enabling End-to-End Application Tracing

To enable tracing for client identifier, service, module, action, session, instance or
database, execute the appropriate procedures in the DBMS_MONITOR package. You can
enable tracing for specific diagnosis and workload management by the following
criteria:

• Enabling Tracing for a Client Identifier

• Enabling Tracing for a Service_ Module_ and Action

• Enabling Tracing for a Session

• Enabling Tracing for the Instance or Database

With the criteria that you provide, specific trace information is captured in a set of
trace files and combined into a single output trace file.

Enabling Tracing for a Client Identifier

To enable tracing globally for the database for a specified client identifier, use the
CLIENT_ID_TRACE_ENABLE procedure. The CLIENT_ID_TRACE_DISABLE
procedure disables tracing globally for the database for a given client identifier.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• OE.OE is the client identifier for which SQL tracing is to be enabled.

• You want to include wait information in the trace.

• You want to exclude bind information from the trace.

Performing Application Tracing 18-5

Enabling End-to-End Application Tracing

To enable and disable tracing for a client identifier:

1. Start SQL*Plus, and then connect to the database with the appropriate privileges.

2. Enable tracing for the client.

For example, execute the following program:
BEGIN
DBMS_MONITOR.CLIENT_ID_TRACE_ENABLE(
client_id => 'OE.OE' ,
waits => true ,
binds => false );
END;

3. Disable tracing for the client.

For example, execute the following command:
EXECUTE DBMS_MONITOR.CLIENT_ID_TRACE_DISABLE(client_id => 'OE.OE');

Enabling Tracing for a Service, Module, and Action

The SERV_MOD_ACT_TRACE_ENABLE procedure enables SQL tracing for a specified
combination of service name, module, and action globally for a database, unless the
procedure specifies a database instance name. The SERV_MOD_ACT_TRACE_DISABLE
procedure disables the trace at all enabled instances for a given combination of service
name, module, and action name globally.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You want to enable tracing for the service ACCTG.

• You want to enable tracing for all actions for the combination of the ACCTG service
and the PAYROLL module.

• You want to include wait information in the trace.

• You want to exclude bind information from the trace.

• You want to enable tracing only for the inst1 instance.

To enable and disable tracing for a service, module, and action:

1. Start SQL*Plus, and then connect to the database with the appropriate privileges.

2. Enable tracing for the service, module, and actions.

For example, execute the following command:
BEGIN
DBMS_MONITOR.SERV_MOD_ACT_TRACE_ENABLE(
service_name => 'ACCTG' ,
module_name => 'PAYROLL' ,
waits => true ,
binds => false ,
instance_name => 'inst1' );
END;

3. Disable tracing for the service, module, and actions.

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 Enabling End-to-End Application Tracing

For example, execute the following command:

BEGIN
DBMS_MONITOR.SERV_MOD_ACT_TRACE_DISABLE(
service_name => 'ACCTG' ,
module_name => 'PAYROLL' ,
instance_name => 'inst1' );
END;

Enabling Tracing for a Session

The SESSION_TRACE_ENABLE procedure enables the trace for a given database
session identifier (SID), on the local instance. Whereas the DBMS_MONITOR package
can only be invoked by a user with the DBA role, any user can also enable SQL tracing
for their own session by using the DBMS_SESSION package. A user can invoke the
SESSION_TRACE_ENABLE procedure to enable session-level SQL trace for the user's
session. For example:
EXECUTE DBMS_SESSION.SESSION_TRACE_ENABLE(waits => true, binds => false);

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You want to log in to the database with administrator privileges.

• User OE has one active session.

• You want to temporarily enable tracing for the OE session.

• You want to include wait information in the trace.

• You want to exclude bind information from the trace.

To enable and disable tracing for a session:

1. Start SQL*Plus, and then connect to the database with the administrator
privileges.

2. Determine the session ID and serial number values for the session to trace.
For example, query V$SESSION as follows:
SELECT SID, SERIAL#, USERNAME
FROM V$SESSION
WHERE USERNAME = 'OE';

SID SERIAL# USERNAME

---------- ---------- ------------------------------
27 60 OE

3. Use the values from the preceding step to enable tracing for a specific session.
For example, execute the following program to enable tracing for the OE session,
where the true argument includes wait information in the trace and the false
argument excludes bind information from the trace:
BEGIN
DBMS_MONITOR.SESSION_TRACE_ENABLE(
session_id => 27 ,
serial_num => 60 ,
waits => true ,

Performing Application Tracing 18-7

Enabling End-to-End Application Tracing

binds => false );

END;

4. Disable tracing for the session.

The SESSION_TRACE_DISABLE procedure disables the trace for a given database
session identifier (SID) and serial number. For example:
EXECUTE DBMS_MONITOR.SESSION_TRACE_DISABLE(session_id => 27, serial_num => 60);

Enabling Tracing for the Instance or Database

The DBMS_MONITOR.DATABASE_TRACE_ENABLE procedure overrides all other
session-level traces, but is complementary to the client identifier, service, module, and
action traces. Tracing is enabled for all current and future sessions.
All new sessions inherit the wait and bind information specified by this procedure
until you call the DATABASE_TRACE_DISABLE procedure. When you invoke this
procedure with the instance_name parameter, the procedure resets the session-level
SQL trace for the named instance. If you invoke this procedure without the
instance_name parameter, then the procedure resets the session-level SQL trace for
the entire database.

Prerequisites
You must be logged in as an administrator execute the DATABASE_TRACE_ENABLE
procedure.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You want to enable tracing for all SQL the inst1 instance.

• You want wait information to be in the trace.

• You do not want bind information in the trace.

To enable and disable tracing for a session:

1. Start SQL*Plus, and then connect to the database with the administrator
privileges.

2. Call the DATABASE_TRACE_ENABLE procedure to enable SQL tracing for a given

instance or an entire database.
For example, execute the following program, where the true argument specifies
that wait information is in the trace, and the false argument specifies that no
bind information is in the trace:
BEGIN
DBMS_MONITOR.DATABASE_TRACE_ENABLE(
waits => true ,
binds => false ,
instance_name => 'inst1' );
END;

3. Disable tracing for the session.

The SESSION_TRACE_DISABLE procedure disables the trace. For example, the
following program disables tracing for inst1:

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 Generating Output Files Using SQL Trace and TKPROF

EXECUTE DBMS_MONITOR.DATABASE_TRACE_DISABLE(instance_name => 'inst1');

To disable the session-level SQL tracing for an entire database, invoke the
DATABASE_TRACE_DISABLE procedure without specifying the instance_name
parameter:
EXECUTE DBMS_MONITOR.DATABASE_TRACE_DISABLE();

Generating Output Files Using SQL Trace and TKPROF

This section explains the basic procedure for using SQL Trace and TKPROF.

To use the SQL Trace facility and TKPROF:

1. Set initialization parameters for trace file management.

See “Step 1: Setting Initialization Parameters for Trace File Management”.

2. Enable the SQL Trace facility for the desired session, and run the application. This
step produces a trace file containing statistics for the SQL statements issued by the
application.
See “Step 2: Enabling the SQL Trace Facility”.

3. Run TKPROF to translate the trace file created in Step 2 into a readable output file.
This step can optionally create a SQL script that you can use to store the statistics
in a database.
See “Step 3: Generating Output Files with TKPROF”.

4. Optionally, run the SQL script produced in Step 3 to store the statistics in the
database.
See “Step 4: Storing SQL Trace Facility Statistics”.

Step 1: Setting Initialization Parameters for Trace File Management

When the SQL Trace facility is enabled for a session, Oracle Database generates a trace
file containing statistics for traced SQL statements for that session. When the SQL
Trace facility is enabled for an instance, Oracle Database creates a separate trace file
for each process.

To set initialization parameters for trace file management:

1. Check the settings of the TIMED_STATISTICS, MAX_DUMP_FILE_SIZE, and

DIAGNOSTIC_DEST initialization parameters, as indicated in Table 18-1.

Table 18-1 Initialization Parameters to Check Before Enabling SQL Trace

Parameter Description

DIAGNOSTIC_DEST Specifies the location of the Automatic Diagnostic

Repository (ADR) Home. The diagnostic files for each
database instance are located in this dedicated directory.
Oracle Database Reference for information about the
DIAGNOSTIC_DEST initialization parameter.

Performing Application Tracing 18-9

Generating Output Files Using SQL Trace and TKPROF

Table 18-1 (Cont.) Initialization Parameters to Check Before Enabling SQL

Trace

Parameter Description

MAX_DUMP_FILE_SIZE When the SQL Trace facility is enabled at the database

instance level, every call to the database writes a text line
in a file in the operating system's file format. The
maximum size of these files in operating system blocks is
limited by this initialization parameter. The default is
UNLIMITED. See Oracle Database Administrator's Guide to
learn how to control the trace file size.

TIMED_STATISTICS Enables and disables the collection of timed statistics, such

as CPU and elapsed times, by the SQL Trace facility, and
the collection of various statistics in the V$ views.
If STATISTICS_LEVEL is set to TYPICAL or ALL, then the
default value of TIMED_STATISTICS is true. If
STATISTICS_LEVEL is set to BASIC, then the default
value of TIMED_STATISTICS is false. See Oracle
Database Reference for information about the
STATISTICS_LEVEL initialization parameter.
Enabling timing causes extra timing calls for low-level
operations. This is a dynamic parameter. It is also a
session parameter. See Oracle Database Reference for
information about the TIMED_STATISTICS initialization
parameter.

2. Devise a way of recognizing the resulting trace file.

Be sure you know how to distinguish the trace files by name. You can tag trace
files by including in your programs a statement such as SELECT
'program_name' FROM DUAL. You can then trace each file back to the process
that created it.
You can also set the TRACEFILE_IDENTIFIER initialization parameter to specify
a custom identifier that becomes part of the trace file name (see Oracle Database
Reference for information about the TRACEFILE_IDENTIFIER initialization
parameter). For example, you can add my_trace_id to subsequent trace file
names for easy identification with the following:
ALTER SESSION SET TRACEFILE_IDENTIFIER = 'my_trace_id';

3. If the operating system retains multiple versions of files, then ensure that the
version limit is high enough to accommodate the number of trace files you expect
the SQL Trace facility to generate.

4. If the generated trace files can be owned by an operating system user other than
yourself, then ensure that you have the necessary permissions to use TKPROF to
format them.

Step 2: Enabling the SQL Trace Facility

Enable the SQL Trace facility at either of the following levels:

• Database instance

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 Generating Output Files Using SQL Trace and TKPROF

Use DBMS_MONITOR.DATABASE_TRACE_ENABLE procedure to enable tracing, and

DBMS_MONITOR.DATABASE_TRACE_DISABLE procedure to disable tracing.

• Database session
Use DBMS_SESSION.SET_SQL_TRACE procedure to enable tracing (true) or
disable tracing (false).

Note:

Because running the SQL Trace facility increases system overhead, enable it
only when tuning SQL statements, and disable it when you are finished.

To enable and disable tracing at the database instance level:

1. Start SQL*Plus, and connect to the database with administrator privileges.

2. Enable tracing at the database instance level.

The following example enables tracing for the orcl instance:
EXEC DBMS_MONITOR.DATABASE_TRACE_ENABLE(INSTANCE_NAME => 'orcl');

3. Execute the statements to be traced.

4. Disable tracing for the database instance.

The following example disables tracing for the orcl instance:
EXEC DBMS_MONITOR.DATABASE_TRACE_DISABLE(INSTANCE_NAME => 'orcl');

To enable and disable tracing at the session level:

1. Start SQL*Plus, and connect to the database with the desired credentials.

2. Enable tracing for the current session.

The following example enables tracing for the current session:
EXEC DBMS_SESSION.SET_SQL_TRACE(sql_trace => true);

3. Execute the statements to be traced.

4. Disable tracing for the current session.

The following example disables tracing for the current session:
EXEC DBMS_SESSION.SET_SQL_TRACE(sql_trace => false);

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about
DBMS_MONITOR.DATABASE_TRACE_ENABLE

Step 3: Generating Output Files with TKPROF

TKPROF accepts as input a trace file produced by the SQL Trace facility, and it
produces a formatted output file. TKPROF can also generate execution plans.

Performing Application Tracing 18-11

Generating Output Files Using SQL Trace and TKPROF

After the SQL Trace facility has generated trace files, you can:

• Run TKPROF on each individual trace file, producing several formatted output
files, one for each session.

• Concatenate the trace files, and then run TKPROF on the result to produce a
formatted output file for the entire instance.

• Run the TRCSESS command-line utility to consolidate tracing information from

several trace files, then run TKPROF on the result.
TKPROF does not report COMMIT and ROLLBACK statements recorded in the trace file.

Note:

The following SQL statements are truncated to 25 characters in the SQL Trace
file:
SET ROLE
GRANT
ALTER USER
ALTER ROLE
CREATE USER
CREATE ROLE

Example 18-1 TKPROF Output

SELECT * FROM emp, dept
WHERE emp.deptno = dept.deptno;

call count cpu elapsed disk query current rows

---- ------- ------- --------- -------- -------- ------- ------
Parse 1 0.16 0.29 3 13 0 0
Execute 1 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0
Fetch 1 0.03 0.26 2 2 4 14

Misses in library cache during parse: 1

Parsing user id: (8) SCOTT

Rows Execution Plan

------- ---------------------------------------------------

14 MERGE JOIN
4 SORT JOIN
4 TABLE ACCESS (FULL) OF 'DEPT'
14 SORT JOIN
14 TABLE ACCESS (FULL) OF 'EMP'

For this statement, TKPROF output includes the following information:

• The text of the SQL statement

• The SQL Trace statistics in tabular form

• The number of library cache misses for the parsing and execution of the statement.

• The user initially parsing the statement.

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 Generating Output Files Using SQL Trace and TKPROF

• The execution plan generated by EXPLAIN PLAN.

TKPROF also provides a summary of user level statements and recursive SQL calls for
the trace file.

Step 4: Storing SQL Trace Facility Statistics

You might want to keep a history of the statistics generated by the SQL Trace facility
for an application, and compare them over time. TKPROF can generate a SQL script
that creates a table and inserts rows of statistics into it. This script contains:

• A CREATE TABLE statement that creates an output table named TKPROF_TABLE.

• INSERT statements that add rows of statistics, one for each traced SQL statement,
to TKPROF_TABLE.
After running TKPROF, run this script to store the statistics in the database.

Generating the TKPROF Output SQL Script

When you run TKPROF, use the INSERT parameter to specify the name of the
generated SQL script. If you omit this parameter, then TKPROF does not generate a
script.

Editing the TKPROF Output SQL Script

After TKPROF has created the SQL script, you might want to edit the script before
running it. If you have created an output table for previously collected statistics, and if
you want to add new statistics to this table, then remove the CREATE TABLE statement
from the script. The script then inserts the new rows into the existing table.
If you have created multiple output tables, perhaps to store statistics from different
databases in different tables, then edit the CREATE TABLE and INSERT statements to
change the name of the output table.

Querying the Output Table

The following CREATE TABLE statement creates the TKPROF_TABLE:
CREATE TABLE TKPROF_TABLE (

DATE_OF_INSERT DATE,
CURSOR_NUM NUMBER,
DEPTH NUMBER,
USER_ID NUMBER,
PARSE_CNT NUMBER,
PARSE_CPU NUMBER,
PARSE_ELAP NUMBER,
PARSE_DISK NUMBER,
PARSE_QUERY NUMBER,
PARSE_CURRENT NUMBER,
PARSE_MISS NUMBER,
EXE_COUNT NUMBER,
EXE_CPU NUMBER,
EXE_ELAP NUMBER,
EXE_DISK NUMBER,
EXE_QUERY NUMBER,
EXE_CURRENT NUMBER,
EXE_MISS NUMBER,
EXE_ROWS NUMBER,
FETCH_COUNT NUMBER,

Performing Application Tracing 18-13

Generating Output Files Using SQL Trace and TKPROF

FETCH_CPU NUMBER,
FETCH_ELAP NUMBER,
FETCH_DISK NUMBER,
FETCH_QUERY NUMBER,
FETCH_CURRENT NUMBER,
FETCH_ROWS NUMBER,
CLOCK_TICKS NUMBER,
SQL_STATEMENT LONG);

Most output table columns correspond directly to the statistics that appear in the
formatted output file. For example, the PARSE_CNT column value corresponds to the
count statistic for the parse step in the output file.
The columns in Table 18-2 help you identify a row of statistics.

Table 18-2 TKPROF_TABLE Columns for Identifying a Row of Statistics

Column Description

SQL_STATEMENT This is the SQL statement for which the SQL Trace facility collected
the row of statistics. Because this column has data type LONG, you
cannot use it in expressions or WHERE clause conditions.

DATE_OF_INSERT This is the date and time when the row was inserted into the table.
This value is different from the time when the SQL Trace facility
collected the statistics.

DEPTH This indicates the level of recursion at which the SQL statement was
issued. For example, a value of 0 indicates that a user issued the
statement. A value of 1 indicates that Oracle Database generated the
statement as a recursive call to process a statement with a value of 0
(a statement issued by a user). A value of n indicates that Oracle
Database generated the statement as a recursive call to process a
statement with a value of n-1.

USER_ID This identifies the user issuing the statement. This value also
appears in the formatted output file.

CURSOR_NUM Oracle Database uses this column value to keep track of the cursor to
which each SQL statement was assigned.

The output table does not store the statement's execution plan. The following query
returns the statistics from the output table. These statistics correspond to the formatted
output shown in “Example 18-7”.
SELECT * FROM TKPROF_TABLE;

Sample output appears as follows:

DATE_OF_INSERT CURSOR_NUM DEPTH USER_ID PARSE_CNT PARSE_CPU PARSE_ELAP
-------------- ---------- ----- ------- --------- --------- ----------
21-DEC-2012 1 0 8 1 16 22

PARSE_DISK PARSE_QUERY PARSE_CURRENT PARSE_MISS EXE_COUNT EXE_CPU

---------- ----------- ------------- ---------- --------- -------
3 11 0 1 1 0

EXE_ELAP EXE_DISK EXE_QUERY EXE_CURRENT EXE_MISS EXE_ROWS FETCH_COUNT

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 Guidelines for Interpreting TKPROF Output

-------- -------- --------- ----------- -------- -------- -----------

0 0 0 0 0 0 1

FETCH_CPU FETCH_ELAP FETCH_DISK FETCH_QUERY FETCH_CURRENT FETCH_ROWS

--------- ---------- ---------- ----------- ------------- ----------
2 20 2 2 4 10

SQL_STATEMENT
---------------------------------------------------------------------
SELECT * FROM EMP, DEPT WHERE EMP.DEPTNO = DEPT.DEPTNO

Guidelines for Interpreting TKPROF Output

This section provides guidelines for interpreting TKPROF output.

• Guideline for Interpreting the Resolution of Statistics

• Guideline for Recursive SQL Statements

• Guideline for Deciding Which Statements to Tune

• Guidelines for Avoiding Traps in TKPROF Interpretation

While TKPROF provides a useful analysis, the most accurate measure of efficiency is
the performance of the application. At the end of the TKPROF output is a summary of
the work that the process performed during the period that the trace was running.

Guideline for Interpreting the Resolution of Statistics

Timing statistics have a resolution of one hundredth of a second. Therefore, any
operation on a cursor that takes a hundredth of a second or less might not be timed
accurately. Keep this limitation in mind when interpreting statistics. In particular, be
careful when interpreting the results from simple queries that execute very quickly.

Guideline for Recursive SQL Statements

Sometimes, to execute a SQL statement issued by a user, Oracle Database must issue
additional SQL statements. Such statements are called recursive calls or recursive SQL.
For example, if a session inserts a row into a table that has insufficient space to hold
that row, then the database makes recursive calls to allocate the space dynamically.
The database also generates recursive calls when data dictionary information is not
available in memory and so must be retrieved from disk.
If recursive calls occur while the SQL Trace facility is enabled, then TKPROF produces
statistics for the recursive SQL statements and marks them clearly as recursive SQL
statements in the output file. You can suppress the listing of Oracle Database internal
recursive calls (for example, space management) in the output file by setting the SYS
command-line parameter to NO. The statistics for a recursive SQL statement are
included in the listing for that statement, not in the listing for the SQL statement that
caused the recursive call. So, when you are calculating the total resources required to
process a SQL statement, consider the statistics for that statement and those for
recursive calls caused by that statement.

Note:
Recursive SQL statistics are not included for SQL-level operations.

Performing Application Tracing 18-15

Guidelines for Interpreting TKPROF Output

Guideline for Deciding Which Statements to Tune

You must determine which SQL statements use the most CPU or disk resource. If the
TIMED_STATISTICS parameter is enabled, then you can find high CPU activity in the
CPU column. If TIMED_STATISTICS is not enabled, then check the QUERY and
CURRENT columns.
With the exception of locking problems and inefficient PL/SQL loops, neither the CPU
time nor the elapsed time is necessary to find problem statements. The key is the
number of block visits, both query (that is, subject to read consistency) and current
(that is, not subject to read consistency). Segment headers and blocks that are going to
be updated are acquired in current mode, but all query and subquery processing
requests the data in query mode. These are precisely the same measures as the
instance statistics CONSISTENT GETS and DB BLOCK GETS. You can find high disk
activity in the disk column.
The following listing shows TKPROF output for one SQL statement as it appears in the
output file:
SELECT *
FROM emp, dept
WHERE emp.deptno = dept.deptno;

call count cpu elapsed disk query current rows

---- ------- ------- --------- -------- -------- ------- ------
Parse 11 0.08 0.18 0 0 0 0
Execute 11 0.23 0.66 0 3 6 0
Fetch 35 6.70 6.83 100 12326 2 824
------------------------------------------------------------------
total 57 7.01 7.67 100 12329 8 826

Misses in library cache during parse: 0

If it is acceptable to have 7.01 CPU seconds and to retrieve 824 rows, then you need
not look any further at this trace output. In fact, a major use of TKPROF reports in a
tuning exercise is to eliminate processes from the detailed tuning phase.
The output indicates that 10 unnecessary parse call were made (because 11 parse calls
exist for this single statement) and that array fetch operations were performed. More
rows were fetched than there were fetches performed. A large gap between CPU and
elapsed timings indicates Physical I/Os.

See Also:

Example 18-4

Guidelines for Avoiding Traps in TKPROF Interpretation

This section describes some fine points of TKPROF interpretation:

• Guideline for Avoiding the Argument Trap

• Guideline for Avoiding the Read Consistency Trap

• Guideline for Avoiding the Schema Trap

• Guideline for Avoiding the Time Trap

18-16 SQL Tuning Guide

 Guidelines for Interpreting TKPROF Output

Guideline for Avoiding the Argument Trap

If you are not aware of the values being bound at run time, then it is possible to fall
into the argument trap. EXPLAIN PLAN cannot determine the type of a bind variable
from the text of SQL statements, and it always assumes that the type is VARCHAR. If
the bind variable is actually a number or a date, then TKPROF can cause implicit data
conversions, which can cause inefficient plans to be executed. To avoid this situation,
experiment with different data types in the query, and perform the conversion
yourself.

Guideline for Avoiding the Read Consistency Trap

The next example illustrates the read consistency trap. Without knowing that an
uncommitted transaction had made a series of updates to the NAME column, it is very
difficult to see why so many block visits would be incurred.
Cases like this are not normally repeatable: if the process were run again, it is unlikely
that another transaction would interact with it in the same way.
SELECT name_id
FROM cq_names
WHERE name = 'FLOOR';

call count cpu elapsed disk query current rows

---- ----- --- ------- ---- ----- ------- ----
Parse 1 0.10 0.18 0 0 0 0
Execute 1 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0
Fetch 1 0.11 0.21 2 101 0 1

Misses in library cache during parse: 1

Parsing user id: 01 (USER1)

Rows Execution Plan

e---- --------- ----
0 SELECT STATEMENT
1 TABLE ACCESS (BY ROWID) OF 'CQ_NAMES'
2 INDEX (RANGE SCAN) OF 'CQ_NAMES_NAME' (NON_UNIQUE)

Guideline for Avoiding the Schema Trap

This example shows an extreme (and thus easily detected) example of the schema trap.
At first, it is difficult to see why such an apparently straightforward indexed query
must look at so many database blocks, or why it should access any blocks at all in
current mode.
SELECT name_id
FROM cq_names
WHERE name = 'FLOOR';

call count cpu elapsed disk query current rows

-------- ------- -------- --------- ------- ------ ------- ----
Parse 1 0.06 0.10 0 0 0 0
Execute 1 0.02 0.02 0 0 0 0
Fetch 1 0.23 0.30 31 31 3 1

Misses in library cache during parse: 0

Parsing user id: 02 (USER2)

Rows Execution Plan

------- ---------------------------------------------------

Performing Application Tracing 18-17

Guidelines for Interpreting TKPROF Output

0 SELECT STATEMENT
2340 TABLE ACCESS (BY ROWID) OF 'CQ_NAMES'
0 INDEX (RANGE SCAN) OF 'CQ_NAMES_NAME' (NON-UNIQUE)

Two statistics suggest that the query might have been executed with a full table scan.
These statistics are the current mode block visits, plus the number of rows originating
from the Table Access row source in the execution plan. The explanation is that the
required index was built after the trace file had been produced, but before TKPROF
had been run.
Generating a new trace file gives the following data:
SELECT name_id
FROM cq_names
WHERE name = 'FLOOR';

call count cpu elapsed disk query current rows

----- ------ ------ -------- ----- ------ ------- -----
Parse 1 0.01 0.02 0 0 0 0
Execute 1 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0
Fetch 1 0.00 0.00 0 2 0 1

Misses in library cache during parse: 0

Parsing user id: 02 (USER2)

Rows Execution Plan

------- ---------------------------------------------------
0 SELECT STATEMENT
1 TABLE ACCESS (BY ROWID) OF 'CQ_NAMES'
2 INDEX (RANGE SCAN) OF 'CQ_NAMES_NAME' (NON-UNIQUE)

One of the marked features of this correct version is that the parse call took 10
milliseconds of CPU time and 20 milliseconds of elapsed time, but the query
apparently took no time at all to execute and perform the fetch. These anomalies arise
because the clock tick of 10 milliseconds is too long relative to the time taken to
execute and fetch the data. In such cases, it is important to get lots of executions of the
statements, so that you have statistically valid numbers.

Guideline for Avoiding the Time Trap

Sometimes, as in the following example, you might wonder why a particular query
has taken so long.
UPDATE cq_names SET ATTRIBUTES = lower(ATTRIBUTES)
WHERE ATTRIBUTES = :att

call count cpu elapsed disk query current rows

-------- ------- -------- --------- -------- -------- ------- ----------
Parse 1 0.06 0.24 0 0 0 0
Execute 1 0.62 19.62 22 526 12 7
Fetch 0 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0

Misses in library cache during parse: 1

Parsing user id: 02 (USER2)

Rows Execution Plan

------- ---------------------------------------------------
0 UPDATE STATEMENT
2519 TABLE ACCESS (FULL) OF 'CQ_NAMES'

18-18 SQL Tuning Guide

 Application Tracing Utilities

Again, the answer is interference from another transaction. In this case, another
transaction held a shared lock on the table cq_names for several seconds before and
after the update was issued. It takes a fair amount of experience to diagnose that
interference effects are occurring. On the one hand, comparative data is essential when
the interference is contributing only a short delay (or a small increase in block visits in
the previous example). However, if the interference contributes only modest overhead,
and if the statement is essentially efficient, then its statistics may not require analysis.

Application Tracing Utilities

This section describes the syntax and semantics for the following utilities:

• TRCSESS

• TKPROF

TRCSESS
The TRCSESS utility consolidates trace output from selected trace files based on user-
specified criteria. After TRCSESS merges the trace information into a single output file,
TKPROF can process the output file.

Purpose
TRCSESS is useful for consolidating the tracing of a particular session for performance
or debugging purposes.
Tracing a specific session is usually not a problem in the dedicated server model
because one process serves a session during its lifetime. You can see the trace
information for the session from the trace file belonging to the server process.
However, in a shared server configuration, a user session is serviced by different
processes over time. The trace for the user session is scattered across different trace
files belonging to different processes, which makes it difficult to get a complete picture
of the life cycle of a session.

Guidelines
You must specify one of the session, clientid, service, action, or module
options. If you specify multiple options, then TRCSESS consolidates all trace files that
satisfy the specified criteria into the output file.

Syntax
trcsess [output=output_file_name]
[session=session_id]
[clientid=client_id]
[service=service_name]
[action=action_name]
[module=module_name]
[trace_files]

Options

Argument Description
output Specifies the file where the output is generated. If this option is not
specified, then the utility writes to standard output.

Performing Application Tracing 18-19

Application Tracing Utilities

Argument Description
session Consolidates the trace information for the session specified. The
session identifier is a combination of session index and session serial
number, such as 21.2371. You can locate these values in the V
$SESSION view.

clientid Consolidates the trace information for the specified client ID.

service Consolidates the trace information for the specified service name.

action Consolidates the trace information for the specified action name.

module Consolidates the trace information for the specified module name.

trace_files Lists the trace file names, separated by spaces, in which TRCSESS
should look for trace information. You can use the wildcard character
(*) to specify the trace file names. If you do not specify trace files, then
TRCSESS uses all files in the current directory as input.

Examples
Example 18-2 Tracing a Single Session
This sample output of TRCSESS shows the container of traces for a particular session.
In this example, the session index and serial number equals 21.2371. All files in
current directory are taken as input.
trcsess session=21.2371

Example 18-3 Specifying Multiple Trace Files

The following example specifies two trace files:
trcsess session=21.2371 main_12359.trc main_12995.trc

The sample output is similar to the following:

[PROCESS ID = 12359]
*** 2014-04-02 09:48:28.376
PARSING IN CURSOR #1 len=17 dep=0 uid=27 oct=3 lid=27 tim=868373970961 hv=887450622
ad='22683fb4'
select * from cat
END OF STMT
PARSE #1:c=0,e=339,p=0,cr=0,cu=0,mis=0,r=0,dep=0,og=4,tim=868373970944
EXEC #1:c=0,e=221,p=0,cr=0,cu=0,mis=0,r=0,dep=0,og=4,tim=868373971411
FETCH #1:c=0,e=791,p=0,cr=7,cu=0,mis=0,r=1,dep=0,og=4,tim=868373972435
FETCH #1:c=0,e=1486,p=0,cr=20,cu=0,mis=0,r=6,dep=0,og=4,tim=868373986238
*** 2014-04-02 10:03:58.058
XCTEND rlbk=0, rd_only=1
STAT #1 id=1 cnt=7 pid=0 pos=1 obj=0 op='FILTER '
STAT #1 id=2 cnt=7 pid=1 pos=1 obj=18 op='TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID OBJ$ '
STAT #1 id=3 cnt=7 pid=2 pos=1 obj=37 op='INDEX RANGE SCAN I_OBJ2 '
STAT #1 id=4 cnt=0 pid=1 pos=2 obj=4 op='TABLE ACCESS CLUSTER TAB$J2 '
STAT #1 id=5 cnt=6 pid=4 pos=1 obj=3 op='INDEX UNIQUE SCAN I_OBJ# '
[PROCESS ID=12995]
*** 2014-04-02 10:04:32.738
Archiving is disabled

18-20 SQL Tuning Guide

 Application Tracing Utilities

TKPROF
The TKPROF program formats the contents of the trace file and places the output into
a readable output file. TKPROF can also:

• Create a SQL script that stores the statistics in the database

• Determine the execution plans of SQL statements

Note:

If the cursor for a SQL statement is not closed, then TKPROF output does not
automatically include the actual execution plan of the SQL statement. In this
situation, use the EXPLAIN option with TKPROF to generate an execution
plan.

TKPROF reports each statement executed with the resources it has consumed, the
number of times it was called, and the number of rows which it processed.

Purpose
TKPROF can locate statements using the greatest resource. With baselines available,
you can assess whether the resources used are reasonable given the work done.

Guidelines
The input and output files are the only required arguments. If you invoke TKPROF
without arguments, then the tool displays online help.

Syntax
tkprof input_file output_file
[ waits=yes|no ]
[ sort=option ]
[ print=n ]
[ aggregate=yes|no ]
[ insert=filename3 ]
[ sys=yes|no ]
[ table=schema.table ]
[ explain=user/password ]
[ record=filename4 ]
[ width=n ]

Options

Table 18-3 TKPROF Arguments

Argument Description
input_file Specifies the input file, a trace file containing statistics produced by the
SQL Trace facility. This file can be either a trace file produced for a single
session, or a file produced by concatenating individual trace files from
multiple sessions.

output_file Specifies the file to which TKPROF writes its formatted output.

Performing Application Tracing 18-21

Application Tracing Utilities

Table 18-3 (Cont.) TKPROF Arguments

Argument Description
WAITS Specifies whether to record summary for any wait events found in the
trace file. Valid values are YES (default) and NO.

SORT Sorts traced SQL statements in descending order of specified sort option
before listing them in the output file. If multiple options are specified,
then the output is sorted in descending order by the sum of the values
specified in the sort options. If you omit this parameter, then TKPROF
lists statements into the output file in order of first use. Sort options are
listed as follows:
• PRSCNT - Number of times parsed
• PRSCPU - CPU time spent parsing
• PRSELA - Elapsed time spent parsing
• PRSDSK - Number of physical reads from disk during parse
• PRSQRY - Number of consistent mode block reads during parse
• PRSCU - Number of current mode block reads during parse
• PRSMIS - Number of library cache misses during parse
• EXECNT - Number of executions
• EXECPU - CPU time spent executing
• EXEELA - Elapsed time spent executing
• EXEDSK - Number of physical reads from disk during execute
• EXEQRY - Number of consistent mode block reads during execute
• EXECU - Number of current mode block reads during execute
• EXEROW - Number of rows processed during execute
• EXEMIS - Number of library cache misses during execute
• FCHCNT - Number of fetches
• FCHCPU - CPU time spent fetching
• FCHELA - Elapsed time spent fetching
• FCHDSK - Number of physical reads from disk during fetch
• FCHQRY - Number of consistent mode block reads during fetch
• FCHCU - Number of current mode block reads during fetch
• FCHROW - Number of rows fetched
• USERID - Userid of user that parsed the cursor

PRINT Lists only the first integer sorted SQL statements from the output file. If
you omit this parameter, then TKPROF lists all traced SQL statements.
This parameter does not affect the optional SQL script. The SQL script
always generates insert data for all traced SQL statements.

AGGREGATE If you specify AGGREGATE = NO, then TKPROF does not aggregate
multiple users of the same SQL text.

INSERT Creates a SQL script that stores the trace file statistics in the database.
TKPROF creates this script with the name filename3. This script creates
a table and inserts a row of statistics for each traced SQL statement into
the table.

SYS Enables and disables the listing of SQL statements issued by the user
SYS, or recursive SQL statements, into the output file. The default value
of YES causes TKPROF to list these statements. The value of NO causes
TKPROF to omit them. This parameter does not affect the optional SQL
script. The SQL script always inserts statistics for all traced SQL
statements, including recursive SQL statements.

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Table 18-3 (Cont.) TKPROF Arguments

Argument Description
TABLE Specifies the schema and name of the table into which TKPROF
temporarily places execution plans before writing them to the output file.
If the specified table exists, then TKPROF deletes all rows in the table,
uses it for the EXPLAIN PLAN statement (which writes more rows into
the table), and then deletes those rows. If this table does not exist, then
TKPROF creates it, uses it, and then drops it.
The specified user must be able to issue INSERT, SELECT, and DELETE
statements against the table. If the table does not exist, then the user must
also be able to issue CREATE TABLE and DROP TABLE statements. For the
privileges to issue these statements, see Oracle Database SQL Language
Reference.
This option enables multiple individuals to run TKPROF concurrently
with the same user in the EXPLAIN value. These individuals can specify
different TABLE values and avoid destructively interfering with each
other's processing on the temporary plan table.
TKPROF supports the following combinations:
• The EXPLAIN parameter without the TABLE parameter
TKPROF uses the table PROF$PLAN_TABLE in the schema of the user
specified by the EXPLAIN parameter
• The TABLE parameter without the EXPLAIN parameter
TKPROF ignores the TABLE parameter.
If no plan table exists, then TKPROF creates the table PROF$PLAN_TABLE
and then drops it at the end.

EXPLAIN Determines the execution plan for each SQL statement in the trace file
and writes these execution plans to the output file. TKPROF also displays
the number of rows processed by each step of the execution plan.
TKPROF determines execution plans by issuing the EXPLAIN PLAN
statement after connecting to Oracle Database with the user and
password specified in this parameter. The specified user must have
CREATE SESSION system privileges. TKPROF takes longer to process a
large trace file if the EXPLAIN option is used.
Note: Trace files generated immediately after instance startup contain
data that reflects the activity of the startup process. In particular, they
reflect a disproportionate amount of I/O activity as caches in the system
global area (SGA) are filled. For the purposes of tuning, ignore such trace
files.

RECORD Creates a SQL script with the specified filename with all of the
nonrecursive SQL in the trace file. You can use this script to replay the
user events from the trace file.

WIDTH An integer that controls the output line width of some TKPROF output,
such as the explain plan. This parameter is useful for post-processing of
TKPROF output.

Output
This section explains the TKPROF output.

Identification of User Issuing the SQL Statement in TKPROF

TKPROF lists the user ID of the user issuing each SQL statement. If the SQL Trace
input file contained statistics from multiple users, and if the statement was issued by

Performing Application Tracing 18-23

Application Tracing Utilities

multiple users, then TKPROF lists the ID of the last user to parse the statement. The
user ID of all database users appears in the data dictionary in the column
ALL_USERS.USER_ID.

Tabular Statistics in TKPROF

TKPROF lists the statistics for a SQL statement returned by the SQL Trace facility in
rows and columns. Each row corresponds to one of three steps of SQL statement
processing. Statistics are identified by the value of the CALL column. See Table 18-4.

Table 18-4 CALL Column Values

CALL Value Meaning

PARSE Translates the SQL statement into an execution plan, including
checks for proper security authorization and checks for the existence
of tables, columns, and other referenced objects.

EXECUTE Actual execution of the statement by Oracle Database. For INSERT,

UPDATE, and DELETE statements, this modifies the data. For SELECT
statements, this identifies the selected rows.

FETCH Retrieves rows returned by a query. Fetches are only performed for
SELECT statements.

The other columns of the SQL Trace facility output are combined statistics for all
parses, executions, and fetches of a statement. The sum of query and current is the
total number of buffers accessed, also called Logical I/Os (LIOs). See Table 18-5.

Table 18-5 SQL Trace Statistics for Parses, Executes, and Fetches.

SQL Trace Statistic Meaning

COUNT Number of times a statement was parsed, executed, or fetched.

CPU Total CPU time in seconds for all parse, execute, or fetch calls for the
statement. This value is zero (0) if TIMED_STATISTICS is not
enabled.

ELAPSED Total elapsed time in seconds for all parse, execute, or fetch calls for
the statement. This value is zero (0) if TIMED_STATISTICS is not
enabled.

DISK Total number of data blocks physically read from the data files on
disk for all parse, execute, or fetch calls.

QUERY Total number of buffers retrieved in consistent mode for all parse,
execute, or fetch calls. Usually, buffers are retrieved in consistent
mode for queries.

CURRENT Total number of buffers retrieved in current mode. Buffers are

retrieved in current mode for statements such as INSERT, UPDATE,
and DELETE.

Statistics about the processed rows appear in the ROWS column. The column shows the
number of rows processed by the SQL statement. This total does not include rows
processed by subqueries of the SQL statement. For SELECT statements, the number of
rows returned appears for the fetch step. For UPDATE, DELETE, and INSERT
statements, the number of rows processed appears for the execute step.

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 Application Tracing Utilities

Note:

The row source counts are displayed when a cursor is closed. In SQL*Plus,
there is only one user cursor, so each statement executed causes the previous
cursor to be closed; therefore, the row source counts are displayed. PL/SQL
has its own cursor handling and does not close child cursors when the parent
cursor is closed. Exiting (or reconnecting) causes the counts to be displayed.

Library Cache Misses in TKPROF

TKPROF also lists the number of library cache misses resulting from parse and execute
steps for each SQL statement. These statistics appear on separate lines following the
tabular statistics. If the statement resulted in no library cache misses, then TKPROF
does not list the statistic. In “Examples”, the statement resulted in one library cache
miss for the parse step and no misses for the execute step.

Row Source Operations in TKPROF

In the TKPROF output, row source operations show the number of rows processed for
each operation executed on the rows, and additional row source information, such as
physical reads and writes.

Table 18-6 Row Source Operations

Row Source Operation Meaning

cr Consistent reads performed by the row source.

r Physical reads performed by the row source

w Physical writes performed by the row source

time Time in microseconds

In the following sample TKPROF output, note the cr, r, w, and time values under the
Row Source Operation column:
Rows Row Source Operation
------- ---------------------------------------------------
0 DELETE (cr=43141 r=266947 w=25854 time=60235565 us)
28144 HASH JOIN ANTI (cr=43057 r=262332 w=25854 time=48830056 us)
51427 TABLE ACCESS FULL STATS$SQLTEXT (cr=3465 r=3463 w=0 time=865083 us)
647529 INDEX FAST FULL SCAN STATS$SQL_SUMMARY_PK
(cr=39592 r=39325 w=0 time=10522877 us) (object id 7409)

Wait Event Information in TKPROF

If wait event information exists, then the TKPROF output includes a section similar to
the following:
Elapsed times include waiting on following events:
Event waited on Times Max. Wait Total Waited
---------------------------------------- Waited ---------- ------------
db file sequential read 8084 0.12 5.34
direct path write 834 0.00 0.00
direct path write temp 834 0.00 0.05
db file parallel read 8 1.53 5.51
db file scattered read 4180 0.07 1.45
direct path read 7082 0.00 0.05

Performing Application Tracing 18-25

Application Tracing Utilities

direct path read temp 7082 0.00 0.44

rdbms ipc reply 20 0.00 0.01
SQL*Net message to client 1 0.00 0.00
SQL*Net message from client 1 0.00 0.00

In addition, wait events are summed for the entire trace file at the end of the file.
To ensure that wait events information is written to the trace file for the session, run
the following SQL statement:
ALTER SESSION SET EVENTS '10046 trace name context forever, level 8';

Examples
Example 18-4 Printing the Most Resource-Intensive Statements
If you are processing a large trace file using a combination of SORT parameters and the
PRINT parameter, then you can produce a TKPROF output file containing only the
highest resource-intensive statements. The following statement prints the 10
statements in the trace file that have generated the most physical I/O:
TKPROF ora53269.trc ora53269.prf SORT = (PRSDSK, EXEDSK, FCHDSK) PRINT = 10

Example 18-5 Generating a SQL Script

This example runs TKPROF, accepts a trace file named
examp12_jane_fg_sqlplus_007.trc, and writes a formatted output file named
outputa.prf:
TKPROF examp12_jane_fg_sqlplus_007.trc OUTPUTA.PRF EXPLAIN=hr
TABLE=hr.temp_plan_table_a INSERT=STOREA.SQL SYS=NO
SORT=(EXECPU,FCHCPU)

This example is likely to be longer than a single line on the screen, and you might need
to use continuation characters, depending on the operating system.
Note the other parameters in this example:

• The EXPLAIN value causes TKPROF to connect as the user hr and use the EXPLAIN
PLAN statement to generate the execution plan for each traced SQL statement. You
can use this to get access paths and row source counts.

Note:

If the cursor for a SQL statement is not closed, then TKPROF output does not
automatically include the actual execution plan of the SQL statement. In this
situation, you can use the EXPLAIN option with TKPROF to generate an
execution plan.

• The TABLE value causes TKPROF to use the table temp_plan_table_a in the
schema scott as a temporary plan table.

• The INSERT value causes TKPROF to generate a SQL script named STOREA.SQL
that stores statistics for all traced SQL statements in the database.

• The SYS parameter with the value of NO causes TKPROF to omit recursive SQL
statements from the output file. In this way, you can ignore internal Oracle
Database statements such as temporary table operations.

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 Application Tracing Utilities

• The SORT value causes TKPROF to sort the SQL statements in order of the sum of
the CPU time spent executing and the CPU time spent fetching rows before writing
them to the output file. For greatest efficiency, always use SORT parameters.
Example 18-6 TKPROF Header
This example shows a sample header for the TKPROF report.
TKPROF: Release 12.1.0.0.2

Copyright (c) 1982, 2012, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Trace file: /disk1/oracle/log/diag/rdbms/orcla/orcla/trace/orcla_ora_917.trc

Sort options: default

********************************************************************************
count = number of times OCI procedure was executed
cpu = cpu time in seconds executing
elapsed = elapsed time in seconds executing
disk = number of physical reads of buffers from disk
query = number of buffers gotten for consistent read
current = number of buffers gotten in current mode (usually for update)
rows = number of rows processed by the fetch or execute call
********************************************************************************

Example 18-7 TKPROF Body

This example shows a sample body for a TKPROF report.
call count cpu elapsed disk query current rows
------- ------ -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Parse 1 0.01 0.00 0 0 0 0
Execute 1 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0
Fetch 0 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0
------- ------ -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
total 2 0.01 0.00 0 0 0 0

Misses in library cache during parse: 1

Optimizer mode: FIRST_ROWS
Parsing user id: 44

Elapsed times include waiting on following events:

Event waited on Times Max. Wait Total Waited
---------------------------------------- Waited ---------- ------------
SQL*Net message to client 1 0.00 0.00
SQL*Net message from client 1 28.59 28.59
********************************************************************************

select condition
from
cdef$ where rowid=:1

call count cpu elapsed disk query current rows

------- ------ -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Parse 1 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0
Execute 1 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0
Fetch 1 0.00 0.00 0 2 0 1
------- ------ -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
total 3 0.00 0.00 0 2 0 1

Misses in library cache during parse: 1

Optimizer mode: CHOOSE

Performing Application Tracing 18-27

Application Tracing Utilities

Parsing user id: SYS (recursive depth: 1)

Rows Row Source Operation

------- ---------------------------------------------------
1 TABLE ACCESS BY USER ROWID OBJ#(31) (cr=1 r=0 w=0 time=151 us)

********************************************************************************

SELECT last_name, job_id, salary

FROM employees
WHERE salary =
(SELECT max(salary) FROM employees)

call count cpu elapsed disk query current rows

------- ------ -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Parse 1 0.02 0.01 0 0 0 0
Execute 1 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0
Fetch 2 0.00 0.00 0 15 0 1
------- ------ -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
total 4 0.02 0.01 0 15 0 1

Misses in library cache during parse: 1

Optimizer mode: FIRST_ROWS
Parsing user id: 44

Rows Row Source Operation

------- ---------------------------------------------------
1 TABLE ACCESS FULL EMPLOYEES (cr=15 r=0 w=0 time=1743 us)
1 SORT AGGREGATE (cr=7 r=0 w=0 time=777 us)
107 TABLE ACCESS FULL EMPLOYEES (cr=7 r=0 w=0 time=655 us)

Elapsed times include waiting on following events:

Event waited on Times Max. Wait Total Waited
---------------------------------------- Waited ---------- ------------
SQL*Net message to client 2 0.00 0.00
SQL*Net message from client 2 9.62 9.62
********************************************************************************

********************************************************************************
delete
from stats$sqltext st
where (hash_value, text_subset) not in
(select --+ hash_aj
hash_value, text_subset
from stats$sql_summary ss
where ( ( snap_id < :lo_snap
or snap_id > :hi_snap
)
and dbid = :dbid
and instance_number = :inst_num
)
or ( dbid != :dbid
or instance_number != :inst_num)
)

call count cpu elapsed disk query current rows

------- ------ -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Parse 1 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0
Execute 1 29.60 60.68 266984 43776 131172 28144
Fetch 0 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0
------- ------ -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------

18-28 SQL Tuning Guide

 Application Tracing Utilities

total 2 29.60 60.68 266984 43776 131172 28144

Misses in library cache during parse: 1

Misses in library cache during execute: 1
Optimizer mode: CHOOSE
Parsing user id: 22

Rows Row Source Operation

------- ---------------------------------------------------
0 DELETE (cr=43141 r=266947 w=25854 time=60235565 us)
28144 HASH JOIN ANTI (cr=43057 r=262332 w=25854 time=48830056 us)
51427 TABLE ACCESS FULL STATS$SQLTEXT (cr=3465 r=3463 w=0 time=865083 us)
647529 INDEX FAST FULL SCAN STATS$SQL_SUMMARY_PK
(cr=39592 r=39325 w=0 time=10522877 us) (object id 7409)

Elapsed times include waiting on following events:

Event waited on Times Max. Wait Total Waited
---------------------------------------- Waited ---------- ------------
db file sequential read 8084 0.12 5.34
direct path write 834 0.00 0.00
direct path write temp 834 0.00 0.05
db file parallel read 8 1.53 5.51
db file scattered read 4180 0.07 1.45
direct path read 7082 0.00 0.05
direct path read temp 7082 0.00 0.44
rdbms ipc reply 20 0.00 0.01
SQL*Net message to client 1 0.00 0.00
SQL*Net message from client 1 0.00 0.00
********************************************************************************

Example 18-8 TKPROF Summary

This example that shows a summary for the TKPROF report.
OVERALL TOTALS FOR ALL NON-RECURSIVE STATEMENTS

call count cpu elapsed disk query current rows

------- ------ -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Parse 4 0.04 0.01 0 0 0 0
Execute 5 0.00 0.04 0 0 0 0
Fetch 2 0.00 0.00 0 15 0 1
------- ------ -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
total 11 0.04 0.06 0 15 0 1

Misses in library cache during parse: 4

Misses in library cache during execute: 1
Elapsed times include waiting on following events:
Event waited on Times Max. Wait Total Waited
---------------------------------------- Waited ---------- ------------
SQL*Net message to client 6 0.00 0.00
SQL*Net message from client 5 77.77 128.88

OVERALL TOTALS FOR ALL RECURSIVE STATEMENTS

call count cpu elapsed disk query current rows

------- ------ -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Parse 1 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0
Execute 1 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0
Fetch 1 0.00 0.00 0 2 0 1
------- ------ -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
total 3 0.00 0.00 0 2 0 1

Performing Application Tracing 18-29

Views for Application Tracing

Misses in library cache during parse: 1

5 user SQL statements in session.
1 internal SQL statements in session.
6 SQL statements in session.
********************************************************************************
Trace file: main_ora_27621.trc
Trace file compatibility: 9.00.01
Sort options: default
1 session in tracefile.
5 user SQL statements in trace file.
1 internal SQL statements in trace file.
6 SQL statements in trace file.
6 unique SQL statements in trace file.
76 lines in trace file.
128 elapsed seconds in trace file.

Views for Application Tracing

This section includes the following topics:

• Views Relevant for Trace Statistics

• Views Related to Enabling Tracing

Views Relevant for Trace Statistics

You can display the statistics that have been gathered with the following V$ views:

• The DBA_ENABLED_AGGREGATIONS view displays the accumulated global

statistics for the currently enabled statistics.

• The V$CLIENT_STATS view displays the accumulated statistics for a specified

client identifier.

• The V$SERVICE_STATS view displays accumulated statistics for a specified

service.

• The V$SERV_MOD_ACT_STATS view displays accumulated statistics for a

combination of specified service, module, and action.

• The V$SERVICEMETRIC view displays accumulated statistics for elapsed time of

database calls and for CPU use.

Views Related to Enabling Tracing

A Cloud Control report or the DBA_ENABLED_TRACES view can display outstanding
traces. In the DBA_ENABLED_TRACES view, you can determine detailed information
about how a trace was enabled, including the trace type. The trace type specifies
whether the trace is enabled for client identifier, session, service, database, or a
combination of service, module, and action.

18-30 SQL Tuning Guide

 Part VIII
Automatic SQL Tuning

This part contains the following chapters:

• Managing SQL Tuning Sets

• Analyzing SQL with SQL Tuning Advisor

• Optimizing Access Paths with SQL Access Advisor

 19
Managing SQL Tuning Sets

This chapter contains the following topics:

• About SQL Tuning Sets

• Creating a SQL Tuning Set

• Loading a SQL Tuning Set

• Displaying the Contents of a SQL Tuning Set

• Modifying a SQL Tuning Set

• Transporting a SQL Tuning Set

• Dropping a SQL Tuning Set

About SQL Tuning Sets

A SQL tuning set (STS) is a database object that includes:

• A set of SQL statements

• Associated execution context, such as user schema, application module name and
action, list of bind values, and the environment for SQL compilation of the cursor

• Associated basic execution statistics, such as elapsed time, CPU time, buffer gets,
disk reads, rows processed, cursor fetches, the number of executions, the number of
complete executions, optimizer cost, and the command type

• Associated execution plans and row source statistics for each SQL statement
(optional)
The database stores SQL tuning sets in a database-provided schema.
This section contains the following topics:

• Purpose of SQL Tuning Sets

• Concepts for SQL Tuning Sets

• User Interfaces for SQL Tuning Sets

• Basic Tasks for SQL Tuning Sets

Managing SQL Tuning Sets 19-1

About SQL Tuning Sets

Note:

Data visibility and privilege requirements may differ when using an STS with
pluggable databases. See Oracle Database Administrator's Guide for a table that
summarizes how manageability features work in a container database (CDB).

Purpose of SQL Tuning Sets

An STS enables you to group SQL statements and related metadata in a single
database object, which you can use to meet your tuning goals. Specifically, SQL tuning
sets achieve the following goals:

• Providing input to the performance tuning advisors

You can use an STS as input to multiple database advisors, including SQL Tuning
Advisor, SQL Access Advisor, and SQL Performance Analyzer.

• Transporting SQL between databases

You can export SQL tuning sets from one database to another, enabling transfer of
SQL workloads between databases for remote performance diagnostics and tuning.
When suboptimally performing SQL statements occur on a production database,
developers may not want to investigate and tune directly on the production
database. The DBA can transport the problematic SQL statements to a test database
where the developers can safely analyze and tune them.

Concepts for SQL Tuning Sets

To create an STS, you must load SQL statements into an STS from a source. As shown
in Figure 19-1, the source can be Automatic Workload Repository (AWR), the shared
SQL area, customized SQL provided by the user, trace files, or another STS.

19-2 SQL Tuning Guide

 About SQL Tuning Sets

Figure 19-1 SQL Tuning Sets

SQL Tuning
Advisor

Custom
SQL
SQL Access
Advisor

AWR

Shared SQL
Area Filter

SQL Trace SQL Performance

Files Analyzer

STS

Transport

SQL tuning sets can do the following:

• Filter SQL statements using the application module name and action, or any
execution statistics

• Rank SQL statements based on any combination of execution statistics

• Serve as input to the advisors or transport it to a different database

See Also:
Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide to learn about AWR

Managing SQL Tuning Sets 19-3

About SQL Tuning Sets

User Interfaces for SQL Tuning Sets

You can use either Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control (Cloud Control) or the
DBMS_SQLTUNE package to manage SQL tuning sets. Oracle recommends that you use
Cloud Control.

Accessing the SQL Tuning Sets Page in Cloud Control

The SQL Tuning Sets page in Cloud Control is the starting page from which you can
perform most operations relating to SQL tuning sets.

To access the SQL Tuning Sets page:

1. Access the Database Home page, as described in “Accessing the Database Home
Page in Cloud Control.”

2. From the Performance menu, select SQL, then SQL Tuning Sets.
The SQL Tuning Sets page appears, as shown in Figure 19-2.

Figure 19-2 SQL Tuning Sets

See Also:

Oracle Database 2 Day + Performance Tuning Guide

Command-Line Interface to SQL Tuning Sets

On the command line, you can use the DBMS_SQLTUNE package to manage SQL
tuning sets. You must have the ADMINISTER SQL TUNING SET system privilege to
manage SQL tuning sets that you own, or the ADMINISTER ANY SQL TUNING SET
system privilege to manage any SQL tuning sets.

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about
DBMS_SQLTUNE

19-4 SQL Tuning Guide

 About SQL Tuning Sets

Basic Tasks for SQL Tuning Sets

This section explains the basic tasks involved in managing SQL tuning sets. Figure
19-3 shows the basic workflow for creating, using, and deleting an STS.

Figure 19-3 SQL Tuning Sets APIs

Create STS
CREATE_SQLSET

Populate STS
LOAD_SQLSET with SQL

DELETE_SQLSET Modify STS Display

Contents Contents
UPDATE SQLSET of STS

Create a Tuning Task SELECT_SQLSET

CREATE_STGTAB_SQLSET

Optionally, transport
PACK_STGTAB_SQLSET STS to different
database

Transport STS

UNPACK_STGTAB_SQLSET

Drop STS
DROP_SQLSET

Typically, you perform STS operations in the following sequence:

1. Create a new STS.

“Creating a SQL Tuning Set” describes this task.

2. Load the STS with SQL statements and associated metadata.

“Loading a SQL Tuning Set” describes this task.

3. Optionally, display the contents of the STS.

“Displaying the Contents of a SQL Tuning Set” describes this task.

4. Optionally, update or delete the contents of the STS.

“Modifying a SQL Tuning Set” describes this task.

5. Create a tuning task with the STS as input.

6. Optionally, transport the STS to another database.

“Transporting a SQL Tuning Set” describes this task.

7. Drop the STS when finished.

Managing SQL Tuning Sets 19-5

Creating a SQL Tuning Set

“Dropping a SQL Tuning Set” describes this task.

Creating a SQL Tuning Set

Execute the DBMS_SQLTUNE.CREATE_SQLSET procedure to create an empty STS in
the database. Using the function instead of the procedure causes the database to
generate a name for the STS.
Table 19-1 describes some procedure parameters. See Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages
and Types Reference for complete reference information.

Table 19-1 DBMS_SQLTUNE.CREATE_SQLSET Parameters

Parameter Description

sqlset_name Name of the STS

description Optional description of the STS

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes that you want to create an STS named SQLT_WKLD_STS.

To create an STS:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then run
the DBMS_SQLTUNE.CREATE_SQLSET procedure.
For example, execute the following PL/SQL program:
BEGIN
DBMS_SQLTUNE.CREATE_SQLSET (
sqlset_name => 'SQLT_WKLD_STS'
, description => 'STS to store SQL from the private SQL area'
);
END;

2. Optionally, confirm that the STS was created.

The following example queries the status of all SQL tuning sets owned by the
current user:
COLUMN NAME FORMAT a20
COLUMN COUNT FORMAT 99999
COLUMN DESCRIPTION FORMAT a30

SELECT NAME, STATEMENT_COUNT AS "SQLCNT", DESCRIPTION

FROM USER_SQLSET;

Sample output appears below:

NAME SQLCNT DESCRIPTION
-------------------- ------ ------------------------------
SQLT_WKLD_STS 2 SQL Cache

Loading a SQL Tuning Set

To load an STS with SQL statements, execute the DBMS_SQLTUNE.LOAD_SQLSET
procedure. The standard sources for populating an STS are AWR, another STS, or the

19-6 SQL Tuning Guide

 Loading a SQL Tuning Set

shared SQL area. For both the workload repository and SQL tuning sets, predefined
table functions can select columns from the source to populate a new STS.
Table 19-2 describes some DBMS_SQLTUNE.LOAD_SQLSET procedure parameters. See
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for complete reference
information.

Table 19-2 DBMS_SQLTUNE.LOAD_SQLSET Parameters

Parameter Description

populate_cursor Specifies the cursor reference from which to populate the STS.

load_option Specifies how the statements are loaded into the STS. The
possible values are INSERT (default), UPDATE, and MERGE.

The DBMS_SQLTUNE.SELECT_CURSOR_CACHE function collects SQL statements from

the shared SQL area according to the specified filter. This function returns one
SQLSET_ROW per SQL ID or PLAN_HASH_VALUE pair found in each data source.
Use the CAPTURE_CURSOR_CACHE_SQLSET function to repeatedly poll the shared
SQL area over a specified interval. This function is more efficient than repeatedly
calling the SELECT_CURSOR_CACHE and LOAD_SQLSET procedures. This function
effectively captures the entire workload, as opposed to the AWR, which only captures
the workload of high-load SQL statements, or the LOAD_SQLSET procedure, which
accesses the data source only once.

Prerequisites
This tutorial has the following prerequisites:

• Filters provided to the SELECT_CURSOR_CACHE function are evaluated as part of

SQL statements run by the current user. As such, they are executed with that user's
security privileges and can contain any constructs and subqueries that user can
access, but no more.

• The current user must have privileges on the shared SQL area views.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes that you want to load the SQL tuning set named
SQLT_WKLD_STS with statements from the shared SQL area.

To load an STS:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database as a user with the appropriate privileges.

2. Run the DBMS_SQLTUNE.LOAD_SQLSET procedure.

For example, execute the following PL/SQL program to populate a SQL tuning
set with all cursor cache statements that belong to the sh schema:
DECLARE
c_sqlarea_cursor DBMS_SQLTUNE.SQLSET_CURSOR;
BEGIN
OPEN c_sqlarea_cursor FOR
SELECT VALUE(p)
FROM TABLE(
DBMS_SQLTUNE.SELECT_CURSOR_CACHE(

Managing SQL Tuning Sets 19-7

Displaying the Contents of a SQL Tuning Set

' module = ''SQLT_WKLD'' AND parsing_schema_name = ''SH'' ')

) p;
-- load the tuning set
DBMS_SQLTUNE.LOAD_SQLSET (
sqlset_name => 'SQLT_WKLD_STS'
, populate_cursor => c_sqlarea_cursor
);
END;
/

Displaying the Contents of a SQL Tuning Set

After an STS has been created and populated, execute the
DBMS_SQLTUNE.SELECT_SQLSET function to read the contents of the STS, optionally
using filtering criteria.
You select the output of SELECT_SQLSET using a PL/SQL pipelined table function,
which accepts a collection of rows as input. You invoke the table function as the
operand of the table operator in the FROM list of a SELECT statement.
Table 19-3 describes some SELECT_SQLSET function parameters. See Oracle Database
PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for complete reference information.

Table 19-3 DBMS_SQLTUNE.SELECT_SQLSET Parameters

Parameter Description

basic_filter The SQL predicate to filter the SQL from the STS defined on
attributes of the SQLSET_ROW

object_filter Specifies the objects that exist in the object list of selected SQL from
the shared SQL area

Table 19-4 describes some attributes of the SQLSET_ROW object. These attributes
appears as columns when you query TABLE(DBMS_SQLTUNE.SELECT_SQLSET()).

Table 19-4 SQLSET_ROW Attributes

Parameter Description

parsing_schema_name Schema in which the SQL is parsed

elapsed_time Sum of the total number of seconds elapsed for this SQL
statement

buffer_gets Total number of buffer gets (number of times the database

accessed a block) for this SQL statement

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes that you want to display the contents of an STS named
SQLT_WKLD_STS.

To display the contents of an STS:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then query
the STS contents using the TABLE function.

19-8 SQL Tuning Guide

 Displaying the Contents of a SQL Tuning Set

For example, execute the following query:

COLUMN SQL_TEXT FORMAT a30
COLUMN SCH FORMAT a3
COLUMN ELAPSED FORMAT 999999999

SELECT SQL_ID, PARSING_SCHEMA_NAME AS "SCH", SQL_TEXT,

ELAPSED_TIME AS "ELAPSED", BUFFER_GETS
FROM TABLE( DBMS_SQLTUNE.SELECT_SQLSET( 'SQLT_WKLD_STS' ) );

Sample output appears below:

SQL_ID SCH SQL_TEXT ELAPSED BUFFER_GETS
------------- --- ------------------------------ ---------- -----------
79f8shn041a1f SH select * from sales where quan 8373148 24016
tity_sold < 5 union select * f
rom sales where quantity_sold
> 500

2cqsw036j5u7r SH select promo_name, count(*) c 3557373 309

from promotions p, sales s whe
re s.promo_id = p.promo_id and
p.promo_category = 'internet'
group by p.promo_name order b
y c desc

fudq5z56g642p SH select sum(quantity_sold) from 4787891 12118

sales s, products p where s.p
rod_id = p.prod_id and s.amoun
t_sold > 20000 and p.prod_name
= 'Linen Big Shirt'

bzmnj0nbvmz8t SH select * from sales where amou 442355 15281

nt_sold = 4

2. Optionally, filter the results based on user-specific criteria.

The following example displays statements with a disk reads to buffer gets ratio
greater than or equal to 50%:
COLUMN SQL_TEXT FORMAT a30
COLUMN SCH FORMAT a3
COLUMN BUF_GETS FORMAT 99999999
COLUMN DISK_READS FORMAT 99999999
COLUMN %_DISK FORMAT 9999.99
SELECT sql_id, parsing_schema_name as "SCH", sql_text,
buffer_gets as "B_GETS",
disk_reads, ROUND(disk_reads/buffer_gets*100,2) "%_DISK"
FROM TABLE( DBMS_SQLTUNE.SELECT_SQLSET(
'SQLT_WKLD_STS',
'(disk_reads/buffer_gets) >= 0.50' ) );

Sample output appears below:

SQL_ID SCH SQL_TEXT B_GETS DISK_READS %_DISK
------------- --- ------------------------------ ------ ---------- -------
79f8shn041a1f SH select * from sales where quan 24016 17287 71.98
tity_sold < 5 union select * f
rom sales where quantity_sold
> 500

fudq5z56g642p SH select sum(quantity_sold) from 12118 6355 52.44

Managing SQL Tuning Sets 19-9

Modifying a SQL Tuning Set

sales s, products p where s.p

rod_id = p.prod_id and s.amoun
t_sold > 20000 and p.prod_name
= 'Linen Big Shirt'

Modifying a SQL Tuning Set

Use the DBMS_SQLTUNE.DELETE_SQLSET procedure to delete SQL statements from
an STS. You can use the UPDATE_SQLSET procedure to update the attributes of SQL
statements (such as PRIORITY or OTHER) in an existing STS identified by STS name
and SQL ID. See Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for more
information.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes that you want to modify SQLT_WKLD_STS as follows:

• You want to delete all SQL statements with fetch counts over 100.

• You want to change the priority of the SQL statement with ID fudq5z56g642p to
1. You can use priority as a ranking criteria when running SQL Tuning Advisor.

To modify the contents of an STS:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then
optionally query the STS contents using the TABLE function.
For example, execute the following query:
SELECT SQL_ID, ELAPSED_TIME, FETCHES, EXECUTIONS
FROM TABLE(DBMS_SQLTUNE.SELECT_SQLSET('SQLT_WKLD_STS'));

Sample output appears below:

SQL_ID ELAPSED_TIME FETCHES EXECUTIONS
------------- ------------ ---------- ----------
2cqsw036j5u7r 3407459 2 1
79f8shn041a1f 9453965 61258 1
bzmnj0nbvmz8t 401869 1 1
fudq5z56g642p 5300264 1 1

2. Delete SQL statements based on user-specified criteria.

Use the basic_filter predicate to filter the SQL from the STS defined on
attributes of the SQLSET_ROW. The following example deletes all statements in the
STS with fetch counts over 100:
BEGIN
DBMS_SQLTUNE.DELETE_SQLSET (
sqlset_name => 'SQLT_WKLD_STS'
, basic_filter => 'fetches > 100'
);
END;
/

3. Set attribute values for SQL statements.

The following example sets the priority of statement 2cqsw036j5u7r to 1:
BEGIN
DBMS_SQLTUNE.UPDATE_SQLSET (

19-10 SQL Tuning Guide

 Transporting a SQL Tuning Set

sqlset_name => 'SQLT_WKLD_STS'

, sql_id => '2cqsw036j5u7r'
, attribute_name => 'PRIORITY'
, attribute_value => 1
);
END;
/

4. Optionally, query the STS to confirm that the intended modifications were made.
For example, execute the following query:
SELECT SQL_ID, ELAPSED_TIME, FETCHES, EXECUTIONS, PRIORITY
FROM TABLE(DBMS_SQLTUNE.SELECT_SQLSET('SQLT_WKLD_STS'));

Sample output appears below:

SQL_ID ELAPSED_TIME FETCHES EXECUTIONS PRIORITY
------------- ------------ ---------- ---------- ----------
2cqsw036j5u7r 3407459 2 1 1
bzmnj0nbvmz8t 401869 1 1
fudq5z56g642p 5300264 1 1

Transporting a SQL Tuning Set

You can transport an STS to any database created in Oracle Database 10g Release 2
(10.2) or later. This technique is useful when using SQL Performance Analyzer to tune
regressions on a test database.

About Transporting SQL Tuning Sets

When you transport SQL tuning sets between databases, use DBMS_SQLTUNE to copy
the SQL tuning sets to and from a staging table, and use other tools (such as Oracle
Data Pump or a database link) to move the staging table to the destination database.

Basic Steps for Transporting SQL Tuning Sets

Figure 19-4 shows the process using Oracle Data Pump and ftp.

Figure 19-4 Transporting SQL Tuning Sets

Production Test
Database Database

System-Supplied Schema System-Supplied Schema

PACK_STGTAB_SQLSET UNPACK_STGTAB_SQLSET

Staging Table Staging Table

Data Pump Data Pump

Export Import
.dmp .dmp
file Transport ftp, nfs file

As shown in Figure 19-4, the steps are as follows:

Managing SQL Tuning Sets 19-11

Transporting a SQL Tuning Set

1. In the production database, pack the STS into a staging table using
DBMS_SQLTUNE.PACK_STGTAB_SQLSET.

2. Export the STS from the staging table to a .dmp file using Oracle Data Pump.

3. Transfer the .dmp file from the production host to the test host using a transfer
tool such as ftp.

4. In the test database, import the STS from the .dmp file to a staging table using
Oracle Data Pump.

5. Unpack the STS from the staging table using

DBMS_SQLTUNE.UNPACK_STGTAB_SQLSET.

Basic Steps for Transporting SQL Tuning Sets from a Non-CDB to a CDB
When you transport an STS from a non-CDB to a CDB database, you must remap the
con_dbid of each SQL statement in the STS to a con_dbid within the destination
CDB. The basic steps are as follows:

1. Pack the STS into a staging table using DBMS_SQLTUNE.PACK_STGTAB_SQLSET.

2. Remap each con_dbid in the staging table using

DBMS_SQLTUNE.REMAP_STGTAB_SQLSET.

3. Export the STS.

4. Unpack the STS in the destination CDB.

The following sample PL/SQL program remaps con_dbid 1234 to 5678:
BEGIN
DBMS_SQLTUNE.REMAP_STGTAB_SQLSET (
staging_table_name => 'non_cdb_sts1'
, staging_schema_owner => 'dba1'
, old_con_dbid => 1234
, new_con_dbid => 5678
);
END;

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about

REMAP_STGTAB_SQLSET

Transporting SQL Tuning Sets with DBMS_SQLTUNE

Table 19-5 describes the DBMS_SQLTUNE procedures relevant for transporting SQL
tuning sets. See Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for complete
reference information.

Table 19-5 DBMS_SQLTUNE Procedures for Transporting SQL Tuning Sets

Procedure Description

CREATE_STGTAB_SQLSET Create a staging table to hold the exported SQL tuning

sets

19-12 SQL Tuning Guide

 Transporting a SQL Tuning Set

Table 19-5 (Cont.) DBMS_SQLTUNE Procedures for Transporting SQL Tuning Sets

Procedure Description

PACK_STGTAB_SQLSET Populate a staging table with SQL tuning sets

UNPACK_STGTAB_SQLSET Copy the SQL tuning sets from the staging table into a
database

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• An STS with regressed SQL resides in a production database created in the current
release.

• You run SQL Performance Analyzer trials on a remote test database created in
Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2).

• You want to copy the STS from the production database to the test database and
tune the regressions from the SQL Performance Analyzer trials.

• You want to use Oracle Database Pump to transfer the SQL tuning sets between
database hosts.

To transport an STS:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the production database with administrator privileges.

2. Use the CREATE_STGTAB_SQLSET procedure to create a staging table to hold the

exported SQL tuning sets.
The following example creates my_11g_staging_table in the dba1 schema
and specifies the format of the staging table as 11.2:
BEGIN
DBMS_SQLTUNE.CREATE_STGTAB_SQLSET (
table_name => 'my_10g_staging_table'
, schema_name => 'dba1'
, db_version => DBMS_SQLTUNE.STS_STGTAB_11_2_VERSION
);
END;
/

3. Use the PACK_STGTAB_SQLSET procedure to populate the staging table with SQL
tuning sets.
The following example populates dba1.my_11g_staging_table with the STS
my_sts owned by hr:
BEGIN
DBMS_SQLTUNE.PACK_STGTAB_SQLSET (
sqlset_name => 'sqlt_wkld_sts'
, sqlset_owner => 'sh'
, staging_table_name => 'my_11g_staging_table'
, staging_schema_owner => 'dba1'
, db_version => DBMS_SQLTUNE.STS_STGTAB_11_2_VERSION
);

Managing SQL Tuning Sets 19-13

Dropping a SQL Tuning Set

END;
/

4. Use Oracle Data Pump to export the contents of the statistics table.
For example, run the expdp command at the operating system prompt:
expdp dba1 DIRECTORY=dpump_dir1 DUMPFILE=sts.dmp TABLES=my_11g_staging_table

5. Transfer the dump file to the test database host.

6. Log in to the test host as an administrator, and then use Oracle Data Pump to
import the contents of the statistics table.
For example, run the impdp command at the operating system prompt:
impdp dba1 DIRECTORY=dpump_dir1 DUMPFILE=sts.dmp TABLES=my_11g_staging_table

7. On the test database, execute the UNPACK_STGTAB_SQLSET procedure to copy

the SQL tuning sets from the staging table into the database.
The following example shows how to unpack the SQL tuning sets:
BEGIN
DBMS_SQLTUNE.UNPACK_STGTAB_SQLSET (
sqlset_name => '%'
, replace => true
, staging_table_name => 'my_11g_staging_table');
END;
/

Dropping a SQL Tuning Set

Execute the DBMS_SQLTUNE.DROP_SQLSET procedure to drop an STS from the
database.

Prerequisites
Ensure that no tuning task is currently using the STS to be dropped. If a tuning task
exists that is using this STS, then drop the task before dropping the STS. Otherwise,
the database issues an ORA-13757 error.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes that you want to drop an STS named SQLT_WKLD_STS.

To drop an STS:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then run
the DBMS_SQLTUNE.DROP_SQLSET procedure.
For example, execute the following PL/SQL program:
BEGIN
DBMS_SQLTUNE.DROP_SQLSET( sqlset_name => 'SQLT_WKLD_STS' );
END;
/

2. Optionally, confirm that the STS was deleted.

The following example counts the number of SQL tuning sets named
SQLT_WKLD_STS owned by the current user (sample output included):

19-14 SQL Tuning Guide

 Dropping a SQL Tuning Set

SELECT COUNT(*)
FROM USER_SQLSET
WHERE NAME = 'SQLT_WKLD_STS';

COUNT(*)
----------
0

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the STS
procedures in DBMS_SQLTUNE

Managing SQL Tuning Sets 19-15

Dropping a SQL Tuning Set

19-16 SQL Tuning Guide

 20
Analyzing SQL with SQL Tuning Advisor

This chapter explains the concepts and tasks relating to SQL Tuning Advisor.
This chapter contains the following topics:

• About SQL Tuning Advisor

• Managing the Automatic SQL Tuning Task

• Running SQL Tuning Advisor On Demand

About SQL Tuning Advisor

SQL Tuning Advisor is SQL diagnostic software in the Oracle Database Tuning Pack.
You can submit one or more SQL statements as input to the advisor and receive advice
or recommendations for how to tune the statements, along with a rationale and
expected benefit.
This section contains the following topics:

• Purpose of SQL Tuning Advisor

• SQL Tuning Advisor Architecture

• Automatic Tuning Optimizer Concepts

Purpose of SQL Tuning Advisor

SQL Tuning Advisor is a mechanism for resolving problems related to suboptimally
performing SQL statements. Use SQL Tuning Advisor to obtain recommendations for
improving performance of high-load SQL statements, and prevent regressions by only
executing optimal plans.
Tuning recommendations include:

• Collection of object statistics

• Creation of indexes

• Rewriting SQL statements

• Creation of SQL profiles

• Creation of SQL plan baselines

The recommendations generated by SQL Tuning Advisor help you achieve the
following specific goals:

• Avoid labor-intensive manual tuning

Analyzing SQL with SQL Tuning Advisor 20-1

About SQL Tuning Advisor

Identifying and tuning high-load SQL statements is challenging even for an expert.
SQL Tuning Advisor uses the optimizer to tune SQL for you.

• Generate recommendations and implement SQL profiles automatically

You can configure an Automatic SQL Tuning task to run nightly in maintenance
windows. When invoked in this way, the advisor can generate recommendations
and also implement SQL profiles automatically.

• Analyze database-generated statistics to achieve optimal plans

The database contains a vast amount of statistics about its own operations. SQL
Tuning Advisor can perform deep mining and analysis of internal information to
improve execution plans.

• Enable developers to tune SQL on a test system instead of the production system
When suboptimally performing SQL statements occur on a production database,
developers may not want to investigate and tune directly on the production
database. The DBA can transport the problematic SQL statements to a test database
where the developers can safely analyze and tune them.
When tuning multiple statements, SQL Tuning Advisor does not recognize
interdependencies between the statements. Instead, SQL Tuning Advisor offers a
convenient way to get tuning recommendations for many statements.

Note:

Data visibility and privilege requirements may differ when using SQL Tuning
Advisor with pluggable databases. The advisor can tune a query in the current
pluggable database (PDB), and in other PDBs in which this query has been
executed. In this way, a container database (CDB) administrator can tune the
same query in many PDBs at the same time, whereas a PDB administrator can
only tune a single PDB.

See Also:

• “Managing SQL Plan Baselines ” to learn about SQL plan management

• Oracle Database Administrator’s Guide for a table that summarizes how

manageability features work in a CDB

SQL Tuning Advisor Architecture

Automatic Tuning Optimizer is the central tool used by SQL Tuning Advisor. The
advisor can receive SQL statements as input from the sources shown in Figure 20-1,
analyze these statements using the optimizer, and then make recommendations.
Invoking Automatic Tuning Optimizer for every hard parse consumes significant time
and resources (see “SQL Parsing”). Tuning mode is meant for complex and high-load
SQL statements that significantly affect database performance.
Figure 20-1 shows the basic architecture of SQL Tuning Advisor.

20-2 SQL Tuning Guide

 About SQL Tuning Advisor

Figure 20-1 SQL Tuning Advisor Architecture

Optimizer

ADDM Automatic
Tuning
Optimizer

AWR

SQL Tuning
Advisor
Shared Pool

Library Cache Recommendations

Inplementation
Shared SQL Area of SQL Profiles
(Automatic Only)
SELECT * FROM
employees

SQL AUTOTASK
Tuning
Set

Invocation of SQL Tuning Advisor

SQL Tuning Advisor is invoked in either of the following ways:

• Automatically
You can configure SQL Tuning Advisor to run during nightly system maintenance
windows. When run by AUTOTASK, the advisor is known as Automatic SQL
Tuning Advisor and performs automatic SQL tuning. See “Managing the
Automatic SQL Tuning Task”.

• On-Demand
In on-demand SQL tuning, you manually invoke SQL Tuning Advisor to diagnose
and fix SQL-related performance problems after they have been discovered. Oracle
Enterprise Manager Cloud Control (Cloud Control) is the preferred interface for
tuning SQL on demand, but you can also use the DBMS_SQLTUNE PL/SQL
package. See “Running SQL Tuning Advisor On Demand”.
SQL Tuning Advisor uses Automatic Tuning Optimizer to perform its analysis. This
optimization is "automatic" because the optimizer analyzes the SQL instead of the
user. Do not confuse Automatic Tuning Optimizer with automatic SQL tuning, which
in this document refers only to the work performed by the Automatic SQL Tuning
task.

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about
DBMS_SQLTUNE

Analyzing SQL with SQL Tuning Advisor 20-3

About SQL Tuning Advisor

Input to SQL Tuning Advisor

Input for SQL Tuning Advisor can come from several sources, including the following:

• Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor (ADDM)

The primary input source is ADDM (pronounced Adam). By default, ADDM runs
proactively once every hour and analyzes key statistics gathered by Automatic
Workload Repository (AWR) over the last hour to identify any performance
problems including high-load SQL statements. If a high-load SQL is identified,
then ADDM recommends running SQL Tuning Advisor on the SQL. See Oracle
Database Performance Tuning Guide to learn about ADDM.

• AWR
AWR takes regular snapshots of system activity, including high-load SQL
statements ranked by relevant statistics, such as CPU consumption and wait time.
You can view the AWR and manually identify high-load SQL statements. You can
run SQL Tuning Advisor on these statements, although Oracle Database
automatically performs this work as part of automatic SQL tuning. By default,
AWR retains data for the last eight days. You can locate and tune any high-load
SQL that ran within the retention period of AWR using this technique. See Oracle
Database Performance Tuning Guide to learn about AWR.

• Shared SQL area

The database uses the shared SQL area to tune recent SQL statements that have yet
to be captured in AWR. The shared SQL area and AWR provide the capability to
identify and tune high-load SQL statements from the current time going as far back
as the AWR retention allows, which by default is at least 8 days. See Oracle Database
Concepts to learn about the shared SQL area.

• SQL tuning set

A SQL tuning set (STS) is a database object that stores SQL statements along with
their execution context. An STS can include SQL statements that are yet to be
deployed, with the goal of measuring their individual performance, or identifying
the ones whose performance falls short of expectation. When a set of SQL
statements serve as input, the database must first construct and use an STS. See
“About SQL Tuning Sets”.

Output of SQL Tuning Advisor

After analyzing the SQL statements, SQL Tuning Advisor produces the following
types of output:

• Advice on optimizing the execution plan

• Rationale for the proposed optimization

• Estimated performance benefit

• SQL statement to implement the advice

The benefit percentage shown for each recommendation is calculated using the
following formula:
abnf% = (time_old - time_new)/(time_old)

20-4 SQL Tuning Guide

 About SQL Tuning Advisor

For example, assume that before tuning the execution time was 100 seconds, and after
implementing the recommendation the new execution time is expected to be 33
seconds. This benefit calculation for this performance improvement is as follows:
67% = (100 - 33)/(100)

You choose whether to accept the recommendations to optimize the SQL statements.
Depending on how it is configured, Automatic SQL Tuning Advisor can implement
the SQL profile recommendations to tune the statement without user intervention.
When invoked on demand, SQL Tuning Advisor can recommend that the user
implement a SQL profile, but can never implement it automatically.

Automatic Tuning Optimizer Concepts

In tuning mode, the optimizer has more time to consider options and gather statistics.
For example, Automatic Tuning Optimizer can use dynamic statistics and partial
statement execution. The following graphic depicts the different types of analysis that
Automatic Tuning Optimizer performs.

Optimizer

Automatic Tuning
Optimizer
Normal Mode
Tuning Mode

SQL Tuning
Advisor

Statistical Access Path SQL Structure

Analysis Analysis Analysis

Alternative Plan SQL

Analysis Profiling

This section contains the following topics:

• Statistical Analysis

• SQL Profiling

• Access Path Analysis

• SQL Structural Analysis

• Alternative Plan Analysis

Analyzing SQL with SQL Tuning Advisor 20-5

About SQL Tuning Advisor

See Also:

Query Optimizer Concepts

Statistical Analysis
The optimizer relies on object statistics to generate execution plans. If these statistics
are stale or missing, then the optimizer can generate suboptimal plans. Automatic
Tuning Optimizer checks each query object for missing or stale statistics, and
recommends gathering fresh statistics if needed. Figure 20-2 depicts the process of
statistical analysis.

Figure 20-2 Statistical Analysis by Automatic Tuning Optimizer

SELECT . . .

SQL Tuning
Advisor
Optimizer

Automatic Tuning
Optimizer

Customers Customers
Table Table

Stale
Statistics Absent
Recommended collecting
object-level statistics Statistics

SQL Profiling
SQL profiling is the verification by the Automatic Tuning Optimizer of its own
estimates. By reviewing execution history and testing the SQL, the optimizer can
ensure that it has the most accurate information available to generate execution plans.
SQL profiling is related to but distinct from the steps of generating SQL Tuning
Advisor recommendations and implementing these recommendations.
The following graphic shows SQL Tuning Advisor recommending a SQL profile and
automatically implementing it. After the profile is created, the optimizer can use the
profile as additional input when generating execution plans.

20-6 SQL Tuning Guide

 About SQL Tuning Advisor

SQL Tuning
Advisor SQL
Profile
Optimizer
(Tuning Mode)
Submit Create

Use

Database
Users

Optimizer
No application GB Well-Tuned
(Normal Mode)
code change Output Plan
HJ
HJ

See Also:

“About SQL Profiles”

How SQL Profiling Works

The database can profile the following types of statement:

• DML statements (SELECT, INSERT with a SELECT clause, UPDATE, DELETE, and
the update or insert operations of MERGE)

• CREATE TABLE statements (only with the AS SELECT clause)

After SQL Tuning Advisor performs its analysis, it either recommends or does not
recommend implementing a SQL profile.
The following graphic shows the SQL profiling process.

Analyzing SQL with SQL Tuning Advisor 20-7

About SQL Tuning Advisor

SELECT . . .

SQL Tuning
Advisor
Optimizer

Automatic Tuning
Optimizer

SQL Profiling
* Reviews past execution history to
adjust settings
* Performs sampling or partial
execution

Recommendation
No Recommendation to Implement
SQL Profile

During SQL profiling, the optimizer verifies cost, selectivity, and cardinality for a
statement. The optimizer uses either of the following methods:

• Samples the data and applies appropriate predicates to the sample

The optimizer compares the new estimate to the regular estimate and, if the
difference is great enough, applies a correction factor.

• Executes a fragment of the SQL statement

This method is more efficient than the sampling method when the predicates
provide efficient access paths.
The optimizer uses the past statement execution history to determine correct settings.
For example, if the history indicates that a SQL statement is usually executed only
partially, then the optimizer uses FIRST_ROWS instead of ALL_ROWS optimization (see
“Choosing an Optimizer Goal”).

SQL Profile Implementation

If the optimizer generates auxiliary information during statistical analysis or SQL
profiling, then the optimizer recommends implementing a SQL profile. As shown in
Figure 20-3, the following options are possible:

• When SQL Tuning Advisor is run on demand, the user must choose whether to
implement the SQL profile.

• When the Automatic SQL Tuning task is configured to implement SQL profiles
automatically, advisor behavior depends on the setting of the
ACCEPT_SQL_PROFILE tuning task parameter (see “Configuring the Automatic
SQL Tuning Task Using the Command Line”):

– If set to true, then the advisor implements SQL profiles automatically.

– If set to false, then user intervention is required.

20-8 SQL Tuning Guide

 About SQL Tuning Advisor

– If set to AUTO (default), then the setting is true when at least one SQL
statement exists with a SQL profile, and false when this condition is not
satisfied.

Note:
The Automatic SQL Tuning task cannot automatically create SQL plan
baselines or add plans to them (see “Plan Evolution”).

Figure 20-3 Implementing SQL Profiles

User must
choose whether
SQL Tuning On Demand to implement
Advisor

Recommends
Implementing
SQL profile No Autoimplementation

Autotask
Implements
SQL profile
Autoimplementation

At any time during or after automatic SQL tuning, you can view a report. This report
describes in detail the SQL statements that were analyzed, the recommendations
generated, and any SQL profiles that were automatically implemented.

See Also:

“About SQL Profiles”

Access Path Analysis

An access path is the means by which the database retrieves data. For example, a
query using an index and a query using a full table scan use different access paths. In
some cases, indexes can greatly enhance the performance of a SQL statement by
eliminating full table scans.
The following graphic illustrates access path analysis.

Analyzing SQL with SQL Tuning Advisor 20-9

About SQL Tuning Advisor

SELECT . . .

SQL Tuning
Advisor
Optimizer

Automatic Tuning
Optimizer
Recommends

Workload
SQL Access
Advisor

Index
Creation

Comprehensive
Analysis

Automatic Tuning Optimizer explores whether a new index can significantly enhance
query performance and recommends either of the following:

• Creating an index
Index recommendations are specific to the SQL statement processed by SQL
Tuning Advisor. Sometimes a new index provides a quick solution to the
performance problem associated with a single SQL statement.

• Running SQL Access Advisor

Because the Automatic Tuning Optimizer does not analyze how its index
recommendation can affect the entire SQL workload, it also recommends running
SQL Access Advisor on the SQL statement along with a representative SQL
workload. SQL Access Advisor examines the effect of creating an index on the SQL
workload before making recommendations.

SQL Structural Analysis

During structural analysis, Automatic Tuning Optimizer tries to identify syntactic,
semantic, or design problems that can lead to suboptimal performance. The goal is to
identify poorly written SQL statements and to advise you how to restructure them.
Figure 20-4 illustrates structural analysis.

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 About SQL Tuning Advisor

Figure 20-4 Structural Analysis

SELECT . . . UNION

SQL Tuning
Advisor
Optimizer

Automatic Tuning
Optimizer

SQL Constructors (NOT IN, UNION)

Data Type Mismatches

Design Mistakes (No WHERE Clause)

Restructured

SELECT . . . UNION ALL

Some syntax variations negatively affect performance. In structural analysis, the

automatic tuning optimizer evaluates statements against a set of rules, identifies
inefficient coding techniques, and recommends an alternative statement if possible.
As shown in Figure 20-4, Automatic Tuning Optimizer identifies the following
categories of structural problems:

• Inefficient use of SQL constructors

A suboptimally performing statement may be using NOT IN instead of NOT
EXISTS, or UNION instead of UNION ALL. The UNION operator, as opposed to the
UNION ALL operator, uses a unique sort to ensure that no duplicate rows are in the
result set. If you know that two queries do not return duplicates, then use UNION
ALL.

• Data type mismatches

If the indexed column and the compared value have a data type mismatch, then the
database does not use the index because of the implicit data type conversion. Also,
the database must expend additional resources converting data types, and some
SQL statements may fail because data values do not convert correctly. Common
mistakes include columns that contain numeric data but are never used for
arithmetic operations: telephone numbers, credit card numbers, and check
numbers. To avoid poor cardinality estimates, suboptimal plans, and ORA-01722
errors, developers must ensure that bind variables are type VARCHAR2 and not
numbers.

• Design mistakes
A classic example of a design mistake is a missing join condition. If n is the number
of tables in a query block, then n-1 join conditions must exist to avoid a Cartesian
product.
In each case, Automatic Tuning Optimizer makes relevant suggestions to restructure
the statements. The suggested alternative statement is similar, but not equivalent, to

Analyzing SQL with SQL Tuning Advisor 20-11

About SQL Tuning Advisor

the original statement. For example, the suggested statement may use UNION ALL
instead of UNION. You can then determine if the advice is sound.

Alternative Plan Analysis

While tuning a SQL statement, SQL Tuning Advisor searches real-time and historical
performance data for alternative execution plans for the statement. If plans other than
the original plan exist, then SQL Tuning Advisor reports an alternative plan finding.
The follow graphic shows SQL Tuning Advisor finding two alternative plans and
generating an alternative plan finding.

Optimizer

Automatic Tuning
Optimizer

Real-Time
Performance Data

GB Origin:
Cursor
Cache SQL Tuning
HJ Advisor
HJ

Searches Produces
Alternative Plan Finding
AWR Performance Summary
Recommendations
GB Origin:
STS
HJ
HJ

SQL Tuning Advisor validates the alternative execution plans and notes any plans that
are not reproducible. When reproducible alternative plans are found, you can create a
SQL plan baseline to instruct the optimizer to choose these plans in the future.
Example 20-1 Alternative Plan Finding
The following example shows an alternative plan finding for a SELECT statement:
2- Alternative Plan Finding
---------------------------
Some alternative execution plans for this statement were found by searching
the system's real-time and historical performance data.

The following table lists these plans ranked by their average elapsed time.
See section "ALTERNATIVE PLANS SECTION" for detailed information on each
plan.

id plan hash last seen elapsed (s) origin note

-- ---------- -------------------- ------------ --------------- ----------------
1 1378942017 2009-02-05/23:12:08 0.000 Cursor Cache original plan
2 2842999589 2009-02-05/23:12:08 0.002 STS

Information

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 About SQL Tuning Advisor

-----------
- The Original Plan appears to have the best performance, based on the
elapsed time per execution. However, if you know that one alternative
plan is better than the Original Plan, you can create a SQL plan baseline
for it. This will instruct the Oracle optimizer to pick it over any other
choices in the future.
execute dbms_sqltune.create_sql_plan_baseline(task_name => 'TASK_XXXXX',
object_id => 2, task_owner => 'SYS', plan_hash => xxxxxxxx);

The preceding example shows that SQL Tuning Advisor found two plans, one in the
shared SQL area and one in a SQL tuning set. The plan in the shared SQL area is the
same as the original plan.
SQL Tuning Advisor only recommends an alternative plan if the elapsed time of the
original plan is worse than alternative plans. In this case, SQL Tuning Advisor
recommends that users create a SQL plan baseline on the plan with the best
performance. In Example 20-1, the alternative plan did not perform as well as the
original plan, so SQL Tuning Advisor did not recommend using the alternative plan.
Example 20-2 Alternative Plans Section
In this example, the alternative plans section of the SQL Tuning Advisor output
includes both the original and alternative plans and summarizes their performance.
The most important statistic is elapsed time. The original plan used an index, whereas
the alternative plan used a full table scan, increasing elapsed time by .002 seconds.
Plan 1
------

Plan Origin :Cursor Cache

Plan Hash Value :1378942017
Executions :50
Elapsed Time :0.000 sec
CPU Time :0.000 sec
Buffer Gets :0
Disk Reads :0
Disk Writes :0

Notes:
1. Statistics shown are averaged over multiple executions.
2. The plan matches the original plan.

--------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name |
--------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | |
| 1 | SORT AGGREGATE | |
| 2 | MERGE JOIN | |
| 3 | INDEX FULL SCAN | TEST1_INDEX |
| 4 | SORT JOIN | |
| 5 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| TEST |
--------------------------------------------

Plan 2
------

Plan Origin :STS

Plan Hash Value :2842999589
Executions :10
Elapsed Time :0.002 sec
CPU Time :0.002 sec

Analyzing SQL with SQL Tuning Advisor 20-13

Managing the Automatic SQL Tuning Task

Buffer Gets :3
Disk Reads :0
Disk Writes :0

Notes:
1. Statistics shown are averaged over multiple executions.

-------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name |
-------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | |
| 1 | SORT AGGREGATE | |
| 2 | HASH JOIN | |
| 3 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| TEST |
| 4 | TABLE ACCESS FULL| TEST1 |
-------------------------------------

To adopt an alternative plan regardless of whether SQL Tuning Advisor recommends

it, call DBMS_SQLTUNE.CREATE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINE. You can use this procedure
to create a SQL plan baseline on any existing reproducible plan.

See Also:

“Differences Between SQL Plan Baselines and SQL Profiles”

Managing the Automatic SQL Tuning Task

When your goal is to identify SQL performance problems proactively, configuring
SQL Tuning Advisor as an automated task is a simple solution. The task processes
selected high-load SQL statements from AWR that qualify as tuning candidates.
This section explains how to manage the Automatic SQL Tuning task. This section
contains the following topics:

• About the Automatic SQL Tuning Task

• Enabling and Disabling the Automatic SQL Tuning Task

• Configuring the Automatic SQL Tuning Task

• Viewing Automatic SQL Tuning Reports

See Also:
Oracle Database Administrator's Guide to learn more about automated
maintenance tasks

About the Automatic SQL Tuning Task

This section contains the following topics:

• Purpose of Automatic SQL Tuning

• Automatic SQL Tuning Concepts

• Command-Line Interface to SQL Tuning Advisor

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 Managing the Automatic SQL Tuning Task

• Basic Tasks for Automatic SQL Tuning

Purpose of Automatic SQL Tuning

Many DBAs do not have the time needed for the intensive analysis required for SQL
tuning. Even when they do, SQL tuning involves several manual steps. Because
several different SQL statements may be high load on any given day, DBAs may have
to expend considerable effort to monitor and tune them. Configuring automatic SQL
tuning instead of tuning manually decreases cost and increases manageability.
The automated task does not process the following types of SQL:

• Ad hoc SQL statements or SQL statements that do not repeat within a week

• Parallel queries

• Queries that take too long to run after being SQL profiled, so that it is not practical
for SQL Tuning Advisor to test-execute them

• Recursive SQL
You can run SQL Tuning Advisor on demand to tune the preceding types of SQL
statements.

Automatic SQL Tuning Concepts

Oracle Scheduler uses the automated maintenance tasks infrastructure (known as
AutoTask) to schedules tasks to run automatically. By default, the Automatic SQL
Tuning task runs for at most one hour in a nightly maintenance window. You can
customize attributes of the maintenance windows, including start and end time,
frequency, and days of the week.

See Also:

• Oracle Database Administrator's Guide to learn about Oracle Scheduler

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about

DBMS_AUTO_TASK_ADMIN

Command-Line Interface to SQL Tuning Advisor

On the command line, you can use PL/SQL packages to perform SQL tuning tasks.
Table 20-1 describes the most relevant packages.

Table 20-1 SQL Tuning Advisor Packages

Package Description
DBMS_AUTO_SQLTUNE Enables you run SQL Tuning Advisor, manage SQL
profiles, manage SQL tuning sets, and perform real-
time SQL performance monitoring. To use this API,
you must have the ADVISOR privilege.

DBMS_AUTO_TASK_ADMIN Provides an interface to AUTOTASK. You can use this

interface to enable and disable the Automatic SQL
Tuning task.

Analyzing SQL with SQL Tuning Advisor 20-15

Managing the Automatic SQL Tuning Task

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about

DBMS_SQLTUNE ad DBMS_AUTO_TASK_ADMIN

Basic Tasks for Automatic SQL Tuning

This section explains the basic tasks in running SQL Tuning Advisor as an automatic
task. Figure 20-5 shows the basic workflow.

Figure 20-5 Automatic SQL Tuning APIs

Enable the Automatic
DBMS_AUTO_TASK_ADMIN.ENABLE SQL Tuning Task

Configure the Automatic Report on the SQL

SQL Tuning Task Tuning Task

DBMS_SQLTUNE. DBMS_SQLTUNE.
SET_TUNING_TASK_PARAMETER REPORT_AUTO_TUNING_TASK

Disable the Automatic

DBMS_AUTO_TASK_ADMIN.DISABLE SQL Tuning Task

As shown in Figure 20-6, the basic procedure is as follows:

1. Enable the Automatic SQL Tuning task.

See “Enabling and Disabling the Automatic SQL Tuning Task”.

2. Optionally, configure the Automatic SQL Tuning task.

See “Configuring the Automatic SQL Tuning Task”.

3. Display the results of the Automatic SQL Tuning task.

“Viewing Automatic SQL Tuning Reports”.

4. Disable the Automatic SQL Tuning task.

See “Enabling and Disabling the Automatic SQL Tuning Task”.

Enabling and Disabling the Automatic SQL Tuning Task

This section explains how to enable and disable the Automatic SQL Tuning task using
Cloud Control (preferred) or a command-line interface.

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Enabling and Disabling the Automatic SQL Tuning Task Using Cloud Control
You can enable and disable all automatic maintenance tasks, including the Automatic
SQL Tuning task, using Cloud Control.

To enable or disable the Automatic SQL Tuning task using Cloud Control:

1. Access the Database Home page, as described in “Accessing the Database Home
Page in Cloud Control.”

2. From the Administration menu, select Oracle Scheduler, then Automated

Maintenance Tasks.
The Automated Maintenance Tasks page appears.
This page shows the predefined tasks. You access each task by clicking the
corresponding link to get more information about the task.

3. Click Automatic SQL Tuning.

The Automatic SQL Tuning Result Summary page appears.
The Task Status section shows whether the Automatic SQL Tuning Task is
enabled or disabled. In the following graphic, the task is disabled:

4. In Automatic SQL Tuning, click Configure.

The Automated Maintenance Tasks Configuration page appears.

By default, Automatic SQL Tuning executes in all predefined maintenance

windows in MAINTENANCE_WINDOW_GROUP.

5. Perform the following steps:

a. In the Task Settings for Automatic SQL Tuning, select either Enabled or
Disabled to enable or disable the automated task.

b. To disable Automatic SQL Tuning for specific days in the week, check the
appropriate box next to the window name.

c. To change the characteristics of a window, click Edit Window Group.

d. Click Apply.

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Managing the Automatic SQL Tuning Task

Enabling and Disabling the Automatic SQL Tuning Task from the Command Line
If you do not use Cloud Control to enable and disable the Automatic SQL Tuning task,
then you have the following options:

• Run the ENABLE or DISABLE procedure in the DBMS_AUTO_TASK_ADMIN PL/SQL

package.
This package is the recommended command-line technique. For both the ENABLE
or DISABLE procedures, you can specify a particular maintenance window with
the window_name parameter. See Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types
Reference for complete reference information.

• Set the STATISTICS_LEVEL initialization parameter to BASIC to disable collection

of all advisories and statistics, including Automatic SQL Tuning Advisor.
Because monitoring and many automatic features are disabled, Oracle strongly
recommends that you do not set STATISTICS_LEVEL to BASIC. See Oracle
Database Reference for complete reference information.

To enable or disable Automatic SQL Tuning using DBMS_AUTO_TASK_ADMIN:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with administrator privileges, and then do one
of the following:

• To enable the automated task, execute the following PL/SQL block:

BEGIN
DBMS_AUTO_TASK_ADMIN.ENABLE (
client_name => 'sql tuning advisor'
, operation => NULL
, window_name => NULL
);
END;
/

• To disable the automated task, execute the following PL/SQL block:

BEGIN
DBMS_AUTO_TASK_ADMIN.DISABLE (
client_name => 'sql tuning advisor'
, operation => NULL
, window_name => NULL
);
END;
/

2. Query the data dictionary to confirm the change.

For example, query DBA_AUTOTASK_CLIENT as follows (sample output
included):
COL CLIENT_NAME FORMAT a20

SELECT CLIENT_NAME, STATUS

FROM DBA_AUTOTASK_CLIENT
WHERE CLIENT_NAME = 'sql tuning advisor';

CLIENT_NAME STATUS
-------------------- --------
sql tuning advisor ENABLED

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To disable collection of all advisories and statistics:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with administrator privileges, and then query
the current statistics level setting.
The following SQL*Plus command shows that STATISTICS_LEVEL is set to ALL:
sys@PROD> SHOW PARAMETER statistics_level

NAME TYPE VALUE

------------------------------------ ----------- -----
statistics_level string ALL

2. Set STATISTICS_LEVEL to BASIC as follows:

sys@PROD> ALTER SYSTEM SET STATISTICS_LEVEL ='BASIC';

System altered.

Configuring the Automatic SQL Tuning Task

This section explains how to configure settings for the Automatic SQL Tuning task.

Configuring the Automatic SQL Tuning Task Using Cloud Control

You can enable and disable all automatic maintenance tasks, including the Automatic
SQL Tuning task, using Cloud Control. You must perform the operation as SYS or
have the EXECUTE privilege on the PL/SQL package DBMS_AUTO_SQLTUNE.

To configure the Automatic SQL Tuning task using Cloud Control:

1. Access the Database Home page, as described in “Accessing the Database Home
Page in Cloud Control.”

2. From the Administration menu, click Oracle Scheduler, then Automated

Maintenance Tasks.
The Automated Maintenance Tasks page appears.
This page shows the predefined tasks. You access each task by clicking the
corresponding link to get more information about the task itself.

3. Click Automatic SQL Tuning.

The Automatic SQL Tuning Result Summary page appears.

4. Under Task Settings, click Configure next to Automatic SQL Tuning

(SYS_AUTO_SQL_TUNING_TASK).
The Automated Maintenance Tasks Configuration page appears.

5. Under Task Settings, click Configure next to Automatic SQL Tuning.

The Automatic SQL Tuning Settings page appears.

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Managing the Automatic SQL Tuning Task

6. Make the desired changes and click Apply.

Configuring the Automatic SQL Tuning Task Using the Command Line
The DBMS_AUTO_SQLTUNE package enables you to configure automatic SQL tuning
by specifying the task parameters using the SET_AUTO_TUNING_TASK_PARAMETER
procedure. Because the task is owned by SYS, only SYS can set task parameters.
The ACCEPT_SQL_PROFILE tuning task parameter specifies whether to implement
SQL profiles automatically (true) or require user intervention (false). The default is
AUTO, which means true if at least one SQL statement exists with a SQL profile and
false if this condition is not satisfied.

Note:

When automatic implementation is enabled, the advisor only implements

recommendations to create SQL profiles. Recommendations such as creating
new indexes, gathering optimizer statistics, and creating SQL plan baselines
are not automatically implemented.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You want the database to implement SQL profiles automatically, but to implement
no more than 50 SQL profiles per execution, and no more than 50 profiles total on
the database.

• You want the task to time out after 1200 seconds per execution.

To set Automatic SQL Tuning task parameters:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then
optionally query the current task settings.
For example, connect SQL*Plus to the database with administrator privileges and
execute the following query:
COL PARAMETER_NAME FORMAT a25
COL VALUE FORMAT a10

SELECT PARAMETER_NAME, PARAMETER_VALUE AS "VALUE"

FROM DBA_ADVISOR_PARAMETERS
WHERE ( (TASK_NAME = 'SYS_AUTO_SQL_TUNING_TASK') AND
( (PARAMETER_NAME LIKE '%PROFILE%') OR

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 Managing the Automatic SQL Tuning Task

(PARAMETER_NAME = 'LOCAL_TIME_LIMIT') OR
(PARAMETER_NAME = 'EXECUTION_DAYS_TO_EXPIRE') ) );

Sample output appears as follows:

PARAMETER_NAME VALUE
------------------------- ----------
EXECUTION_DAYS_TO_EXPIRE 30
LOCAL_TIME_LIMIT 1000
ACCEPT_SQL_PROFILES FALSE
MAX_SQL_PROFILES_PER_EXEC 20
MAX_AUTO_SQL_PROFILES 10000

2. Set parameters using PL/SQL code of the following form:

BEGIN
DBMS_SQLTUNE.SET_TUNING_TASK_PARAMETER (
task_name => 'SYS_AUTO_SQL_TUNING_TASK'
, parameter => parameter_name
, value => value
);
END;
/

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for complete reference
information for DBMS_AUTO_SQLTUNE

Example 20-3 Setting SQL Tuning Task Parameters

The following PL/SQL block sets a time limit to 20 minutes, and also automatically
implements SQL profiles and sets limits for these profiles:
BEGIN
DBMS_SQLTUNE.SET_TUNING_TASK_PARAMETER('SYS_AUTO_SQL_TUNING_TASK',
'LOCAL_TIME_LIMIT', 1200);
DBMS_SQLTUNE.SET_TUNING_TASK_PARAMETER('SYS_AUTO_SQL_TUNING_TASK',
'ACCEPT_SQL_PROFILES', 'true');
DBMS_SQLTUNE.SET_TUNING_TASK_PARAMETER('SYS_AUTO_SQL_TUNING_TASK',
'MAX_SQL_PROFILES_PER_EXEC', 50);
DBMS_SQLTUNE.SET_TUNING_TASK_PARAMETER('SYS_AUTO_SQL_TUNING_TASK',
'MAX_AUTO_SQL_PROFILES', 10002);
END;
/

Viewing Automatic SQL Tuning Reports

At any time during or after the running of the Automatic SQL Tuning task, you can
view a tuning report. This report contains information about all executions of the
automatic SQL tuning task.
Depending on the sections that were included in the report, you can view information
in the following sections:

• General information
This section has a high-level description of the automatic SQL tuning task,
including information about the inputs given for the report, the number of SQL
statements tuned during the maintenance, and the number of SQL profiles created.

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Managing the Automatic SQL Tuning Task

• Summary
This section lists the SQL statements (by their SQL identifiers) that were tuned
during the maintenance window and the estimated benefit of each SQL profile, or
the execution statistics after performing a test execution of the SQL statement with
the SQL profile.

• Tuning findings
This section contains the following information about each SQL statement analyzed
by SQL Tuning Advisor:

– All findings associated with each SQL statement

– Whether the profile was implemented on the database, and why

– Whether the SQL profile is currently enabled on the database

– Detailed execution statistics captured when testing the SQL profile

• Explain plans
This section shows the old and new explain plans used by each SQL statement
analyzed by SQL Tuning Advisor.

• Errors
This section lists all errors encountered by the automatic SQL tuning task.

Viewing Automatic SQL Tuning Reports Using the Command Line

To generate a SQL tuning report as a CLOB, execute the
DBMS_SQLTUNE.REPORT_AUTO_TUNING_TASK function. You can store the CLOB in a
variable and then print the variable to view the report. See Oracle Database PL/SQL
Packages and Types Reference for complete reference information.

Assumptions
This section assumes that you want to show all SQL statements that were analyzed in
the most recent execution, including recommendations that were not implemented.

To create and access an Automatic SQL Tuning Advisor report:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with administrator privileges, and then execute
the DBMS_SQLTUNE.REPORT_AUTO_TUNING_TASK function.
The following example generates a text report to show all SQL statements that
were analyzed in the most recent execution, including recommendations that
were not implemented:
VARIABLE my_rept CLOB;
BEGIN
:my_rept :=DBMS_SQLTUNE.REPORT_AUTO_TUNING_TASK (
begin_exec => NULL
, end_exec => NULL
, type => 'TEXT'
, level => 'TYPICAL'
, section => 'ALL'
, object_id => NULL
, result_limit => NULL
);
END;

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 Managing the Automatic SQL Tuning Task

PRINT :my_rept

2. Read the general information section for an overview of the tuning execution.
The following sample shows the Automatic SQL Tuning task analyzed 17 SQL
statements in just over 7 minutes:
MY_REPT
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
GENERAL INFORMATION SECTION
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuning Task Name : SYS_AUTO_SQL_TUNING_TASK
Tuning Task Owner : SYS
Workload Type : Automatic High-Load SQL Workload
Execution Count : 6
Current Execution : EXEC_170
Execution Type : TUNE SQL
Scope : COMPREHENSIVE
Global Time Limit(seconds) : 3600
Per-SQL Time Limit(seconds) : 1200
Completion Status : COMPLETED
Started at : 04/16/2012 10:00:00
Completed at : 04/16/2012 10:07:11
Number of Candidate SQLs : 17
Cumulative Elapsed Time of SQL (s) : 8

3. Look for findings and recommendations.

If SQL Tuning Advisor makes a recommendation, then weigh the pros and cons of
accepting it.
The following example shows that SQL Tuning Advisor found a plan for a
statement that is potentially better than the existing plan. The advisor
recommends implementing a SQL profile.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SQLs with Findings Ordered by Maximum (Profile/Index) Benefit, Object ID
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ob ID SQL ID statistics profile(benefit) index(benefit) restructure
------ ------------- ---------- ---------------- -------------- -----------
82 dqjcc345dd4ak 58.03%
72 51bbkcd9zwsjw 2
81 03rxjf8gb18jg

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
DETAILS SECTION
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Statements with Results Ordered by Max (Profile/Index) Benefit, Object ID
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Object ID : 82
Schema Name: DBA1
SQL ID : dqjcc345dd4ak
SQL Text : SELECT status FROM dba_autotask_client WHERE client_name=:1

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
FINDINGS SECTION (1 finding)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

1- SQL Profile Finding (see explain plans section below)

--------------------------------------------------------

Analyzing SQL with SQL Tuning Advisor 20-23

Running SQL Tuning Advisor On Demand

A potentially better execution plan was found for this statement.

The SQL profile was not automatically created because the verified
benefit was too low.

Recommendation (estimated benefit: 58.03%)

------------------------------------------
- Consider accepting the recommended SQL profile.
execute dbms_sqltune.accept_sql_profile(task_name =>
'SYS_AUTO_SQL_TUNING_TASK', object_id => 82, replace => TRUE);

Validation results
------------------
The SQL profile was tested by executing both its plan and the original
plan and measuring their respective execution statistics. A plan
may have been only partially executed if the other could be run
to completion in less time.

Original Plan With SQL Profile % Improved

------------- ---------------- ----------
Completion Status: COMPLETE COMPLETE
Elapsed Time(us): 26963 8829 67.25 %
CPU Time(us): 27000 9000 66.66 %
User I/O Time(us): 25 14 44 %
Buffer Gets: 905 380 58.01 %
Physical Read Requests: 0 0
Physical Write Requests: 0 0
Physical Read Bytes: 0 0
Physical Write Bytes: 7372 7372 0 %
Rows Processed: 1 1
Fetches: 1 1
Executions: 1 1

Notes
-----
1. The original plan was first executed to warm the buffer cache.
2. Statistics for original plan were averaged over next 9 executions.
3. The SQL profile plan was first executed to warm the buffer cache.
4. Statistics for the SQL profile plan were averaged over
next 9 executions.

Running SQL Tuning Advisor On Demand

This section contains the following topics:

• About On-Demand SQL Tuning

• Creating a SQL Tuning Task

• Configuring a SQL Tuning Task

• Executing a SQL Tuning Task

• Monitoring a SQL Tuning Task

• Displaying the Results of a SQL Tuning Task

About On-Demand SQL Tuning

In this context, on-demand SQL tuning is defined as any invocation of SQL Tuning
Advisor that does not result from the Automatic SQL Tuning task.

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Purpose of On-Demand SQL Tuning

Typically, you invoke SQL Tuning Advisor on demand in the following situations:

• You proactively run ADDM, which reports that some SQL statements do not meet
your performance requirements.

• You reactively tune SQL statement because users complain about suboptimal SQL
performance.
In both situations, running SQL Tuning Advisor is usually the quickest way to fix
unexpected SQL performance problems.

User Interfaces for On-Demand SQL Tuning

The recommended user interface for running SQL Tuning Advisor manually is Cloud
Control.

Accessing the SQL Tuning Advisor Using Cloud Control

Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor (ADDM) automatically identifies high-load
SQL statements. If ADDM identifies such statements, then click Schedule/Run SQL
Tuning Advisor on the Recommendation Detail page to run SQL Tuning Advisor.

To tune SQL statements manually using SQL Tuning Advisor:

1. Access the Database Home page, as described in “Accessing the Database Home
Page in Cloud Control.”

2. From the Performance menu, click SQL, then SQL Tuning Advisor.
The Schedule SQL Tuning Advisor page appears.

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Running SQL Tuning Advisor On Demand

3. See Oracle Database 2 Day + Performance Tuning Guide to learn how to configure
and run SQL Tuning Advisor using Cloud Control.

Command-Line Interface to On-Demand SQL Tuning

If Cloud Control is unavailable, then you can run SQL Tuning Advisor using
procedures in the DBMS_SQLTUNE package. To use the APIs, the user must have the
ADVISOR privilege.

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for complete reference
information

Basic Tasks in On-Demand SQL Tuning

This section explains the basic tasks in running SQL Tuning Advisor using the
DBMS_SQLTUNE package. Oracle Database 2 Day + Performance Tuning Guide explains
how to tune SQL using Cloud Control.
Figure 20-6 shows the basic workflow when using the PL/SQL APIs.

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Figure 20-6 SQL Tuning Advisor APIs

STS

create_tuning_task

set_tuning_task_parameter

execute_tuning_task

Monitor Task

report_tuning_task

Implement
Recommendations

Gather Create Create Restructure Create SQL

optimizer SQL Index SQL Plan
statistics Profile Baseline

As shown in Figure 20-6, the basic procedure is as follows:

1. Prepare or create the input to SQL Tuning Advisor. The input can be either:

• The text of a single SQL statement

• A SQL tuning set that contains one or more statements

2. Create a SQL tuning task.

See “Creating a SQL Tuning Task”.

3. Optionally, configure the SQL tuning task that you created.

See “Configuring a SQL Tuning Task”.

4. Execute a SQL tuning task.

See “Executing a SQL Tuning Task”.

5. Optionally, check the status or progress of a SQL tuning task.

“Monitoring a SQL Tuning Task”.

6. Display the results of a SQL tuning task.

“Displaying the Results of a SQL Tuning Task”.

7. Implement recommendations as appropriate.

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Running SQL Tuning Advisor On Demand

Creating a SQL Tuning Task

To create a SQL tuning task execute the DBMS_SQLTUNE.CREATE_TUNING_TASK
function. You can create tuning tasks from any of the following:

• The text of a single SQL statement

• A SQL tuning set containing multiple statements

• A SQL statement selected by SQL identifier from the shared SQL area

• A SQL statement selected by SQL identifier from AWR

The scope parameter is one of the most important for this function. You can set this
parameter to the following values:

• LIMITED
SQL Tuning Advisor produces recommendations based on statistical checks, access
path analysis, and SQL structure analysis. SQL profile recommendations are not
generated.

• COMPREHENSIVE
SQL Tuning Advisor carries out all the analysis it performs under limited scope
plus SQL profiling.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You want to tune as user hr, who has the ADVISOR privilege.

• You want to tune the following query:

SELECT /*+ ORDERED */ *
FROM employees e, locations l, departments d
WHERE e.department_id = d.department_id
AND l.location_id = d.location_id
AND e.employee_id < :bnd;

• You want to pass the bind variable 100 to the preceding query.

• You want SQL Tuning Advisor to perform SQL profiling.

• You want the task to run no longer than 60 seconds.

To create a SQL tuning task:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then run
the DBMS_SQLTUNE.CREATE_TUNING_TASK function.
For example, execute the following PL/SQL program:
DECLARE
my_task_name VARCHAR2(30);
my_sqltext CLOB;
BEGIN
my_sqltext := 'SELECT /*+ ORDERED */ * ' ||
'FROM employees e, locations l, departments d ' ||
'WHERE e.department_id = d.department_id AND ' ||

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 Running SQL Tuning Advisor On Demand

'l.location_id = d.location_id AND ' ||

'e.employee_id < :bnd';

my_task_name := DBMS_SQLTUNE.CREATE_TUNING_TASK (
sql_text => my_sqltext
, bind_list => sql_binds(anydata.ConvertNumber(100))
, user_name => 'HR'
, scope => 'COMPREHENSIVE'
, time_limit => 60
, task_name => 'STA_SPECIFIC_EMP_TASK'
, description => 'Task to tune a query on a specified employee'
);
END;
/

2. Optionally, query the status of the task.

The following example queries the status of all tasks owned by the current user,
which in this example is hr:
COL TASK_ID FORMAT 999999
COL TASK_NAME FORMAT a25
COL STATUS_MESSAGE FORMAT a33

SELECT TASK_ID, TASK_NAME, STATUS, STATUS_MESSAGE

FROM USER_ADVISOR_LOG;

Sample output appears below:

TASK_ID TASK_NAME STATUS STATUS_MESSAGE
------- ------------------------- ----------- --------------
884 STA_SPECIFIC_EMP_TASK INITIAL

In the preceding output, the INITIAL status indicates that the task has not yet
started execution.

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_SQLTUNE.CREATE_TUNING_TASK function

Configuring a SQL Tuning Task

To change the parameters of a tuning task after it has been created, execute the
DBMS_SQLTUNE.SET_TUNING_TASK_PARAMETER function. See Oracle Database
PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for complete reference information.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You want to tune as user hr, who has the ADVISOR privilege.

• You want to tune the STA_SPECIFIC_EMP_TASK created in “Creating a SQL

Tuning Task”.

• You want to change the maximum time that the SQL tuning task can run to 300
seconds.

Analyzing SQL with SQL Tuning Advisor 20-29

Running SQL Tuning Advisor On Demand

To configure a SQL tuning task:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then run
the DBMS_SQLTUNE.SET_TUNING_TASK_PARAMETER function.
For example, execute the following PL/SQL program to change the time limit of
the tuning task to 300 seconds:
BEGIN
DBMS_SQLTUNE.SET_TUNING_TASK_PARAMETER (
task_name => 'STA_SPECIFIC_EMP_TASK'
, parameter => 'TIME_LIMIT'
, value => 300
);
END;
/

2. Optionally, verify that the task parameter was changed.

The following example queries the values of all used parameters in task
STA_SPECIFIC_EMP_TASK:
COL PARAMETER_NAME FORMAT a25
COL VALUE FORMAT a15

SELECT PARAMETER_NAME, PARAMETER_VALUE AS "VALUE"

FROM USER_ADVISOR_PARAMETERS
WHERE TASK_NAME = 'STA_SPECIFIC_EMP_TASK'
AND PARAMETER_VALUE != 'UNUSED'
ORDER BY PARAMETER_NAME;

Sample output appears below:

PARAMETER_NAME VALUE
------------------------- ---------------
DAYS_TO_EXPIRE 30
DEFAULT_EXECUTION_TYPE TUNE SQL
EXECUTION_DAYS_TO_EXPIRE UNLIMITED
JOURNALING INFORMATION
MODE COMPREHENSIVE
SQL_LIMIT -1
SQL_PERCENTAGE 1
TARGET_OBJECTS 1
TEST_EXECUTE AUTO
TIME_LIMIT 300

Executing a SQL Tuning Task

To execute a SQL tuning task, use the DBMS_SQLTUNE.EXECUTE_TUNING_TASK
function. The most important parameter is task_name.

Note:
You can also execute the automatic tuning task
SYS_AUTO_SQL_TUNING_TASK using the EXECUTE_TUNING_TASK API. SQL
Tuning Advisor performs the same analysis and actions as it would when run
automatically.

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Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You want to tune as user hr, who has the ADVISOR privilege.

• You want to execute the STA_SPECIFIC_EMP_TASK created in “Creating a SQL

Tuning Task”.

To execute a SQL tuning task:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then run
the DBMS_SQLTUNE.EXECUTE_TUNING_TASK function.
For example, execute the following PL/SQL program:
BEGIN
DBMS_SQLTUNE.EXECUTE_TUNING_TASK(task_name=>'STA_SPECIFIC_EMP_TASK');
END;
/

2. Optionally, query the status of the task.

The following example queries the status of all tasks owned by the current user,
which in this example is hr:
COL TASK_ID FORMAT 999999
COL TASK_NAME FORMAT a25
COL STATUS_MESSAGE FORMAT a33

SELECT TASK_ID, TASK_NAME, STATUS, STATUS_MESSAGE

FROM USER_ADVISOR_LOG;

Sample output appears below:

TASK_ID TASK_NAME STATUS STATUS_MESSAGE
------- ------------------------- ----------- --------------
884 STA_SPECIFIC_EMP_TASK COMPLETED

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for complete reference
information about the DBMS_SQLTUNE.EXECUTE_TUNING_TASK function

Monitoring a SQL Tuning Task

When you create a SQL tuning task in Cloud Control, no separate monitoring step is
necessary. Cloud Control displays the status page automatically.
If you do not use Cloud Control, then you can monitor currently executing SQL tuning
tasks by querying the data dictionary and dynamic performance views. Table 20-2
describes the relevant views.

Table 20-2 DBMS_SQLTUNE.EXECUTE_TUNING_TASK Parameters

Analyzing SQL with SQL Tuning Advisor 20-31

Running SQL Tuning Advisor On Demand

Table 20-2 (Cont.) DBMS_SQLTUNE.EXECUTE_TUNING_TASK Parameters

View Description

USER_ADVISOR_TASKS Displays information about tasks owned by the current

user. The view contains one row for each task. Each
task has a name that is unique to the owner. Task
names are just informational and no uniqueness is
enforced within any other namespace.

V$ADVISOR_PROGRESS Displays information about the progress of advisor

execution.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You tune as user hr, who has the ADVISOR privilege.

• You monitor the STA_SPECIFIC_EMP_TASK that you executed in “Executing a

SQL Tuning Task”.

To monitor a SQL tuning task:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then
determine whether the task is executing or completed.
For example, query the status of STA_SPECIFIC_EMP_TASK as follows:
SELECT STATUS
FROM USER_ADVISOR_TASKS
WHERE TASK_NAME = 'STA_SPECIFIC_EMP_TASK';

The following output shows that the task has completed:

STATUS
-----------
EXECUTING

2. Determine the progress of an executing task.

The following example queries the status of the task with task ID 884:
VARIABLE my_tid NUMBER;
EXEC :my_tid := 884
COL ADVISOR_NAME FORMAT a20
COL SOFAR FORMAT 999
COL TOTALWORK FORMAT 999

SELECT TASK_ID, ADVISOR_NAME, SOFAR, TOTALWORK,

ROUND(SOFAR/TOTALWORK*100,2) "%_COMPLETE"
FROM V$ADVISOR_PROGRESS
WHERE TASK_ID = :my_tid;

Sample output appears below:

TASK_ID ADVISOR_NAME SOFAR TOTALWORK %_COMPLETE
---------- -------------------- ----- --------- ----------
884 SQL Tuning Advisor 1 2 50

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 Running SQL Tuning Advisor On Demand

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference to learn about the V$ADVISOR_PROGRESS view

Displaying the Results of a SQL Tuning Task

To report the results of a tuning task, use the
DBMS_SQLTUNE.REPORT_TUNING_TASK function. The report contains all the
findings and recommendations of SQL Tuning Advisor. For each proposed
recommendation, the report provides the rationale and benefit along with the SQL
statements needed to implement the recommendation.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You want to tune as user hr, who has the ADVISOR privilege.

• You want to access the report for the STA_SPECIFIC_EMP_TASK executed in

“Executing a SQL Tuning Task”.

To view the report for a SQL tuning task:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then run
the DBMS_SQLTUNE.REPORT_TUNING_TASK function.
For example, you run the following statements:
SET LONG 1000
SET LONGCHUNKSIZE 1000
SET LINESIZE 100
SELECT DBMS_SQLTUNE.REPORT_TUNING_TASK( 'STA_SPECIFIC_EMP_TASK' )
FROM DUAL;

Truncated sample output appears below:

DBMS_SQLTUNE.REPORT_TUNING_TASK('STA_SPECIFIC_EMP_TASK')
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
GENERAL INFORMATION SECTION
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuning Task Name : STA_SPECIFIC_EMP_TASK
Tuning Task Owner : HR
Workload Type : Single SQL Statement
Execution Count : 11
Current Execution : EXEC_1057
Execution Type : TUNE SQL
Scope : COMPREHENSIVE
Time Limit(seconds): 300
Completion Status : COMPLETED
Started at : 04/22/2012 07:35:49
Completed at : 04/22/2012 07:35:50

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Schema Name: HR
SQL ID : dg7nfaj0bdcvk
SQL Text : SELECT /*+ ORDERED */ * FROM employees e, locations l,
departments d WHERE e.department_id = d.department_id AND
l.location_id = d.location_id AND e.employee_id < :bnd
Bind Variables :

Analyzing SQL with SQL Tuning Advisor 20-33

Running SQL Tuning Advisor On Demand

1 - (NUMBER):100

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
FINDINGS SECTION (4 findings)
-----------------------------------------------

2. Interpret the results, as described in “Viewing Automatic SQL Tuning Reports

Using the Command Line”.

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for complete reference
information

20-34 SQL Tuning Guide

 21
Optimizing Access Paths with SQL Access
Advisor

This chapter contains the following topics:

• About SQL Access Advisor

• Using SQL Access Advisor: Basic Tasks

• Performing a SQL Access Advisor Quick Tune

• Using SQL Access Advisor: Advanced Tasks

• SQL Access Advisor Examples

• SQL Access Advisor Reference

About SQL Access Advisor

SQL Access Advisor is diagnostic software that identifies and helps resolve SQL
performance problems by recommending indexes, materialized views, materialized
view logs, or partitions to create, drop, or retain.
This section contains the following topics:

• Purpose of SQL Access Advisor

• SQL Access Advisor Architecture

• User Interfaces for SQL Access Advisor

Note:

Data visibility and privilege requirements may differ when using SQL Access
Advisor with pluggable databases. See Oracle Database Administrator's Guide
for a table that summarizes how manageability features work in a container
database (CDB).

Purpose of SQL Access Advisor

SQL Access Advisor helps you achieve your performance goals by recommending the
proper set of materialized views, materialized view logs, partitions, and indexes for a
given workload. Materialized views, partitions, and indexes are essential when tuning
a database to achieve optimum performance for complex, data-intensive queries.

Optimizing Access Paths with SQL Access Advisor 21-1

About SQL Access Advisor

SQL Access Advisor takes an actual workload as input, or derives a hypothetical

workload from a schema. The advisor then recommends access structures for faster
execution path. The advisor provides the following advantages:

• Does not require you to have expert knowledge

• Makes decisions based on rules that reside in the optimizer

• Covers all aspects of SQL access in a single advisor

• Provides simple, user-friendly GUI wizards in Cloud Control

• Generates scripts for implementation of recommendations

See Also:

Oracle Database 2 Day + Performance Tuning Guide to learn how to use SQL
Access Advisor with Cloud Control

SQL Access Advisor Architecture

Automatic Tuning Optimizer is the central tool used by SQL Access Advisor. The
advisor can receive SQL statements as input from the sources shown in Figure 21-1,
analyze these statements using the optimizer, and then make recommendations.
Figure 21-1 shows the basic architecture of SQL Access Advisor.

Figure 21-1 SQL Access Advisor Architecture

Filter Options

Hypothetical Optimizer

Automatic
Tuning
Shared Pool Optimizer

Library Cache

Shared SQL Area

Workload SQL Recommendations
SELECT * FROM
employees Access
Advisor Indexes

Materialized
Views

SQL Materialized
Tuning View Logs
Set
Partitions

DBA

21-2 SQL Tuning Guide

 About SQL Access Advisor

See Also:

“About Automatic Tuning Optimizer”

Input to SQL Access Advisor

SQL Access Advisor requires a workload, which consists of one or more SQL
statements, plus statistics and attributes that fully describe each statement. A full
workload contains all SQL statements from a target business application. A partial
workload contains a subset of SQL statements.
As shown in Figure 21-1, SQL Access Advisor input can come from the following
sources:

• Shared SQL area

The database uses the shared SQL area to analyze recent SQL statements that are
currently in V$SQL.

• SQL tuning set

A SQL tuning set (STS) is a database object that stores SQL statements along with
their execution context. When a set of SQL statements serve as input, the database
must first construct and use an STS.

Note:

For best results, provide a workload as a SQL tuning set. The DBMS_SQLTUNE
package provides helper functions that can create SQL tuning sets from
common workload sources, such as the SQL cache, a user-defined workload
stored in a table, and a hypothetical workload.

• Hypothetical workload
You can create a hypothetical workload from a schema by analyzing dimensions
and constraints. This option is useful when you are initially designing your
application.

See Also:

• Oracle Database Concepts to learn about the shared SQL area

• “About SQL Tuning Sets”

Filter Options for SQL Access Advisor

As shown in Figure 21-1, you can apply a filter to a workload to restrict what is
analyzed. For example, specify that the advisor look at only the 30 most resource-
intensive statements in the workload, based on optimizer cost. This restriction can
generate different sets of recommendations based on different workload scenarios.
SQL Access Advisor parameters control the recommendation process and
customization of the workload. These parameters control various aspects of the
process, such as the type of recommendation required and the naming conventions for
what it recommends.

Optimizing Access Paths with SQL Access Advisor 21-3

About SQL Access Advisor

To set these parameters, use the DBMS_ADVISOR.SET_TASK_PARAMETER procedure.

Parameters are persistent in that they remain set for the life span of the task. When a
parameter value is set using DBMS_ADVISOR.SET_TASK_PARAMETER, the value does
not change until you make another call to this procedure.

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_ADVISOR.SET_TASK_PARAMETER procedure

SQL Access Advisor Recommendations

A task recommendation can range from a simple to a complex solution. The advisor
can recommend that you create database objects such as the following:

• Indexes
SQL Access Advisor index recommendations include bitmap, function-based, and
B-tree indexes. A bitmap index offers a reduced response time for many types of ad
hoc queries and reduced storage requirements compared to other indexing
techniques. B-tree indexes are most commonly used in a data warehouse to index
unique or near-unique keys. SQL Access Advisor materialized view
recommendations include fast refreshable and full refreshable MVs, for either
general rewrite or exact text match rewrite.

• Materialized views
SQL Access Advisor, using the TUNE_MVIEW procedure, also recommends how to
optimize materialized views so that they can be fast refreshable and take advantage
of general query rewrite.

• Materialized view logs

A materialized view log is a table at the materialized view's master site or master
materialized view site that records all DML changes to the master table or master
materialized view. A fast refresh of a materialized view is possible only if the
materialized view's master has a materialized view log.

• Partitions
SQL Access Advisor can recommend partitioning on an existing unpartitioned base
table to improve performance. Furthermore, it may recommend new indexes and
materialized views that are themselves partitioned.
While creating new partitioned indexes and materialized view is no different from
the unpartitioned case, partition existing base tables with care. This is especially
true when indexes, views, constraints, or triggers are defined on the table.
To make recommendations, SQL Access Advisor relies on structural statistics about
table and index cardinalities of dimension level columns, JOIN KEY columns, and fact
table key columns. You can gather exact or estimated statistics with the DBMS_STATS
package (see “About Manual Statistics Collection with DBMS_STATS”).
Because gathering statistics is time-consuming and full statistical accuracy is not
required, it is usually preferable to estimate statistics. Without gathering statistics on a
specified table, queries referencing this table are marked as invalid in the workload,
resulting in no recommendations for these queries. It is also recommended that all
existing indexes and materialized views have been analyzed.

21-4 SQL Tuning Guide

 About SQL Access Advisor

See Also:

• Oracle Database Data Warehousing Guide to learn more about materialized

views

• Oracle Database VLDB and Partitioning Guide to learn more about partitions

SQL Access Advisor Actions

In general, each recommendation provides a benefit for one query or a set of queries.
All individual actions in a recommendation must be implemented together to achieve
the full benefit. Recommendations can share actions.
For example, a CREATE INDEX statement could provide a benefit for several queries,
but some queries might benefit from an additional CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW
statement. In that case, the advisor would generate two recommendations: one for the
set of queries that require only the index, and another one for the set of queries that
require both the index and the materialized view.

Types of Actions
SQL Access Advisor recommendations include the following types of actions:

• PARTITION BASE TABLE

This action partitions an existing unpartitioned base table.

• CREATE|DROP|RETAIN {MATERIALIZED VIEW|MATERIALIZED VIEW LOG|

INDEX}
The CREATE actions corresponds to new access structures. RETAIN recommends
keeping existing access structures. SQL Access Advisor only recommends DROP
when the WORKLOAD_SCOPE parameter is set to FULL.

• GATHER STATS
This action generates a call to a DBMS_STATS procedure to gather statistics on a
newly generated access structure (see “About Manual Statistics Collection with
DBMS_STATS”).
Multiple recommendations may refer to the same action. However, when generating a
script for the recommendation, you only see each action once.

See Also:
“Viewing SQL Access Advisor Task Results” to learn how to view actions and
recommendations

Guidelines for Interpreting Partitioning Recommendations

The partition recommendation is a special type of recommendation. When SQL Access
Advisor determines that partitioning a specified base table would improve workload
performance, the advisor adds a partition action to every recommendation containing
a query referencing the base table. This technique ensures that index and materialized
view recommendations are implemented on the correctly partitioned tables.

Optimizing Access Paths with SQL Access Advisor 21-5

About SQL Access Advisor

SQL Access Advisor may recommend partitioning an existing unpartitioned base table
to improve query performance. When the advisor implementation script contains
partition recommendations, note the following issues:

• Partitioning an existing table is a complex and extensive operation, which may take
considerably longer than implementing a new index or materialized view.
Sufficient time should be reserved for implementing this recommendation.

• While index and materialized view recommendations are easy to reverse by

deleting the index or view, a table, after being partitioned, cannot easily be restored
to its original state. Therefore, ensure that you back up the database before
executing a script containing partition recommendations.

• While repartitioning a base table, SQL Access Advisor scripts make a temporary
copy of the original table, which occupies the same amount of space as the original
table. Therefore, the repartitioning process requires sufficient free disk space for
another copy of the largest table to be repartitioned. Ensure that such space is
available before running the implementation script.
The partition implementation script attempts to migrate dependent objects such as
indexes, materialized views, and constraints. However, some object cannot be
automatically migrated. For example, PL/SQL stored procedures defined against a
repartitioned base table typically become invalid and must be recompiled.

• If you decide not to implement a partition recommendation, then all other

recommendations on the same table in the same script (such as CREATE INDEX and
CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW recommendations) depend on the partitioning
recommendation. To obtain accurate recommendations, do not simply remove the
partition recommendation from the script. Rather, rerun the advisor with
partitioning disabled, for example, by setting parameter ANALYSIS_SCOPE to a
value that does not include the keyword TABLE.

See Also:

Oracle Database SQL Language Reference for CREATE DIRECTORY syntax, and
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for detailed information
about the GET_TASK_SCRIPT procedure.

SQL Access Advisor Repository

All information required and generated by SQL Access Advisor resides in the Advisor
repository, which is in the data dictionary. The repository has the following benefits:

• Collects a complete workload for SQL Access Advisor

• Supports historical data

• Is managed by the database

User Interfaces for SQL Access Advisor

Oracle recommends that you use SQL Access Advisor through its GUI wizard, which
is available in Cloud Control. Oracle Database 2 Day + Performance Tuning Guide
explains how to use the SQL Access Advisor wizard.

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 About SQL Access Advisor

You can also invoke SQL Access Advisor through the DBMS_ADVISOR package. This
chapter explains how to use the API. See Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types
Reference for complete semantics and syntax.

Accessing the SQL Tuning Advisor: Initial Options Page Using Cloud Control
The SQL Access Advisor: Initial Options page in Cloud Control is the starting page for
a wizard that guides you through the process of obtaining recommendations.

To access the SQL Access Advisor: Initial Options page:

1. Access the Database Home page, as described in “Accessing the Database Home
Page in Cloud Control.”

2. From the Performance menu, select SQL, then SQL Access Advisor.
The SQL Access Advisor: Initial Options page appears., shown in Figure 21-2.

Figure 21-2 SQL Access Advisor: Initial Options

You can perform most SQL plan management tasks in this page or in pages
accessed through this page.

See Also:

• Cloud Control context-sensitive online help to learn about the options on

the SQL Access Advisor: Initial Options page

• Oracle Database 2 Day + Performance Tuning Guide

Command-Line Interface to SQL Tuning Sets

On the command line, you can use the DBMS_ADVISOR package to manage SQL
tuning sets. The DBMS_ADVISOR package consists of a collection of analysis and
advisory functions and procedures callable from any PL/SQL program. You must
have the ADVISOR privilege to use DBMS_ADVISOR.

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about
DBMS_ADVISOR

Optimizing Access Paths with SQL Access Advisor 21-7

Using SQL Access Advisor: Basic Tasks

Using SQL Access Advisor: Basic Tasks

Figure 21-3 shows the basic workflow for SQL Access Advisor.

Figure 21-3 Using SQL Access Advisor

Typically, you use SQL Access Advisor by performing the following steps:

1. Create a SQL tuning set

The input workload source for SQL Access Advisor is a SQL tuning set (STS). Use
DBMS_SQLTUNE.CREATE_SQLSET to create a SQL tuning set.
“Creating a SQL Tuning Set as Input for SQL Access Advisor” describes this task.

2. Load the SQL tuning set

SQL Access Advisor performs best when a workload based on actual usage is
available. Use DBMS_SQLTUNE.LOAD_SQLSET to populate the SQL tuning set
with your workload.
“Populating a SQL Tuning Set with a User-Defined Workload” describes this task.

3. Create and configure a task

In the task, you define what SQL Access Advisor must analyze and the location of
the analysis results. Create a task using the DBMS_ADVISOR.CREATE_TASK
procedure. You can then define parameters for the task using the
SET_TASK_PARAMETER procedure, and then link the task to an STS by using the
DBMS_ADVISOR.ADD_STS_REF procedure.
“Creating and Configuring a SQL Access Advisor Task” describes this task.

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 Using SQL Access Advisor: Basic Tasks

4. Execute the task

Run the DBMS_ADVISOR.EXECUTE_TASK procedure to generate
recommendations. Each recommendation specifies one or more actions. For
example, a recommendation could be to create several materialized view logs,
create a materialized view, and then analyze it to gather statistics.
“Executing a SQL Access Advisor Task” describes this task.

5. View the recommendations

You can view the recommendations by querying data dictionary views.
“Viewing SQL Access Advisor Task Results” describes this task.

6. Optionally, generate and execute a SQL script that implements the

recommendations.
“Generating and Executing a Task Script” that describes this task.

Creating a SQL Tuning Set as Input for SQL Access Advisor

The input workload source for SQL Access Advisor is an STS. Because an STS is stored
as a separate entity, multiple advisor tasks can share it. Create an STS with the
DBMS_SQLTUNE.CREATE_SQLSET statement.
After an advisor task has referenced an STS, you cannot delete or modify the STS until
all advisor tasks have removed their dependency on it. A workload reference is
removed when a parent advisor task is deleted, or when you manually remove the
workload reference from the advisor task.

Prerequisites
The user creating the STS must have been granted the ADMINISTER SQL TUNING
SET privilege. To run SQL Access Advisor on SQL tuning sets owned by other users,
the user must have the ADMINISTER ANY SQL TUNING SET privilege.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You want to create an STS named MY_STS_WORKLOAD.

• You want to use this STS as input for a workload derived from the sh schema.

To create an STS :

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database as user sh, and then set SQL*Plus variables.
For example, enter the following commands:
CONNECT SH
Password: ********
SET SERVEROUTPUT ON;
VARIABLE task_id NUMBER;
VARIABLE task_name VARCHAR2(255);
VARIABLE workload_name VARCHAR2(255);

2. Create the SQL tuning set.

For example, assign a value to the workload_name variable and create the STS as
follows:

Optimizing Access Paths with SQL Access Advisor 21-9

Using SQL Access Advisor: Basic Tasks

EXECUTE :workload_name := 'MY_STS_WORKLOAD';

EXECUTE DBMS_SQLTUNE.CREATE_SQLSET(:workload_name, 'test purpose');

See Also:

• “About SQL Tuning Sets”

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about

CREATE_SQLSET

Populating a SQL Tuning Set with a User-Defined Workload

A workload consists of one or more SQL statements, plus statistics and attributes that
fully describe each statement. A full workload contains all SQL statements from a
target business application. A partial workload contains a subset of SQL statements.
The difference is that for full workloads SQL Access Advisor may recommend
dropping unused materialized views and indexes.
You cannot use SQL Access Advisor without a workload. SQL Access Advisor ranks
the entries according to a specific statistic, business importance, or combination of the
two, which enables the advisor to process the most important SQL statements first.
SQL Access Advisor performs best with a workload based on actual usage. You can
store multiple workloads in the form of SQL tuning sets, so that you can view the
different uses of a real-world data warehousing or OLTP environment over a long
period and across the life cycle of database instance startup and shutdown.
Table 21-1 describes procedures that you can use to populate an STS with a user-
defined workload.

Table 21-1 Procedures for Loading an STS

Procedure Description

DBMS_SQLTUNE.LOAD_SQLSET Populates the SQL tuning set with a set of

selected SQL. You can call the procedure
multiple times to add new SQL statements or
replace attributes of existing statements. See
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types
Reference.

DBMS_ADVISOR.COPY_SQLWKLD_TO_STS Copies SQL workload data to a user-

designated SQL tuning set. The user must
have the required SQL tuning set privileges
and the required ADVISOR privilege. See
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types
Reference.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes that you want to do the following:

• Create a table named sh.user_workload to store information about SQL

statements

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 Using SQL Access Advisor: Basic Tasks

• Load the sh.user_workload table with information about three queries of tables
in the sh schema

• Populate the STS created in “Creating a SQL Tuning Set as Input for SQL Access
Advisor” with the workload contained in sh.user_workload

To populate an STS with a user-defined workload:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database as user sh, and then create the
user_workload table.
For example, enter the following commands:
DROP TABLE user_workload;
CREATE TABLE user_workload
(
username varchar2(128), /* User who executes statement */
module varchar2(64), /* Application module name */
action varchar2(64), /* Application action name */
elapsed_time number, /* Elapsed time for query */
cpu_time number, /* CPU time for query */
buffer_gets number, /* Buffer gets consumed by query */
disk_reads number, /* Disk reads consumed by query */
rows_processed number, /* # of rows processed by query */
executions number, /* # of times query executed */
optimizer_cost number, /* Optimizer cost for query */
priority number, /* User-priority (1,2 or 3) */
last_execution_date date, /* Last time query executed */
stat_period number, /* Window exec time in seconds */
sql_text clob /* Full SQL Text */
);

2. Load the user_workload table with information about queries.

For example, execute the following statements:
-- aggregation with selection
INSERT INTO user_workload (username, module, action, priority, sql_text)
VALUES ('SH', 'Example1', 'Action', 2,
'SELECT t.week_ending_day, p.prod_subcategory,
SUM(s.amount_sold) AS dollars, s.channel_id, s.promo_id
FROM sales s, times t, products p
WHERE s.time_id = t.time_id
AND s.prod_id = p.prod_id
AND s.prod_id > 10
AND s.prod_id < 50
GROUP BY t.week_ending_day, p.prod_subcategory, s.channel_id, s.promo_id')
/

-- aggregation with selection

INSERT INTO user_workload (username, module, action, priority, sql_text)
VALUES ('SH', 'Example1', 'Action', 2,
'SELECT t.calendar_month_desc, SUM(s.amount_sold) AS dollars
FROM sales s , times t
WHERE s.time_id = t.time_id
AND s.time_id BETWEEN TO_DATE(''01-JAN-2000'', ''DD-MON-YYYY'')
AND TO_DATE(''01-JUL-2000'', ''DD-MON-YYYY'')
GROUP BY t.calendar_month_desc')
/

-- order by
INSERT INTO user_workload (username, module, action, priority, sql_text)

Optimizing Access Paths with SQL Access Advisor 21-11

Using SQL Access Advisor: Basic Tasks

VALUES ('SH', 'Example1', 'Action', 2,

'SELECT c.country_id, c.cust_city, c.cust_last_name
FROM customers c
WHERE c.country_id IN (52790, 52789)
ORDER BY c.country_id, c.cust_city, c.cust_last_name')
/
COMMIT;

3. Execute a PL/SQL program that fills a cursor with rows from the
user_workload table, and then loads the contents of this cursor into the STS
named MY_STS_WORKLOAD.
For example, execute the following PL/SQL program:
DECLARE
sqlset_cur DBMS_SQLTUNE.SQLSET_CURSOR;
BEGIN
OPEN sqlset_cur FOR
SELECT SQLSET_ROW(null,null, SQL_TEXT, null, null, 'SH', module,
'Action', 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, null, 2, 3,
sysdate, 0, 0, null, 0, null, null)
FROM USER_WORKLOAD;
DBMS_SQLTUNE.LOAD_SQLSET('MY_STS_WORKLOAD', sqlset_cur);
END;
/

Creating and Configuring a SQL Access Advisor Task

Use the DBMS_ADVISOR.CREATE_TASK procedure to create a SQL Access Advisor
task. In the SQL Access Advisor task, you define what the advisor must analyze and
the location of the results. You can create multiple tasks, each with its own
specialization. All are based on the same Advisor task model and share the same
repository.
Configuring the task involves the following steps:

• Defining task parameters

At the time the recommendations are generated, you can apply a filter to the
workload to restrict what is analyzed. This restriction provides the ability to
generate different sets of recommendations based on different workload scenarios.
SQL Access Advisor parameters control the recommendation process and
customization of the workload. These parameters control various aspects of the
process, such as the type of recommendation required and the naming conventions
for what it recommends. See “Categories for SQL Access Advisor Task
Parameters”.
If parameters are not defined, then the database uses the defaults. You can set task
parameters by using the DBMS_ADVISOR.SET_TASK_PARAMETER procedure.
Parameters are persistent in that they remain set for the life span of the task. When
a parameter value is set using SET_TASK_PARAMETER, it does not change until
you make another call to this procedure.

• Linking the task to the workload

Because the workload is independent, you must link it to a task using the
DBMS_ADVISOR.ADD_STS_REF procedure. After this link has been established,
you cannot delete or modify the workload until all advisor tasks have removed
their dependency on the workload. A workload reference is removed when a user
deletes a parent advisor task or manually removes the workload reference from the

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 Using SQL Access Advisor: Basic Tasks

task by using the DBMS_ADVISOR.DELETE_STS_REF procedure (see “Deleting

SQL Access Advisor Tasks”).

Prerequisites and Restrictions

The user creating the task must have been granted the ADVISOR privilege.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You want to create a task named MYTASK.

• You want to use this task to analyze the workload that you defined in “Populating
a SQL Tuning Set with a User-Defined Workload”.

• You want to terminate the task if it takes longer than 30 minutes to execute.

• You want to SQL Access Advisor to only consider indexes.

To create and configure a SQL Access Advisor task:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database as user sh, and then create the task.
For example, enter the following commands:
EXECUTE :task_name := 'MYTASK';
EXECUTE DBMS_ADVISOR.CREATE_TASK('SQL Access Advisor', :task_id, :task_name);

2. Set task parameters.

For example, execute the following statements:
EXECUTE DBMS_ADVISOR.SET_TASK_PARAMETER(:task_name, 'TIME_LIMIT', 30);
EXECUTE DBMS_ADVISOR.SET_TASK_PARAMETER(:task_name, 'ANALYSIS_SCOPE', 'ALL');

3. Link the task to the workload.

For example, execute the following statement:
EXECUTE DBMS_ADVISOR.ADD_STS_REF(:task_name, 'SH', :workload_name);

See Also:

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
CREATE_TASK procedure and its parameters

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
SET_TASK_PARAMETER procedure and its parameters

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
ADD_STS_REF procedure and its parameters

Executing a SQL Access Advisor Task

The DBMS_ADVISOR.EXECUTE_TASK procedure performs SQL Access Advisor
analysis or evaluation for the specified task. Task execution is a synchronous
operation, so the database does not return control to the user until the operation has

Optimizing Access Paths with SQL Access Advisor 21-13

Using SQL Access Advisor: Basic Tasks

completed, or the database detects a user interrupt. After the return or execution of the
task, you can check the DBA_ADVISOR_LOG table for the execution status.
Running EXECUTE_TASK generates recommendations. A recommendation includes
one or more actions, such as creating a materialized view log or a materialized view.

Prerequisites and Restrictions

When processing a workload, SQL Access Advisor attempts to validate each statement
to identify table and column references. The database achieves validation by
processing each statement as if it were being executed by the statement's original user.
If the user does not have SELECT privileges to a particular table, then SQL Access
Advisor bypasses the statement referencing the table. This behavior can cause many
statements to be excluded from analysis. If SQL Access Advisor excludes all
statements in a workload, then the workload is invalid. SQL Access Advisor returns
the following message:
QSM-00774, there are no SQL statements to process for task TASK_NAME

To avoid missing critical workload queries, the current database user must have
SELECT privileges on the tables targeted for materialized view analysis. For these
tables, these SELECT privileges cannot be obtained through a role.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes that you want to execute the task you configured in “Creating
and Configuring a SQL Access Advisor Task”.

To create and configure a SQL Access Advisor task:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database as user sh, and then execute the task.
For example, execute the following statement:
EXECUTE DBMS_ADVISOR.EXECUTE_TASK(:task_name);

2. Optionally, query USER_ADVISOR_LOG to check the status of the task.

For example, execute the following statements (sample output included):
COL TASK_ID FORMAT 999
COL TASK_NAME FORMAT a25
COL STATUS_MESSAGE FORMAT a25

SELECT TASK_ID, TASK_NAME, STATUS, STATUS_MESSAGE

FROM USER_ADVISOR_LOG;

TASK_ID TASK_NAME STATUS STATUS_MESSAGE

------- ------------------------- ----------- -------------------------
103 MYTASK COMPLETED Access advisor execution
completed

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn more about the
EXECUTE_TASK procedure and its parameters

21-14 SQL Tuning Guide

 Using SQL Access Advisor: Basic Tasks

Viewing SQL Access Advisor Task Results

You can view each recommendation generated by SQL Access Advisor using several
data dictionary views, which are summarized in Table 21-2. However, it is easier to
use the DBMS_ADVISOR.GET_TASK_SCRIPT procedure or Cloud Control, which
graphically displays the recommendations and provides hyperlinks to quickly see
which SQL statements benefit from a recommendation.
Each recommendation produced by SQL Access Advisor is linked to the SQL
statement it benefits. Each recommendation corresponds to one or more actions. EAch
action has one or more attributes.
Each action has attributes pertaining to the access structure properties. The name and
tablespace for each applicable access structure are in the ATTR1 and ATTR2 columns of
USER_ADVISOR_ATTRIBUTES (see “Action Attributes in the
DBA_ADVISOR_ACTIONS View”). The space occupied by each new access structure
is in the NUM_ATTR1 column. Other attributes are different for each action.

Table 21-2 Views Showing Task Results

Data Dictionary View (DBA, USER) Description

DBA_ADVISOR_TASKS Displays information about advisor tasks. To

see SQL Access Advisor tasks, select where
ADVISOR_NAME = 'SQL Access
Advisor'.

DBA_ADVISOR_RECOMMENDATIONS Displays the results of an analysis of all

recommendations in the database. A
recommendation can have multiple actions
associated with it. The
DBA_ADVISOR_ACTIONS view describe the
actions. A recommendation also points to a
set of rationales that present a justification/
reasoning for that recommendation. The
DBA_ADVISOR_RATIONALE view describes
the rationales.

DBA_ADVISOR_ACTIONS Displays information about the actions

associated with all recommendations in the
database. Each action is specified by the
COMMAND and ATTR1 through ATTR6
columns. Each command defines how to use
the attribute columns.

DBA_ADVISOR_RATIONALE Displays information about the rationales for

all recommendations in the database.

DBA_ADVISOR_SQLA_WK_STMTS Displays information about all workload

objects in the database after a SQL Access
Advisor analysis. The precost and postcost
numbers are in terms of the estimated
optimizer cost (shown in EXPLAIN PLAN)
without and with the recommended access
structure.

Optimizing Access Paths with SQL Access Advisor 21-15

Using SQL Access Advisor: Basic Tasks

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes that you want to view results of the task you executed in
“Executing a SQL Access Advisor Task”.

To view the results of a SQL Access Advisor task:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then query
the advisor recommendations.
For example, execute the following statements (sample output included):
VARIABLE workload_name VARCHAR2(255);
VARIABLE task_name VARCHAR2(255);
EXECUTE :task_name := 'MYTASK';
EXECUTE :workload_name := 'MY_STS_WORKLOAD';

SELECT REC_ID, RANK, BENEFIT

FROM USER_ADVISOR_RECOMMENDATIONS
WHERE TASK_NAME = :task_name
ORDER BY RANK;

REC_ID RANK BENEFIT

---------- ---------- ----------
1 1 236
2 2 356

The preceding output shows the recommendations (rec_id) produced by an SQL

Access Advisor run, with their rank and total benefit. The rank is a measure of the
importance of the queries that the recommendation helps. The benefit is the total
improvement in execution cost (in terms of optimizer cost) of all queries using the
recommendation.

2. Identify which query benefits from which recommendation.

For example, execute the following query of USER_ADVISOR_SQLA_WK_STMTS
(sample output included):
SELECT SQL_ID, REC_ID, PRECOST, POSTCOST,
(PRECOST-POSTCOST)*100/PRECOST AS PERCENT_BENEFIT
FROM USER_ADVISOR_SQLA_WK_STMTS
WHERE TASK_NAME = :task_name
AND WORKLOAD_NAME = :workload_name
ORDER BY percent_benefit DESC;

SQL_ID REC_ID PRECOST POSTCOST PERCENT_BENEFIT

------------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------------
fn4bsxdm98w3u 2 578 222 61.5916955
29bbju72rv3t2 1 5750 5514 4.10434783
133ym38r6gbar 0 772 772 0

The precost and postcost numbers are in terms of the estimated optimizer cost
(shown in EXPLAIN PLAN) both without and with the recommended access
structure changes.

3. Display the number of distinct actions for this set of recommendations.

For example, use the following query (sample output included):
SELECT 'Action Count', COUNT(DISTINCT action_id) cnt
FROM USER_ADVISOR_ACTIONS
WHERE TASK_NAME = :task_name;

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 Using SQL Access Advisor: Basic Tasks

'ACTIONCOUNT CNT
------------ ----------
Action Count 4

4. Display the actions for this set of recommendations.

For example, use the following query (sample output included):
SELECT REC_ID, ACTION_ID, SUBSTR(COMMAND,1,30) AS command
FROM USER_ADVISOR_ACTIONS
WHERE TASK_NAME = :task_name
ORDER BY rec_id, action_id;

REC_ID ACTION_ID COMMAND

---------- ---------- ------------------------------
1 1 PARTITION TABLE
1 2 RETAIN INDEX
2 1 PARTITION TABLE
2 3 RETAIN INDEX
2 4 RETAIN INDEX

5. Display attributes of the recommendations.

For example, create the following PL/SQL procedure show_recm, and then
execute it to see attributes of the actions:
CREATE OR REPLACE PROCEDURE show_recm (in_task_name IN VARCHAR2) IS
CURSOR curs IS
SELECT DISTINCT action_id, command, attr1, attr2, attr3, attr4
FROM user_advisor_actions
WHERE task_name = in_task_name
ORDER BY action_id;
v_action number;
v_command VARCHAR2(32);
v_attr1 VARCHAR2(4000);
v_attr2 VARCHAR2(4000);
v_attr3 VARCHAR2(4000);
v_attr4 VARCHAR2(4000);
v_attr5 VARCHAR2(4000);
BEGIN
OPEN curs;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('=========================================');
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Task_name = ' || in_task_name);
LOOP
FETCH curs INTO
v_action, v_command, v_attr1, v_attr2, v_attr3, v_attr4 ;
EXIT when curs%NOTFOUND;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Action ID: ' || v_action);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Command : ' || v_command);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Attr1 (name) : ' || SUBSTR(v_attr1,1,30));
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Attr2 (tablespace): ' || SUBSTR(v_attr2,1,30));
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Attr3 : ' || SUBSTR(v_attr3,1,30));
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Attr4 : ' || v_attr4);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Attr5 : ' || v_attr5);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('----------------------------------------');
END LOOP;
CLOSE curs;
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('=========END RECOMMENDATIONS============');
END show_recm;
/

Optimizing Access Paths with SQL Access Advisor 21-17

Using SQL Access Advisor: Basic Tasks

SET SERVEROUTPUT ON SIZE 99999

EXECUTE show_recm(:task_name);

The following output shows attributes of actions in the recommendations:

=========================================
Task_name = MYTASK
Action ID: 1
Command : PARTITION TABLE
Attr1 (name) : "SH"."SALES"
Attr2 (tablespace):
Attr3 : ("TIME_ID")
Attr4 : INTERVAL
Attr5 :
----------------------------------------
Action ID: 2
Command : RETAIN INDEX
Attr1 (name) : "SH"."PRODUCTS_PK"
Attr2 (tablespace):
Attr3 : "SH"."PRODUCTS"
Attr4 : BTREE
Attr5 :
----------------------------------------
Action ID: 3
Command : RETAIN INDEX
Attr1 (name) : "SH"."TIMES_PK"
Attr2 (tablespace):
Attr3 : "SH"."TIMES"
Attr4 : BTREE
Attr5 :
----------------------------------------
Action ID: 4
Command : RETAIN INDEX
Attr1 (name) : "SH"."SALES_TIME_BIX"
Attr2 (tablespace):
Attr3 : "SH"."SALES"
Attr4 : BITMAP
Attr5 :
----------------------------------------
=========END RECOMMENDATIONS============

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for details regarding
Attr5 and Attr6

Generating and Executing a Task Script

You can use the procedure DBMS_ADVISOR.GET_TASK_SCRIPT to create a script of
the SQL statements for the SQL Access Advisor recommendations. The script is an
executable SQL file that can contain DROP, CREATE, and ALTER statements. For new
objects, the names of the materialized views, materialized view logs, and indexes are
automatically generated by using the user-specified name template. Review the
generated SQL script before attempting to execute it.

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 Using SQL Access Advisor: Basic Tasks

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes that you want to save and execute a script that contains the
recommendations generated in “Executing a SQL Access Advisor Task”.

To save and execute a SQL script:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database as an administrator.

2. Create a directory object and grant permissions to read and write to it.
For example, use the following statements:
CREATE DIRECTORY ADVISOR_RESULTS AS '/tmp';
GRANT READ ON DIRECTORY ADVISOR_RESULTS TO PUBLIC;
GRANT WRITE ON DIRECTORY ADVISOR_RESULTS TO PUBLIC;

3. Connect to the database as sh, and then save the script to a file.
For example, use the following statement:
EXECUTE DBMS_ADVISOR.CREATE_FILE(DBMS_ADVISOR.GET_TASK_SCRIPT('MYTASK'),
'ADVISOR_RESULTS', 'advscript.sql');

4. Use a text editor to view the contents of the script.

The following is a fragment of a script generated by this procedure:
Rem Username: SH
Rem Task: MYTASK
Rem Execution date:
Rem

Rem
Rem Repartitioning table "SH"."SALES"
Rem

SET SERVEROUTPUT ON
SET ECHO ON

Rem
Rem Creating new partitioned table
Rem
CREATE TABLE "SH"."SALES1"
( "PROD_ID" NUMBER,
"CUST_ID" NUMBER,
"TIME_ID" DATE,
"CHANNEL_ID" NUMBER,
"PROMO_ID" NUMBER,
"QUANTITY_SOLD" NUMBER(10,2),
"AMOUNT_SOLD" NUMBER(10,2)
) PCTFREE 5 PCTUSED 40 INITRANS 1 MAXTRANS 255
NOCOMPRESS NOLOGGING
TABLESPACE "EXAMPLE"
PARTITION BY RANGE ("TIME_ID") INTERVAL( NUMTOYMINTERVAL( 1, 'MONTH'))
( PARTITION VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE(' 1998-02-01 00:00:00',
'SYYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS', 'NLS_CALENDAR=GREGORIAN')) );
.
.
.

5. Optionally, in SQL*Plus, run the SQL script.

Optimizing Access Paths with SQL Access Advisor 21-19

Performing a SQL Access Advisor Quick Tune

For example, enter the following command:

@/tmp/advscript.sql

See Also:
Oracle Database SQL Language Reference for CREATE DIRECTORY syntax, and
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
GET_TASK_SCRIPT procedure

Performing a SQL Access Advisor Quick Tune

To tune a single SQL statement, the DBMS_ADVISOR.QUICK_TUNE procedure accepts
as its input a task_name and a single SQL statement. The procedure creates a task
and workload and executes this task. EXECUTE_TASK and QUICK_TUNE produce the
same results. However, QUICK_TUNE is easier when tuning a single SQL statement.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You want to tune a single SQL statement.

• You want to name the task MY_QUICKTUNE_TASK.

To create a template and base a task on this template:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database as user sh, and then initialize SQL*Plus
variables for the SQL statement and task name.
For example, enter the following commands:
VARIABLE t_name VARCHAR2(255);
VARIABLE sq VARCHAR2(4000);
EXEC :sq := 'SELECT COUNT(*) FROM customers WHERE cust_state_province =''CA''';
EXECUTE :t_name := 'MY_QUICKTUNE_TASK';

2. Perform the quick tune.

For example, the following statement executes MY_QUICKTUNE_TASK:
EXEC DBMS_ADVISOR.QUICK_TUNE(DBMS_ADVISOR.SQLACCESS_ADVISOR,:t_name,:sq);

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn more about the
QUICK_TUNE procedure and its parameters

Using SQL Access Advisor: Advanced Tasks

This section contains the following topics:

• Evaluating Existing Access Structures

• Updating SQL Access Advisor Task Attributes

• Creating and Using SQL Access Advisor Task Templates

21-20 SQL Tuning Guide

 Using SQL Access Advisor: Advanced Tasks

• Terminating SQL Access Advisor Task Execution

• Deleting SQL Access Advisor Tasks

• Marking SQL Access Advisor Recommendations

• Modifying SQL Access Advisor Recommendations

Evaluating Existing Access Structures

SQL Access Advisor operates in two modes: problem-solving and evaluation. By
default, SQL Access Advisor attempts to solve access method problems by looking for
enhancements to index structures, partitions, materialized views, and materialized
view logs. For example, a problem-solving run may recommend creating a new index,
adding a new column to a materialized view log, and so on.
When you set the ANALYSIS_SCOPE parameter to EVALUATION, SQL Access Advisor
comments only on which access structures the supplied workload uses. An
evaluation-only run may only produce recommendations such as retaining an index,
retaining a materialized view, and so on. The evaluation mode can be useful to see
exactly which indexes and materialized views a workload is using. SQL Access
Advisor does not evaluate the performance impact of existing base table partitioning.

To create a task and set it to evaluation mode:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then create
a task.
For example, enter the following statement, where t_name is a SQL*Plus variable
set to the name of the task:
EXECUTE DBMS_ADVISOR.EXECUTE_TASK(:t_name);

2. Perform the quick tune.

For example, the following statement sets the previous task to evaluation mode:
EXECUTE DBMS_ADVISOR.SET_TASK_PARAMETER(:t_name,'ANALYSIS_SCOPE','EVALUATION');

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
SET_TASK_PARAMETER procedure and its parameters

Updating SQL Access Advisor Task Attributes

You can use the DBMS_ADVISOR.UPDATE_TASK_ATTRIBUTES procedure to do the
following:

• Change the name of a task.

• Give a task a description.

• Set the task to be read-only so it cannot be changed.

• Make the task a template upon which you can define other tasks (see “Creating and
Using SQL Access Advisor Task Templates”).

• Changes various attributes of a task or a task template.

Optimizing Access Paths with SQL Access Advisor 21-21

Using SQL Access Advisor: Advanced Tasks

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You want to change the name of existing task MYTASK to TUNING1.

• You want to make the task TUNING1 read-only.

To update task attributes:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database as user sh, and then change the name of the
task.
For example, use the following statement:
EXECUTE DBMS_ADVISOR.UPDATE_TASK_ATTRIBUTES('MYTASK', 'TUNING1');

2. Set the task to read-only.

For example, use the following statement:
EXECUTE DBMS_ADVISOR.UPDATE_TASK_ATTRIBUTES('TUNING1',
read_only => 'true');

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for more information
regarding the UPDATE_TASK_ATTRIBUTES procedure and its parameters

Creating and Using SQL Access Advisor Task Templates

A task template is a saved configuration on which to base future tasks and workloads.
A template enables you to set up any number of tasks or workloads that can serve as
starting points or templates for future task creation. By setting up a template, you can
save time when performing tuning analysis. This approach also enables you to custom
fit a tuning analysis to the business operation.
Physically, there is no difference between a task and a template. However, a template
cannot be executed. To create a task from a template, you specify the template to be
used when a new task is created. At that time, SQL Access Advisor copies the data and
parameter settings from the template into the newly created task. You can also set an
existing task to be a template by setting the template attribute when creating the task
or later using the UPDATE_TASK_ATTRIBUTE procedure.
Table 21-3 describes procedures that you can use to manage task templates.

Table 21-3 DBMS_ADVISOR Procedures for Task Templates

Procedure Description

CREATE_TASK The template parameter is an optional task name of an

existing task or task template. To specify built-in SQL Access
Advisor templates, use the template name as described in
Table 21-6. is_template is an optional parameter that
enables you to set the newly created task as a template. Valid
values are true and false.

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 Using SQL Access Advisor: Advanced Tasks

Table 21-3 (Cont.) DBMS_ADVISOR Procedures for Task Templates

Procedure Description

SET_TASK_PARAMETER The INDEX_NAME_TEMPLATE parameter specifies the

method by which new index names are formed. The
MVIEW_NAME_TEMPLATE parameter specifies the method by
which new materialized view names are formed. The
PARTITION_NAME_TEMPLATE parameter specifies the
method by which new partition names are formed. See Oracle
Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to for task
parameter descriptions.

UPDATE_TASK_ATTRIBUTES is_template marks the task as a template. Physically, there

is no difference between a task and a template; however, a
template cannot be executed. Possible values are: true and
false. If the value is NULL or contains the value
ADVISOR_UNUSED, then the setting is not changed.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You want to create a template named MY_TEMPLATE.

• You want to set naming conventions for indexes and materialized views that are
recommended by tasks based on MY_TEMPLATE.

• You want to create task NEWTASK based on MY_TEMPLATE.

To create a template and base a task on this template:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database as user sh, and then create a task as a template.
For example, create a template named MY_TEMPLATE as follows:
VARIABLE template_id NUMBER;
VARIABLE template_name VARCHAR2(255);
EXECUTE :template_name := 'MY_TEMPLATE';
BEGIN
DBMS_ADVISOR.CREATE_TASK (
'SQL Access Advisor'
, :template_id
, :template_name
, is_template => 'true'
);
END;

2. Set template parameters.

For example, the following statements set the naming conventions for
recommended indexes and materialized views:
-- set naming conventions for recommended indexes/mvs
BEGIN
DBMS_ADVISOR.SET_TASK_PARAMETER (
:template_name
, 'INDEX_NAME_TEMPLATE'
, 'SH_IDX$$_<SEQ>'

Optimizing Access Paths with SQL Access Advisor 21-23

Using SQL Access Advisor: Advanced Tasks

);
END;

BEGIN
DBMS_ADVISOR.SET_TASK_PARAMETER (
:template_name
, 'MVIEW_NAME_TEMPLATE'
, 'SH_MV$$_<SEQ>'
);
END;

3. Create a task based on a pre-existing template.

For example, enter the following commands to create NEWTASK based on
MY_TEMPLATE:
VARIABLE task_id NUMBER;
VARIABLE task_name VARCHAR2(255);
EXECUTE :task_name := 'NEWTASK';
BEGIN
DBMS_ADVISOR.CREATE_TASK (
'SQL Access Advisor'
, :task_id
, :task_name
, template=>'MY_TEMPLATE'
);
END;

See Also:

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
CREATE_TASK procedure and its parameters

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
SET_TASK_PARAMETER procedure and its parameters

Terminating SQL Access Advisor Task Execution

SQL Access Advisor enables you to interrupt the recommendation process or allow it
to complete. An interruption signals SQL Access Advisor to stop processing and
marks the task as INTERRUPTED. At that point, you may update recommendation
attributes and generate scripts.
Intermediate results represent recommendations for the workload contents up to that
point in time. If recommendations must be sensitive to the entire workload, then
Oracle recommends that you let the task complete. Additionally, recommendations
made by the advisor early in the recommendation process do not contain base table
partitioning recommendations. The partitioning analysis requires a large part of the
workload to be processed before it can determine whether partitioning would be
beneficial. Therefore, if SQL Access Advisor detects a benefit, then only later
intermediate results contain base table partitioning recommendations.
This section describes two ways to terminate SQL Access Advisor task execution:

• Interrupting SQL Access Advisor Tasks

• Canceling SQL Access Advisor Tasks

21-24 SQL Tuning Guide

 Using SQL Access Advisor: Advanced Tasks

Interrupting SQL Access Advisor Tasks

The DBMS_ADVISOR.INTERRUPT_TASK procedure causes a SQL Access Advisor task
execution to terminate as if it had reached its normal end. Thus, you can see any
recommendations that have been formed up to the point of the interruption. An
interrupted task cannot be restarted. The syntax is as follows:
DBMS_ADVISOR.INTERRUPT_TASK (task_name IN VARCHAR2);

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• Long-running task MYTASK is currently executing.

• You want to interrupt this task, and then view the recommendations.

To interrupt a currently executing task:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database as sh, and then interrupt the task.
For example, create a template named MY_TEMPLATE as follows:
EXECUTE DBMS_ADVISOR.INTERRUPT_TASK ('MYTASK');

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
INTERRUPT_TASK procedure

Canceling SQL Access Advisor Tasks

You can stop task execution by calling the DBMS_ADVISOR.CANCEL_TASK procedure
and passing in the task name for this recommendation process. SQL Access Advisor
may take a few seconds to respond to this request. Because all advisor task procedures
are synchronous, to cancel an operation, you must use a separate database session. If
you use CANCEL_TASK, then SQL Access Advisor makes no recommendations.
A cancel command effective restores the task to its condition before the start of the
canceled operation. Therefore, a canceled task or data object cannot be restarted.
However, you can reset the task using DBMS_ADVISOR.RESET_TASK, and then
execute it again. The CANCEL_TASK syntax is as follows:
DBMS_ADVISOR.CANCEL_TASK (task_name IN VARCHAR2);

The RESET_TASK procedure resets a task to its initial starting point, which has the
effect of removing all recommendations and intermediate data from the task. The task
status is set to INITIAL. The syntax is as follows:
DBMS_ADVISOR.RESET_TASK (task_name IN VARCHAR2);

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• Long-running task MYTASK is currently executing. This task is set to make

partitioning recommendations.

Optimizing Access Paths with SQL Access Advisor 21-25

Using SQL Access Advisor: Advanced Tasks

• You want to cancel this task, and then reset it so that the task makes only index
recommendations.

To cancel a currently executing task:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database as user sh, and then cancel the task.
For example, create a template named MY_TEMPLATE as follows:
EXECUTE DBMS_ADVISOR.CANCEL_TASK ('MYTASK');

2. Reset the task.

For example, execute the RESET_TASK procedure as follows:
EXECUTE DBMS_ADVISOR.RESET_TASK('MYTASK');

3. Set task parameters.

For example, change the analysis scope to INDEX as follows:
EXECUTE DBMS_ADVISOR.SET_TASK_PARAMETER(:task_name, 'ANALYSIS_SCOPE', 'INDEX');

4. Execute the task.

For example, execute MYTASK as follows:
EXECUTE DBMS_ADVISOR.EXECUTE_TASK ('MYTASK');

See Also:

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn more about the
RESET_TASK procedure and its parameters

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn more about the
CANCEL_TASK procedure and its parameters

Deleting SQL Access Advisor Tasks

The DBMS_ADVISOR.DELETE_TASK procedure deletes existing SQL Access Advisor
tasks from the repository. The syntax is as follows:
DBMS_ADVISOR.DELETE_TASK (task_name IN VARCHAR2);

If a task is linked to an STS workload, and if you want to delete the task or workload,
then you must remove the link between the task and the workload using the
DELETE_STS_REF procedure. The following example deletes the link between task
MYTASK and the current user's SQL tuning set MY_STS_WORKLOAD:
EXECUTE DBMS_ADVISOR.DELETE_STS_REF('MYTASK', null, 'MY_STS_WORKLOAD');

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• User sh currently owns multiple SQL Access Advisor tasks.

• You want to delete MYTASK.

• The task MYTASK is currently linked to workload MY_STS_WORKLOAD.

21-26 SQL Tuning Guide

 Using SQL Access Advisor: Advanced Tasks

To delete a SQL Access Advisor task:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database as user sh, and then query existing SQL Access
Advisor tasks.
For example, query the data dictionary as follows (sample output included):
SELECT TASK_NAME
FROM USER_ADVISOR_TASKS
WHERE ADVISOR_NAME = 'SQL Access Advisor';

TASK_NAME
-------------------------
MYTASK
NEWTASK

2. Delete the link between MYTASK and MY_STS_WORKLOAD.

For example, delete the reference as follows:
EXECUTE DBMS_ADVISOR.DELETE_STS_REF('MYTASK', null, 'MY_STS_WORKLOAD');

3. Delete the desired task.

For example, delete MYTASK as follows:
EXECUTE DBMS_ADVISOR.DELETE_TASK('MYTASK');

See Also:

olink:REFRN10141olink:ARPLSOracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types

Reference to learn more about the DELETE_TASK procedure and its parameters

Marking SQL Access Advisor Recommendations

By default, all SQL Access Advisor recommendations are ready to be implemented.
However, you can choose to skip or exclude selected recommendations by using the
DBMS_ADVISOR.MARK_RECOMMENDATION procedure. MARK_RECOMMENDATION
enables you to annotate a recommendation with a REJECT or IGNORE setting, which
causes the GET_TASK_SCRIPT to skip it when producing the implementation
procedure.
If SQL Access Advisor makes a recommendation to partition one or multiple
previously unpartitioned base tables, then consider carefully before skipping this
recommendation. Changing a table's partitioning scheme affects the cost of all queries,
indexes, and materialized views defined on the table. Therefore, if you skip the
partitioning recommendation, then the advisor's remaining recommendations on this
table are no longer optimal. To see recommendations on your workload that do not
contain partitioning, reset the advisor task and rerun it with the ANALYSIS_SCOPE
parameter changed to exclude partitioning recommendations.
The syntax is as follows:
DBMS_ADVISOR.MARK_RECOMMENDATION (
task_name IN VARCHAR2
id IN NUMBER,
action IN VARCHAR2);

Optimizing Access Paths with SQL Access Advisor 21-27

Using SQL Access Advisor: Advanced Tasks

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You are reviewing the recommendations as described in tutorial “Viewing SQL

Access Advisor Task Results”.

• You want to reject the first recommendation, which partitions a table.

To mark a recommendation:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database as user sh, and then mark the
recommendation.
For example, reject recommendation 1 as follows:
EXECUTE DBMS_ADVISOR.MARK_RECOMMENDATION('MYTASK', 1, 'REJECT');

This recommendation and any dependent recommendations do not appear in the

script.

2. Generate the script as explained in “Generating and Executing a Task Script”.

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn more about the
MARK_RECOMMENDATIONS procedure and its parameters

Modifying SQL Access Advisor Recommendations

Using the UPDATE_REC_ATTRIBUTES procedure, SQL Access Advisor names and
assigns ownership to new objects such as indexes and materialized views during
analysis. However, it does not necessarily choose appropriate names, so you may
manually set the owner, name, and tablespace values for new objects. For
recommendations referencing existing database objects, owner and name values
cannot be changed. The syntax is as follows:
DBMS_ADVISOR.UPDATE_REC_ATTRIBUTES (
task_name IN VARCHAR2
rec_id IN NUMBER,
action_id IN NUMBER,
attribute_name IN VARCHAR2,
value IN VARCHAR2);

The attribute_name parameter can take the following values:

• OWNER
Specifies the owner name of the recommended object.

• NAME
Specifies the name of the recommended object.

• TABLESPACE
Specifies the tablespace of the recommended object.

21-28 SQL Tuning Guide

 SQL Access Advisor Examples

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You are reviewing the recommendations as described in tutorial “Viewing SQL

Access Advisor Task Results”.

• You want to change the tablespace for recommendation 1, action 1 to SH_MVIEWS.

To mark a recommendation:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database as user sh, and then update the
recommendation attribute.
For example, change the tablespace name to SH_MVIEWS as follows:
BEGIN
DBMS_ADVISOR.UPDATE_REC_ATTRIBUTES (
'MYTASK'
, 1
, 1
, 'TABLESPACE'
, 'SH_MVIEWS'
);
END;

2. Generate the script as explained in “Generating and Executing a Task Script”.

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn more about the
UPDATE_REC_ATTRIBUTES procedure and its parameters

SQL Access Advisor Examples

Oracle Database provides a script that contains several SQL Access Advisor examples
that you can run on a test database. The script is named ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/
demo/aadvdemo.sql.

SQL Access Advisor Reference

This section contains the following topics:

• Action Attributes in the DBA_ADVISOR_ACTIONS View

• Categories for SQL Access Advisor Task Parameters

• SQL Access Advisor Constants

Action Attributes in the DBA_ADVISOR_ACTIONS View

Table 21-4 maps SQL Access Advisor actions to attribute columns in the
DBA_ADVISOR_ACTIONS view. In the table, MV refers to a materialized view.

Table 21-4 SQL Access Advisor Action Attributes

Optimizing Access Paths with SQL Access Advisor 21-29

SQL Access Advisor Reference

Table 21-4 (Cont.) SQL Access Advisor Action Attributes

Action ATTR1 ATTR2 ATTR3 ATTR4 ATTR5 ATTR6 NUM_ATT

Column Column Column Column Column Column R1
Column
CREATE Index Index Target table BITMAP Index Unused Storage
INDEX name tablespace orBTREE column size in
list / bytes for
expression the index

CREATE MV name MV REFRESH ENABLE SQL Unused Storage

MATERIAL tablespace COMPLETE, QUERY SELECT size in
IZED VIEW REFRESH REWRITE, statement bytes for
FAST,REFR DISABLE the MV
ESH QUERY
FORCE, REWRITE
NEVER
REFRESH

CREATE Target MV log ROWID INCLUDING Table Partitioning Unused

MATERIAL table name tablespace PRIMARY NEW column list subclauses
IZED VIEW KEY,SEQUE VALUES,
LOG NCE EXCLUDING
OBJECT ID NEW
VALUES

CREATE Name of Checksum Unused Unused Source SQL Equivalent Unused

REWRITE equivalenc value statement SQL
EQUIVALE e statement
NCE

DROP Index Unused Unused Unused Index Unused Storage

INDEX name columns size in
bytes for
the index

DROP MV name Unused Unused Unused Unused Unused Storage

MATERIAL size in
IZED VIEW bytes for
the MV

DROP Target Unused Unused Unused Unused Unused Unused

MATERIAL table name
IZED VIEW
LOG

PARTITIO Table RANGE, Partition Partition SQL SQL Unused

N TABLE name INTERVAL, key for key for PARTITION SUBPARTIT
LIST, HASH, partitioning subpartition clause ION clause
RANGE- (column ing (column
HASH, name or list name or list
RANGE- of column of column
LIST names) names)

21-30 SQL Tuning Guide

 SQL Access Advisor Reference

Table 21-4 (Cont.) SQL Access Advisor Action Attributes

Action ATTR1 ATTR2 ATTR3 ATTR4 ATTR5 ATTR6 NUM_ATT

Column Column Column Column Column Column R1
Column
PARTITIO Index LOCAL, Partition Unused SQL Unused Unused
N INDEX name RANGE, HASH key for PARTITION
partitioning clause
(list of
column
names)

PARTITIO MV name RANGE, Partition Partition SQL SQL Unused

N ON INTERVAL, key for key for SUBPARTIT SUBPARTIT
MATERIAL LIST, HASH, partitioning subpartition ION clause ION clause
IZED VIEW RANGE- (column ing (column
HASH, name or list name or list
RANGE- of column of column
LIST names) names)

RETAIN Index Unused Target table BITMAP or Index Unused Storage

INDEX name BTREE columns size in
bytes for
the index

RETAIN MV name Unused REFRESH Unused SQL Unused Storage

MATERIAL COMPLETE SELECT size in
IZED VIEW or REFRESH statement bytes for
FAST the MV

RETAIN Target Unused Unused Unused Unused Unused Unused

MATERIAL table name
IZED VIEW
LOG

Categories for SQL Access Advisor Task Parameters

Table 21-5 groups the most relevant SQL Access Advisor task parameters into
categories. All task parameters for workload filtering are deprecated.

Table 21-5 Types of Advisor Task Parameters And Their Uses

Workload Filtering Task Configuration Schema Attributes Recommendation

Options
END_TIME DAYS_TO_EXPIRE DEF_INDEX_OWNER ANALYSIS_SCOPE

INVALID_ACTION_LIST JOURNALING DEF_INDEX_TABLESPAC COMPATIBILITY

E

INVALID_MODULE_LIST REPORT_DATE_FORMA DEF_MVIEW_OWNER CREATION_COST

T

INVALID_SQLSTRING_LIMI DEF_MVIEW_TABLESPAC DML_VOLATILITY

T E

INVALID_TABLE_LIST DEF_MVLOG_TABLESPAC LIMIT_PARTITION_SCH

E EMES

Optimizing Access Paths with SQL Access Advisor 21-31

SQL Access Advisor Reference

Table 21-5 (Cont.) Types of Advisor Task Parameters And Their Uses

Workload Filtering Task Configuration Schema Attributes Recommendation

Options
INVALID_USERNAME_LIST DEF_PARTITION_TABLE MODE
SPACE

RANKING_MEASURE INDEX_NAME_TEMPLATE PARTITIONING_TYPES

SQL_LIMIT MVIEW_NAME_TEMPLATE REFRESH_MODE

START_TIME STORAGE_CHANGE

TIME_LIMIT USE_SEPARATE_TABLES
PACES

VALID_ACTION_LIST WORKLOAD_SCOPE

VALID_MODULE_LIST

VALID_SQLSTRING_LIST

VALID_TABLE_LIST

VALID_USERNAME_LIST

SQL Access Advisor Constants

You can use the constants shown in Table 21-6 with SQL Access Advisor.

Table 21-6 SQL Access Advisor Constants

Constant Description

ADVISOR_ALL A value that indicates all possible values. For string parameters,
this value is equivalent to the wildcard % character.

ADVISOR_CURRENT Indicates the current time or active set of elements. Typically,

this is used in time parameters.

ADVISOR_DEFAULT Indicates the default value. Typically used when setting task or
workload parameters.

ADVISOR_UNLIMITED A value that represents an unlimited numeric value.

ADVISOR_UNUSED A value that represents an unused entity. When a parameter is

set to ADVISOR_UNUSED, it has no effect on the current
operation. A typical use for this constant is to set a parameter as
unused for its dependent operations.

SQLACCESS_GENERAL Specifies the name of a default SQL Access general-purpose task

template. This template sets the DML_VOLATILITY task
parameter to true and ANALYSIS_SCOPE to INDEX, MVIEW.

SQLACCESS_OLTP Specifies the name of a default SQL Access OLTP task template.
This template sets the DML_VOLATILITY task parameter to true
and ANALYSIS_SCOPE to INDEX.

21-32 SQL Tuning Guide

 SQL Access Advisor Reference

Table 21-6 (Cont.) SQL Access Advisor Constants

Constant Description

SQLACCESS_WAREHOUSE Specifies the name of a default SQL Access warehouse task

template. This template sets the DML_VOLATILITY task
parameter to false and EXECUTION_TYPE to INDEX, MVIEW.

SQLACCESS_ADVISOR Contains the formal name of SQL Access Advisor. You can
specify this name when procedures require the Advisor name as
an argument.

Optimizing Access Paths with SQL Access Advisor 21-33

SQL Access Advisor Reference

21-34 SQL Tuning Guide

 Part IX
SQL Controls

This part explains how to manage SQL profiles and SQL plan baselines, and migrate
stored outlines to SQL plan baselines.
contains the following chapters:

• Managing SQL Profiles

• Managing SQL Plan Baselines

• Migrating Stored Outlines to SQL Plan Baselines

 22
Managing SQL Profiles

This chapter contains the following topics:

• About SQL Profiles

• Implementing a SQL Profile

• Listing SQL Profiles

• Altering a SQL Profile

• Dropping a SQL Profile

• Transporting a SQL Profile

About SQL Profiles

A SQL profile is a database object that contains auxiliary statistics specific to a SQL
statement. Conceptually, a SQL profile is to a SQL statement what object-level
statistics are to a table or index. SQL profiles are created when a DBA invokes SQL
Tuning Advisor (see “About SQL Tuning Advisor”).
This section contains the following topics:

• Purpose of SQL Profiles

• Concepts for SQL Profiles

• User Interfaces for SQL Profiles

• Basic Tasks for SQL Profiles

Purpose of SQL Profiles

When profiling a SQL statement, SQL Tuning Advisor uses a specific set of bind
values as input, and then compares the optimizer estimate with values obtained by
executing fragments of the statement on a data sample. When significant variances are
found, SQL Tuning Advisor bundles corrective actions together in a SQL profile, and
then recommends its acceptance.
The corrected statistics in a SQL profile can improve optimizer cardinality estimates,
which in turn leads the optimizer to select better plans. SQL profiles provide the
following benefits over other techniques for improving plans:

• Unlike hints and stored outlines, SQL profiles do not tie the optimizer to a specific
plan or subplan. SQL profiles fix incorrect estimates while giving the optimizer the
flexibility to pick the best plan in different situations.

Managing SQL Profiles 22-1

About SQL Profiles

• Unlike hints, no changes to application source code are necessary when using SQL
profiles. The use of SQL profiles by the database is transparent to the user.

See Also:
“Influencing the Optimizer with Hints”

Concepts for SQL Profiles

A SQL profile is a collection of auxiliary statistics on a query, including all tables and
columns referenced in the query. The profile stores this information in the data
dictionary. The optimizer uses this information at optimization time to determine the
correct plan.

Note:

The SQL profile contains supplemental statistics for the entire statement, not
individual plans. The profile does not itself determine a specific plan.

A SQL profile contains, among other statistics, a set of cardinality adjustments. The
cardinality measure is based on sampling the WHERE clause rather than on statistical
projection. A profile uses parts of the query to determine whether the estimated
cardinalities are close to the actual cardinalities and, if a mismatch exists, uses the
corrected cardinalities. For example, if a SQL profile exists for SELECT * FROM t
WHERE x=5 AND y=10, then the profile stores the actual number of rows returned.
When choosing plans, the optimizer has the following sources of information:

• The environment, which contains the database configuration, bind variable values,
optimizer statistics, data set, and so on

• The supplemental statistics in the SQL profile

Figure 22-1 shows the relationship between a SQL statement and the SQL profile for
this statement. The optimizer uses the SQL profile and the environment to generate an
execution plan. In this example, the plan is in the SQL plan baseline for the statement.

Figure 22-1 SQL Profile

SQL Statement SQL Profile Optimizer
SQL Plan Baseline

SELECT . . . GB

HJ
HJ

Environment GB
Optimizer
Statistics Data NL
Set NL
Bind Configuration
Variables

If either the optimizer environment or SQL profile change, then the optimizer can
create a new plan. As tables grow, or as indexes are created or dropped, the plan for a
SQL profile can change. The profile continues to be relevant even if the data

22-2 SQL Tuning Guide

 About SQL Profiles

distribution or access path of the corresponding statement changes. In general, you do

not need to refresh SQL profiles.
Over time, profile content can become outdated. In this case, performance of the SQL
statement may degrade. The statement may appear as high-load or top SQL. In this
case, the Automatic SQL Tuning task again captures the statement as high-load SQL.
You can implement a new SQL profile for the statement.
Internally, a SQL profile is implemented using hints that address different types of
problems. These hints do not specify any particular plan. Rather, the hints correct
errors in the optimizer estimation algorithm that lead to suboptimal plans. For
example, a profile may use the TABLE_STATS hint to set object statistics for tables
when the statistics are missing or stale.

See Also:

• “Differences Between SQL Plan Baselines and SQL Profiles”

• “Introduction to Optimizer Statistics”

SQL Profile Recommendations

As explained in “SQL Profiling”, SQL Tuning Advisor invokes Automatic Tuning
Optimizer to generate SQL profile recommendations. Recommendations to implement
SQL profiles occur in a finding, which appears in a separate section of the SQL Tuning
Advisor report.
When you implement (or accept) a SQL profile, the database creates the profile and
stores it persistently in the data dictionary. However, the SQL profile information is
not exposed through regular dictionary views.

See Also:

• Oracle Database VLDB and Partitioning Guide to learn more about Auto DOP

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_SQLTUNE.ACCEPT_SQL_PROFILE procedure

Example 22-1 SQL Profile Recommendation

In this example, the database found a better plan for a SELECT statement that uses
several expensive joins. The database recommends running
DBMS_SQLTUNE.ACCEPT_SQL_PROFILE to implement the profile, which enables the
statement to run 98.53% faster.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FINDINGS SECTION (2 findings)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1- SQL Profile Finding (see explain plans section below)

--------------------------------------------------------
A potentially better execution plan was found for this statement. Choose
one of the following SQL profiles to implement.

Recommendation (estimated benefit: 99.45%)

Managing SQL Profiles 22-3

About SQL Profiles

------------------------------------------
- Consider accepting the recommended SQL profile.
execute dbms_sqltune.accept_sql_profile(task_name => 'my_task',
object_id => 3, task_owner => 'SH', replace => TRUE);

Validation results
------------------
The SQL profile was tested by executing both its plan and the original plan
and measuring their respective execution statistics. A plan may have been
only partially executed if the other could be run to completion in less time.

Original Plan With SQL Profile % Improved

------------- ---------------- ----------
Completion Status: PARTIAL COMPLETE
Elapsed Time(us): 15467783 226902 98.53 %
CPU Time(us): 15336668 226965 98.52 %
User I/O Time(us): 0 0
Buffer Gets: 3375243 18227 99.45 %
Disk Reads: 0 0
Direct Writes: 0 0
Rows Processed: 0 109
Fetches: 0 109
Executions: 0 1

Notes
-----
1. The SQL profile plan was first executed to warm the buffer cache.
2. Statistics for the SQL profile plan were averaged over next 3 executions.

Sometimes SQL Tuning Advisor may recommend implementing a profile that uses the
Automatic Degree of Parallelism (Auto DOP) feature. A parallel query profile is only
recommended when the original plan is serial and when parallel execution can
significantly reduce the elapsed time for a long-running query.
When it recommends a profile that uses Auto DOP, SQL Tuning Advisor gives details
about the performance overhead of using parallel execution for the SQL statement in
the report. For parallel execution recommendations, SQL Tuning Advisor may provide
two SQL profile recommendations, one using serial execution and one using parallel.
The following example shows a parallel query recommendation. In this example, a
degree of parallelism of 7 improves response time significantly at the cost of increasing
resource consumption by almost 25%. You must decide whether the reduction in
database throughput is worth the increase in response time.
Recommendation (estimated benefit: 99.99%)
------------------------------------------
- Consider accepting the recommended SQL profile to use parallel execution
for this statement.
execute dbms_sqltune.accept_sql_profile(task_name => 'gfk_task',
object_id => 3, task_owner => 'SH', replace => TRUE,
profile_type => DBMS_SQLTUNE.PX_PROFILE);

Executing this query parallel with DOP 7 will improve its response time
82.22% over the SQL profile plan. However, there is some cost in enabling
parallel execution. It will increase the statement's resource consumption by
an estimated 24.43% which may result in a reduction of system throughput.
Also, because these resources are consumed over a much smaller duration, the
response time of concurrent statements might be negatively impacted if
sufficient hardware capacity is not available.

The following data shows some sampled statistics for this SQL from the past

22-4 SQL Tuning Guide

 About SQL Profiles

week and projected weekly values when parallel execution is enabled.

Past week sampled statistics for this SQL

-----------------------------------------
Number of executions 0
Percent of total activity .29
Percent of samples with #Active Sessions > 2*CPU 0
Weekly DB time (in sec) 76.51

Projected statistics with Parallel Execution

--------------------------------------------
Weekly DB time (in sec) 95.21

SQL Profiles and SQL Plan Baselines

You can use SQL profiles with or without SQL plan management. No strict
relationship exists between the SQL profile and the plan baseline. If a statement has
multiple plans in a SQL plan baseline, then a SQL profile is useful because it enables
the optimizer to choose the lowest-cost plan in the baseline.

See Also:

Managing SQL Plan Baselines

User Interfaces for SQL Profiles

Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control (Cloud Control) usually handles SQL
profiles as part of automatic SQL tuning.
On the command line, you can manage SQL profiles with the DBMS_SQLTUNE
package. To use the APIs, you must have the ADMINISTER SQL MANAGEMENT
OBJECT privilege.

See Also:

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for information about
the DBMS_SQLTUNE package

• Oracle Database 2 Day + Performance Tuning Guide to learn how to manage

SQL profiles with Cloud Control

Basic Tasks for SQL Profiles

This section explains the basic tasks involved in managing SQL profiles. Figure 22-2
shows the basic workflow for implementing, altering, and dropping SQL profiles.

Managing SQL Profiles 22-5

Implementing a SQL Profile

Figure 22-2 Managing SQL Profiles

DBMS_SQLTUNE. Implement a
ACCEPT_SQL_PROFILE SQL Profile

Alter a SQL Profile List SQL Profiles

DBMS_SQLTUNE.
DBA_SQL_PROFILES
ALTER_SQL_PROFILE

Drop a SQL Profile

DBMS_SQLTUNE.DROP_SQL_PROFILE

Typically, you manage SQL profiles in the following sequence:

1. Implement a recommended SQL profile.

“Implementing a SQL Profile” describes this task.

2. Obtain information about SQL profiles stored in the database.

“Listing SQL Profiles” describes this task.

3. Optionally, modify the implemented SQL profile.

“Altering a SQL Profile” describes this task.

4. Drop the implemented SQL profile when it is no longer needed.

“Dropping a SQL Profile” describes this task.
To tune SQL statements on another database, you can transport both a SQL tuning set
and a SQL profile to a separate database. “Transporting a SQL Profile” describes this
task.

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for information about the
DBMS_SQLTUNE package

Implementing a SQL Profile

Implementing (also known as accepting) a SQL profile means storing it persistently in
the database. A profile must be implemented before the optimizer can use it as input
when generating plans.

22-6 SQL Tuning Guide

 Implementing a SQL Profile

About SQL Profile Implementation

As a rule of thumb, implement a SQL profile recommended by SQL Tuning Advisor. If
the database recommends both an index and a SQL profile, then either use both or use
the SQL profile only. If you create an index, then the optimizer may need the profile to
pick the new index.
In some situations, SQL Tuning Advisor may find an improved serial plan in addition
to an even better parallel plan. In this case, the advisor recommends both a standard
and a parallel SQL profile, enabling you to choose between the best serial and best
parallel plan for the statement. Implement a parallel plan only if the increase in
response time is worth the decrease in throughput.
To implement a SQL profile, execute the DBMS_SQLTUNE.ACCEPT_SQL_PROFILE
procedure. Some important parameters are as follows:

• profile_type
Set this parameter to REGULAR_PROFILE for a SQL profile without a change to
parallel execution, or PX_PROFLE for a SQL profile with a change to parallel
execution.

• force_match
This parameter controls statement matching. Typically, an accepted SQL profile is
associated with the SQL statement through a SQL signature that is generated using
a hash function. This hash function changes the SQL statement to upper case and
removes all extra whites spaces before generating the signature. Thus, the same
SQL profile works for all SQL statements in which the only difference is case and
white spaces.
By setting force_match to true, the SQL profile additionally targets all SQL
statements that have the same text after the literal values in the WHERE clause have
been replaced by bind variables. This setting may be useful for applications that
use only literal values because it enables SQL with text differing only in its literal
values to share a SQL profile. If both literal values and bind variables are in the
SQL text, or if force_match is set to false (default), then the literal values in the
WHERE clause are not replaced by bind variables.

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for information about the
ACCEPT_SQL_PROFILE procedure

Implementing a SQL Profile

This section shows how to use the ACCEPT_SQL_PROFILE procedure to implement a
SQL profile.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• The SQL Tuning Advisor task STA_SPECIFIC_EMP_TASK includes a

recommendation to create a SQL profile.

• The name of the SQL profile is my_sql_profile.

Managing SQL Profiles 22-7

Listing SQL Profiles

• The PL/SQL block accepts a profile that uses parallel execution (profile_type).

• The profile uses force matching.

To implement a SQL profile:

• Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then
execute the ACCEPT_SQL_PROFILE function.
For example, execute the following PL/SQL:
DECLARE
my_sqlprofile_name VARCHAR2(30);
BEGIN
my_sqlprofile_name := DBMS_SQLTUNE.ACCEPT_SQL_PROFILE (
task_name => 'STA_SPECIFIC_EMP_TASK'
, name => 'my_sql_profile'
, profile_type => DBMS_SQLTUNE.PX_PROFILE
, force_match => true
);
END;
/

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_SQLTUNE.ACCEPT_SQL_PROFILE procedure

Listing SQL Profiles

The data dictionary view DBA_SQL_PROFILES stores SQL profiles persistently in the
database. The statistics are in an Oracle internal format, so you cannot query profiles
directly. However, you can list profiles.

To list SQL profiles:

• Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then query
the DBA_SQL_PROFILES view.
For example, execute the following query:
COLUMN category FORMAT a10
COLUMN sql_text FORMAT a20

SELECT NAME, SQL_TEXT, CATEGORY, STATUS

FROM DBA_SQL_PROFILES;

Sample output appears below:

NAME SQL_TEXT CATEGORY STATUS
------------------------------ -------------------- ---------- --------
SYS_SQLPROF_01285f6d18eb0000 select promo_name, c DEFAULT ENABLED
ount(*) c from promo
tions p, sales s whe
re s.promo_id = p.pr
omo_id and p.promo_c
ategory = 'internet'
group by p.promo_na
me order by c desc

22-8 SQL Tuning Guide

 Altering a SQL Profile

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference to learn about the DBA_SQL_PROFILES view

Altering a SQL Profile

You can alter attributes of an existing SQL profile using the attribute_name
parameter of the ALTER_SQL_PROFILE procedure.
The CATEGORY attribute determines which sessions can apply a profile. View the
CATEGORY attribute by querying DBA_SQL_PROFILES.CATEGORY. By default, all
profiles are in the DEFAULT category, which means that all sessions in which the
SQLTUNE_CATEGORY initialization parameter is set to DEFAULT can use the profile.
By altering the category of a SQL profile, you determine which sessions are affected by
profile creation. For example, by setting the category to DEV, only sessions in which
the SQLTUNE_CATEGORY initialization parameter is set to DEV can use the profile.
Other sessions do not have access to the SQL profile and execution plans for SQL
statements are not impacted by the SQL profile. This technique enables you to test a
profile in a restricted environment before making it available to other sessions.
The example in this section assumes that you want to change the category of the SQL
profile so it is used only by sessions with the SQL profile category set to TEST, run the
SQL statement, and then change the profile category back to DEFAULT.

To alter a SQL profile:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then use
the ALTER_SQL_PROFILE procedure to set the attribute_name.
For example, execute the following code to set the attribute CATEGORY to TEST:
VARIABLE pname my_sql_profile
BEGIN DBMS_SQLTUNE.ALTER_SQL_PROFILE (
name => :pname
, attribute_name => 'CATEGORY'
, value => 'TEST'
);
END;

2. Change the initialization parameter setting in the current database session.

For example, execute the following SQL:
ALTER SESSION SET SQLTUNE_CATEGORY = 'TEST';

3. Test the profiled SQL statement.

4. Use the ALTER_SQL_PROFILE procedure to set the attribute_name.

For example, execute the following code to set the attribute CATEGORY to
DEFAULT:
VARIABLE pname my_sql_profile
BEGIN
DBMS_SQLTUNE.ALTER_SQL_PROFILE (
name => :pname
, attribute_name => 'CATEGORY'
, value => 'DEFAULT'

Managing SQL Profiles 22-9

Dropping a SQL Profile

);
END;

See Also:

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the SQLTUNE_CATEGORY

initialization parameter

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
ALTER_SQL_PROFILE procedure

Dropping a SQL Profile

You can drop a SQL profile with the DROP_SQL_PROFILE procedure.

Assumptions
This section assumes the following:

• You want to drop my_sql_profile.

• You want to ignore errors raised if the name does not exist.

To drop a SQL profile:

• Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, call the
DBMS_SQLTUNE.DROP_SQL_PROFILE procedure.
The following example drops the profile named my_sql_profile:
BEGIN
DBMS_SQLTUNE.DROP_SQL_PROFILE (
name => 'my_sql_profile'
);
END;
/

See Also:

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DROP_SQL_PROFILE procedure

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the SQLTUNE_CATEGORY

initialization parameter

Transporting a SQL Profile

You can transport SQL profiles. This operation involves exporting the SQL profile
from the SYS schema in one database to a staging table, and then importing the SQL
profile from the staging table into another database. You can transport a SQL profile to
any Oracle database created in the same release or later.
Table 22-1 shows the main procedures and functions for managing SQL profiles.

22-10 SQL Tuning Guide

 Transporting a SQL Profile

Table 22-1 APIs for Transporting SQL Profiles

Procedure or Function Description

CREATE_STGTAB_SQLPROF Creates the staging table used for copying SQL profiles
from one system to another.

PACK_STGTAB_SQLPROF Moves profile data out of the SYS schema into the
staging table.

UNPACK_STGTAB_SQLPROF Uses the profile data stored in the staging table to

create profiles on this system.

The following graphic shows the basic workflow of transporting SQL profiles:

DBMS_SQLTUNE Accept a
ACCEPT_SQL_PROFILE SQL Profile

CREATE_STGTAB_SQLPROF

PACK_STGTAB_SQLPROF

Transport
Transport SQL Profile to different
database

UNPACK_STGTAB_SQLPROF

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You want to transport my_profile from a production database to a test database.

• You want to create the staging table in the dba1 schema.

To transport a SQL profile:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then use
the CREATE_STGTAB_SQLPROF procedure to create a staging table to hold the
SQL profiles.
The following example creates my_staging_table in the dba1 schema:
BEGIN
DBMS_SQLTUNE.CREATE_STGTAB_SQLPROF (
table_name => 'my_staging_table'
, schema_name => 'dba1'
);
END;
/

2. Use the PACK_STGTAB_SQLPROF procedure to export SQL profiles into the

staging table.

Managing SQL Profiles 22-11

Transporting a SQL Profile

The following example populates dba1.my_staging_table with the SQL

profile my_profile:
BEGIN
DBMS_SQLTUNE.PACK_STGTAB_SQLPROF (
profile_name => 'my_profile'
, staging_table_name => 'my_staging_table'
, staging_schema_owner => 'dba1'
);
END;
/

3. Move the staging table to the database where you plan to unpack the SQL
profiles.
Move the table using your utility of choice. For example, use Oracle Data Pump or
a database link.

4. On the database where you plan to import the SQL profiles, use
UNPACK_STGTAB_SQLPROF to unpack SQL profiles from the staging table.
The following example shows how to unpack SQL profiles in the staging table:
BEGIN
DBMS_SQLTUNE.UNPACK_STGTAB_SQLPROF(
replace => true
, staging_table_name => 'my_staging_table'
);
END;
/

See Also:

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for complete reference
information about DBMS_SQLTUNE

• Oracle Database Utilities to learn how to use Oracle Data Pump

22-12 SQL Tuning Guide

 23
Managing SQL Plan Baselines

This chapter explains the concepts and tasks relating to SQL plan management using
the DBMS_SPM package.
This chapter contains the following topics:

• About SQL Plan Management

• Configuring SQL Plan Management

• Displaying Plans in a SQL Plan Baseline

• Loading SQL Plan Baselines

• Evolving SQL Plan Baselines Manually

• Dropping SQL Plan Baselines

• Managing the SQL Management Base

See Also:

Migrating Stored Outlines to SQL Plan Baselines

About SQL Plan Management

SQL plan management is a preventative mechanism that enables the optimizer to
automatically manage execution plans, ensuring that the database uses only known or
verified plans. In this context, a plan includes all plan-related information (for
example, SQL plan identifier, set of hints, bind values, and optimizer environment)
that the optimizer needs to reproduce an execution plan.
SQL plan management uses a mechanism called a SQL plan baseline. A plan baseline
is a set of accepted plans that the optimizer is allowed to use for a SQL statement. In
the typical use case, the database accepts a plan into the plan baseline only after
verifying that the plan performs well.
The main components of SQL plan management are as follows:

• Plan capture
This component stores relevant information about plans for a set of SQL
statements. See “Plan Capture”.

• Plan selection
This component is the detection by the optimizer of plan changes based on stored
plan history, and the use of SQL plan baselines to select appropriate plans to avoid
potential performance regressions. See “Plan Selection”.

Managing SQL Plan Baselines 23-1

About SQL Plan Management

• Plan evolution
This component is the process of adding new plans to existing SQL plan baselines,
either manually or automatically. See “Plan Evolution”.
This section contains the following topics:

• Purpose of SQL Plan Management

• Plan Capture

• Plan Selection

• Plan Evolution

• Storage Architecture for SQL Plan Management

• User Interfaces for SQL Plan Management

• Basic Tasks in SQL Plan Management

Purpose of SQL Plan Management

The primary goal of SQL plan management is to prevent performance regressions
caused by plan changes. A secondary goal is to gracefully adapt to changes such as
new optimizer statistics or indexes by verifying and accepting only plan changes that
improve performance.

Note:

SQL plan baselines cannot help when an event has caused irreversible
execution plan changes, such as dropping an index.

Benefits of SQL Plan Management

Typical scenarios in which SQL plan management can improve or preserve SQL
performance include:

• A database upgrade that installs a new optimizer version usually results in plan
changes for a small percentage of SQL statements.
Most plan changes result in either improvement or no performance change.
However, some plan changes may cause performance regressions. SQL plan
baselines significantly minimize potential regressions resulting from an upgrade.
When you upgrade, the database only uses plans from the plan baseline. The
database puts new plans that are not in the current baseline into a holding area,
and later evaluates them to determine whether they use fewer resources than the
current plan in the baseline. If the plans perform better, then the database promotes
them into the baseline; otherwise, the database does not promote them.

• Ongoing system and data changes can affect plans for some SQL statements,
potentially causing performance regressions.
SQL plan baselines help minimize performance regressions and stabilize SQL
performance.

• Deployment of new application modules introduces new SQL statements into the
database.

23-2 SQL Tuning Guide

 About SQL Plan Management

The application software may use appropriate SQL execution plans developed in a
standard test configuration for the new statements. If the system configuration is
significantly different from the test configuration, then the database can evolve
SQL plan baselines over time to produce better performance.

See Also:
Oracle Database Upgrade Guide to learn how to upgrade an Oracle database

Differences Between SQL Plan Baselines and SQL Profiles

Both SQL profiles and SQL plan baselines help improve the performance of SQL
statements by ensuring that the optimizer uses only optimal plans. Both profiles and
baselines are internally implemented using hints. However, these mechanisms have
significant differences.
Differences include the following:

• In general, SQL plan baselines are proactive, whereas SQL profiles are reactive.
Typically, you create SQL plan baselines before significant performance problems
occur. SQL plan baselines prevent the optimizer from using suboptimal plans in
the future.
The database creates SQL profiles when you invoke SQL Tuning Advisor, which
you do typically only after a SQL statement has shown high-load symptoms. SQL
profiles are primarily useful by providing the ongoing resolution of optimizer
mistakes that have led to suboptimal plans. Because the SQL profile mechanism is
reactive, it cannot guarantee stable performance as drastic database changes occur.
The following graphic illustrates the difference:

Past Present Future

SQL Plan Prevents Suboptimal

Baseline Use Plan

Suboptimal Corrects
SQL Profile
Plan Cause

• SQL plan baselines reproduce a specific plan, whereas SQL profiles correct
optimizer cost estimates.
A SQL plan baseline is a set of accepted plans. Each plan is implemented using a
set of outline hints that fully specify a particular plan. SQL profiles are also
implemented using hints, but these hints do not specify any specific plan. Rather,
the hints correct miscalculations in the optimizer estimates that lead to suboptimal
plans. For example, a hint may correct the cardinality estimate of a table.
Because a profile does not constrain the optimizer to any one plan, a SQL profile is
more flexible than a SQL plan baseline. For example, changes in initialization
parameters and optimizer statistics allow the optimizer to choose a better plan.
Oracle recommends that you use SQL Tuning Advisor. In this way, you follow the
recommendations made by the advisor for SQL profiles and plan baselines rather than
trying to determine which mechanism is best for each SQL statement.

Managing SQL Plan Baselines 23-3

About SQL Plan Management

See Also:

• “About Optimizer Hints”

• “Managing SQL Profiles ”

• “Analyzing SQL with SQL Tuning Advisor ”

Plan Capture
SQL plan capture refers to techniques for capturing and storing relevant information
about plans in the SQL Management Base for a set of SQL statements. Capturing a
plan means making SQL plan management aware of this plan.
You can configure initial plan capture to occur automatically by setting an
initialization parameter, or you can capture plans manually by using the DBMS_SPM
package.

Automatic Initial Plan Capture

You enable automatic initial plan capture by setting the initialization parameter
OPTIMIZER_CAPTURE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES to true (the default is false).
When enabled, the database automatically creates a SQL plan baseline for any
repeatable SQL statement executed on the database.
If automatic initial plan capture is enabled, and if the database executes a repeatable
SQL statement, then the capture algorithm is as follows:

• If a SQL plan baseline does not exist, then the optimizer creates a plan history and
SQL plan baseline for the statement, marking the initial plan for the statement as
accepted and adding it to the SQL plan baseline.

• If a SQL plan baseline exists, then the optimizer behavior depends on the cost-
based plan derived at parse time:

– If this plan does not match a plan in the SQL plan baseline, then the optimizer
marks the new plan as unaccepted and adds it to the SQL plan baseline.

– If this plan does match a plan in the SQL plan baseline, then nothing is added to
the SQL plan baseline.
The following graphic shows the decision tree for automatic initial plan capture when
OPTIMIZER_USE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES is set to true (see “Plan Selection” for
more information):

23-4 SQL Tuning Guide

 About SQL Plan Management

SQL is issued

Generate execution Execute matched

plan plan

Yes

Is this Yes Does a Yes Does

SQL tracked? SQL plan baseline plan match plan in
exist? baseline?

No No No

Add SQLID to SQL Create SQL plan Record this plan in

statement log baseline SQL plan history

Execute this plan Execute this plan Execute a plan from

SQL plan baseline

Note:

The settings of OPTIMIZER_CAPTURE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES and

OPTIMIZER_USE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES are independent. For example, if
OPTIMIZER_CAPTURE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES is true, then the database
creates initial plan baselines regardless of whether
OPTIMIZER_USE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES is true or false.

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference to learn about the

OPTIMIZER_USE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES initialization parameter

Manual Plan Capture

In SQL plan management, manual plan capture refers to the user-initiated bulk load
of existing plans into a SQL plan baseline. Use Cloud Control or PL/SQL to load the
execution plans for SQL statements from a SQL tuning set (STS), the shared SQL
area, a staging table, or a stored outline.
The following graphic illustrates loading plans into a SQL plan baseline.

Managing SQL Plan Baselines 23-5

About SQL Plan Management

Shared Pool

Library Cache
SQL Management Base
Shared SQL Area
SQL Statement Log
SELECT * FROM
employees SQL Plan History

Loading SQL Plan Baseline

Plans into
a Plan
Baseline GB
accepted
SQL enabled
Tuning HJ
Set HJ

GB
accepted
enabled
Staging Table HJ
HJ

Stored Outline
/*+ hint */
/*+ hint */
/*+ hint */

The loading behavior varies depending on whether a SQL plan baseline exists for each
statement represented in the bulk load:

• If a baseline for the statement does not exist, then the database does the following:

1. Creates a plan history and plan baseline for the statement

2. Marks the initial plan for the statement as accepted

3. Adds the plan to the new baseline

• If a baseline for the statement exists, then the database does the following:

1. Marks the loaded plan as accepted

2. Adds the plan to the plan baseline for the statement without verifying the
plan's performance
Manually loaded plans are always marked accepted because the optimizer assumes
that any plan loaded manually by the administrator has acceptable performance.

Plan Selection
SQL plan selection is the optimizer ability to detect plan changes based on stored plan
history, and the use of SQL plan baselines to select plans to avoid potential
performance regressions.
When the database performs a hard parse of a SQL statement, the optimizer generates
a best-cost plan. By default, the optimizer then attempts to find a matching plan in the
SQL plan baseline for the statement. If no plan baseline exists, then the database runs
the statement with the best-cost plan.
If a plan baseline exists, then the optimizer behavior depends on whether the newly
generated plan is in the plan baseline:

23-6 SQL Tuning Guide

 About SQL Plan Management

• If the new plan is in the baseline, then the database executes the statement using
the found plan.

• If the new plan is not in the baseline, then the optimizer marks the newly generated
plan as unaccepted and adds it to the plan history. Optimizer behavior depends on
the contents of the plan baseline:

– If fixed plans exist in the plan baseline, then the optimizer uses the fixed plan
(see “Fixed Plans”) with the lowest cost.

– If no fixed plans exist in the plan baseline, then the optimizer uses the baseline
plan with the lowest cost.

– If no reproducible plans exist in the plan baseline, which could happen if every
plan in the baseline referred to a dropped index, then the optimizer uses the
newly generated cost-based plan.
The following graphic shows the decision tree for SQL plan selection.

SQL is issued

Generate execution
plan

Does Yes Is this Yes Execute this

a SQL plan baseline plan in SQL plan plan
exist? baseline?

No No

Execute this plan Mark plan as unaccepted

in plan history

Compare costs of
accepted plans

Execute lowest-cost
plan in baseline

Plan Evolution
In general, SQL plan evolution is the process by which the optimizer verifies new
plans and adds them to an existing SQL plan baseline. Specifically, plan evolution
consists of the following distinct steps:

1. Verifying that unaccepted plans perform at least as well as accepted plans in a

SQL plan baseline (known as plan verification)

2. Adding unaccepted plans to the plan baseline as accepted plans after the database
has proved that they perform as well as accepted plans
In the standard case of plan evolution, the optimizer performs the preceding steps
sequentially, so that a new plan is not usable by SQL plan management until the
optimizer verifies plan performance relative to the SQL plan baseline. However, you

Managing SQL Plan Baselines 23-7

About SQL Plan Management

can configure SQL plan management to perform one step without performing the
other. The following graphic shows the possible paths for plan evolution:

Verifying Adding

Verifying without adding

Adding without verifying

Purpose of Plan Evolution

Typically, a SQL plan baseline for a SQL statement starts with a single accepted plan.
However, some SQL statements perform well when executed with different plans
under different conditions. For example, a SQL statement with bind variables whose
values result in different selectivities may have several optimal plans. Creating a
materialized view or an index or repartitioning a table may make current plans more
expensive than other plans.
If new plans were never added to SQL plan baselines, then the performance of some
SQL statements might degrade. Thus, it is sometimes necessary to evolve newly
accepted plans into SQL plan baselines. Plan evolution prevents performance
regressions by verifying the performance of a new plan before including it in a SQL
plan baseline.

PL/SQL Procedures for Plan Evolution

The DBMS_SPM package provides procedures and functions for plan evolution. These
procedures use the task infrastructure. For example, CREATE_EVOLVE_TASK creates
an evolution task, whereas EXECUTE_EVOLVE_TASK executes it. All task evolution
procedures have the string EVOLVE_TASK in the name.
Use the evolve procedures on demand, or configure the procedures to run
automatically. The automatic maintenance task SYS_AUTO_SPM_EVOLVE_TASK
executes daily in the scheduled maintenance window. The task perform the following
actions automatically:

1. Selects and ranks unaccepted plans for verification

2. Accepts each plan if it satisfies the performance threshold

See Also:

• “Managing the SPM Evolve Advisor Task”

• “Evolving SQL Plan Baselines Manually”

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_SPM package

Storage Architecture for SQL Plan Management

This section describes the SQL plan management storage architecture:

23-8 SQL Tuning Guide

 About SQL Plan Management

• SQL Management Base

• SQL Statement Log

• SQL Plan History

SQL Management Base

The SQL management base (SMB) is a logical repository in the data dictionary that
contains the following:

• SQL statement log, which contains only SQL IDs

• SQL plan history, which includes the SQL plan baselines

• SQL profiles

• SQL patches
The SMB stores information that the optimizer can use to maintain or improve SQL
performance.
The SMB resides in the SYSAUX tablespace and uses automatic segment-space
management. Because the SMB is located entirely within the SYSAUX tablespace, the
database does not use SQL plan management and SQL tuning features when this
tablespace is unavailable.
The following graphic illustrates the SMB architecture.

SYSAUX

SQL Management Base

SQL SQL
Statement Profiles
Log

SQL SQL
Plan Patches
History

Note:

Data visibility and privilege requirements may differ when using the SMB
with pluggable databases. See Oracle Database Administrator's Guide for a table
that summarizes how manageability features work in a container database
(CDB).

See Also:
Oracle Database Administrator's Guide to learn about the SYSAUX tablespace

SQL Statement Log

When automatic SQL plan capture is enabled, the SQL statement log contains the SQL
ID of SQL statements that the optimizer has evaluated over time. The database tracks a
statement when its SQL ID exists in the SQL statement log. When the database parses

Managing SQL Plan Baselines 23-9

About SQL Plan Management

or executes a statement that is tracked, the database recognizes it as a repeatable SQL

statement.

See Also:

• “Automatic Initial Plan Capture”

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about DBA_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES

Example 23-1 Logging SQL Statements

This example illustrates how the database tracks statements in the statement log and
creates baselines automatically for repeatable statements. An initial query of the
statement log shows no tracked SQL statements. After a query of hr.jobs for
AD_PRES, the log shows one tracked statement.
SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET OPTIMIZER_CAPTURE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES=true;

System altered.

SQL> SELECT * FROM SQLLOG$;

no rows selected

SQL> SELECT job_title FROM hr.jobs WHERE job_id = 'AD_PRES';

JOB_TITLE
-----------------------------------
President

SQL> SELECT * FROM SQLLOG$;

SIGNATURE BATCH#
---------- ----------
1.8096E+19 1

Now the session executes a different jobs query. The log shows two tracked
statements:
SQL> SELECT job_title FROM hr.jobs WHERE job_id='PR_REP';

JOB_TITLE
-----------------------------------
Public Relations Representative

SQL> SELECT * FROM SQLLOG$;

SIGNATURE BATCH#
---------- ----------
1.7971E+19 1
1.8096E+19 1

A query of DBA_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES shows that no baseline for either statement

exists because neither statement is repeatable:
SQL> SELECT SQL_HANDLE, SQL_TEXT
2 FROM DBA_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES
3 WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE 'SELECT job_title%';

23-10 SQL Tuning Guide

 About SQL Plan Management

no rows selected

The session executes the query for job_id='PR_REP' a second time. Because this
statement is now repeatable, and because automatic SQL plan capture is enabled, the
database creates a plan baseline for this statement. The query for job_id='AD_PRES'
has only been executed once, so no plan baseline exists for it.
SQL> SELECT job_title FROM hr.jobs WHERE job_id='PR_REP';

JOB_TITLE
-----------------------------------
Public Relations Representative

SQL> SELECT SQL_HANDLE, SQL_TEXT

2 FROM DBA_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES
3 WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE 'SELECT job_title%';

SQL_HANDLE SQL_TEXT
-------------------- --------------------
SQL_f9676a330f972dd5 SELECT job_title FRO
M hr.jobs WHERE job_
id='PR_REP'

SQL Plan History

The SQL plan history is the set of plans generated for a repeatable SQL statement over
time. The history contains both SQL plan baselines and unaccepted plans.
In SQL plan management, the database detects plan changes and records the new plan
in the history so that the DBA can manually evolve (verify) it. Because ad hoc SQL
statements do not repeat and so do not have performance degradation, the database
maintains plan history only for repeatable SQL statements.
Starting in Oracle Database 12c, the SMB stores the rows for new plans added to the
plan history of a SQL statement. The DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_SQL_PLAN_BASELINE
function fetches and displays the plan from the SMB. For plans created before Oracle
Database 12c, the function must compile the SQL statement and generate the plan
because the SMB does not store the rows.

See Also:

• “Displaying Plans in a SQL Plan Baseline”

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_SQL_PLAN_BASELINE function

Enabled Plans
An enabled plan is eligible for use by the optimizer. The database automatically marks
all plans in the plan history as enabled even if they are still unaccepted. You can
manually change an enabled plan to a disabled plan, which means the optimizer can
no longer use the plan even if it is accepted.

Accepted Plans
A plan is accepted if and only if it is in the plan baseline. The plan history for a
statement contains all plans, both accepted and unaccepted. After the optimizer

Managing SQL Plan Baselines 23-11

About SQL Plan Management

generates the first accepted plan in a plan baseline, every subsequent unaccepted plan
is added to the plan history, awaiting verification, but is not in the SQL plan baseline.
Figure 23-1 shows plan histories for three different SQL statements. The SQL plan
baseline for one statement contains two accepted plans. The plan history for this
statement includes two unaccepted plans. A DBA has marked one unaccepted plan as
disabled so that the optimizer cannot use it.

Figure 23-1 SQL Plan Management Architecture

SQL Management Base

SQL Statement Log

SQL Plan History SQL Plan History

SQL Plan Baseline SQL Plan

Baseline
GB
accepted
enabled SQL Plan History
HJ
HJ
SQL Plan
Baseline
GB
accepted
enabled
HJ
HJ

GB
accepted
enabled
HJ
HJ

GB
accepted
enabled
HJ
HJ

Fixed Plans
A fixed plan is an accepted plan that is marked as preferred, so that the optimizer
considers only the fixed plans in the baseline. Fixed plans influence the plan selection
process of the optimizer.
Assume that three plans exist in the SQL plan baseline for a statement. You want the
optimizer to give preferential treatment to only two of the plans. As shown in Figure
23-2, you mark these two plans as fixed so that the optimizer uses only the best plan
from these two, ignoring the other plans.

23-12 SQL Tuning Guide

 About SQL Plan Management

Figure 23-2 Fixed Plans

SQL Plan Baseline

GB fixed
accepted
DBA marks enabled
as fixed HJ Optimizer
HJ Considers

GB fixed
accepted
enabled
HJ
HJ

Ignores unless
fixed plans are
GB not reproducible
accepted
enabled
HJ
HJ

If new plans are added to a baseline that contains at least one enabled fixed plan, then
the optimizer cannot use the new plans until you manually declare them as fixed.

User Interfaces for SQL Plan Management

Access the DBMS_SPM package through Cloud Control or through the command line.

Accessing the SQL Plan Baseline Page in Cloud Control

The SQL Plan Control page in Cloud Control is a GUI that shows information about
SQL profiles, SQL patches, and SQL plan baselines.

To access the SQL Plan Baseline page:

1. Access the Database Home page, as described in “Accessing the Database Home
Page in Cloud Control.”

2. From the Performance menu, select SQL, then SQL Plan Control.
The SQL Plan Control page appears.

3. Click Files to view the SQL Plan Baseline subpage, shown in Figure 23-3.

Managing SQL Plan Baselines 23-13

About SQL Plan Management

Figure 23-3 SQL Plan Baseline Subpage

You can perform most SQL plan management tasks in this page or in pages
accessed through this page.

See Also:

• Cloud Control context-sensitive online help to learn about the options on

the SQL Plan Baseline subpage

• “Managing the SPM Evolve Advisor Task”

DBMS_SPM Package
On the command line, use the DBMS_SPM and DBMS_XPLAN PL/SQL packages to
perform most SQL plan management tasks. Table 23-1 describes the most relevant
DBMS_SPM procedures and functions for creating, dropping, and loading SQL plan
baselines.

Table 23-1 DBMS_SPM Procedures and Functions

Package Procedure or Function Description

DBMS_SPM CONFIGURE This procedure changes
configuration options for the SMB
in name/value format.

DBMS_SPM CREATE_STGTAB_BASELINE This procedure creates a staging

table that enables you to transport
SQL plan baselines from one
database to another.

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 About SQL Plan Management

Table 23-1 (Cont.) DBMS_SPM Procedures and Functions

Package Procedure or Function Description

DBMS_SPM DROP_SQL_PLAN_BASELINE This function drops some or all
plans in a plan baseline.

DBMS_SPM LOAD_PLANS_FROM_CURSOR_CACHE This function loads plans in the

shared SQL area (also called the
cursor cache) into SQL plan
baselines.

DBMS_SPM LOAD_PLANS_FROM_SQLSET This function loads plans in an STS

into SQL plan baselines.

DBMS_SPM PACK_STGTAB_BASELINE This function packs SQL plan

baselines, which means that it
copies them from the SMB into a
staging table.

DBMS_SPM UNPACK_STGTAB_BASELINE This function unpacks SQL plan

baselines, which means that it
copies SQL plan baselines from a
staging table into the SMB.

DBMS_XPLAN DISPLAY_SQL_PLAN_BASELINE This function displays one or more

execution plans for the SQL
statement identified by SQL handle.

“About the DBMS_SPM Evolve Functions” describes the functions related to SQL plan
evolution.

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_SPM package

Basic Tasks in SQL Plan Management

This section explains the basic tasks in using SQL plan management to prevent plan
regressions and permit the optimizer to consider new plans. The tasks are as follows:

• Set initialization parameters to control whether the database captures and uses SQL
plan baselines, and whether it evolves new plans.
See “Configuring SQL Plan Management”.

• Display plans in a SQL plan baseline.

See “Displaying Plans in a SQL Plan Baseline”.

• Manually load plans into SQL plan baselines.

Load plans from SQL tuning sets, the shared SQL area, a staging table, or stored
outlines.
See “Loading SQL Plan Baselines”.

• Manually evolve plans into SQL plan baselines.

Managing SQL Plan Baselines 23-15

Configuring SQL Plan Management

Use PL/SQL to verify the performance of specified plans and add them to plan
baselines.
See “Evolving SQL Plan Baselines Manually”.

• Drop all or some plans in SQL plan baselines.

See “Dropping SQL Plan Baselines”.

• Manage the SMB.

Alter disk space limits and change the length of the plan retention policy.
See “Managing the SQL Management Base”.

• Migrate stored outlines to SQL plan baselines.

See “Migrating Stored Outlines to SQL Plan Baselines ”.

Configuring SQL Plan Management

This section contains the following topics:

• Configuring the Capture and Use of SQL Plan Baselines

• Managing the SPM Evolve Advisor Task

Configuring the Capture and Use of SQL Plan Baselines

You control SQL plan management with initialization parameters. The default values
are as follows:

• OPTIMIZER_CAPTURE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES=false
For any repeatable SQL statement that does not already exist in the plan history,
the database does not automatically create an initial SQL plan baseline for the
statement. See “Automatic Initial Plan Capture”.

• OPTIMIZER_USE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES=true
For any SQL statement that has an existing SQL plan baseline, the database
automatically adds new plans to the SQL plan baseline as nonaccepted plans. See
“Plan Selection”.

Note:

The settings of the preceding parameters are independent of each other. For
example, if OPTIMIZER_CAPTURE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES is true, then the
database creates initial plan baselines for new statements even if
OPTIMIZER_USE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES is false.

If the default behavior is what you intend, then skip this section.
The following sections explain how to change the default parameter settings from the
command line. If you use Cloud Control, then set these parameters in the SQL Plan
Baseline subpage (shown in Figure 23-3).

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 Configuring SQL Plan Management

Enabling Automatic Initial Plan Capture for SQL Plan Management

Setting the OPTIMIZER_CAPTURE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES initialization parameter to
true is all that is necessary for the database to automatically create an initial SQL plan
baseline for any SQL statement not already in the plan history. This parameter does
not control the automatic addition of newly discovered plans to a previously created
SQL plan baseline.

Caution:

When automatic baseline capture is enabled, the database creates a SQL plan
baseline for every repeatable statement, including all recursive SQL and
monitoring SQL. Thus, automatic capture may result in the creation of an
extremely large number of plan baselines.

To enable automatic initial plan capture for SQL plan management:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then show
the current settings for SQL plan management.
For example, connect SQL*Plus to the database with administrator privileges and
execute the following command (sample output included):
SQL> SHOW PARAMETER SQL_PLAN

NAME TYPE VALUE

------------------------------------ ----------- -----
optimizer_capture_sql_plan_baselines boolean FALSE
optimizer_use_sql_plan_baselines boolean TRUE

If the parameters are set as you intend, then skip the remaining steps.

2. To enable the automatic recognition of repeatable SQL statements and the

generation of SQL plan baselines for these statements, enter the following
statement:
SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET OPTIMIZER_CAPTURE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES=true;

Disabling All SQL Plan Baselines

When you set the OPTIMIZER_USE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES initialization parameter
to false, the database does not use any plan baselines in the database. Typically, you
might want to disable one or two plan baselines, but not all of them. A possible use
case might be testing the benefits of SQL plan management.

To disable all SQL plan baselines in the database:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then show
the current settings for SQL plan management.
For example, connect SQL*Plus to the database with administrator privileges and
execute the following command (sample output included):
SQL> SHOW PARAMETER SQL_PLAN

NAME TYPE VALUE

------------------------------------ ----------- -----

Managing SQL Plan Baselines 23-17

Configuring SQL Plan Management

optimizer_capture_sql_plan_baselines boolean FALSE

optimizer_use_sql_plan_baselines boolean TRUE

If the parameters are set as you intend, then skip the remaining steps.

2. To ignore all existing plan baselines enter the following statement:

SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SET OPTIMIZER_USE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES=false

See Also:
Oracle Database Reference to learn about the SQL plan baseline initialization
parameters

Managing the SPM Evolve Advisor Task

SPM Evolve Advisor is a SQL advisor that evolves plans that have recently been
added to the SQL plan baseline. The advisor simplifies plan evolution by eliminating
the requirement to do it manually.
By default, SYS_AUTO_SPM_EVOLVE_TASK runs daily in the scheduled maintenance
window. The SPM Evolve Advisor task ranks all unaccepted plans, and then performs
test executions of as many plans as possible during the window. The evolve task
selects the lowest-cost plan to compare against each unaccepted plan. If a plan
performs sufficiently better than the existing accepted plan, then the database
automatically accepts it. The task can accept more than one plan.

Enabling and Disabling the SPM Evolve Advisor Task

No separate scheduler client exists for the Automatic SPM Evolve Advisor task. One
client controls both Automatic SQL Tuning Advisor and Automatic SPM Evolve
Advisor. Thus, the same task enables or disables both. See “Enabling and Disabling
the Automatic SQL Tuning Task” to learn how to enable and disable Automatic SPM
Evolve Advisor.

Configuring the Automatic SPM Evolve Advisor Task

The DBMS_SPM package enables you to configure automatic plan evolution by
specifying the task parameters using the SET_EVOLVE_TASK_PARAMETER procedure.
Because the task is owned by SYS, only SYS can set task parameters.
The ACCEPT_PLANS tuning task parameter specifies whether to accept recommended
plans automatically. When ACCEPT_PLANS is true (default), SQL plan management
automatically accepts all plans recommended by the task. When set to false, the task
verifies the plans and generates a report if its findings, but does not evolve the plans.

Assumptions
The tutorial in this section assumes the following:

• You do not want the database to evolve plans automatically.

• You want the task to time out after 1200 seconds per execution.

To set automatic evolution task parameters:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then
optionally query the current task settings.

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 Displaying Plans in a SQL Plan Baseline

For example, connect SQL*Plus to the database with administrator privileges and
execute the following query:
COL PARAMETER_NAME FORMAT a25
COL VALUE FORMAT a10
SELECT PARAMETER_NAME, PARAMETER_VALUE AS "VALUE"
FROM DBA_ADVISOR_PARAMETERS
WHERE ( (TASK_NAME = 'SYS_AUTO_SPM_EVOLVE_TASK') AND
( (PARAMETER_NAME = 'ACCEPT_PLANS') OR
(PARAMETER_NAME = 'TIME_LIMIT') ) );

Sample output appears as follows:

PARAMETER_NAME VALUE
------------------------- ----------
ACCEPT_PLANS TRUE
TIME_LIMIT 3600

2. Set parameters using PL/SQL code of the following form:

BEGIN
DBMS_SPM.SET_EVOLVE_TASK_PARAMETER(
task_name => 'SYS_AUTO_SPM_EVOLVE_TASK'
, parameter => parameter_name
, value => value
);
END;
/

For example, the following PL/SQL block sets a time limit to 20 minutes, and also
automatically accepts plans:
BEGIN
DBMS_SPM.SET_EVOLVE_TASK_PARAMETER(
task_name => 'SYS_AUTO_SPM_EVOLVE_TASK'
, parameter => 'LOCAL_TIME_LIMIT'
, value => 1200
);
DBMS_SPM.SET_EVOLVE_TASK_PARAMETER(
task_name => 'SYS_AUTO_SPM_EVOLVE_TASK'
, parameter => 'ACCEPT_PLANS'
, value => 'true'
);
END;
/

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for complete reference
information for DBMS_SPM

Displaying Plans in a SQL Plan Baseline

To view the plans stored in the SQL plan baseline for a specific statement, use the
DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_SQL_PLAN_BASELINE function. This function uses plan
information stored in the plan history to display the plans. Table 23-2 describes some
function parameters.

Managing SQL Plan Baselines 23-19

Displaying Plans in a SQL Plan Baseline

Table 23-2 DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_SQL_PLAN_BASELINE Parameters

Function Parameter Description

sql_handle SQL handle of the statement. Retrieve the SQL handle by joining the
V$SQL.SQL_PLAN_BASELINE and DBA_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES
views on the PLAN_NAME columns.

plan_name Name of the plan for the statement.

This section explains how to show plans in a baseline from the command line. If you
use Cloud Control, then display plan baselines from the SQL Plan Baseline subpage
shown in Figure 23-3.

To display SQL plans:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then
obtain the SQL ID of the query whose plan you want to display.
For example, assume that a SQL plan baseline exists for a SELECT statement with
the SQL ID 31d96zzzpcys9.

2. Query the plan by SQL ID.

The following query displays execution plans for the statement with the SQL ID
31d96zzzpcys9:
SELECT PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
FROM V$SQL s, DBA_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES b,
TABLE(
DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_SQL_PLAN_BASELINE(b.sql_handle,b.plan_name,'basic')
) t
WHERE s.EXACT_MATCHING_SIGNATURE=b.SIGNATURE
AND b.PLAN_NAME=s.SQL_PLAN_BASELINE
AND s.SQL_ID='31d96zzzpcys9';

The sample query results are as follows:

PLAN_TABLE_OUTPUT
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SQL handle: SQL_513f7f8a91177b1a
SQL text: select * from hr.employees where employee_id=100
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plan name: SQL_PLAN_52gvzja8jfysuc0e983c6 Plan id: 3236529094
Enabled: YES Fixed: NO Accepted: YES Origin: AUTO-CAPTURE
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Plan hash value: 3236529094

-----------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name |
-----------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | |
| 1 | TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID| EMPLOYEES |

23-20 SQL Tuning Guide

 Loading SQL Plan Baselines

| 2 | INDEX UNIQUE SCAN | EMP_EMP_ID_PK |

-----------------------------------------------------

The results show that the plan for SQL ID 31d96zzzpcys is named
SQL_PLAN_52gvzja8jfysuc0e983c6 and was captured automatically.

See Also:

• “SQL Management Base”

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about

additional parameters used by the DISPLAY_SQL_PLAN_BASELINE
function

Loading SQL Plan Baselines

You can initiate the user-initiated bulk load of a set of existing plans into a SQL plan
baseline. The goal of this task is to load plans from the following sources:

• SQL tuning set (STS)

Capture the plans for a SQL workload into an STS, and then load the plans into the
SQL plan baselines. The optimizer uses the plans the next time that the database
executes the SQL statements. Bulk loading execution plans from an STS is an
effective way to prevent plan regressions after a database upgrade.

Note:

You can load plans from Automatic Workload Repository snapshots into an
STS, and then load plans from the STS into the SQL plan baseline.

• Shared SQL area

Load plans for statements directly from the shared SQL area, which is in the shared
pool of the SGA. By applying a filter on the module name, the schema, or the SQL
ID you identify the SQL statement or set of SQL statements to capture. The
optimizer uses the plans the next time that the database executes the SQL
statements.
Loading plans directly from the shared SQL area is useful when application SQL
has been hand-tuned using hints. Because you probably cannot change the SQL to
include the hint, populating the SQL plan baseline ensures that the application SQL
uses optimal plans.

• Staging table
Use the DBMS_SPM package to define a staging table,
DBMS_SPM.PACK_STGTAB_BASELINE to copy the baselines into a staging table,
and Oracle Data Pump to transfer the table to another database. On the destination
database, use DBMS_SPM.UNPACK_STGTAB_BASELINE to unpack the plans from
the staging table and put the baselines into the SMB.
A use case is the introduction of new SQL statements into the database from a new
application module. A vendor can ship application software with SQL plan
baselines for the new SQL. In this way, the new SQL uses plans that are known to

Managing SQL Plan Baselines 23-21

Loading SQL Plan Baselines

give optimal performance under a standard test configuration. Alternatively, if you

develop or test an application in-house, export the correct plans from the test
database and import them into the production database.

• Stored outline
Migrate stored outlines to SQL plan baselines. After the migration, you maintain
the same plan stability that you had using stored outlines while being able to use
the more advanced features provided by SQL Plan Management, such as plan
evolution. See “Migrating Stored Outlines to SQL Plan Baselines ”.

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_SPM.PACK_STGTAB_BASELINE Function

Loading Plans from a SQL Tuning Set

A SQL tuning set is a database object that includes one or more SQL statements,
execution statistics, and execution context. This section explains how to load plans
from an STS.
Load plans with the DBMS_SPM.LOAD_PLANS_FROM_SQLSET function or using
Cloud Control. Table 23-3 describes some function parameters.

Table 23-3 LOAD_PLANS_FROM_SQLSET Parameters

Function Description
Parameter

sqlset_name Name of the STS from which the plans are loaded into SQL plan
baselines.

basic_filter A filter applied to the STS to select only qualifying plans to be loaded.
The filter can take the form of any WHERE clause predicate that can be
specified against the view DBA_SQLSET_STATEMENTS.

fixed Default NO means the loaded plans are used as nonfixed plans. YES
means the loaded plans are fixed plans. “Plan Selection” explains that
the optimizer chooses a fixed plan in the plan baseline over a nonfixed
plan.

This section explains how to load plans from the command line. In Cloud Control, go
to the SQL Plan Baseline subpage (shown in Figure 23-3) and click Load to load plan
baselines from SQL tuning sets.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You want the loaded plans to be nonfixed.

• You have executed the following query:

SELECT /*LOAD_STS*/ *
FROM sh.sales

23-22 SQL Tuning Guide

 Loading SQL Plan Baselines

WHERE quantity_sold > 40

ORDER BY prod_id;

• You have loaded the plan from the shared SQL area into the SQL tuning set named
SPM_STS, which is owned by user SPM.

To load plans from a SQL tuning set:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then verify
which plans are in the SQL tuning set.
For example, query DBA_SQLSET_STATEMENTS for the STS name (sample output
included):
SELECT SQL_TEXT
FROM DBA_SQLSET_STATEMENTS
WHERE SQLSET_NAME = 'SPM_STS';

SQL_TEXT
--------------------
SELECT /*LOAD_STS*/
*
FROM sh.sales
WHERE quantity_sold
> 40
ORDER BY prod_id

The output shows that the plan for the select /*LOAD_STS*/ statement is in
the STS.

2. Load the plan from the STS into the SQL plan baseline.
For example, in SQL*Plus execute the function as follows:
VARIABLE cnt NUMBER
EXECUTE :cnt := DBMS_SPM.LOAD_PLANS_FROM_SQLSET( -
sqlset_name => 'SPM_STS', -
basic_filter => 'sql_text like ''SELECT /*LOAD_STS*/%''' );

The basic_filter parameter specifies a WHERE clause that loads only the plans
for the queries of interest. The variable cnt stores the number of plans loaded
from the STS.

3. Query the data dictionary to ensure that the plan was loaded into the baseline for
the statement.
The following statement queries the DBA_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES view (sample
output included).
SQL> SELECT SQL_HANDLE, SQL_TEXT, PLAN_NAME,
2 ORIGIN, ENABLED, ACCEPTED
3 FROM DBA_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES;

SQL_HANDLE SQL_TEXT PLAN_NAME ORIGIN ENA ACC

--------------------- --------------- ---------------- ----------- --- ---
SQL_a8632bd857a4a25e SELECT SQL_PLAN_ahstb MANUAL-LOAD YES YES
/*LOAD_STS*/* v1bu98ky1694fc6b
FROM sh.sales
WHERE
quantity_sold
> 40 ORDER BY
prod_id

Managing SQL Plan Baselines 23-23

Loading SQL Plan Baselines

The output shows that the plan is accepted, which means that it is in the plan
baseline. Also, the origin is MANUAL-LOAD, which means that the plan was loaded
by an end user rather than automatically captured.

4. Optionally, drop the STS.

For example, execute DBMS_SQLTUNE.DROP_SQLSET to drop the SPM_STS
tuning set as follows:
EXEC SYS.DBMS_SQLTUNE.DROP_SQLSET( sqlset_name => 'SPM_STS', -
sqlset_owner => 'SPM' );

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_SPM.LOAD_PLANS_FROM_SQLSET function

Loading Plans from the Shared SQL Area

This section explains how to load plans from the shared SQL area using PL/SQL.
Load plans with the LOAD_PLANS_FROM_CURSOR_CACHE function of the DBMS_SPM
package. Table 23-4 describes some function parameters.

Table 23-4 LOAD_PLANS_FROM_CURSOR_CACHE Parameters

Function Parameter Description

sql_id SQL statement identifier. Identifies a SQL statement in the shared

SQL area.

fixed Default NO means the loaded plans are used as nonfixed plans. YES
means the loaded plans are fixed plans (see “Fixed Plans”). “Plan
Selection” explains that the optimizer chooses a fixed plan in the plan
baseline over a nonfixed plan.

This section explains how to load plans using the command line. In Cloud Control, go
to the SQL Plan Baseline subpage (shown in Figure 23-3) and click Load to load plan
baselines from the shared SQL area.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You have executed the following query:

SELECT /*LOAD_CC*/ *
FROM sh.sales
WHERE quantity_sold > 40
ORDER BY prod_id;

• You want the loaded plans to be nonfixed.

To load plans from the shared SQL area:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then
determine the SQL IDs of the relevant statements in the shared SQL area.

23-24 SQL Tuning Guide

 Loading SQL Plan Baselines

For example, query V$SQL for the SQL ID of the sh.sales query (sample output
included):
SELECT SQL_ID, CHILD_NUMBER AS "Child Num",
PLAN_HASH_VALUE AS "Plan Hash",
OPTIMIZER_ENV_HASH_VALUE AS "Opt Env Hash"
FROM V$SQL
WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE 'SELECT /*LOAD_CC*/%';

SQL_ID Child Num Plan Hash Opt Env Hash

------------- ---------- ---------- ------------
27m0sdw9snw59 0 1421641795 3160571937

The preceding output shows that the SQL ID of the statement is 27m0sdw9snw59.

2. Load the plans for the specified statements into the SQL plan baseline.
For example, execute the LOAD_PLANS_FROM_CURSOR_CACHE function in
SQL*Plus to load the plan for the statement with the SQL ID 27m0sdw9snw59:
VARIABLE cnt NUMBER
EXECUTE :cnt := DBMS_SPM.LOAD_PLANS_FROM_CURSOR_CACHE( -
sql_id => '27m0sdw9snw59');

In the preceding example, the variable cnt contains the number of plans that
were loaded.

3. Query the data dictionary to ensure that the plans were loaded into the baseline
for the statement.
The following statement queries DBA_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES (sample output
included):
SELECT SQL_HANDLE, SQL_TEXT, PLAN_NAME,
ORIGIN, ENABLED, ACCEPTED
FROM DBA_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES;

SQL_HANDLE SQL_TEXT PLAN_NAME ORIGIN ENA ACC

--------------------- -------------------- --------------------- -------------- --- ---
SQL_a8632bd857a4a25e SELECT /*LOAD_CC*/ SQL_PLAN_gdkvzfhrgkda MANUAL-LOAD YES YES
* 71694fc6b
FROM sh.sales
WHERE quantity_sold
> 40
ORDER BY prod_id

The output shows that the plan is accepted, which means that it is in the plan
baseline for the statement. Also, the origin is MANUAL-LOAD, which means that the
statement was loaded by an end user rather than automatically captured.

See Also:
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn how to use the
DBMS_SPM.LOAD_PLANS_FROM_CURSOR_CACHE function

Loading Plans from a Staging Table

You may want to transfer optimal plans from a source database to a different
destination database. For example, you may have investigated a set of plans on a test

Managing SQL Plan Baselines 23-25

Loading SQL Plan Baselines

database and confirmed that they have performed well. You may then want to load
these plans into a production database.
A staging table is a table that, for the duration of its existence, stores plans so that the
plans do not disappear from the table while you are unpacking them. Use the
DBMS.CREATE_STGTAB_BASELINE procedure to create a staging table. To pack
(insert row into) and unpack (extract rows from) the staging table, use the
PACK_STGTAB_BASELINE and UNPACK_STGTAB_BASELINE functions of the
DBMS_SPM package. Oracle Data Pump Import and Export enable you to copy the
staging table to a different database.
The following graphic depicts the basic steps.

Source Host Destination Host

Source Database Destination Database

Staging Table Staging Table

Pack 2
1 Unpack 6
1

SQL SQL
Management Management
Base Base
SQL Plan SQL Plan
Baselines Baselines

Data Pump 3 Data Pump 5

Export Import
Transfer Dump File
.dump to Destination Host .dump
file file
4
1

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You want to create a staging table named stage1 in the source database.

• You want to load all plans owned by user spm into the staging table.

• You want to transfer the staging table to a destination database.

• You want to load the plans in stage1 as fixed plans.

To transfer a set of SQL plan baselines from one database to another:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the source database with the appropriate privileges, and
then create a staging table using the CREATE_STGTAB_BASELINE procedure.
The following example creates a staging table named stage1:
BEGIN
DBMS_SPM.CREATE_STGTAB_BASELINE (
table_name => 'stage1');

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 Evolving SQL Plan Baselines Manually

END;
/

2. On the source database, pack the SQL plan baselines you want to export from the
SQL management base into the staging table.
The following example packs enabled plan baselines created by user spm into
staging table stage1. Select SQL plan baselines using the plan name
(plan_name), SQL handle (sql_handle), or any other plan criteria. The
table_name parameter is mandatory.
DECLARE
my_plans number;
BEGIN
my_plans := DBMS_SPM.PACK_STGTAB_BASELINE (
table_name => 'stage1'
, enabled => 'yes'
, creator => 'spm'
);
END;
/

3. Export the staging table stage1 into a dump file using Oracle Data Pump Export.

4. Transfer the dump file to the host of the destination database.

5. On the destination database, import the staging table stage1 from the dump file
using the Oracle Data Pump Import utility.

6. On the destination database, unpack the SQL plan baselines from the staging table
into the SQL management base.
The following example unpacks all fixed plan baselines stored in the staging table
stage1:
DECLARE
my_plans NUMBER;
BEGIN
my_plans := DBMS_SPM.UNPACK_STGTAB_BASELINE (
table_name => 'stage1'
, fixed => 'yes'
);
END;
/

See Also:

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for more information
about using the DBMS_SPM package

• Oracle Database Utilities for detailed information about using the Data
Pump Export and Import utilities

Evolving SQL Plan Baselines Manually

Oracle recommends that you configure the SQL Plan Management Evolve task to run
automatically, as explained in “Managing the SPM Evolve Advisor Task”. You can

Managing SQL Plan Baselines 23-27

Evolving SQL Plan Baselines Manually

also use PL/SQL or Cloud Control to manually evolve an unaccepted plan to

determine whether it performs better than any plan currently in the plan baseline.
This section contains the following topics:

• About the DBMS_SPM Evolve Functions

• Managing an Evolve Task

About the DBMS_SPM Evolve Functions

Table 23-5 describes the most relevant DBMS_SPM procedures and functions for
managing plan evolution. Execute evolution tasks manually or schedule them to run
automatically.

Table 23-5 DBMS_SPM Functions and Procedures for Managing Plan Evolution
Tasks

Package Procedure or Function Description

DBMS_SPM ACCEPT_SQL_PLAN_BASELINE This function accepts one
recommendation to evolve a single
plan into a SQL plan baseline.

DBMS_SPM CREATE_EVOLVE_TASK This function creates an advisor task

to prepare the plan evolution of one
or more plans for a specified SQL
statement. The input parameters can
be a SQL handle, plan name or a list of
plan names, time limit, task name,
and description.

DBMS_SPM EXECUTE_EVOLVE_TASK This function executes an evolution

task. The input parameters can be the
task name, execution name, and
execution description. If not specified,
the advisor generates the name, which
is returned by the function.

DBMS_SPM IMPLEMENT_EVOLVE_TASK This function implements all

recommendations for an evolve task.
Essentially, this function is equivalent
to using
ACCEPT_SQL_PLAN_BASELINE for
all recommended plans. Input
parameters include task name, plan
name, owner name, and execution
name.

DBMS_SPM REPORT_EVOLVE_TASK This function displays the results of

an evolve task as a CLOB. Input
parameters include the task name and
section of the report to include.

DBMS_SPM SET_EVOLVE_TASK_PARAMETER This function updates the value of an

evolve task parameter. In this release,
the only valid parameter is
TIME_LIMIT.

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 Evolving SQL Plan Baselines Manually

Oracle recommends that you configure SPM Evolve Advisor to run automatically (see
“Configuring the Automatic SPM Evolve Advisor Task”). You can also evolve SQL
plan baselines manually. Figure 23-4 shows the basic workflow for managing SQL
plan management tasks.

Figure 23-4 Evolving SQL Plan Baselines

DBMS_SPM.CREATE_EVOLVE_TASK

DBMS_SPM.SET_EVOLVE_TASK_PARAMETER

DBMS_SPM.EXECUTE_EVOLVE_TASK

DBMS_SPM.IMPLEMENT_EVOLVE_TASK

DBMS_SPM.REPORT_EVOLVE_TASK

Typically, you manage SQL plan evolution tasks in the following sequence:

1. Create an evolve task

2. Optionally, set evolve task parameters

3. Execute the evolve task

4. Implement the recommendations in the task

5. Report on the task outcome

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for information about the
DBMS_SPM package

Managing an Evolve Task

This section describes a typical use case in which you create and execute a task, and
then implements its recommendations. Table 23-6 describes some parameters of the
CREATE_EVOLVE_TASK function.

Table 23-6 DBMS_SPM.CREATE_EVOLVE_TASK Parameters

Function Description
Parameter

sql_handle SQL handle of the statement. The default NULL considers all SQL
statements with unaccepted plans.

plan_name Plan identifier. The default NULL means consider all unaccepted plans of
the specified SQL handle or all SQL statements if the SQL handle is NULL.

Managing SQL Plan Baselines 23-29

Evolving SQL Plan Baselines Manually

Table 23-6 (Cont.) DBMS_SPM.CREATE_EVOLVE_TASK Parameters

Function Description
Parameter

time_limit Time limit in number of minutes. The time limit for first unaccepted plan
equals the input value. The time limit for the second unaccepted plan
equals the input value minus the time spent in first plan verification, and
so on. The default DBMS_SPM.AUTO_LIMIT means let the system choose
an appropriate time limit based on the number of plan verifications
required to be done.

task_name User-specified name of the evolution task.

This section explains how to evolve plan baselines from the command line. In Cloud
Control, from the SQL Plan Baseline subpage (shown in Figure 23-3), select a plan, and
then click Evolve.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You do not have the automatic evolve task enabled (see “Managing the SPM
Evolve Advisor Task”).

• You want to create a SQL plan baseline for the following query:
SELECT /* q1_group_by */ prod_name, sum(quantity_sold)
FROM products p, sales s
WHERE p.prod_id = s.prod_id
AND p.prod_category_id =203
GROUP BY prod_name;

• You want to create two indexes to improve the query performance, and then evolve
the plan that uses these indexes if it performs better than the plan currently in the
plan baseline.

To evolve a specified plan:

1. Perform the initial setup as follows:

a. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with administrator privileges, and then

prepare for the tutorial by flushing the shared pool and the buffer cache:
ALTER SYSTEM FLUSH SHARED_POOL;
ALTER SYSTEM FLUSH BUFFER_CACHE;

b. Enable the automatic capture of SQL plan baselines.

For example, enter the following statement:
ALTER SYSTEM SET OPTIMIZER_CAPTURE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES=true;

c. Connect to the database as user sh, and then set SQL*Plus display
parameters:
CONNECT sh
-- enter password
SET PAGES 10000 LINES 140

23-30 SQL Tuning Guide

 Evolving SQL Plan Baselines Manually

SET SERVEROUTPUT ON
COL SQL_TEXT FORMAT A20
COL SQL_HANDLE FORMAT A20
COL PLAN_NAME FORMAT A30
COL ORIGIN FORMAT A12
SET LONGC 60535
SET LONG 60535
SET ECHO ON

2. Execute the SELECT statements so that SQL plan management captures them:

a. Execute the SELECT /* q1_group_by */ statement for the first time.

Because the database only captures plans for repeatable statements, the plan
baseline for this statement is empty.

b. Query the data dictionary to confirm that no plans exist in the plan baseline.
For example, execute the following query (sample output included):
SELECT SQL_HANDLE, SQL_TEXT, PLAN_NAME, ORIGIN, ENABLED,
ACCEPTED, FIXED, AUTOPURGE
FROM DBA_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES
WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE '%q1_group%';

no rows selected

SQL plan management only captures repeatable statements, so this result is

expected.

c. Execute the SELECT /* q1_group_by */ statement for the second time.

3. Query the data dictionary to ensure that the plans were loaded into the plan
baseline for the statement.
Example 23-2 executes the following query (sample output included).
The output shows that the plan is accepted, which means that it is in the plan
baseline for the statement. Also, the origin is AUTO-CAPTURE, which means that
the statement was automatically captured and not manually loaded.

4. Explain the plan for the statement and verify that the optimizer is using this plan.
For example, explain the plan as follows, and then display it:
EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
SELECT /* q1_group_by */ prod_name, sum(quantity_sold)
FROM products p, sales s
WHERE p.prod_id = s.prod_id
AND p.prod_category_id =203
GROUP BY prod_name;

SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY(null, null, 'basic +note'));

Sample output appears below:

Plan hash value: 1117033222

------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name |
------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | |
| 1 | HASH GROUP BY | |

Managing SQL Plan Baselines 23-31

Evolving SQL Plan Baselines Manually

| 2 | HASH JOIN | |
| 3 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | PRODUCTS |
| 4 | PARTITION RANGE ALL| |
| 5 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | SALES |
------------------------------------------

Note
-----
- SQL plan baseline "SQL_PLAN_0gwbcfvzskcu242949306" used for this statement

The note indicates that the optimizer is using the plan shown with the plan name
listed in Example 23-2.

5. Create two indexes to improve the performance of the SELECT /*

q1_group_by */ statement.
For example, use the following statements:
CREATE INDEX ind_prod_cat_name
ON products(prod_category_id, prod_name, prod_id);
CREATE INDEX ind_sales_prod_qty_sold
ON sales(prod_id, quantity_sold);

6. Execute the select /* q1_group_by */ statement again.

Because automatic capture is enabled, the plan baseline is populated with the new
plan for this statement.

7. Query the data dictionary to ensure that the plan was loaded into the SQL plan
baseline for the statement.
Example 23-3 executes the following query (sample output included).
The output shows that the new plan is unaccepted, which means that it is in the
statement history but not the SQL plan baseline.

8. Explain the plan for the statement and verify that the optimizer is using the
original nonindexed plan.
For example, explain the plan as follows, and then display it:
EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
SELECT /* q1_group_by */ prod_name, sum(quantity_sold)
FROM products p, sales s
WHERE p.prod_id = s.prod_id
AND p.prod_category_id =203
GROUP BY prod_name;
SELECT * FROM TABLE(DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY(null, null, 'basic +note'));

Sample output appears below:

Plan hash value: 1117033222

------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name |
------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | |
| 1 | HASH GROUP BY | |
| 2 | HASH JOIN | |
| 3 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | PRODUCTS |
| 4 | PARTITION RANGE ALL| |
| 5 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | SALES |
------------------------------------------

23-32 SQL Tuning Guide

 Evolving SQL Plan Baselines Manually

Note
-----
- SQL plan baseline "SQL_PLAN_0gwbcfvzskcu242949306" used for this statement

The note indicates that the optimizer is using the plan shown with the plan name
listed in Example 23-2.

9. Connect as an administrator, and then create an evolve task that considers all SQL
statements with unaccepted plans.
For example, execute the DBMS_SPM.CREATE_EVOLVE_TASK function and then
obtain the name of the task:
CONNECT / AS SYSDBA
VARIABLE cnt NUMBER
VARIABLE tk_name VARCHAR2(50)
VARIABLE exe_name VARCHAR2(50)
VARIABLE evol_out CLOB

EXECUTE :tk_name := DBMS_SPM.CREATE_EVOLVE_TASK(

sql_handle => 'SQL_07f16c76ff893342',
plan_name => 'SQL_PLAN_0gwbcfvzskcu20135fd6c');

SELECT :tk_name FROM DUAL;

The following sample output shows the name of the task:

:EVOL_OUT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
TASK_11

Now that the task has been created and has a unique name, execute the task.

10. Execute the task.

For example, execute the DBMS_SPM.EXECUTE_EVOLVE_TASK function (sample

output included):
EXECUTE :exe_name :=DBMS_SPM.EXECUTE_EVOLVE_TASK(task_name=>:tk_name);
SELECT :exe_name FROM DUAL;

:EXE_NAME
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXEC_1

11. View the report.

For example, execute the DBMS_SPM.REPORT_EVOLVE_TASK function (sample

output included):
EXECUTE :evol_out := DBMS_SPM.REPORT_EVOLVE_TASK( task_name=>:tk_name,
execution_name=>:exe_name );
SELECT :evol_out FROM DUAL;

GENERAL INFORMATION SECTION

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Task Information:
---------------------------------------------
Task Name : TASK_11
Task Owner : SYS
Execution Name : EXEC_1

Managing SQL Plan Baselines 23-33

Evolving SQL Plan Baselines Manually

Execution Type : SPM EVOLVE

Scope : COMPREHENSIVE
Status : COMPLETED
Started : 01/09/2012 12:21:27
Finished : 01/09/2012 12:21:29
Last Updated : 01/09/2012 12:21:29
Global Time Limit : 2147483646
Per-Plan Time Limit : UNUSED
Number of Errors : 0
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY SECTION
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of plans processed : 1
Number of findings : 1
Number of recommendations : 1
Number of errors : 0
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

DETAILS SECTION
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Object ID : 2
Test Plan Name : SQL_PLAN_0gwbcfvzskcu20135fd6c
Base Plan Name : SQL_PLAN_0gwbcfvzskcu242949306
SQL Handle : SQL_07f16c76ff893342
Parsing Schema : SH
Test Plan Creator : SH
SQL Text : SELECT /*q1_group_by*/ prod_name,
sum(quantity_sold)
FROM products p, sales s
WHERE p.prod_id=s.prod_id AND p.prod_category_id=203
GROUP BY prod_name

Execution Statistics:
-----------------------------
Base Plan Test Plan
---------------------------- ------------------------
Elapsed Time (s): .044336 .012649
CPU Time (s): .044003 .012445
Buffer Gets: 360 99
Optimizer Cost: 924 891
Disk Reads: 341 82
Direct Writes: 0 0
Rows Processed: 4 2
Executions: 5 9

FINDINGS SECTION
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Findings (1):
-----------------------------
1. The plan was verified in 2.18 seconds. It passed the benefit criterion
because its verified performance was 2.01 times better than that of the
baseline plan.

Recommendation:
-----------------------------
Consider accepting the plan. Execute
dbms_spm.accept_sql_plan_baseline(task_name => 'TASK_11', object_id => 2,
task_owner => 'SYS');

23-34 SQL Tuning Guide

 Evolving SQL Plan Baselines Manually

EXPLAIN PLANS SECTION

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Baseline Plan
-----------------------------
Plan Id : 1
Plan Hash Value : 1117033222

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id| Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes |Cost | Time |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 21 | 861 | 924 | 00:00:12|
| 1 | HASH GROUP BY | | 21 | 861 | 924 | 00:00:12|
| *2| HASH JOIN | |267996|10987836 | 742 | 00:00:09|
| *3| TABLE ACCESS FULL | PRODUCTS | 21 | 714 | 2 | 00:00:01|
| 4 | PARTITION RANGE ALL | |918843| 6431901 | 662 | 00:00:08|
| 5 | TABLE ACCESS FULL | SALES |918843| 6431901 | 662 | 00:00:08|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

------------------------------------------
* 2 - access("P"."PROD_ID"="S"."PROD_ID")
* 3 - filter("P"."PROD_CATEGORY_ID"=203)

Test Plan
-----------------------------
Plan Id : 2
Plan Hash Value : 20315500

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Id| Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost| Time |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0|SELECT STATEMENT | | 21| 861|891|00:00:11|
| 1| SORT GROUP BY NOSORT| | 21| 861|891|00:00:11|
| 2| NESTED LOOPS | |267996|10987836|891|00:00:11|
|*3| INDEX RANGE SCAN |IND_PROD_CAT_NAME | 21| 714| 1|00:00:01|
|*4| INDEX RANGE SCAN |IND_SALES_PROD_QTY| 12762| 89334| 42|00:00:01|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):

------------------------------------------
* 3 - access("P"."PROD_CATEGORY_ID"=203)
* 4 - access("P"."PROD_ID"="S"."PROD_ID")

This report indicates that the new execution plan, which uses the two new
indexes, performs better than the original plan.

12. Implement the recommendations of the evolve task.

For example, execute the IMPLEMENT_EVOLVE_TASK function:
EXECUTE :cnt := DBMS_SPM.IMPLEMENT_EVOLVE_TASK( task_name=>:tk_name,
execution_name=>:exe_name );

13. Query the data dictionary to ensure that the new plan is accepted.
Example 23-3 executes the following query (sample output included).
The output shows that the new plan is accepted.

14. Clean up after the example.

Managing SQL Plan Baselines 23-35

Evolving SQL Plan Baselines Manually

For example, enter the following statements:

EXEC :cnt := DBMS_SPM.DROP_SQL_PLAN_BASELINE('SQL_07f16c76ff893342');
EXEC :cnt := DBMS_SPM.DROP_SQL_PLAN_BASELINE('SQL_9049245213a986b3');
EXEC :cnt := DBMS_SPM.DROP_SQL_PLAN_BASELINE('SQL_bb77077f5f90a36b');
EXEC :cnt := DBMS_SPM.DROP_SQL_PLAN_BASELINE('SQL_02a86218930bbb20');
DELETE FROM SQLLOG$;
CONNECT sh
-- enter password
DROP INDEX IND_SALES_PROD_QTY_SOLD;
DROP INDEX IND_PROD_CAT_NAME;

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for information about
using the DBMS_SPM evolve functions

Example 23-2 DBA_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES

SELECT SQL_HANDLE, SQL_TEXT, PLAN_NAME,
ORIGIN, ENABLED, ACCEPTED, FIXED
FROM DBA_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES
WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE '%q1_group%';

SQL_HANDLE SQL_TEXT PLAN_NAME ORIGIN ENA ACC FIX

-------------------- ---------------- ------------------------------ ------------ --- --- ---
SQL_07f16c76ff893342 SELECT /* q1_gro SQL_PLAN_0gwbcfvzskcu242949306 AUTO-CAPTURE YES YES NO
up_by */ prod_na
me, sum(quantity
_sold) FROM
products p,
sales s WHERE
p.prod_id =
s.prod_id AND
p.prod_category
_id =203 GROUP
BY prod_name

Example 23-3 DBA_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES

SELECT SQL_HANDLE, SQL_TEXT, PLAN_NAME, ORIGIN, ENABLED, ACCEPTED
FROM DBA_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES
WHERE SQL_HANDLE IN ('SQL_07f16c76ff893342')
ORDER BY SQL_HANDLE, ACCEPTED;

SQL_HANDLE SQL_TEXT PLAN_NAME ORIGIN ENA ACC

-------------------- -------------------- ------------------------------ ------------ --- ---
SQL_07f16c76ff893342 SELECT /* q1_group_b SQL_PLAN_0gwbcfvzskcu20135fd6c AUTO-CAPTURE YES NO
y */ prod_name, sum(
quantity_sold)
FROM products p, s
ales s
WHERE p.prod_id = s
.prod_id
AND p.prod_catego
ry_id =203
GROUP BY prod_name

SQL_07f16c76ff893342 SELECT /* q1_group_b SQL_PLAN_0gwbcfvzskcu242949306 AUTO-CAPTURE YES YES

y */ prod_name, sum(

23-36 SQL Tuning Guide

 Dropping SQL Plan Baselines

quantity_sold)
FROM products p, s
ales s
WHERE p.prod_id = s
.prod_id
AND p.prod_catego
ry_id =203
GROUP BY prod_name

Example 23-4 DBA_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES

SQL_HANDLE SQL_TEXT PLAN_NAME ORIGIN ENA ACC
-------------------- -------------------- ------------------------------ ------------ --- ---
SQL_07f16c76ff893342 SELECT /* q1_group_b SQL_PLAN_0gwbcfvzskcu20135fd6c AUTO-CAPTURE YES YES
y */ prod_name, sum(
quantity_sold)
FROM products p, s
ales s
WHERE p.prod_id = s
.prod_id
AND p.prod_catego
ry_id =203
GROUP BY prod_name

SQL_07f16c76ff893342 SELECT /* q1_group_b SQL_PLAN_0gwbcfvzskcu242949306 AUTO-CAPTURE YES YES

y */ prod_name, sum(
quantity_sold)
FROM products p, s
ales s
WHERE p.prod_id = s
.prod_id
AND p.prod_catego
ry_id =203
GROUP BY prod_name

Dropping SQL Plan Baselines

You can remove some or all plans from a SQL plan baseline. This technique is
sometimes useful when testing SQL plan management.
Drop plans with the DBMS_SPM.DROP_SQL_PLAN_BASELINE function. This function
returns the number of dropped plans. Table 23-8 describes input parameters.

Table 23-7 DROP_SQL_PLAN_BASELINE Parameters

Function Description
Parameter

sql_handle SQL statement identifier.

plan_name Name of a specific plan. Default NULL drops all plans associated with
the SQL statement identified by sql_handle.

This section explains how to drop baselines from the command line. In Cloud Control,
from the SQL Plan Baseline subpage (shown in Figure 23-3), select a plan, and then
click Drop.

Managing SQL Plan Baselines 23-37

Dropping SQL Plan Baselines

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes that you want to drop all plans for the following SQL statement,
effectively dropping the SQL plan baseline:
SELECT /* repeatable_sql */ COUNT(*) FROM hr.jobs;

To drop a SQL plan baseline:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then query
the data dictionary for the plan baseline.
Example 23-5 executes the following query (sample output included).

2. Drop the SQL plan baseline for the statement.

The following example drops the plan baseline with the SQL handle
SQL_b6b0d1c71cd1807b, and returns the number of dropped plans. Specify
plan baselines using the plan name (plan_name), SQL handle (sql_handle), or
any other plan criteria. The table_name parameter is mandatory.
DECLARE
v_dropped_plans number;
BEGIN
v_dropped_plans := DBMS_SPM.DROP_SQL_PLAN_BASELINE (
sql_handle => 'SQL_b6b0d1c71cd1807b'
);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('dropped ' || v_dropped_plans || ' plans');
END;
/

3. Confirm that the plans were dropped.

For example, execute the following query:
SELECT SQL_HANDLE, SQL_TEXT, PLAN_NAME, ORIGIN,
ENABLED, ACCEPTED
FROM DBA_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES
WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE 'SELECT /* repeatable_sql%';

no rows selected

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DROP_SQL_PLAN_BASELINE function

Example 23-5 DBA_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES

SQL> SELECT SQL_HANDLE, SQL_TEXT, PLAN_NAME, ORIGIN,
2 ENABLED, ACCEPTED
3 FROM DBA_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES
4 WHERE SQL_TEXT LIKE 'SELECT /* repeatable_sql%';

SQL_HANDLE SQL_TEXT PLAN_NAME ORIGIN ENA ACC

-------------------- -------------------- ------------------------------ -------------- --- ---
SQL_b6b0d1c71cd1807b SELECT /* repeatable SQL_PLAN_bdc6jswfd303v2f1e9c20 AUTO-CAPTURE YES YES
_sql */ count(*) fro
m hr.jobs

23-38 SQL Tuning Guide

 Managing the SQL Management Base

Managing the SQL Management Base

The SQL management base is a part of the data dictionary that resides in the SYSAUX
tablespace. It stores statement logs, plan histories, SQL plan baselines, and SQL
profiles. This section explains how to change the disk space usage parameters for the
SMB, and change the retention time for plans in the SMB.
The DBA_SQL_MANAGEMENT_CONFIG view shows the current configuration settings
for the SMB. Table 23-8 describes the parameters in the PARAMETER_NAME column.

Table 23-8 Parameters in DBA_SQL_MANAGEMENT_CONFIG.PARAMETER_NAME

Parameter Description

SPACE_BUDGET_PERCENT Maximum percent of SYSAUX space that the SQL management

base can use. The default is 10. The allowable range for this
limit is between 1% and 50%.

PLAN_RETENTION_WEEKS Number of weeks to retain unused plans before they are

purged. The default is 53.

Changing the Disk Space Limit for the SMB

A weekly background process measures the total space occupied by the SMB. When
the defined limit is exceeded, the process writes a warning to the alert log. The
database generates alerts weekly until either the SMB space limit is increased, the size
of the SYSAUX tablespace is increased, or the disk space used by the SMB is decreased
by purging SQL management objects (SQL plan baselines or SQL profiles). This task
explains how to change the limit with the DBMS_SPM.CONFIGURE procedure.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• The current SMB space limit is the default of 10%.

• You want to change the percentage limit to 30%

To change the percentage limit of the SMB:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then query
the data dictionary to see the current space budget percent.
For example, execute the following query (sample output included):
SELECT PARAMETER_NAME, PARAMETER_VALUE AS "%_LIMIT",
( SELECT sum(bytes/1024/1024) FROM DBA_DATA_FILES
WHERE TABLESPACE_NAME = 'SYSAUX' ) AS SYSAUX_SIZE_IN_MB,
PARAMETER_VALUE/100 *
( SELECT sum(bytes/1024/1024) FROM DBA_DATA_FILES
WHERE TABLESPACE_NAME = 'SYSAUX' ) AS "CURRENT_LIMIT_IN_MB"
FROM DBA_SQL_MANAGEMENT_CONFIG
WHERE PARAMETER_NAME = 'SPACE_BUDGET_PERCENT';

PARAMETER_NAME %_LIMIT SYSAUX_SIZE_IN_MB CURRENT_LIMIT_IN_MB

-------------------- ---------- ----------------- -------------------
SPACE_BUDGET_PERCENT 10 211.4375 21.14375

Managing SQL Plan Baselines 23-39

Managing the SQL Management Base

2. Change the percentage setting.

For example, execute the following command to change the setting to 30%:
EXECUTE DBMS_SPM.CONFIGURE('space_budget_percent',30);

3. Query the data dictionary to confirm the change.

For example, execute the following join (sample output included):
SELECT PARAMETER_NAME, PARAMETER_VALUE AS "%_LIMIT",
( SELECT sum(bytes/1024/1024) FROM DBA_DATA_FILES
WHERE TABLESPACE_NAME = 'SYSAUX' ) AS SYSAUX_SIZE_IN_MB,
PARAMETER_VALUE/100 *
( SELECT sum(bytes/1024/1024) FROM DBA_DATA_FILES
WHERE TABLESPACE_NAME = 'SYSAUX' ) AS "CURRENT_LIMIT_IN_MB"
FROM DBA_SQL_MANAGEMENT_CONFIG
WHERE PARAMETER_NAME = 'SPACE_BUDGET_PERCENT';

PARAMETER_NAME %_LIMIT SYSAUX_SIZE_IN_MB CURRENT_LIMIT_IN_MB

-------------------- ---------- ----------------- -------------------
SPACE_BUDGET_PERCENT 30 211.4375 63.43125

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
CONFIGURE function

Changing the Plan Retention Policy in the SMB

A weekly scheduled purging task manages disk space used by SQL plan management.
The task runs as an automated task in the maintenance window. The database purges
plans that have not been used for longer than the plan retention period, as identified
by the LAST_EXECUTED timestamp stored in the SMB for that plan. The default
retention period is 53 weeks. The period can range between 5 and 523 weeks.
This task explains how to change the plan retention period with the
DBMS_SPM.CONFIGURE procedure. In Cloud Control, set the plan retention policy in
the SQL Plan Baseline subpage (shown in Figure 23-3).

To change the plan retention period for the SMB:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then query
the data dictionary to see the current plan retention period.
For example, execute the following query (sample output included):
SQL> SELECT PARAMETER_NAME, PARAMETER_VALUE
2 FROM DBA_SQL_MANAGEMENT_CONFIG
3 WHERE PARAMETER_NAME = 'PLAN_RETENTION_WEEKS';

PARAMETER_NAME PARAMETER_VALUE
------------------------------ ---------------
PLAN_RETENTION_WEEKS 53

2. Change the retention period.

For example, execute the CONFIGURE procedure to change the period to 105
weeks:
EXECUTE DBMS_SPM.CONFIGURE('plan_retention_weeks',105);

23-40 SQL Tuning Guide

 Managing the SQL Management Base

3. Query the data dictionary to confirm the change.

For example, execute the following query:
SQL> SELECT PARAMETER_NAME, PARAMETER_VALUE
2 FROM DBA_SQL_MANAGEMENT_CONFIG
3 WHERE PARAMETER_NAME = 'PLAN_RETENTION_WEEKS';

PARAMETER_NAME PARAMETER_VALUE
------------------------------ ---------------
PLAN_RETENTION_WEEKS 105

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_SPM.CONFIGURE procedure

Managing SQL Plan Baselines 23-41

Managing the SQL Management Base

23-42 SQL Tuning Guide

 24
Migrating Stored Outlines to SQL Plan
Baselines

This chapter explains the concepts and tasks relating to stored outline migration. This
chapter contains the following topics:

• About Stored Outline Migration

• Preparing for Stored Outline Migration

• Migrating Outlines to Utilize SQL Plan Management Features

• Migrating Outlines to Preserve Stored Outline Behavior

• Performing Follow-Up Tasks After Stored Outline Migration

Note:

Starting in Oracle Database 12c, stored outlines are deprecated. See Migrating
Stored Outlines to SQL Plan Baselines for an alternative.

About Stored Outline Migration

A stored outline is a set of hints for a SQL statement. The hints direct the optimizer to
choose a specific plan for the statement. A stored outline is a legacy technique for
providing plan stability.
Stored outline migration is the user-initiated process of converting stored outlines to
SQL plan baselines. A SQL plan baseline is a set of plans proven to provide optimal
performance.
This section contains the following topics:

• Purpose of Stored Outline Migration

• How Stored Outline Migration Works

• User Interface for Stored Outline Migration

• Basic Steps in Stored Outline Migration

Purpose of Stored Outline Migration

This section assumes that you rely on stored outlines to maintain plan stability and
prevent performance regressions. The goal of this section is to provide a convenient
method to safely migrate from stored outlines to SQL plan baselines. After the
migration, you can maintain the same plan stability that you had using stored outlines

Migrating Stored Outlines to SQL Plan Baselines 24-1

About Stored Outline Migration

while being able to use the more advanced features provided by the SQL Plan
Management framework.
Specifically, the section explains how to address the following problems:

• Stored outlines cannot automatically evolve over time. Consequently, a stored

outline may be optimal when you create it, but become a suboptimal plan after a
database change, leading to performance degradation.

• Hints in a stored outline can become invalid, as with an index hint on a dropped
index. In such cases, the database still uses the outlines but excludes the invalid
hints, producing a plan that is often worse than the original plan or the current
best-cost plan generated by the optimizer.

• For a SQL statement, the optimizer can only choose the plan defined in the stored
outline in the currently specified category. The optimizer cannot choose from other
stored outlines in different categories or the current cost-based plan even if they
improve performance.

• Stored outlines are a reactive tuning technique, which means that you only use a
stored outline to address a performance problem after it has occurred. For example,
you may implement a stored outline to correct the plan of a SQL statement that
became high-load. In this case, you used stored outlines instead of proactively
tuning the statement before it became high-load.
The stored outline migration PL/SQL API helps solve the preceding problems in the
following ways:

• SQL plan baselines enable the optimizer to use the same optimal plan and allow
this plan to evolve over time.
For a specified SQL statement, you can add new plans as SQL plan baselines after
they are verified not to cause performance regressions.

• SQL plan baselines prevent plans from becoming unreproducible because of

invalid hints.
If hints stored in a plan baseline become invalid, then the plan may not be
reproducible by the optimizer. In this case, the optimizer selects an alternative
reproducible plan baseline or the current best-cost plan generated by optimizer.

• For a specific SQL statement, the database can maintain multiple plan baselines.
The optimizer can choose from a set of optimal plans for a specific SQL statement
instead of being restricted to a single plan per category, as required by stored
outlines.

How Stored Outline Migration Works

This section explains how the database migrates stored outlines to SQL plan baselines.
This information is important for performing the task of migrating stored outlines.

Stages of Stored Outline Migration

The following graphic shows the main stages in stored outline migration:

24-2 SQL Tuning Guide

 About Stored Outline Migration

outline1 ... outlinen User specifies stored outlines

Database creates SQL plan baselines

Copy information from stored outlines

Reparse hints to generate plans

baseline1 ... baselinen

Database updates SQL plan baselines

Obtain missing information such as bind data
at first statement execution

The migration process has the following stages:

1. The user invokes a function that specifies which outlines to migrate.

2. The database processes the outlines as follows:

a. The database copies information in the outline needed by the plan baseline.
The database copies it directly or calculates it based on information in the
outline. For example, the text of the SQL statement exists in both schemas, so
the database can copy the text from outline to baseline.

b. The database reparses the hints to obtain information not in the outline.
The plan hash value and plan cost cannot be derived from the existing
information in the outline, which necessitates reparsing the hints.

c. The database creates the baselines.

3. The database obtains missing information when it chooses the SQL plan baseline
for the first time to execute the SQL statement.
The compilation environment and execution statistics are only available during
execution when the plan baseline is parsed and compiled.
The migration is complete only after the preceding phases complete.

Outline Categories and Baseline Modules

An outline is a set of hints, whereas a SQL plan baseline is a set of plans. Because they
are different technologies, some functionality of outlines does not map exactly to
functionality of baselines. For example, a single SQL statement can have multiple
outlines, each of which is in a different outline category, but the only category that
currently exists for baselines is DEFAULT.
The equivalent of a category for an outline is a module for a SQL plan baseline. Table
24-1 explains how outline categories map to modules.

Table 24-1 Outline Categories

Migrating Stored Outlines to SQL Plan Baselines 24-3

About Stored Outline Migration

Table 24-1 (Cont.) Outline Categories

Concept Description Default Value

Outline Category Specifies a user-defined grouping for a set DEFAULT
of stored outlines.
You can use categories to maintain
different stored outlines for a SQL
statement. For example, a single
statement can have an outline in the OLTP
category and the DW category.
Each SQL statement can have one or more
stored outlines. Each stored outline is in
one and only one outline category. A
statement can have multiple stored
outlines in different categories, but only
one stored outline exists for each category
of each statement.
During migration, the database maps
each outline category to a SQL plan
baseline module.

Baseline Module Specifies a high-level function being After an outline is

performed. migrated to a SQL plan
A SQL plan baseline can belong to one baseline, the module name
and only one module. defaults to outline category
name.

Baseline Category Only one SQL plan baseline category DEFAULT

exists. This category is named DEFAULT.
During stored outline migration, the
module name of the SQL plan baseline is
set to the category name of the stored
outline.
A statement can have multiple SQL plan
baselines in the DEFAULT category.

When migrating stored outlines to SQL plan baselines, Oracle Database maps every
outline category to a SQL plan baseline module with the same name. As shown in the
following diagram, the outline category OLTP is mapped to the baseline module OLTP.
After migration, DEFAULT is a super-category that contains all SQL plan baselines.

Category DEFAULT

Category OLTP Module OLTP

Outline emp1 Baseline emp1

SELECT...
Category DW Module DW

Outline emp2 Baseline emp2

Outline dept Baseline dept

SELECT...

24-4 SQL Tuning Guide

 About Stored Outline Migration

User Interface for Stored Outline Migration

You can use the DBMS_SPM package to perform the stored outline migration. Table
24-2 describes the relevant functions in this package.

Table 24-2 DBMS_SPM Functions Relating to Stored Outline Migration

DBMS_SPM Function Description

MIGRATE_STORED_OUTLINE Migrates existing stored outlines to plan baselines.
Use either of the following formats:
• Specify outline name, SQL text, outline category, or all stored
outlines.
• Specify a list of outline names.

ALTER_SQL_PLAN_BASELINE Changes an attribute of a single plan or all plans associated with a SQL
statement.

DROP_MIGRATED_STORED_OUTLINE Drops stored outlines that have been migrated to SQL plan baselines.
The function finds stored outlines marked as MIGRATED in the
DBA_OUTLINES view, and then drops these outlines from the database.

You can control stored outline and plan baseline behavior with initialization and
session parameters. Table 24-3 describes the relevant parameters. See Table 24-5 and
Table 24-6 for an explanation of how these parameter settings interact.

Table 24-3 Parameters Relating to Stored Outline Migration

Initialization or Session Parameter Description Parameter Type

CREATE_STORED_OUTLINES Determines whether Oracle Database Initialization
automatically creates and stores an parameter
outline for each query submitted
during the session.

OPTIMIZER_CAPTURE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES Enables or disables the automatic Initialization

recognition of repeatable SQL parameter
statement and the generation of SQL
plan baselines for these statements.

USE_STORED_OUTLINES Determines whether the optimizer uses Session

stored outlines to generate execution
plans.
Note: This is a session parameter, not
an initialization parameter.

OPTIMIZER_USE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES Enables or disables the use of SQL plan Initialization

baselines stored in SQL Management parameter
Base.

You can use database views to access information relating to stored outline migration.
Table 24-4 describes the following main views.

Table 24-4 Views Relating to Stored Outline Migration

Migrating Stored Outlines to SQL Plan Baselines 24-5

Preparing for Stored Outline Migration

Table 24-4 (Cont.) Views Relating to Stored Outline Migration

View Description
DBA_OUTLINES Describes all stored outlines in the database.
The MIGRATED column is important for outline migration
and shows one of the following values: NOT-MIGRATED
and MIGRATED. When MIGRATED, the stored outline has
been migrated to a plan baseline and is not usable.

DBA_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES Displays information about the SQL plan baselines

currently created for specific SQL statements.
The ORIGIN column indicates how the plan baseline was
created. The value STORED-OUTLINE indicates the baseline
was created by migrating an outline.

See Also:

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_SPM package

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about database initialization parameters

and database fixed views

Basic Steps in Stored Outline Migration

This section explains the basic steps in using the PL/SQL API to perform stored
outline migration. The basic steps are as follows:

1. Prepare for stored outline migration.

Review the migration prerequisites and determine how you want the migrated
plan baselines to behave.
See “Preparing for Stored Outline Migration”.

2. Do one of the following:

• Migrate to baselines to use SQL Plan Management features.

See “Migrating Outlines to Utilize SQL Plan Management Features”.

• Migrate to baselines while exactly preserving the behavior of the stored

outlines.
See “Migrating Outlines to Preserve Stored Outline Behavior”.

3. Perform post-migration confirmation and cleanup.

See “Performing Follow-Up Tasks After Stored Outline Migration”.

Preparing for Stored Outline Migration

This section explains how to prepare for stored outline migration.

24-6 SQL Tuning Guide

 Preparing for Stored Outline Migration

To prepare for stored outline migration:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with SYSDBA privileges or the EXECUTE

privilege on the DBMS_SPM package.
For example, do the following to use operating system authentication to log on to
a database as SYS:
% sqlplus /nolog
SQL> CONNECT / AS SYSDBA

2. Query the stored outlines in the database.

The following example queries all stored outlines that have not been migrated to
SQL plan baselines:
SELECT NAME, CATEGORY, SQL_TEXT
FROM DBA_OUTLINES
WHERE MIGRATED = 'NOT-MIGRATED';

3. Determine which stored outlines meet the following prerequisites for migration
eligibility:

• The statement must not be a run-time INSERT AS SELECT statement.

• The statement must not reference a remote object.

• This statement must not be a private stored outline.

4. Decide whether to migrate all outlines, specified stored outlines, or outlines

belonging to a specified outline category.
If you do not decide to migrate all outlines, then identify the outlines or categories
that you intend to migrate.

5. Decide whether the stored outlines migrated to SQL plan baselines use fixed
plans or nonfixed plans:

• Fixed plans
A fixed plan is frozen. If a fixed plan is reproducible using the hints stored in
plan baseline, then the optimizer always chooses the lowest-cost fixed plan
baseline over plan baselines that are not fixed. Essentially, a fixed plan baseline
acts as a stored outline with valid hints.
A fixed plan is reproducible when the database can parse the statement based
on the hints stored in the plan baseline and create a plan with the same plan
hash value as the one in the plan baseline. If one of more of the hints become
invalid, then the database may not be able to create a plan with the same plan
hash value. In this case, the plan is nonreproducible.
If a fixed plan cannot be reproduced when parsed using its hints, then the
optimizer chooses a different plan, which can be either of the following:

– Another plan for the SQL plan baseline

– The current cost-based plan created by the optimizer

In some cases, a performance regression occurs because of the different plan,
requiring SQL tuning.

• Nonfixed plans

Migrating Stored Outlines to SQL Plan Baselines 24-7

Migrating Outlines to Utilize SQL Plan Management Features

If a plan baseline does not contain fixed plans, then SQL Plan Management
considers the plans equally when picking a plan for a SQL statement.

6. Before beginning the actual migration, ensure that the Oracle database meets the
following prerequisites:

• The database must be Enterprise Edition.

• The database must be open and must not be in a suspended state.

• The database must not be in restricted access (DBA), read-only, or migrate

mode.

• Oracle Call Interface (OCI) must be available.

See Also:

• Oracle Database Administrator's Guide to learn about administrator

privileges

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about the DBA_OUTLINES views

Migrating Outlines to Utilize SQL Plan Management Features

The goals of this task are as follows:

• To allow SQL Plan Management to select from all plans in a plan baseline for a SQL
statement instead of applying the same fixed plan after migration

• To allow the SQL plan baseline to evolve in the face of database changes by adding
new plans to the baseline

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You migrate all outlines.

To migrate specific outlines, see Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference
for details about the DBMS_SPM.MIGRATE_STORED_OUTLINE function.

• You want the module names of the baselines to be identical to the category names
of the migrated outlines.

• You do not want the SQL plans to be fixed.

By default, generated plans are not fixed and SQL Plan Management considers all
plans equally when picking a plan for a SQL statement. This situation permits the
advanced feature of plan evolution to capture new plans for a SQL statement,
verify their performance, and accept these new plans into the plan baseline.

To migrate stored outlines to SQL plan baselines:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges.

2. Call PL/SQL function MIGRATE_STORED_OUTLINE.

24-8 SQL Tuning Guide

 Migrating Outlines to Preserve Stored Outline Behavior

The following sample PL/SQL block migrates all stored outlines to fixed
baselines:
DECLARE
my_report CLOB;
BEGIN
my_outlines := DBMS_SPM.MIGRATE_STORED_OUTLINE(
attribute_name => 'all' );
END;
/

See Also:

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_SPM package

• Oracle Database SQL Language Reference to learn about the ALTER SYSTEM
statement

Migrating Outlines to Preserve Stored Outline Behavior

The goal of this task is to migrate stored outlines to SQL plan baselines and preserve
the original behavior of the stored outlines by creating fixed plan baselines. A fixed
plan has higher priority over other plans for the same SQL statement. If a plan is fixed,
then the plan baseline cannot be evolved. The database does not add new plans to a
plan baseline that contains a fixed plan.

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

• You want to migrate only the stored outlines in the category named firstrow.
See Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for syntax and semantics of
the DBMS_SPM.MIGRATE_STORED_OUTLINE function.

• You want the module names of the baselines to be identical to the category names
of the migrated outlines.

To migrate stored outlines to plan baselines:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges.

2. Call PL/SQL function MIGRATE_STORED_OUTLINE.

The following sample PL/SQL block migrates stored outlines in the category
firstrow to fixed baselines:
DECLARE
my_report CLOB;
BEGIN
my_outlines := DBMS_SPM.MIGRATE_STORED_OUTLINE(
attribute_name => 'category',
attribute_value => 'firstrow',
fixed => 'YES' );
END;
/

Migrating Stored Outlines to SQL Plan Baselines 24-9

Performing Follow-Up Tasks After Stored Outline Migration

After migration, the SQL plan baselines is in module firstrow and category
DEFAULT.

See Also:

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_SPM package

• Oracle Database SQL Language Reference to learn about the ALTER SYSTEM
statement

Performing Follow-Up Tasks After Stored Outline Migration

The goals of this task are as follows:

• To configure the database to use plan baselines instead of stored outlines for stored
outlines that have been migrated to SQL plan baselines

• To create SQL plan baselines instead of stored outlines for future SQL statements

• To drop the stored outlines that have been migrated to SQL plan baselines
This section explains how to set initialization parameters relating to stored outlines
and plan baselines. The OPTIMIZER_CAPTURE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES and
CREATE_STORED_OUTLINES initialization parameters determine how and when the
database creates stored outlines and SQL plan baselines. Table 24-5 explains the
interaction between these parameters.

Table 24-5 Creation of Outlines and Baselines

CREATE_STORED_ OPTIMIZER_CAPTURE Database Behavior

OUTLINES _SQL_PLAN_BASELIN
Initialization ES Initialization
Parameter Parameter

false false When executing a SQL statement, the

database does not create stored outlines or
SQL plan baselines.

false true The automatic recognition of repeatable

SQL statements and the generation of SQL
plan baselines for these statements is
enabled. When executing a SQL statement,
the database creates only new SQL plan
baselines (if they do not exist) with the
category name DEFAULT for the statement.

true false Oracle Database automatically creates and

stores an outline for each query submitted
during the session. When executing a SQL
statement, the database creates only new
stored outlines (if they do not exist) with
the category name DEFAULT for the
statement.

24-10 SQL Tuning Guide

 Performing Follow-Up Tasks After Stored Outline Migration

Table 24-5 (Cont.) Creation of Outlines and Baselines

CREATE_STORED_ OPTIMIZER_CAPTURE Database Behavior

OUTLINES _SQL_PLAN_BASELIN
Initialization ES Initialization
Parameter Parameter

category false When executing a SQL statement, the

database creates only new stored outlines
(if they do not exist) with the specified
category name for the statement.

true true Oracle Database automatically creates and

stores an outline for each query submitted
during the session. The automatic
recognition of repeatable SQL statements
and the generation of SQL plan baselines
for these statements is also enabled.
When executing a SQL statement, the
database creates both stored outlines and
SQL plan baselines with the category name
DEFAULT.

category true Oracle Database automatically creates and

stores an outline for each query submitted
during the session. The automatic
recognition of repeatable SQL statements
and the generation of SQL plan baselines
for these statements is also enabled.
When executing a SQL statement, the
database creates stored outlines with the
specified category name and SQL plan
baselines with the category name DEFAULT.

The USE_STORED_OUTLINES session parameter (it is not an initialization parameter)

and OPTIMIZER_USE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES initialization parameter determine
how the database uses stored outlines and plan baselines. Table 24-6 explains how
these parameters interact.

Table 24-6 Use of Stored Outlines and SQL Plan Baselines

USE_STORED_OUTLINE OPTIMIZER_USE_SQL_ Database Behavior

S Session Parameter PLAN_BASELINES
Initialization Parameter

false false When choosing a plan for a SQL

statement, the database does not use
stored outlines or plan baselines.

false true When choosing a plan for a SQL

statement, the database uses only
SQL plan baselines.

Migrating Stored Outlines to SQL Plan Baselines 24-11

Performing Follow-Up Tasks After Stored Outline Migration

Table 24-6 (Cont.) Use of Stored Outlines and SQL Plan Baselines

USE_STORED_OUTLINE OPTIMIZER_USE_SQL_ Database Behavior

S Session Parameter PLAN_BASELINES
Initialization Parameter

true false When choosing a plan for a SQL

statement, the database uses stored
outlines with the category name
DEFAULT.

category false When choosing a plan for a SQL

statement, the database uses stored
outlines with the specified category
name.
If a stored outline with the specified
category name does not exist, then
the database uses a stored outline in
the DEFAULT category if it exists.

true true When choosing a plan for a SQL

statement, stored outlines take
priority over plan baselines.
If a stored outline with the category
name DEFAULT exists for the
statement and is applicable, then the
database applies the stored outline.
Otherwise, the database uses SQL
plan baselines. However, if the stored
outline has the property MIGRATED,
then the database does not use the
outline and uses the corresponding
SQL plan baseline instead (if it
exists).

category true When choosing a plan for a SQL

statement, stored outlines take
priority over plan baselines.
If a stored outline with the specified
category name or the DEFAULT
category exists for the statement and
is applicable, then the database
applies the stored outline. Otherwise,
the database uses SQL plan baselines.
However, if the stored outline has the
property MIGRATED, then the
database does not use the outline and
uses the corresponding SQL plan
baseline instead (if it exists).

Assumptions
This tutorial assumes the following:

24-12 SQL Tuning Guide

 Performing Follow-Up Tasks After Stored Outline Migration

• You have completed the basic steps in the stored outline migration (see “Basic
Steps in Stored Outline Migration”).

• Some stored outlines may have been created before Oracle Database 10g.
Hints in releases before Oracle Database 10g use a local hint format. After
migration, hints stored in a plan baseline use the global hints format introduced in
Oracle Database 10g.

To place the database in the proper state after the migration:

1. Connect SQL*Plus to the database with the appropriate privileges, and then check
that SQL plan baselines have been created as the result of migration.
Ensure that the plans are enabled and accepted. For example, enter the following
query (partial sample output included):
SELECT SQL_HANDLE, PLAN_NAME, ORIGIN, ENABLED, ACCEPTED, FIXED, MODULE
FROM DBA_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES;

SQL_HANDLE PLAN_NAME ORIGIN ENA ACC FIX MODULE

------------------------- ---------- -------------- --- --- --- ------
SYS_SQL_f44779f7089c8fab STMT01 STORED-OUTLINE YES YES NO DEFAULT
.
.
.

2. Optionally, change the attributes of the SQL plan baselines.

For example, the following statement changes the status of the baseline for the
specified SQL statement to fixed:
DECLARE
v_cnt PLS_INTEGER;
BEGIN
v_cnt := DBMS_SPM.ALTER_SQL_PLAN_BASELINE(
sql_handle=>'SYS_SQL_f44779f7089c8fab',
attribute_name=>'FIXED',
attribute_value=>'NO');
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Plans altered: ' || v_cnt);
END;
/

3. Check the status of the original stored outlines.

For example, enter the following query (partial sample output included):
SELECT NAME, OWNER, CATEGORY, USED, MIGRATED
FROM DBA_OUTLINES
ORDER BY NAME;

NAME OWNER CATEGORY USED MIGRATED

---------- ---------- ---------- ------ ------------
STMT01 SYS DEFAULT USED MIGRATED
STMT02 SYS DEFAULT USED MIGRATED
.
.
.

4. Drop all stored outlines that have been migrated to SQL plan baselines.
For example, the following statements drops all stored outlines with status
MIGRATED in DBA_OUTLINES:

Migrating Stored Outlines to SQL Plan Baselines 24-13

Performing Follow-Up Tasks After Stored Outline Migration

DECLARE
v_cnt PLS_INTEGER;
BEGIN
v_cnt := DBMS_SPM.DROP_MIGRATED_STORED_OUTLINE();
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Migrated stored outlines dropped: ' || v_cnt);
END;
/

5. Set initialization parameters so that:

• When executing a SQL statement, the database creates plan baselines but does
not create stored outlines.

• The database only uses stored outlines when the equivalent SQL plan baselines
do not exist.
For example, the following SQL statements instruct the database to create SQL
plan baselines instead of stored outlines when a SQL statement is executed. The
example also instructs the database to apply a stored outline in category allrows
or DEFAULT only if it exists and has not been migrated to a SQL plan baseline. In
other cases, the database applies SQL plan baselines instead.
ALTER SYSTEM
SET CREATE_STORED_OUTLINE = false SCOPE = BOTH;

ALTER SYSTEM
SET OPTIMIZER_CAPTURE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES = true SCOPE = BOTH;

ALTER SYSTEM
SET OPTIMIZER_USE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES = true SCOPE = BOTH;

ALTER SESSION
SET USE_STORED_OUTLINES = allrows SCOPE = BOTH;

See Also:

• Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference to learn about the
DBMS_SPM package

• Oracle Database Reference to learn about database fixed views

24-14 SQL Tuning Guide

 A
Guidelines for Indexes and Table Clusters

This appendix provides an overview of data access methods using indexes and
clusters that can enhance or degrade performance.
The appendix contains the following topics:

• Guidelines for Tuning Index Performance

• Guidelines for Using Function-Based Indexes for Performance

• Guidelines for Using Partitioned Indexes for Performance

• Guidelines for Using Index-Organized Tables for Performance

• Guidelines for Using Bitmap Indexes for Performance

• Guidelines for Using Bitmap Join Indexes for Performance

• Guidelines for Using Domain Indexes for Performance

• Guidelines for Using Table Clusters

• Guidelines for Using Hash Clusters for Performance

Guidelines for Tuning Index Performance

This section describes the following:

• Guidelines for Tuning the Logical Structure

• Guidelines for Using SQL Access Advisor

• Guidelines for Choosing Columns and Expressions to Index

• Guidelines for Choosing Composite Indexes

• Guidelines for Writing SQL Statements That Use Indexes

• Guidelines for Writing SQL Statements That Avoid Using Indexes

• Guidelines for Re-Creating Indexes

• Guidelines for Compacting Indexes

• Guidelines for Using Nonunique Indexes to Enforce Uniqueness

Guidelines for Tuning the Logical Structure

Although query optimization helps avoid the use of nonselective indexes within query
execution, the SQL engine must continue to maintain all indexes defined against a

Guidelines for Indexes and Table Clusters A-1

Guidelines for Tuning Index Performance

table, regardless of whether queries use them. Index maintenance can present a
significant CPU and I/O resource demand in any write-intensive application. In other
words, do not build indexes unless necessary.
To maintain optimal performance, drop indexes that an application is not using. You
can find indexes that are not being used by using the ALTER INDEX MONITORING
USAGE functionality over a period that is representative of your workload. This
monitoring feature records whether an index has been used. If you find that an index
has not been used, then drop it. Make sure you are monitoring a representative
workload to avoid dropping an index which is used, but not by the workload you
sampled.
Also, indexes within an application sometimes have uses that are not immediately
apparent from a survey of statement execution plans. An example of this is a foreign
key index on a parent table, which prevents share locks from being taken out on a
child table.
If you are deciding whether to create new indexes to tune statements, then you can
also use the EXPLAIN PLAN statement to determine whether the optimizer chooses to
use these indexes when the application is run. If you create new indexes to tune a
statement that is currently parsed, then Oracle Database invalidates the statement.
When the statement is next parsed, the optimizer automatically chooses a new
execution plan that could potentially use the new index. If you create new indexes on
a remote database to tune a distributed statement, then the optimizer considers these
indexes when the statement is next parsed.
Creating an index to tune one statement can affect the optimizer's choice of execution
plans for other statements. For example, if you create an index to be used by one
statement, then the optimizer can choose to use that index for other statements in the
application as well. For this reason, reexamine the application's performance and
execution plans, and rerun the SQL trace facility after you have tuned those statements
that you initially identified for tuning.

See Also:

• Oracle Database SQL Language Reference for syntax and semantics of the
ALTER INDEX MONITORING USAGE statement

• Oracle Database Development Guide to learn about foreign keys

Guidelines for Using SQL Access Advisor

SQL Access Advisor is an alternative to manually determining which indexes are
required. This advisor recommends a set of indexes when invoked from Oracle
Enterprise Manager Cloud Control (Cloud Control) or run through the
DBMS_ADVISOR package APIs. SQL Access Advisor either recommends using a
workload or it generates a hypothetical workload for a specified schema.
Various workload sources are available, such as the current contents of the SQL cache,
a user-defined set of SQL statements, or a SQL tuning set. Given a workload, SQL
Access Advisor generates a set of recommendations from which you can select the
indexes to be implemented. SQL Access Advisor provides an implementation script
that can be executed manually or automatically through Cloud Control.

A-2 SQL Tuning Guide

 Guidelines for Tuning Index Performance

See Also:

“About SQL Access Advisor”

Guidelines for Choosing Columns and Expressions to Index

A key is a column or expression on which you can build an index. Follow these
guidelines for choosing keys to index:

• Consider indexing keys that appear frequently in WHERE clauses.

• Consider indexing keys that frequently join tables in SQL statements.

• Choose index keys that are highly selective. The selectivity of an index is the
percentage of rows in a table having the same value for the indexed key. An index
selectivity is optimal if few rows have the same value.

Note:

Oracle Database automatically creates indexes, or uses existing indexes, on the

keys and expressions of unique and primary keys that you define with
integrity constraints.

Indexing low selectivity columns can be helpful when the data distribution is
skewed so that one or two values occur much less often than other values.

• Do not use standard B-tree indexes on keys or expressions with few distinct values.
Such keys or expressions are usually unselective and therefore do not optimize
performance unless the frequently selected key values appear less frequently than
the other key values. You can use bitmap indexes effectively in such cases, unless
the index is modified frequently, as in a high concurrency OLTP application.

• Do not index frequently modified columns. UPDATE statements that modify

indexed columns and INSERT and DELETE statements that modify indexed tables
take longer than if there were no index. Such SQL statements must modify data in
indexes and data in tables. They also create additional undo and redo.

• Do not index keys that appear only in WHERE clauses with functions or operators. A
WHERE clause that uses a function, other than MIN or MAX, or an operator with an
indexed key does not make available the access path that uses the index except
with function-based indexes.

• Consider indexing foreign keys of referential integrity constraints in cases in which

many concurrent INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements access the parent and
child tables. Such an index allows UPDATEs and DELETEs on the parent table
without share locking the child table.

• When choosing to index a key, consider whether the performance gain for queries
is worth the performance loss for INSERTs, UPDATEs, and DELETEs and the use of
the space required to store the index. You might want to experiment by comparing
the processing times of the SQL statements with and without indexes. You can
measure processing time with the SQL trace facility.

Guidelines for Indexes and Table Clusters A-3

Guidelines for Tuning Index Performance

See Also:

Oracle Database Development Guide for more information about the effects of
foreign keys on locking

Guidelines for Choosing Composite Indexes

A composite index contains multiple key columns. Composite indexes can provide
additional advantages over single-column indexes:

• Improved selectivity
Sometimes you can combine two or more columns or expressions, each with low
selectivity, to form a composite index with higher selectivity.

• Reduced I/O
If all columns selected by a query are in a composite index, then Oracle Database
can return these values from the index without accessing the table.
A SQL statement can use an access path involving a composite index when the
statement contains constructs that use a leading portion of the index.

Note:

This is no longer the case with index skip scans. See “Index Skip Scans”.

A leading portion of an index is a set of one or more columns that were specified first
and consecutively in the list of columns in the CREATE INDEX statement that created
the index. Consider this CREATE INDEX statement:
CREATE INDEX comp_ind
ON table1(x, y, z);

• x, xy, and xyz combinations of columns are leading portions of the index

• yz, y, and z combinations of columns are not leading portions of the index

Guidelines for Choosing Keys for Composite Indexes

Follow these guidelines for choosing keys for composite indexes:

• Consider creating a composite index on keys that appear together frequently in

WHERE clause conditions combined with AND operators, especially if their
combined selectivity is better than the selectivity of either key individually.

• If several queries select the same set of keys based on one or more key values, then
consider creating a composite index containing all of these keys.
Of course, consider the guidelines associated with the general performance
advantages and trade-offs of indexes described in the previous sections.

Guidelines for Ordering Keys for Composite Indexes

Follow these guidelines for ordering keys in composite indexes:

• Create the index so the keys used in WHERE clauses comprise a leading portion.

A-4 SQL Tuning Guide

 Guidelines for Tuning Index Performance

• If some keys appear in WHERE clauses more frequently, then create the index so that
the more frequently selected keys comprise a leading portion to allow the
statements that use only these keys to use the index.

• If all keys appear in WHERE clauses equally often but the data is physically ordered
on one of the keys, then place this key first in the composite index.

Guidelines for Writing SQL Statements That Use Indexes

Even after you create an index, the optimizer cannot use an access path that uses the
index simply because the index exists. The optimizer can choose such an access path
for a SQL statement only if it contains a construct that makes the access path available.
To allow the query optimizer the option of using an index access path, ensure that the
statement contains a construct that makes such an access path available.

Guidelines for Writing SQL Statements That Avoid Using Indexes

In some cases, you might want to prevent a SQL statement from using an access path
that uses an existing index. You may want to take this approach if you know that the
index is not very selective and a full table scan would be more efficient. If the
statement contains a construct that makes such an index access path available, then
you can force the optimizer to use a full table scan through one of the following
methods:

• Use the NO_INDEX hint to give the query optimizer maximum flexibility while
disallowing the use of a certain index.

• Use the FULL hint to instruct the optimizer to choose a full table scan instead of an
index scan.

• Use the INDEX or INDEX_COMBINE hints to instruct the optimizer to use one index
or a set of listed indexes instead of another.
Parallel execution uses indexes effectively. It does not perform parallel index range
scans, but it does perform parallel index lookups for parallel nested loops join
execution. If an index is very selective (few rows correspond to each index entry), then
a sequential index lookup might be better than a parallel table scan.

See Also:

Influencing the Optimizer for more information about the NO_INDEX, FULL,
INDEX, and INDEX_COMBINE and hints

Guidelines for Re-Creating Indexes

You might want to re-create an index to compact it and minimize fragmented space, or
to change the index's storage characteristics. When creating a new index that is a
subset of an existing index, or when rebuilding an existing index with new storage
characteristics, Oracle Database might use the existing index instead of the base table
to improve the performance of the index build.
However, in some cases using the base table instead of the existing index is beneficial.
Consider an index on a table on which a lot of DML has been performed. Because of
the DML, the size of the index can increase to the point where each block is only 50%
full, or even less. If the index refers to most of the columns in the table, then the index

Guidelines for Indexes and Table Clusters A-5

Guidelines for Tuning Index Performance

could actually be larger than the table. In this case, it is faster to use the base table
rather than the index to re-create the index.
To reorganize or compact an existing index or to change its storage characteristics, use
the ALTER INDEX . . . REBUILD statement. The REBUILD statement uses the
existing index as the basis for the new one. All index storage statements are supported,
such as STORAGE (for extent allocation), TABLESPACE (to move the index to a new
tablespace), and INITRANS (to change the initial number of entries).
Usually, ALTER INDEX . . . REBUILD is faster than dropping and re-creating an
index, because this statement uses the fast full scan feature. It reads all the index
blocks using multiblock I/O, then discards the branch blocks. A further advantage of
this approach is that the old index is still available for queries while the rebuild is in
progress.

See Also:

Oracle Database SQL Language Reference for more information about the
CREATE INDEX and ALTER INDEX statements and restrictions on rebuilding
indexes

Guidelines for Compacting Indexes

You can coalesce leaf blocks of an index by using the ALTER INDEX statement with the
COALESCE option. This option enables you to combine leaf levels of an index to free
blocks for reuse. You can also rebuild the index online.

See Also:

Oracle Database SQL Language Reference and Oracle Database Administrator's

Guide for more information about the syntax for this statement

Guidelines for Using Nonunique Indexes to Enforce Uniqueness

You can use an existing nonunique index on a table to enforce uniqueness, either for
UNIQUE constraints or the unique aspect of a PRIMARY KEY constraint. The advantage
of this approach is that the index remains available and valid when the constraint is
disabled. Therefore, enabling a disabled UNIQUE or PRIMARY KEY constraint does not
require rebuilding the unique index associated with the constraint. This can yield
significant time savings on enable operations for large tables.
Using a nonunique index to enforce uniqueness also enables you to eliminate
redundant indexes. You do not need a unique index on a primary key column if that
column is included as the prefix of a composite index. You can use the existing index
to enable and enforce the constraint. You also save significant space by not duplicating
the index. However, if the existing index is partitioned, then the partitioning key of the
index must also be a subset of the UNIQUE key; otherwise, Oracle Database creates an
additional unique index to enforce the constraint.

Guidelines for Using Enabled Novalidated Constraints

An enabled novalidated constraint behaves similarly to an enabled validated
constraint for new data. Placing a constraint in the enabled novalidated state signifies
that any new data entered into the table must conform to the constraint. Existing data

A-6 SQL Tuning Guide

 Guidelines for Tuning Index Performance

is not checked. By placing a constraint in the enabled novalidated state, you enable the
constraint without locking the table.
If you change a constraint from disabled to enabled, then the table must be locked. No
new DML, queries, or DDL can occur, because no mechanism can ensure that
operations on the table conform to the constraint during the enable operation. The
enabled novalidated state prevents users from performing operations on the table that
violate the constraint.
The database can validate an enabled novalidated constraint with a parallel,
consistent-read query of the table to determine whether any data violates the
constraint. The database performs no locking, so the enable operation does not block
readers or writers. In addition, the database can validate enabled novalidated
constraints in parallel. The database can validate multiple constraints at the same time
and check the validity of each constraint using parallel query.

To create tables with constraints and indexes:

1. Create the tables with the constraints.

NOT NULL constraints can be unnamed and should be created enabled and
validated. Name all other constraints (CHECK, UNIQUE, PRIMARY KEY, and
FOREIGN KEY) and create them disabled.

Note:

By default, constraints are created in the ENABLED state.

2. Load old data into the tables.

3. Create all indexes, including indexes needed for constraints.

4. Enable novalidate all constraints. Do this to primary keys before foreign keys.

5. Allow users to query and modify data.

6. With a separate ALTER TABLE statement for each constraint, validate all
constraints. Do this to primary keys before foreign keys. For example,
CREATE TABLE t (a NUMBER CONSTRAINT apk PRIMARY KEY DISABLE,
b NUMBER NOT NULL);
CREATE TABLE x (c NUMBER CONSTRAINT afk REFERENCES t DISABLE);

Now load data into table t.

CREATE UNIQUE INDEX tai ON t (a);
CREATE INDEX tci ON x (c);
ALTER TABLE t MODIFY CONSTRAINT apk ENABLE NOVALIDATE;
ALTER TABLE x MODIFY CONSTRAINT afk ENABLE NOVALIDATE;

At this point, users can start performing INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, and SELECT
operations on table t.
ALTER TABLE t ENABLE CONSTRAINT apk;
ALTER TABLE x ENABLE CONSTRAINT afk;

Now the constraints are enabled and validated.

Guidelines for Indexes and Table Clusters A-7

Guidelines for Using Function-Based Indexes for Performance

See Also:

Oracle Database Concepts for an overview of integrity constraints

Guidelines for Using Function-Based Indexes for Performance

A function-based index includes columns that are either transformed by a function,
such as the UPPER function, or included in an expression, such as col1 + col2. With
a function-based index, you can store computation-intensive expressions in the index.
Defining a function-based index on the transformed column or expression allows that
data to be returned using the index when that function or expression is used in a
WHERE clause or an ORDER BY clause. In this way, the database can avoid computing
the value of the expression when processing SELECT and DELETE statements. Thus, a
function-based index is useful when frequently executed SQL statements include
transformed columns, or columns in expressions, in a WHERE or ORDER BY clause.
Oracle Database treats descending indexes as function-based indexes. The columns
marked DESC are sorted in descending order.
For example, function-based indexes defined with the UPPER(column_name) or
LOWER(column_name) keywords allow case-insensitive searches. Assume that you
create an index on the following statement:
CREATE INDEX uppercase_idx ON employees (UPPER(last_name));

The preceding index facilitates processing queries such as:

SELECT *
FROM employees
WHERE UPPER(last_name) = 'MARKSON';

See Also:

• Oracle Database Development Guide and Oracle Database Administrator's Guide

for more information about using function-based indexes

• Oracle Database SQL Language Reference for more information about the
CREATE INDEX statement

Guidelines for Using Partitioned Indexes for Performance

Similar to partitioned tables, partitioned indexes improve manageability, availability,
performance, and scalability. They can either be partitioned independently (global
indexes) or automatically linked to a table's partitioning method (local indexes).
Oracle Database supports both range and hash partitioned global indexes. In a range
partitioned global index, each index partition contains values defined by a partition
bound. In a hash partitioned global index, each partition contains values determined
by the Oracle Database hash function.
The hash method can improve performance of indexes where a small number leaf
blocks in the index have high contention in multiuser OLTP environment. In some
OLTP applications, index insertions happen only at the right edge of the index. This
situation could occur when the index is defined on monotonically increasing columns.
In such situations, the right edge of the index becomes a hot spot because of

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 Guidelines for Using Index-Organized Tables for Performance

contention for index pages, buffers, latches for update, and additional index
maintenance activity, which results in performance degradation.
With hash partitioned global indexes index entries are hashed to different partitions
based on partitioning key and the number of partitions. This spreads out contention
over number of defined partitions, resulting in increased throughput. Hash-
partitioned global indexes would benefit TPC-H refresh functions that are executed as
massive PDMLs into huge fact tables because contention for buffer latches would be
spread out over multiple partitions.
With hash partitioning, an index entry is mapped to a particular index partition based
on the hash value generated by Oracle Database. The syntax to create hash-partitioned
global index is very similar to hash-partitioned table. Queries involving equality and
IN predicates on index partitioning key can efficiently use global hash partitioned
index to answer queries quickly.

See Also:

Oracle Database Concepts and Oracle Database Administrator's Guide for more
information about global indexes tables

Guidelines for Using Index-Organized Tables for Performance

An index-organized table differs from an ordinary table in that the data for the table is
held in its associated index. Changes to the table data, such as adding new rows,
updating rows, or deleting rows, result only in updating the index. Because data rows
are stored in the index, index-organized tables provide faster key-based access to table
data for queries that involve exact match or range search or both.
A parent/child relationship is an example of a situation that may warrant an index-
organized table. For example, a members table has a child table containing phone
numbers. Phone numbers for a member are changed and added over time. In a heap-
organized table, rows are inserted in data blocks where they fit. However, when you
query the members table, you always retrieve the phone numbers from the child table.
To make the retrieval more efficient, you can store the phone numbers in an index-
organized table so that phone records for a given member are inserted near each other
in the data blocks.
In some circumstances, an index-organized table may provide a performance
advantage over a heap-organized table. For example, if a query requires fewer blocks
in the cache, then the database uses the buffer cache more efficiently. If fewer distinct
blocks are needed for a query, then a single physical I/O may retrieve all necessary
data, requiring a smaller amount of I/O for each query.
Global hash-partitioned indexes are supported for index-organized tables and can
provide performance benefits in a multiuser OLTP environment. Index-organized
tables are useful when you must store related pieces of data together or physically
store data in a specific order.

See Also:
Oracle Database Concepts and Oracle Database Administrator's Guide for more
information about index-organized tables

Guidelines for Indexes and Table Clusters A-9

Guidelines for Using Bitmap Indexes for Performance

Guidelines for Using Bitmap Indexes for Performance

Bitmap indexes can substantially improve performance of queries that have all of the
following characteristics:

• The WHERE clause contains multiple predicates on low- or medium-cardinality

columns.

• The individual predicates on these low- or medium-cardinality columns select

many rows.

• The bitmap indexes used in the queries have been created on some or all of these
low- or medium-cardinality columns.

• The tables in the queries contain many rows.

You can use multiple bitmap indexes to evaluate the conditions on a single table.
Bitmap indexes are thus highly advantageous for complex ad hoc queries that contain
lengthy WHERE clauses. Bitmap indexes can also provide optimal performance for
aggregate queries and for optimizing joins in star schemas.

See Also:
Oracle Database Concepts and Oracle Database Data Warehousing Guide for more
information about bitmap indexing

Guidelines for Using Bitmap Join Indexes for Performance

In addition to a bitmap index on a single table, you can create a bitmap join index,
which is a bitmap index for the join of two or more tables. A bitmap join index is a
space-saving way to reduce the volume of data that must be joined by performing
restrictions in advance. For each value in a column of a table, a bitmap join index
stores the rowids of corresponding rows in another table. In a data warehousing
environment, the join condition is an equi-inner join between the primary key
column(s) of the dimension tables and the foreign key column(s) in the fact table.
Bitmap join indexes are much more efficient in storage than materialized join views,
an alternative for materializing joins in advance. Materialized join views do not
compress the rowids of the fact tables.

See Also:
Oracle Database Data Warehousing Guide for examples and restrictions of bitmap
join indexes

Guidelines for Using Domain Indexes for Performance

Domain indexes are built using the indexing logic supplied by a user-defined
indextype. An indextype provides an efficient mechanism to access data that satisfy
certain operator predicates. Typically, the user-defined indextype is part of an Oracle
Database option, like the Spatial option. For example, the SpatialIndextype allows
efficient search and retrieval of spatial data that overlap a given bounding box.

A-10 SQL Tuning Guide

 Guidelines for Using Table Clusters

The cartridge determines the parameters you can specify in creating and maintaining
the domain index. Similarly, the performance and storage characteristics of the
domain index are presented in the specific cartridge documentation.
Refer to the appropriate cartridge documentation for information such as the
following:

• What data types can be indexed?

• What indextypes are provided?

• What operators does the indextype support?

• How can the domain index be created and maintained?

• How do we efficiently use the operator in queries?

• What are the performance characteristics?

Note:

You can also create index types with the CREATE INDEXTYPE statement.

See Also:

Oracle Spatial and Graph Developer's Guide for information about the
SpatialIndextype

Guidelines for Using Table Clusters

A table cluster is a group of one or more tables that are physically stored together
because they share common columns and usually appear together in SQL statements.
Because the database physically stores related rows together, disk access time
improves. To create a cluster, use the CREATE CLUSTER statement.
Consider clustering tables in the following circumstances:

• The application frequently accesses the tables in join statements.

• In master-detail tables, the application often selects a master record and then the
corresponding detail records.
Detail records are stored in the same data blocks as the master record, so they are
likely still to be in memory when you select them, requiring Oracle Database to
perform less I/O.

• The application often selects many detail records of the same master.
In this case, consider storing a detail table alone in a cluster. This measure
improves the performance of queries that select detail records of the same master,
but does not decrease the performance of a full table scan on the master table. An
alternative is to use an index organized table.
Avoid clustering tables in the following circumstances:

• The application joins the tables only occasionally or modifies their common column
values frequently.

Guidelines for Indexes and Table Clusters A-11

Guidelines for Using Hash Clusters for Performance

Modifying a row's cluster key value takes longer than modifying the value in an
nonclustered table, because Oracle Database might need to migrate the modified
row to another block to maintain the cluster.

• The application often performs full table scans of only one of the tables.
A full table scan of a clustered table can take longer than a full table scan of an
nonclustered table. Oracle Database is likely to read more blocks because the tables
are stored together.

• The data from all tables with the same cluster key value exceeds more than one or
two data blocks.
To access a row in a clustered table, Oracle Database reads all blocks containing
rows with that value. If these rows take up multiple blocks, then accessing a single
row could require more reads than accessing the same row in a nonclustered table.

• The number of rows for each cluster key value varies significantly.
This causes waste of space for the low cardinality key value. It causes collisions for
the high cardinality key values. Collisions degrade performance.
Consider the benefits and drawbacks of clusters for the application. For example, you
might decide that the performance gain for join statements outweighs the performance
loss for statements that modify cluster key values. You might want to experiment and
compare processing times with the tables both clustered and stored separately.

See Also:

• Oracle Database Concepts for more information about clusters

• Oracle Database Administrator's Guide for more information about creating

clusters

Guidelines for Using Hash Clusters for Performance

Hash clusters group table data by applying a hash function to each row's cluster key
value. All rows with the same cluster key value are stored together on disk. Consider
the benefits and drawbacks of hash clusters for the application. You might want to
experiment and compare processing times with a particular table in a hash cluster and
alone with an index.
Follow these guidelines for choosing when to use hash clusters:

• Use hash clusters to store tables accessed frequently by SQL statements with
WHERE clauses, if the WHERE clauses contain equality conditions that use the same
column or combination of columns. Designate this column or combination of
columns as the cluster key.

• Store a table in a hash cluster if you can determine how much space is required to
hold all rows with a given cluster key value, including rows to be inserted
immediately and rows to be inserted in the future.

• Use sorted hash clusters, where rows corresponding to each value of the hash
function are sorted on a specific columns in ascending order, when the database
can improve response time on operations with this sorted clustered data.

A-12 SQL Tuning Guide

 Guidelines for Using Hash Clusters for Performance

• Do not store a table in a hash cluster in the following cases:

– The application often performs full table scans.

– You must allocate a great deal of space to the hash cluster in anticipation of the
table growing.
Full table scans must read all blocks allocated to the hash cluster, even though
some blocks might contain few rows. Storing the table alone reduces the number of
blocks read by full table scans.

• Do not store a table in a hash cluster if the application frequently modifies the
cluster key values. Modifying a row's cluster key value can take longer than
modifying the value in an nonclustered table, because Oracle Database might need
to migrate the modified row to another block to maintain the cluster.
If hashing is appropriate for the table based on the considerations in this list, then
storing a single table in a hash cluster can be useful. This is true regardless of whether
the table is joined frequently with other tables.

See Also:

• Oracle Database Administrator's Guide to learn how to manage hash clusters

• Oracle Database SQL Language Reference to learn about the CREATE

CLUSTER statement

Guidelines for Indexes and Table Clusters A-13

Guidelines for Using Hash Clusters for Performance

A-14 SQL Tuning Guide

 Glossary

accepted plan
In the context of SQL plan management, a plan that is in a SQL plan baseline for a
SQL statement and thus available for use by the optimizer. An accepted plan contains
a set of hints, a plan hash value, and other plan-related information.

access path
The means by which the database retrieves data from a database. For example, a query
using an index and a query using a full table scan use different access paths.

adaptive cursor sharing

A feature that enables a single statement that contains bind variables to use multiple
execution plans. Cursor sharing is "adaptive" because the cursor adapts its behavior so
that the database does not always use the same plan for each execution or bind
variable value.

adaptive optimizer
A feature of the optimizer that enables it to adapt plans based on run-time statistics.

adaptive plan
An execution plan that changes after optimization because run-time conditions
indicate that optimizer estimates are inaccurate. An adaptive plan has different built-
in plan options. During the first execution, before a specific subplan becomes active,
the optimizer makes a a final decision about which option to use. The optimizer bases
its choice on observations made during the execution up to this point. Thus, an
adaptive plan enables the final plan for a statement to differ from the default plan.

adaptive query optimization

A set of capabilities that enables the adaptive optimizer to make run-time adjustments
to execution plans and discover additional information that can lead to better
statistics. Adaptive optimization is helpful when existing statistics are not sufficient to
generate an optimal plan.

ADDM
See Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor (ADDM).

Glossary-1
antijoin

antijoin
A join that returns rows that fail to match the subquery on the right side. For example,
an antijoin can list departments with no employees. Antijoins use the NOT EXISTS or
NOT IN constructs.

Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor (ADDM)

ADDM is self-diagnostic software built into Oracle Database. ADDM examines and
analyzes data captured in Automatic Workload Repository (AWR) to determine
possible database performance problems.

automatic optimizer statistics collection

The automatic running of the DBMS_STATS package to collect optimizer statistics for
all schema objects for which statistics are missing or stale.

automatic initial plan capture

The mechanism by which the database automatically creates a SQL plan baseline for
any repeatable SQL statement executed on the database. Enable automatic initial plan
capture by setting the OPTIMIZER_CAPTURE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES initialization
parameter to true (the default is false).
See repeatable SQL statement.

automatic reoptimization
The ability of the optimizer to automatically change a plan on subsequent executions
of a SQL statement. Automatic reoptimization can fix any suboptimal plan chosen due
to incorrect optimizer estimates, from a suboptimal distribution method to an
incorrect choice of degree of parallelism.

automatic SQL tuning

The work performed by Automatic SQL Tuning Advisor it runs as an automated task
within system maintenance windows.

Automatic SQL Tuning Advisor

SQL Tuning Advisor when run as an automated maintenance task. Automatic SQL
Tuning runs during system maintenance windows as an automated maintenance task,
searching for ways to improve the execution plans of high-load SQL statements.
See SQL Tuning Advisor.

Automatic Tuning Optimizer

The optimizer when invoked by SQL Tuning Advisor. In SQL tuning mode, the
optimizer performs additional analysis to check whether it can further improve the
plan produced in normal mode. The optimizer output is not an execution plan, but a
series of actions, along with their rationale and expected benefit for producing a
significantly better plan.

Glossary-2
 bitmap join index

Automatic Workload Repository (AWR)

The infrastructure that provides services to Oracle Database components to collect,
maintain, and use statistics for problem detection and self-tuning.

AWR
See Automatic Workload Repository (AWR).

AWR snapshot
A set of data for a specific time that is used for performance comparisons. The delta
values captured by the snapshot represent the changes for each statistic over the time
period. Statistics gathered by are queried from memory. You can display the gathered
data in both reports and views.

baseline
In the context of AWR, the interval between two AWR snapshots that represent the
database operating at an optimal level.

bind-aware cursor
A bind-sensitive cursor that is eligible to use different plans for different bind values.
After a cursor has been made bind-aware, the optimizer chooses plans for future
executions based on the bind value and its cardinality estimate.

bind-sensitive cursor
A cursor whose optimal plan may depend on the value of a bind variable. The
database monitors the behavior of a bind-sensitive cursor that uses different bind
values to determine whether a different plan is beneficial.

bind variable
A placeholder in a SQL statement that must be replaced with a valid value or value
address for the statement to execute successfully. By using bind variables, you can
write a SQL statement that accepts inputs or parameters at run time. The following
query uses v_empid as a bind variable:
SELECT * FROM employees WHERE employee_id = :v_empid;

bind variable peeking

The ability of the optimizer to look at the value in a bind variable during a hard parse.
By peeking at bind values, the optimizer can determine the selectivity of a WHERE
clause condition as if literals had been used, thereby improving the plan.

bitmap join index

A bitmap index for the join of two or more tables.

Glossary-3
bitmap piece

bitmap piece
A subcomponent of a single bitmap index entry. Each indexed column value may have
one or more bitmap pieces. The database uses bitmap pieces to break up an index
entry that is large in relation to the size of a block.

B-tree index
An index organized like an upside-down tree. A B-tree index has two types of blocks:
branch blocks for searching and leaf blocks that store values. The leaf blocks contain
every indexed data value and a corresponding rowid used to locate the actual row.
The "B" stands for "balanced" because all leaf blocks automatically stay at the same
depth.

bulk load
A CREATE TABLE AS SELECT or INSERT INTO ... SELECT operation.

cardinality
The number of rows that is expected to be or actually is returned by an operation in an
execution plan. Data has low cardinality when the number of distinct values in a
column is low in relation to the total number of rows.

Cartesian join
A join in which one or more of the tables does not have any join conditions to any
other tables in the statement. The optimizer joins every row from one data source with
every row from the other data source, creating the Cartesian product of the two sets.

child cursor
The cursor containing the plan, compilation environment, and other information for a
statement whose text is stored in a parent cursor. The parent cursor is number 0, the
first child is number 1, and so on. Child cursors reference the same SQL text as the
parent cursor, but are different. For example, two queries with the text SELECT *
FROM t use different cursors when they reference two different tables named t.

cluster scan
An access path for a table cluster. In an indexed table cluster, Oracle Database first
obtains the rowid of one of the selected rows by scanning the cluster index. Oracle
Database then locates the rows based on this rowid.

column group
A set of columns that is treated as a unit.

column group statistics

Extended statistics gathered on a group of columns treated as a unit.

Glossary-4
 cumulative statistics

column statistics
Statistics about columns that the optimizer uses to determine optimal execution plans.
Column statistics include the number of distinct column values, low value, high value,
and number of nulls.

complex view merging

The merging of views containing the GROUP BY or DISTINCT keywords.

composite database operation

In a database operation, the activity between two points in time in a database session,
with each session defining its own beginning and end points. A session can participate
in at most one composite database operation at a time.

concurrency
Simultaneous access of the same data by many users. A multiuser database
management system must provide adequate concurrency controls so that data cannot
be updated or changed improperly, compromising data integrity.

concurrent statistics gathering mode

A mode that enables the database to simultaneously gather optimizer statistics for
multiple tables in a schema, or multiple partitions or subpartitions in a table.
Concurrency can reduce the overall time required to gather statistics by enabling the
database to fully use multiple CPUs.

condition
A combination of one or more expressions and logical operators that returns a value of
TRUE, FALSE, or UNKNOWN.

cost
A numeric internal measure that represents the estimated resource usage for an
execution plan. The lower the cost, the more efficient the plan.

cost-based optimizer (CBO)

The legacy name for the optimizer. In earlier releases, the cost-based optimizer was an
alternative to the rule-based optimizer (RBO).

cost model
The internal optimizer model that accounts for the cost of the I/O, CPU, and network
resources that a query is predicted to use.

cumulative statistics
A count such as the number of block reads. Oracle Database generates many types of
cumulative statistics for the system, sessions, and individual SQL statements.

Glossary-5
cursor

cursor
A handle or name for a private SQL area in the PGA. Because cursors are closely
associated with private SQL areas, the terms are sometimes used interchangeably.

cursor cache
See shared SQL area.

cursor merging
Combining cursors to save space in the shared SQL area. If the optimizer creates a
plan for a bind-aware cursor, and if this plan is the same as an existing cursor, then
the optimizer can merge the cursors.

data flow operator (DFO)

The unit of work between data redistribution stages in a parallel query.

data skew
Large variations in the number of duplicate values in a column.

database operation
A set of database tasks defined by end users or application code, for example, a batch
job or ETL processing.

default plan
For an adaptive plan, the execution plan initially chosen by the optimizer using the
statistics from the data dictionary. The default plan can differ from the final plan.

disabled plan
A plan that a database administrator has manually marked as ineligible for use by the
optimizer.

degree of parallelism (DOP)

The number of parallel execution servers associated with a single operation. Parallel
execution is designed to effectively use multiple CPUs. Oracle Database parallel
execution framework enables you to either explicitly choose a specific degree of
parallelism or to rely on Oracle Database to automatically control it.

dense key
A numeric key that is stored as a native integer and has a range of values.

dense grouping key

A key that represents all grouping keys whose grouping columns come from a
particular fact table or dimension.

Glossary-6
 endpoint number

dense join key

A key that represents all join keys whose join columns come from a particular fact
table or dimension.

density
A decimal number between 0 and 1 that measures the selectivity of a column. Values
close to 1 indicate that the column is unselective, whereas values close to 0 indicate
that this column is more selective.

direct path read

A single or multiblock read into the PGA, bypassing the SGA.

driving table
The table to which other tables are joined. An analogy from programming is a for loop
that contains another for loop. The outer for loop is the analog of a driving table,
which is also called an outer table.

dynamic performance view

A view created on dynamic performance tables, which are virtual tables that record
current database activity. The dynamic performance views are called fixed views
because they cannot be altered or removed by the database administrator. They are
also called V$ views because they begin with the string V$ (GV$ in Oracle RAC).

dynamic statistics
An optimization technique in which the database executes a recursive SQL statement
to scan a small random sample of a table's blocks to estimate predicate selectivities.

dynamic statistics level

The level that controls both when the database gathers dynamic statistics, and the size
of the sample that the optimizer uses to gather the statistics. Set the dynamic statistics
level using either the OPTIMIZER_DYNAMIC_SAMPLING initialization parameter or a
statement hint.

enabled plan
In SQL plan management, a plan that is eligible for use by the optimizer.

endpoint number
A number that uniquely identifies a bucket in a histogram. In frequency and hybrid
histograms, the endpoint number is the cumulative frequency of endpoints. In height-
balanced histograms, the endpoint number is the bucket number.

Glossary-7
endpoint repeat count

endpoint repeat count

In a hybrid histogram, the number of times the endpoint value is repeated, for each
endpoint (bucket) in the histogram. By using the repeat count, the optimizer can
obtain accurate estimates for almost popular values.

endpoint value
An endpoint value is the highest value in the range of values in a histogram bucket.

equijoin
A join whose join condition contains an equality operator.

estimator
The component of the optimizer that determines the overall cost of a given execution
plan.

execution plan
The combination of steps used by the database to execute a SQL statement. Each step
either retrieves rows of data physically from the database or prepares them for the
user issuing the statement. You can override execution plans by using hints.

execution tree
A tree diagram that shows the flow of row sources from one step to another in an
execution plan.

expression
A combination of one or more values, operators, and SQL functions that evaluates to a
value. For example, the expression 2*2 evaluates to 4. In general, expressions assume
the data type of their components.

expression statistics
A type of extended statistics that improves optimizer estimates when a WHERE clause
has predicates that use expressions.

extended statistics
A type of optimizer statistics that improves estimates for cardinality when multiple
predicates exist or when predicates contain expressions.

extensible optimizer
An optimizer capability that enables authors of user-defined functions and indexes to
create statistics collection, selectivity, and cost functions that the optimizer uses when
choosing an execution plan. The optimizer cost model is extended to integrate
information supplied by the user to assess CPU and I/O cost.

Glossary-8
 full table scan

extension
A column group or an expression. The statistics collected for column groups and
expressions are called extended statistics.

external table
A read-only table whose metadata is stored in the database but whose data in stored
in files outside the database. The database uses the metadata describing external tables
to expose their data as if they were relational tables.

filter condition
A WHERE clause component that eliminates rows from a single object referenced in a
SQL statement.

final plan
In an adaptive plan, the plan that executes to completion. The default plan can differ
from the final plan.

fixed object
A dynamic performance table or its index. The fixed objects are owned by SYS. Fixed
object tables have names beginning with X$ and are the base tables for the V$ views.

fixed plan
An accepted plan that is marked as preferred, so that the optimizer considers only the
fixed plans in the SQL plan baseline. You can use fixed plans to influence the plan
selection process of the optimizer.

frequency histogram
A type of histogram in which each distinct column value corresponds to a single
bucket. An analogy is sorting coins: all pennies go in bucket 1, all nickels go in bucket
2, and so on.

full outer join

A combination of a left and right outer join. In addition to the inner join, the database
uses nulls to preserve rows from both tables that have not been returned in the result
of the inner join. In other words, full outer joins join tables together, yet show rows
with no corresponding rows in the joined tables.

full table scan

A scan of table data in which the database sequentially reads all rows from a table and
filters out those that do not meet the selection criteria. All data blocks under the high
water mark are scanned.

Glossary-9
global temporary table

global temporary table

A special temporary table that stores intermediate session-private data for a specific
duration.

hard parse
The steps performed by the database to build a new executable version of application
code. The database must perform a hard parse instead of a soft parse if the parsed
representation of a submitted statement does not exist in the shared SQL area.

hash cluster
A type of table cluster that is similar to an indexed cluster, except the index key is
replaced with a hash function. No separate cluster index exists. In a hash cluster, the
data is the index.

hash collision
Hashing multiple input values to the same output value.

hash function
A function that operates on an arbitrary-length input value and returns a fixed-length
hash value.

hash join
A method for joining large data sets. The database uses the smaller of two data sets to
build a hash table on the join key in memory. It then scans the larger data set, probing
the hash table to find the joined rows.

hash scan
An access path for a table cluster. The database uses a hash scan to locate rows in a
hash cluster based on a hash value. In a hash cluster, all rows with the same hash
value are stored in the same data block. To perform a hash scan, Oracle Database first
obtains the hash value by applying a hash function to a cluster key value specified by
the statement, and then scans the data blocks containing rows with that hash value.

hash table
An in-memory data structure that associates join keys with rows in a hash join. For
example, in a join of the employees and departments tables, the join key might be
the department ID. A hash function uses the join key to generate a hash value. This
hash value is an index in an array, which is the hash table.

hash value
In a hash cluster, a unique numeric ID that identifies a bucket. Oracle Database uses a
hash function that accepts an infinite number of hash key values as input and sorts
them into a finite number of buckets. Each hash value maps to the database block

Glossary-10
 incremental statistics maintenance

address for the block that stores the rows corresponding to the hash key value
(department 10, 20, 30, and so on).

hashing
A mathematical technique in which an infinite set of input values is mapped to a finite
set of output values, called hash values. Hashing is useful for rapid lookups of data in
a hash table.

heap-organized table
A table in which the data rows are stored in no particular order on disk. By default,
CREATE TABLE creates a heap-organized table.

height-balanced histogram
A histogram in which column values are divided into buckets so that each bucket
contains approximately the same number of rows.

hint
An instruction passed to the optimizer through comments in a SQL statement. The
optimizer uses hints to choose an execution plan for the statement.

histogram
A special type of column statistic that provides more detailed information about the
data distribution in a table column.

hybrid hash distribution technique

An adaptive parallel data distribution that does not decide the final data distribution
method until execution time.

hybrid histogram
An enhanced height-based histogram that stores the exact frequency of each endpoint
in the sample, and ensures that a value is never stored in multiple buckets.

implicit query
A component of a DML statement that retrieves data without a subquery. An UPDATE,
DELETE, or MERGE statement that does not explicitly include a SELECT statement uses
an implicit query to retrieve the rows to be modified.

in-memory scan
A table scan that retrieves rows from the In-Memory Column Store.

incremental statistics maintenance

The ability of the database to generate global statistics for a partitioned table by
aggregating partition-level statistics.

Glossary-11
index

index
Optional schema object associated with a nonclustered table, table partition, or table
cluster. In some cases indexes speed data access.

index cluster
An table cluster that uses an index to locate data. The cluster index is a B-tree index on
the cluster key.

index clustering factor

A measure of row order in relation to an indexed value such as employee last name.
The more scattered the rows among the data blocks, the lower the clustering factor.

index fast full scan

A scan of the index blocks in unsorted order, as they exist on disk. This scan reads the
index instead of the table.

index full scan

The scan of an entire index in key order.

index-organized table
A table whose storage organization is a variant of a primary B-tree index. Unlike a
heap-organized table, data is stored in primary key order.

index range scan

An index range scan is an ordered scan of an index that has the following
characteristics:

• One or more leading columns of an index are specified in conditions.

• 0, 1, or more values are possible for an index key.

index range scan descending

An index range scan in which the database returns rows in descending order.

index skip scan

An index scan occurs in which the initial column of a composite index is "skipped" or
not specified in the query. For example, if the composite index key is
(cust_gender,cust_email), then the query predicate does not reference the
cust_gender column.

Glossary-12
 join method

index statistics
Statistics about indexes that the optimizer uses to determine whether to perform a full
table scan or an index scan. Index statistics include B-tree levels, leaf block counts, the
index clustering factor, distinct keys, and number of rows in the index.

index unique scan

A scan of an index that returns either 0 or 1 rowid.

inner join
A join of two or more tables that returns only those rows that satisfy the join condition.

inner table
In a nested loops join, the table that is not the outer table (driving table). For every
row in the outer table, the database accesses all rows in the inner table. The outer loop
is for every row in the outer table and the inner loop is for every row in the inner table.

join
A statement that retrieves data from multiple tables specified in the FROM clause of a
SQL statement. Join types include inner joins, outer joins, and Cartesian joins.

join condition
A condition that compares two row sources using an expression. The database
combines pairs of rows, each containing one row from each row source, for which the
join condition evaluates to true.

join elimination
The removal of redundant tables from a query. A table is redundant when its columns
are only referenced in join predicates, and those joins are guaranteed to neither filter
nor expand the resulting rows.

join factorization
A cost-based transformation that can factorize common computations from branches
of a UNION ALL query. Without join factorization, the optimizer evaluates each
branch of a UNION ALL query independently, which leads to repetitive processing,
including data access and joins. Avoiding an extra scan of a large base table can lead to
a huge performance improvement.

join method
A method of joining a pair of row sources. The possible join methods are nested loop,
sort merge, and hash joins. A Cartesian join requires one of the preceding join
methods

Glossary-13
join order

join order
The order in which multiple tables are joined together. For example, for each row in
the employees table, the database can read each row in the departments table. In
an alternative join order, for each row in the departments table, the database reads
each row in the employees table.
To execute a statement that joins more than two tables, Oracle Database joins two of
the tables and then joins the resulting row source to the next table. This process
continues until all tables are joined into the result.

join predicate
A predicate in a WHERE or JOIN clause that combines the columns of two tables in a
join.

key vector
A data structure that maps between dense join keys and dense grouping keys.

latch
A low-level serialization control mechanism used to protect shared data structures in
the SGA from simultaneous access.

left join tree

A join tree in which the left input of every join is the result of a previous join.

left table
In an outer join, the table specified on the left side of the OUTER JOIN keywords (in
ANSI SQL syntax).

library cache
An area of memory in the shared pool. This cache includes the shared SQL areas,
private SQL areas (in a shared server configuration), PL/SQL procedures and
packages, and control structures such as locks and library cache handles.

library cache hit

The reuse of SQL statement code found in the library cache.

library cache miss

During SQL processing, the act of searching for a usable plan in the library cache and
not finding it.

maintenance window
A contiguous time interval during which automated maintenance tasks run. The
maintenance windows are Oracle Scheduler windows that belong to the window
group named MAINTENANCE_WINDOW_GROUP.

Glossary-14
 optimization

manual plan capture

The user-initiated bulk load of existing plans into a SQL plan baseline.

materialized view
A schema object that stores a query result. All materialized views are either read-only
or updatable.

multiblock read
An I/O call that reads multiple database blocks. Multiblock reads can significantly
speed up full table scans.

NDV
Number of distinct values. The NDV is important in generating selectivity estimates.

nested loops join

A type of join method. A nested loops join determines the outer table that drives the
join, and for every row in the outer table, probes each row in the inner table. The outer
loop is for each row in the outer table and the inner loop is for each row in the inner
table. An analogy from programming is a for loop inside of another for loop.

nonequijoin
A join whose join condition does not contain an equality operator.

nonjoin column
A predicate in a WHERE clause that references only one table.

nonpopular value
In a histogram, any value that does not span two or more endpoints. Any value that is
not nonpopular is a popular value.

noworkload statistics
Optimizer system statistics gathered when the database simulates a workload.

on-demand SQL tuning

The manual invocation of SQL Tuning Advisor. Any invocation of SQL Tuning
Advisor that is not the result of an Automatic SQL Tuning task is on-demand tuning.

optimization
The overall process of choosing the most efficient means of executing a SQL statement.

Glossary-15
optimizer

optimizer
Built-in database software that determines the most efficient way to execute a SQL
statement by considering factors related to the objects referenced and the conditions
specified in the statement.

optimizer cost model

The model that the optimizer uses to select an execution plan. The optimizer selects
the execution plan with the lowest cost, where cost represents the estimated resource
usage for that plan. The optimizer cost model accounts for the I/O, CPU, and network
resources that the query will use.

optimizer environment
The totality of session settings that can affect execution plan generation, such as the
work area size or optimizer settings (for example, the optimizer mode).

optimizer goal
The prioritization of resource usage by the optimizer. Using the OPTIMIZER_MODE
initialization parameter, you can set the optimizer goal best throughput or best
response time.

optimizer statistics
Details about the database its object used by the optimizer to select the best execution
plan for each SQL statement. Categories include table statistics such as numbers of
rows, index statistics such as B-tree levels, system statistics such as CPU and I/O
performance, and column statistics such as number of nulls.

optimizer statistics collection

The gathering of optimizer statistics for database objects. The database can collect
these statistics automatically, or you can collect them manually by using the system-
supplied DBMS_STATS package.

optimizer statistics collector

A row source inserted into an execution plan at key points to collect run-time statistics
for use in adaptive plans.

optimizer statistics preferences

The default values of the parameters used by automatic statistics collection and the
DBMS_STATS statistics gathering procedures.

outer join
A join condition using the outer join operator (+) with one or more columns of one of
the tables. The database returns all rows that meet the join condition. The database
also returns all rows from the table without the outer join operator for which there are
no matching rows in the table with the outer join operator.

Glossary-16
 pending statistics

outer table
See driving table

parallel execution
The application of multiple CPU and I/O resources to the execution of a single
database operation.

parallel query
A query in which multiple processes work together simultaneously to run a single
SQL query. By dividing the work among multiple processes, Oracle Database can run
the statement more quickly. For example, four processes retrieve rows for four
different quarters in a year instead of one process handling all four quarters by itself.

parent cursor
The cursor that stores the SQL text and other minimal information for a SQL
statement. The child cursor contains the plan, compilation environment, and other
information. When a statement first executes, the database creates both a parent and
child cursor in the shared pool.

parse call
A call to Oracle to prepare a SQL statement for execution. The call includes
syntactically checking the SQL statement, optimizing it, and then building or locating
an executable form of that statement.

parsing
The stage of SQL processing that involves separating the pieces of a SQL statement
into a data structure that can be processed by other routines.
A hard parse occurs when the SQL statement to be executed is either not in the shared
pool, or it is in the shared pool but it cannot be shared. A soft parse occurs when a
session attempts to execute a SQL statement, and the statement is already in the
shared pool, and it can be used.

partition maintenance operation

A partition-related operation such as adding, exchanging, merging, or splitting table
partitions.

partition-wise join
A join optimization that divides a large join of two tables, one of which must be
partitioned on the join key, into several smaller joins.

pending statistics
Unpublished optimizer statistics. By default, the optimizer uses published statistics
but does not use pending statistics.

Glossary-17
performance feedback

performance feedback
This form of automatic reoptimization helps improve the degree of parallelism
automatically chosen for repeated SQL statements when PARALLEL_DEGREE_POLICY
is set to ADAPTIVE.

pipelined table function

A PL/SQL function that accepts a collection of rows as input. You invoke the table
function as the operand of the table operator in the FROM list of a SELECT statement.

plan evolution
The manual change of an unaccepted plan in the SQL plan history into an accepted
plan in the SQL plan baseline.

plan generator
The part of the optimizer that tries different access paths, join methods, and join orders
for a given query block to find the plan with the lowest cost.

plan selection
The optimizer's attempt to find a matching plan in the SQL plan baseline for a
statement after performing a hard parse.

plan verification
Comparing the performance of an unaccepted plan to a plan in a SQL plan baseline
and ensuring that it performs better.

popular value
In a histogram, any value that spans two or more endpoints. Any value that is not
popular is an nonpopular value.

predicate pushing
A transformation technique in which the optimizer "pushes" the relevant predicates
from the containing query block into the view query block. For views that are not
merged, this technique improves the subplan of the unmerged view because the
database can use the pushed-in predicates to access indexes or to use as filters.

private SQL area

An area in memory that holds a parsed statement and other information for
processing. The private SQL area contains data such as bind variable values, query
execution state information, and query execution work areas.

proactive SQL tuning

Using SQL tuning tools to identify SQL statements that are candidates for tuning before
users have complained about a performance problem.

Glossary-18
 result set

See reactive SQL tuning, SQL tuning.

projection view
An optimizer-generated view that appear in queries in which a DISTINCT view has
been merged, or a GROUP BY view is merged into an outer query block that also
contains GROUP BY, HAVING, or aggregates.
See simple view merging, complex view merging.

query
An operation that retrieves data from tables or views. For example, SELECT * FROM
employees is a query.

query block
A top-level SELECT statement, subquery, or unmerged view

query optimizer
See optimizer.

reactive SQL tuning

Diagnosing and fixing SQL-related performance problems after users have complained
about them.
See proactive SQL tuning, SQL tuning.

recursive SQL
Additional SQL statements that the database must issue to execute a SQL statement
issued by a user. The generation of recursive SQL is known as a recursive call. For
example, the database generates recursive calls when data dictionary information is
not available in memory and so must be retrieved from disk.

reoptimization
See automatic reoptimization.

repeatable SQL statement

A statement that the database parses or executes after recognizing that it is tracked in
the SQL statement log.

response time
The time required to complete a unit of work.
See throughput.

result set
In a query, the set of rows generated by the execution of a cursor.

Glossary-19
right join tree

right join tree

A join tree in which the right input of every join is the result of a previous join.

right table
In an outer join, the table specified on the right side of the OUTER JOIN keywords (in
ANSI SQL syntax).

rowid
A globally unique address for a row in a table.

row set
A set of rows returned by a step in an execution plan.

row source
An iterative control structure that processes a set of rows in an iterated manner and
produces a row set.

row source generator

Software that receives the optimal plan from the optimizer and outputs the execution
plan for the SQL statement.

row source tree

A collection of row sources produced by the row source generator. The row source
tree for a SQL statement shows information such as table order, access methods, join
methods, and data operations such as filters and sorts.

sample table scan

A scan that retrieves a random sample of data from a simple table or a complex
SELECT statement, such as a statement involving joins and views.

sampling
Gathering statistics from a random subset of rows in a table.

selectivity
A value indicating the proportion of a row set retrieved by a predicate or combination
of predicates, for example, WHERE last_name = 'Smith'. A selectivity of 0 means
that no rows pass the predicate test, whereas a value of 1 means that all rows pass the
test.
The adjective selective means roughly "choosy." Thus, a highly selective query returns a
low proportion of rows (selectivity close to 0), whereas an unselective query returns a
high proportion of rows (selectivity close to 1).

Glossary-20
 SQL Access Advisor

semijoin
A join that returns rows from the first table when at least one match exists in the
second table. For example, you list departments with at least one employee. The
difference between a semijoin and a conventional join is that rows in the first table are
returned at most once. Semijoins use the EXISTS or IN constructs.

shared cursor
A shared SQL area that is used by multiple SQL statements.

shared pool
Portion of the SGA that contains shared memory constructs such as shared SQL areas.

shared SQL area

An area in the shared pool that contains the parse tree and execution plan for a SQL
statement. Only one shared SQL area exists for a unique statement. The shared SQL
area is sometimes referred to as the cursor cache.

simple database operation

A database operation consisting of a single SQL statement or PL/SQL procedure or
function.

simple view merging

The merging of select-project-join views. For example, a query joins the employees
table to a subquery that joins the departments and locations tables.

SMB
See SQL management base (SMB).

soft parse
Any parse that is not a hard parse. If a submitted SQL statement is the same as a
reusable SQL statement in the shared pool, then Oracle Database reuses the existing
code. This reuse of code is also called a library cache hit.

sort merge join

A type of join method. The join consists of a sort join, in which both inputs are sorted
on the join key, followed by a merge join, in which the sorted lists are merged.

SQL Access Advisor

SQL Access Advisor is internal diagnostic software that recommends which
materialized views, indexes, and materialized view logs to create, drop, or retain.

Glossary-21
SQL compilation

SQL compilation
In the context of Oracle SQL processing, this term refers collectively to the phases of
parsing, optimization, and plan generation.

SQL plan directive

Additional information and instructions that the optimizer can use to generate a more
optimal plan. For example, a SQL plan directive might instruct the optimizer to collect
missing statistics or gather dynamic statistics.

SQL handle
A string value derived from the numeric SQL signature. Like the signature, the handle
uniquely identifies a SQL statement. It serves as a SQL search key in user APIs.

SQL ID
For a specific SQL statement, the unique identifier of the parent cursor in the library
cache. A hash function applied to the text of the SQL statement generates the SQL ID.
The V$SQL.SQL_ID column displays the SQL ID.

SQL incident
In the fault diagnosability infrastructure of Oracle Database, a single occurrence of a
SQL-related problem. When a problem (critical error) occurs multiple times, the
database creates an incident for each occurrence. Incidents are timestamped and
tracked in the Automatic Diagnostic Repository (ADR).

SQL management base (SMB)

A logical repository that stores statement logs, plan histories, SQL plan baselines, and
SQL profiles. The SMB is part of the data dictionary and resides in the SYSAUX
tablespace.

SQL plan baseline

A set of one or more accepted plans for a repeatable SQL statement. Each accepted
plan contains a set of hints, a plan hash value, and other plan-related information.
SQL plan management uses SQL plan baselines to record and evaluate the execution
plans of SQL statements over time.

SQL plan capture

Techniques for capturing and storing relevant information about plans in the SQL
management base (SMB) for a set of SQL statements. Capturing a plan means making
SQL plan management aware of this plan.

SQL plan directive

Additional information that the optimizer uses to generate a more optimal plan. The
optimizer collects SQL plan directives on query expressions rather than at the
statement level. In this way, the directives are usable for multiple SQL statements.

Glossary-22
 SQL test case builder

SQL plan history

The set of plans generated for a repeatable SQL statement over time. The history
contains both SQL plan baselines and unaccepted plans.

SQL plan management

SQL plan management is a preventative mechanism that records and evaluates the
execution plans of SQL statements over time. SQL plan management can prevent SQL
plan regressions caused by environmental changes such as a new optimizer version,
changes to optimizer statistics, system settings, and so on.

SQL processing
The stages of parsing, optimization, row source generation, and execution of a SQL
statement.

SQL profile
A set of auxiliary information built during automatic tuning of a SQL statement. A
SQL profile is to a SQL statement what statistics are to a table. The optimizer can use
SQL profiles to improve cardinality and selectivity estimates, which in turn leads the
optimizer to select better plans.

SQL profiling
The verification and validation by the Automatic Tuning Advisor of its own estimates.

SQL signature
A numeric hash value computed using a SQL statement text that has been normalized
for case insensitivity and white space. It uniquely identifies a SQL statement. The
database uses this signature as a key to maintain SQL management objects such as
SQL profiles, SQL plan baselines, and SQL patches.

SQL statement log

When automatic SQL plan capture is enabled, a log that contains the SQL ID of SQL
statements that the optimizer has evaluated over time. A statement is tracked when it
exists in the log.

SQL test case

A problematic SQL statement and related information needed to reproduce the
execution plan in a different environment. A SQL test case is stored in an Oracle Data
Pump file.

SQL test case builder

A database feature that gathers information related to a SQL statement and packages it
so that a user can reproduce the problem on a different database. The DBMS_SQLDIAG
package is the interface for SQL test case builder.

Glossary-23
SQL trace file

SQL trace file

A server-generated file that provides performance information on individual SQL
statements. For example, the trace file contains parse, execute, and fetch counts, CPU
and elapsed times, physical reads and logical reads, and misses in the library cache.

SQL tuning
The process of improving SQL statement efficiency to meet measurable goals.

SQL Tuning Advisor

Built-in database diagnostic software that optimizes high-load SQL statements.
See Automatic SQL Tuning Advisor.

SQL tuning set (STS)

A database object that includes one or more SQL statements along with their execution
statistics and execution context.

star schema
A relational schema whose design represents a dimensional data model. The star
schema consists of one or more fact tables and one or more dimension tables that are
related through foreign keys.

statistics feedback
A form of automatic reoptimization that automatically improves plans for repeated
queries that have cardinality misestimates. The optimizer may estimate cardinalities
incorrectly for many reasons, such as missing statistics, inaccurate statistics, or
complex predicates.

stored outline
A set of hints for a SQL statement. The hints in stored outlines direct the optimizer to
choose a specific plan for the statement.

subplan
A portion of an adaptive plan that the optimizer can switch to as an alternative at run
time. A subplan can consist of multiple operations in the plan. For example, the
optimizer can treat a join method and the corresponding access path as one unit when
determining whether to change the plan at run time.

subquery
A query nested within another SQL statement. Unlike implicit queries, subqueries use
a SELECT statement to retrieve data.

Glossary-24
 tuning mode

subquery unnesting
A transformation technique in which the optimizer transforms a nested query into an
equivalent join statement, and then optimizes the join.

synopsis
A set of auxiliary statistics gathered on a partitioned table when the INCREMENTAL
value is set to true.

system statistics
Statistics that enable the optimizer to use CPU and I/O characteristics. Index statistics
include B-tree levels, leaf block counts, clustering factor, distinct keys, and number of
rows in the index.

table cluster
A schema object that contains data from one or more tables, all of which have one or
more columns in common. In table clusters, the database stores together all the rows
from all tables that share the same cluster key.

table expansion
A transformation technique that enables the optimizer to generate a plan that uses
indexes on the read-mostly portion of a partitioned table, but not on the active portion
of the table.

table statistics
Statistics about tables that the optimizer uses to determine table access cost, join
cardinality, join order, and so on. Table statistics include row counts, block counts,
empty blocks, average free space per block, number of chained rows, average row
length, and staleness of the statistics on the table.

throughput
The amount of work completed in a unit of time.
See response time.

top frequency histogram

A variation of a frequency histogram that ignores nonpopular values that are
statistically insignificant, thus producing a better histogram for highly popular values.

tuning mode
One of the two optimizer modes. When running in tuning mode, the optimizer is
known as the Automatic Tuning Optimizer. In tuning mode, the optimizer
determines whether it can further improve the plan produced in normal mode. The
optimizer output is not an execution plan, but a series of actions, along with their
rationale and expected benefit for producing a significantly better plan.

Glossary-25
unaccepted plan

unaccepted plan
A plan for a statement that is in the SQL plan history but has not been added to the
SQL plan management.

unselective
A relatively large fraction of rows from a row set. A query becomes more unselective
as the selectivity approaches 1. For example, a query that returns 999,999 rows from a
table with one million rows is unselective. A query of the same table that returns one
row is selective.

user response time

The time between when a user submits a command and receives a response.
See throughput.

V$ view
See dynamic performance view.

vector I/O
A type of I/O in which the database obtains a set of rowids, sends them batched in an
array to the operating system, which performs the read.

view merging
The merging of a query block representing a view into the query block that contains it.
View merging can improve plans by enabling the optimizer to consider additional join
orders, access methods, and other transformations.

workload statistics
Optimizer statistics for system activity in a specified time period.

Glossary-26
 Index

A bitmap indexes
inlist iterator, 7-16
access paths on joins, A-10
execution plans, 6-1 when to use, A-10
full table scan, 10-6 BOOLEAN data type, 8-18
full table scans, 11-1 BYTES column
adaptive plans PLAN_TABLE table, 7-18, 7-31
cardinality misestimates, 4-12
join methods, 4-12
optimizer statistics collector, 4-12 C
parallel distribution methods, 4-15 cardinality, 1-5, 4-5, 4-12, 4-18, 4-20, 6-2, 8-29, 10-4,
reporting mode, 14-3 10-18, 11-1, 11-4
subplans, 4-12 CARDINALITY column
adaptive query optimization PLAN_TABLE table, 7-18, 7-31
adaptive plans, 4-11, 7-2, 7-28, 14-3, 17-2 cartesian joins, 9-21
controlling, 14-8 child cursors, 15-4
dynamic statistics, 10-13 clusters
adaptive statistics sorted hash, A-12
automatic reoptimization, 4-17 column group statistics, 10-18
dynamic statistics, 4-17 column groups
SQL plan directives, 4-20, 13-11 optimizer statistics, 13-12
ADDM, 1-5 columns
ALTER SESSION statement cardinality, 4-5
examples, 18-10 to index, A-3
antijoins, 9-3 compilation, SQL, 10-17, 10-18, 10-28
applications composite indexes, A-4
implementing, 2-2 composite partitioning
automatic reoptimization examples of, 7-11
cardinality misestimates, 4-18 concurrent statistics gathering, 12-21, 12-25, 5
performance feedback, 4-19 consistent mode
statistics feedback, 4-18 TKPROF, 18-24
automatic statistics collection, 12-3 constraints, A-6
Automatic Tuning Optimizer, 1-5 COST column
Automatic Workload Repository (AWR), 1-5 PLAN_TABLE table, 7-18, 7-31
current mode
TKPROF, 18-24
B CURSOR_NUM column
big bang rollout strategy, 2-4 TKPROF_TABLE table, 18-13
bind variable peeking, 15-12 CURSOR_SHARING initialization parameters, 15-2
bind variables cursors
bind peeking, 15-12 about, 15-1
bind-aware cursors, 15-23 bind variable peeking, 15-12
bind-sensitive cursors, 15-20 bind-aware, 15-23

Index-1
cursors (continued) DEPTH column (continued)
bind-sensitive, 15-20 TKPROF_TABLE table, 18-13
child, 15-4 designs
parent, 15-4, 15-5 debugging, 2-3
sharing, 15-1, 15-2 testing, 2-3
validating, 2-3
development environments, 2-2
D DIAGNOSTIC_DEST initialization parameter, 18-9
data disabled constraints, A-6
modeling, 2-1 DISTRIBUTION column
data blocks, 3-9 PLAN_TABLE table, 7-20, 7-29
data dictionary cache, 3-4 domain indexes
data flow operator (DFO), 5-17 and EXPLAIN PLAN, 7-16
Data Pump using, A-10
Export utility dynamic statistics
statistics on system-generated columns controlling, 13-1
names, 13-34 process, 13-2
Import utility sampling levels, 13-2
copying statistics, 13-34 when to use, 13-5
data skew, 11-1
data types
BOOLEAN, 8-18 E
database operations enabled constraints, A-6
composite, 1-7, 16-1 end-to-end application tracing
definition, 1-7, 16-1 action and module names, 18-2
simple, 1-7, 16-1 creating a service, 18-2
database operations, monitoring DBMS_APPLICATION_INFO package, 18-2
composite, 16-5 DBMS_MONITOR package, 18-2
composite operations, 16-1 endpoint repeat counts, in histograms, 11-18
creating database operations, 16-10 enforced constraints, A-6
enabling with hints, 16-9 examples
enabling with initialization parameters, 16-9 ALTER SESSION statement, 18-10
Enterprise Manager interface, 16-6 EXPLAIN PLAN output, 18-16
generating a report, 16-11 EXECUTE_TASK procedure, 21-13
PL/SQL interface, 16-6 execution plans
purpose, 16-2 adaptive, 4-11, 7-2, 7-28
real-time SQL, 16-1 examples, 18-12
simple operations, 16-1 overview of, 6-1
DATE_OF_INSERT column TKPROF, 18-13, 18-21
TKPROF_TABLE table, 18-13 V$ views, 7-28
DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT viewing with the utlxpls.sql script, 6-5
initialization parameter, 8-6, 8-7 execution trees, 3-7
DBMS_ADVISOR package, 21-1 EXPLAIN PLAN statement
DBMS_MONITOR package access paths, 8-9, 8-11
end-to-end application tracing, 18-2 and full partition-wise joins, 7-14
DBMS_SQLTUNE package and partial partition-wise joins, 7-13
SQL Tuning Advisor, 20-25 and partitioned objects, 7-9
DDL (data definition language)
basic steps, 6-5
processing of, 3-9
examples of output, 18-16
deadlocks, 3-2
invoking with the TKPROF program, 18-21
debugging designs, 2-3
PLAN_TABLE table, 6-5
dedicated server, 3-4
restrictions, 6-4
dense keys
viewing the output, 6-5
dense grouping keys, 5-17
extended statistics, 10-4
dense join keys, 5-17
extensions, 10-18
density, histogram, 11-5
DEPTH column

Index-2
F in-memory aggregation (continued)
controls, 5-20
fixed objects how it works, 5-17
gathering statistics for, 12-1, 12-18 purpose, 5-17
frequency histograms, 11-6, 11-10 in-memory table scans
full outer joins, 9-28 controls, 8-10
full partition-wise joins, 7-14 example, 8-11
full table scans, 10-6, 11-1 when chosen, 8-10
function-based indexes, A-8 incremental statistics, 12-31, 12-33
index clustering factor, 10-6
G index statistics
index clustering factor, 10-6
global temporary tables, 10-10 indexes
avoiding the use of, A-5
bitmap, A-10
H
choosing columns for, A-3
hard parsing, 2-2, 3-4 composite, A-4
hash clusters domain, A-10
sorted, A-12 dropping, A-2
hash joins enforcing uniqueness, A-6
cost-based optimization, 9-3 ensuring the use of, A-5
hash partitions function-based, A-8
examples of, 7-10 improving selectivity, A-4
hashing, A-12 low selectivity, A-5
height-balanced histograms, 11-14 modifying values of, A-3
high-load SQL
non-unique, A-6
tuning, 12-2, 20-25
re-creating, A-5
hints, optimizer
scans, 8-18
FULL, A-5
selectivity of, A-3
NO_INDEX, A-5
initialization parameters
NO_MONITOR, 16-9
DIAGNOSTIC_DEST, 18-9
histograms
inner loop, in nested loops joins, 9-6
cardinality algorithms, 11-4
criteria for creation, 11-3
data skew, 11-1 J
definition, 11-1
joins
density, 11-5 antijoins, 9-3
endpoint numbers, 11-4 cartesian, 9-21
endpoint repeat counts, 11-18 full outer, 9-28
endpoint values, 11-4 hash, 9-15
frequency, 11-6, 11-10 nested loops, 3-7, 9-6
height-balanced, 11-14 nested loops and cost-based optimization, 9-3
hybrid, 11-18, 11-20 order, 14-14
NDV, 11-1 outer, 9-25
nonpopular values, 11-4 partition-wise
popular values, 11-4 examples of full, 7-14
purpose, 11-1 examples of partial, 7-13
top frequency, 11-10 full, 7-14
hybrid histograms, 11-18, 11-20 semijoins, 9-3
sort-merge and cost-based optimization, 9-3
I
I/O K
reducing, A-4 key vectors, 5-17
ID column
PLAN_TABLE table, 7-18, 7-29
in-memory aggregation

Index-3
L optimizer environment, 3-5
optimizer hints
latches FULL, A-5
parsing and, 3-4 MONITOR, 16-9
library cache, 3-4 NO_INDEX, A-5
library cache miss, 3-4 optimizer statistics
locks adaptive statistics, 4-17
deadlocks, 3-2 automatic collection, 12-3
basic topics, 12-1
M bulk loads, 10-14
cardinality, 11-1
manual plan capture, 23-5 collection, 12-1
modeling column group, 10-18
data, 2-1 column groups, 13-11, 13-12
multiversion read consistency, 3-9 dynamic, 10-13, 10-17, 12-21, 13-1, 17-2
extended, 10-4
N gathering concurrently, 12-21, 5
gathering in parallel, 12-25
NDV, 11-1
getting, 12-8
nested loop joins
histograms, 11-1
how they work, 9-6
incremental, 12-31, 12-33
nested loops
index, 10-5
driving table, 9-6
nested loops joins pluggable databases and, 12-3
cost-based optimization, 9-3 preferences, 12-8
NO_INDEX hint, A-5 setting, 12-8
nonpopular values, in histograms, 11-4 SQL plan directives, 10-18, 13-11
NOT IN subquery, 9-3 system, 12-35
temporary, 10-10
optimizer statistics collection, 12-1
O optimizer statistics collectors, 4-12
OBJECT_INSTANCE column OPTIONS column
PLAN_TABLE table, 7-16, 7-29 PLAN_TABLE table, 7-16, 7-29
OBJECT_NAME column OTHER column
PLAN_TABLE table, 7-16, 7-29 PLAN_TABLE table, 7-20, 7-32
OBJECT_NODE column OTHER_TAG column
PLAN_TABLE table, 7-16, 7-29 PLAN_TABLE table, 7-19, 7-31
OBJECT_OWNER column outer joins, 9-25
PLAN_TABLE table, 7-16, 7-29 outer loops, in nested loops join, 9-6
OBJECT_TYPE column
PLAN_TABLE table, 7-17, 7-29 P
OPERATION column
PLAN_TABLE table, 7-16, 7-29 packages
optimization, SQL, 4-2 DBMS_ADVISOR, 21-1
optimizer parallel execution
adaptive, 7-2 gathering statistics, 12-25
definition, 4-1 parent cursors, 15-4, 15-5
environment, 3-5 PARENT_ID column
estimator, 4-5 PLAN_TABLE table, 7-18, 7-30
execution, 3-7 parse calls, 3-2
goals, 14-7 parsing, SQL
purpose of, 4-1 hard, 2-2
row sources, 3-5, 3-6 hard parse, 3-4
statistics, 14-10 parse trees, 3-7
throughput, 14-7 soft, 2-2
OPTIMIZER column soft parse, 3-4
PLAN_TABLE, 7-17, 7-29 partition maintenance operations, 12-31

Index-4
PARTITION_ID column private SQL areas
PLAN_TABLE table, 7-20, 7-32 parsing and, 3-2
PARTITION_START column processes
PLAN_TABLE table, 7-19, 7-32 dedicated server, 3-4
PARTITION_STOP column programming languages, 2-2
PLAN_TABLE table, 7-20, 7-32
partition-wise joins
full, 7-14
Q
full, and EXPLAIN PLAN output, 7-14 queries
partial, and EXPLAIN PLAN output, 7-13 avoiding the use of indexes, A-5
partitioned objects ensuring the use of indexes, A-5
and EXPLAIN PLAN statement, 7-9 query transformations
partitioning in-memory aggregation, 5-16
examples of, 7-10
examples of composite, 7-11
hash, 7-9
R
range, 7-9 range
start and stop columns, 7-10 examples of partitions, 7-10
performance partitions, 7-9
viewing execution plans, 6-5 Real-Time Database Operations, 1-7
PLAN_TABLE table Real-Time SQL Monitoring, 1-7, 16-1
BYTES column, 7-18, 7-31 Real-World Performance
CARDINALITY column, 7-18, 7-31 cursor sharing, 15-1
COST column, 7-18, 7-31 recursive calls, 18-15
creating, 6-5 recursive SQL, 3-9, 10-13, 10-28
displaying, 6-7 REMARKS column
DISTRIBUTION column, 7-20, 7-29 PLAN_TABLE table, 7-16, 7-29
ID column, 7-18, 7-29 reoptimization, automatic
OBJECT_INSTANCE column, 7-16, 7-29 cardinality misestimates, 4-18
OBJECT_NAME column, 7-16, 7-29 performance feedback, 4-19
OBJECT_NODE column, 7-16, 7-29 statistics feedback, 4-18
OBJECT_OWNER column, 7-16, 7-29 result sets, SQL, 3-6, 3-8
OBJECT_TYPE column, 7-17, 7-29 rollout strategies
OPERATION column, 7-16, 7-29 big bang approach, 2-4
OPTIMIZER column, 7-17, 7-29 trickle approach, 2-4
OPTIONS column, 7-16, 7-29 row source generation, 3-5
OTHER column, 7-20, 7-32 rowids
OTHER_TAG column, 7-19, 7-31 table access by, 8-7
PARENT_ID column, 7-18, 7-30 rows
PARTITION_ID column, 7-20, 7-32 row set, 3-6
PARTITION_START column, 7-19, 7-32 row source, 3-6
PARTITION_STOP column, 7-20, 7-32 rowids used to locate, 8-7
POSITION column, 7-18, 7-31
REMARKS column, 7-16, 7-29 S
SEARCH_COLUMNS column, 7-18, 7-29
SAMPLE BLOCK clause, 8-8
STATEMENT_ID column, 7-16, 7-29
SAMPLE clause, 8-8
TIMESTAMP column, 7-16, 7-29
pluggable databases sample table scans, 8-8
automatic optimizer statistics collection, 12-3 scans
in-memory, 8-9
manageability features, 12-3
sample table, 8-8
SQL management base, 23-9
SEARCH_COLUMNS column
SQL Tuning Advisor, 20-1, 21-1
PLAN_TABLE table, 7-18, 7-29
SQL tuning sets, 19-2
SELECT statement
popular values, in histograms, 11-4
SAMPLE clause, 8-8
POSITION column
selectivity
PLAN_TABLE table, 7-18, 7-31
creating indexes, A-3

Index-5
selectivity (continued) SQL trace facility
improving for an index, A-4 output, 18-24
indexes, A-5 statement truncation, 18-12
semijoins, 9-3 trace files, 18-9
shared pool SQL trace files, 1-8
parsing check, 3-3 SQL tuning
shared SQL areas, 3-3, 15-2 definition, 1-1
soft parsing, 2-2, 3-4 introduction, 1-1
sort merge joins tools overview, 1-4
cost-based optimization, 9-3 SQL Tuning Advisor
SQL administering with APIs, 20-25
execution, 3-7 input sources, 20-4, 21-3
optimization, 4-2 pluggable databases and, 20-1, 21-1
parsing, 3-2 using, 12-2, 20-25
recursive, 3-9 SQL tuning sets
result sets, 3-6, 3-8 pluggable databases and, 19-2
stages of processing, 8-2, 8-11 SQL Tuning Sets
SQL Access Advisor managing with APIs, 19-1
constants, 21-32 SQL_STATEMENT column
EXECUTE_TASK procedure, 21-13 TKPROF_TABLE, 18-13
SQL compilation, 10-17, 10-18, 10-28 SQL, recursive, 10-28, 13-1
SQL management base start columns
pluggable databases and, 23-9 in partitioning and EXPLAIN PLAN statement,
SQL parsing 7-10
parse calls, 3-2 STATEMENT_ID column
SQL Performance Analyzer, 1-6 PLAN_TABLE table, 7-16, 7-29
SQL plan baselines statistics, optimizer
displaying, 23-19 adaptive statistics, 4-17
SQL plan capture, 23-4 automatic collection, 12-3
SQL plan directives bulk loads, 10-14
cardinality misestimates, 10-18 cardinality, 11-1
managing, 13-40 collection, 12-1
SQL plan management column group, 10-18
automatic plan capture, 23-4 column groups, 13-11, 13-15
introduction, 23-1 dynamic, 10-13, 10-17, 12-21, 13-1, 17-2
manual plan capture, 23-5 dynamic statistics, 10-26
plan capture, 23-1 exporting and importing, 13-33
plan evolution, 23-2, 23-7 extended, 10-4
plan selection, 23-1, 23-6 gathering concurrently, 12-21
plan verification, 23-7 incremental, 12-31, 12-33
purpose, 23-2 index, 10-5
SQL plan baselines, 23-1 limitations on restoring previous versions, 13-28
SQL plan capture, 23-4 preferences, 12-8
SQL processing system, 10-11, 12-35
semantic check, 3-3 user-defined, 10-12
shared pool check, 3-3 stop columns
stages, 3-1 in partitioning and EXPLAIN PLAN statement,
syntax check, 3-3 7-10
SQL profiles subqueries
and SQL plan baselines, 23-3 NOT IN, 9-3
SQL statements system statistics, 12-35
avoiding the use of indexes, A-5
ensuring the use of indexes, A-5
T
execution plans of, 6-1
modifying indexed data, A-3 table statistics, 10-3
SQL Test Case Builder, 17-1 temporary tables, global, 10-10
SQL test cases, 17-1 testing designs, 2-3

Index-6
throughput U
optimizer goal, 14-7
TIMESTAMP column uniqueness, A-6
PLAN_TABLE table, 7-16, 7-29 USER_ID column, TKPROF_TABLE, 18-13
TKPROF program
editing the output SQL script, 18-13
V
example of output, 18-16
generating the output SQL script, 18-13 V$SQL_PLAN view
row source operations, 18-25 using to display execution plan, 6-4
using the EXPLAIN PLAN statement, 18-21 V$SQL_PLAN_STATISTICS view
wait event information, 18-25 using to display execution plan statistics, 6-4
TKPROF_TABLE, 18-13 V$SQL_PLAN_STATISTICS_ALL view
top frequency histograms, 11-10 using to display execution plan information, 6-4
tracing V$SQLAREA view, 15-5
consolidating with trcsess, 18-19 validating designs, 2-3
identifying files, 18-9
trcsess utility, 18-19 W
trickle rollout strategy, 2-4
tuning workloads, 2-3
logical structure, A-1

Index-7
Index-8