eG Monitoring
 

Measures reported by OraRacTimeWorkloadTest

Workload analysis for an Oracle cluster involves:

  • Determining the number of transactions that applications execute on the oracle RAC at any given point in time;

  • Understanding the type of cluster operations these transactions trigger – executes? Updates? reads? Writes? Rollbacks? Parses?

  • Knowing how many users are active on the Oracle RAC at a given point in time;

  • Determining how quickly the server processes this load and how much processing power was spent on the same.

This not only reveals the current workload of the database server, but also highlights the processing ability of the server, pinpoints bottlenecks in processing, and leads administrators to where these bottlenecks lie. To perform such detailed workload analysis, administrators can use the Oracle RAC Timed Workload test. This test reports the current CPU usage of the server to indicate its current load. In addition, the test reveals the number and type of transactions the server processes every second, so that administrators can understand how well the server handles the load and can accurately identify where bottlenecks lie. By comparing the CPU usage of the server with its processing ability, administrators can intelligently figure out if the server requires additional CPU resources for improved performance.

Outputs of the test : One set of results for every SID monitored

The measures made by this test are as follows:

Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation
Db_cpu_usage Indicates the percentage CPU used by the cluster. Percent A value close to 100% is indicative of excessive CPU usage. This in turn indicates that the server is using up all its processing power to service its current workload. It could be because the load is very high. It could also be owing to a few resource-intensive transactions executing on the server. In case of the former, you may want to allocate more CPU resources to the server, so as to enhance its processing ability.
Cpu_time TIndicates the time for which the cluster has been hogging the CPU resources since the last measurement period. Secs A consistent increase in the value of this measure could indicate a steady increase in the workload of the server.
Redo_size Indicates the rate at which modifications were written to the redo logs since the last measurement period. MB/Sec If the value of this measure keeps growing, it could indicate that data is changing rapidly in the databases. A steady drop in this value could indicate that changes are not written to the redo logs as quickly as they occur.
logical_reads Indicates the rate at which logical reads were performed by the cluster Reads/Sec These measures are good indicators of the level of activity on the database server and how well the server handles these activity levels. In the event of a slowdown, you can compare the value of these measures to know where the slowdown may have originated – when making changes to data? When reading? When writing?
Block_chgs_count Indicates the rate at which database blocks were changed. Blocks/Sec
Phy_reads Indicates the rate at which the cluster performed physical reads. Reads/Sec
Phy_writes Indicates the rate at which the cluster performed physical writes. Writes/Sec
User_calls Indicates the rate at which the cluster made user calls. Calls/Sec  
Parses_count Indicates the rate at which the cluster parsed SQL statements. Parses/Sec Parsing is one stage in the processing of a SQL statement. When an application issues a SQL statement, the application makes a parse call to Oracle Database. During the parse call, Oracle Database:

  • Checks the statement for syntactic and semantic validity.

  • Determines whether the process issuing the statement has privileges to run it.

  • Allocates a private SQL area for the statement.

If the value of this measure keeps increasing consistently, it could indicate that many SQL statements are being executed on the server, thus generating more parses every second. If the value of this measure drops consistently, it could indicate a bottleneck in parsing.

Hard_parses_count Indicates the rate at which the cluster hard parsed SQL statements. Parses/Sec As opposed to a soft parse, a hard parse loads the SQL source code into RAM for parsing. If the value of this measure is decreasing steadily, it could mean that hard parsing is taking too long. It could also mean that very few hard parses are actually performed.
WA_mem_processed Indicates the rate at which work area memory is used by the cluster. MB/sec Oracle Database reads and writes information in the PGA on behalf of the server process. An example of such information is the run-time area of a cursor. Each time a cursor is executed, a new run-time area is created for that cursor in the PGA memory region of the server process executing that cursor. For complex queries (such as decision support queries), a big portion of the run-time area is dedicated to work areas allocated by memory intensive operators, including:

  • Sort-based operators, such as ORDER BY, GROUP BY, ROLLUP, and window functions

  • Hash-join

  • Bitmap merge

  • Bitmap create

  • Write buffers used by bulk load operations

For example, a sort operator uses a work area (sometimes called the sort area) to perform the in-memory sort of a set of rows. Similarly, a hash-join operator uses a work area (also called the hash area) to build a hash table from its left input. If the amount of data to be processed by these two operators does not fit into a work area, then the input data is divided into smaller pieces. This allows some data pieces to be processed in memory while the rest are spilled to temporary disk storage to be processed later.

A consistent increase in the value of this measure is indicative of excessive usage of the work area. This could indicate that the workload is characterized by complex queries that use memory intensive operators such as sort, hash-join, etc. You may want to fine-tune the work area size in order to enable it to handle the memory-intensive load better.

Logons Indicates the rate at which users login to the cluster. Logons/Sec A steady rise in this value is indicative of a steady increase in user activity on the server.
Executes Indicates the rate at which executions are performed by the cluster. Executions/Sec  
Trans_rollbacks Indicates the rate at which the cluster performs rollbacks. Rollbacks/Sec Ideally, the value of this measure should be low. This is because, rollbacks are expensive operations and should be avoided at all costs. A consistent increase in the value of this measure is hence a cause for concern.
Tot_transactions Indicates the rate at which transactions were executed by the cluster. Trans/Sec A steady increase in the value of this measure could indicate an increase in the transaction load on the server. A consistent and notable drop in the value of this measure could indicate a bottleneck in transaction processing.