Oracle SE Database and Query Performance Analyzer

What is an Oracle performance analyzer?

An Oracle performance analyzer is a tool designed to analyze Oracle database performance and custom metrics to identify bottlenecks and improve overall performance. Features can include helping you manage, optimize, and revise SQL queries to ensure the database is functioning as efficiently as possible.

How does an Oracle performance analyzer work?

An Oracle performance analyzer works using a two-pronged approach—Oracle database performance monitoring/analysis and Oracle database tuning/optimization. Many database tools address performance monitoring and tuning together, but it can be helpful for database administrators to use an Oracle performance analyzer that draws a finer distinction between the two for more pinpointed troubleshooting.

To support Oracle database performance monitoring and analysis, an Oracle performance analyzer is built to gather information about your database sessions 24/7 to help database administrators understand where their database performance has been, where it is, and where it’s going. It monitors wait-events, resource use, applications, clients, machines, blockers, and more. When you have this information at a glance, it can be easier to drill down on performance issues and resolve them before they cause slowdowns.

An Oracle performance analyzer can use intelligent collection and parse your database’s historical data to determine what standard wait behavior looks like. As you use the Oracle performance analyzer more, it can also get smarter and better at detecting anomalies unique to your network, making troubleshooting more efficient.

For Oracle database tuning and optimization, an analyzer tool can help support improving the performance of SQL queries. Queries are the backbone of database performance, and it’s critically important that database administrators tune performance. If they don’t, a slow or inefficient database can negatively impact business-critical operations.

SQL query, table, and index tuning can be challenging. To pinpoint where the problem originates, database administrators need to consider all the elements in the RDBMS. One effective way to do this is to use an Oracle query analyzer.

SolarWinds Oracle SE database and query performance analyzer comes equipped with table tuning advisors designed to offer recommendations on which query performance issues to tackle first.

Why is using an Oracle performance analyzer important?

An Oracle performance analyzer can help database administrators more easily maintain a high level of service by helping them ensure databases are functioning properly.

Enterprises of all sizes rely on databases to keep their large datasets organized, particularly the datasets called upon again and again each time a customer requests information. It’s important to remember databases aren’t static reservoirs of information, they’re more like active repositories that need to be periodically refined and retooled to achieve maximum performance. If databases don’t perform at their fullest potential, service can slow down and customers may take their business elsewhere.

An Oracle performance analyzer can help prevent this by making it easier to optimize database and query performance. Without this tool, performance tuning can devolve into a guessing game. If I change this table, how will it change my database’s overall performance? How is response-time being affected? Where exactly is the bottleneck? Without an Oracle performance analyzer, trying to answer these questions can involve going through a large amount of data, manually adjusting indexes and queries, and waiting to see how they affect performance.

Oracle performance analyzers help take the guesswork out of Oracle SE database and query performance analysis. These tools offer comprehensive database performance monitoring, help you more easily pinpoint issues caused by inefficient queries, and can give you the necessary tools to quickly and effectively troubleshoot.

Having an Oracle performance analyzer is also important if you move from Oracle Enterprise Edition (EE) to Oracle Standard Edition (SE), as an Oracle performance analyzer can help provider high-fidelity Oracle SE performance monitoring without reliance on OEM Diagnostic Pack provided by Oracle EE.

What does an Oracle performance analyzer do?

Oracle performance analyzers are built to make Oracle database analysis easier for database administrators by automating and optimizing the most time-consuming processes. In addition to facilitating Oracle SE database monitoring and query optimization, an Oracle performance analyzer can also monitor the most relevant Oracle metrics.

Here are six important metrics an enterprise-grade Oracle performance analyzer can help you monitor:

1. Underallocated RAM: Oracle databases automatically manage memory, but you can speed up performance by using RAM instead of disk access.
2. Transaction log response time: Log times directly impact latency in transactions.
3. Average buffer pool I/O response: If your database disk is at capacity, the subsequent bottleneck in responses can cause slow database performance for users.
4. In memory sort ratio: This metric indicates how many sorts are performed in memory as opposed to on disk. RAM sorts are considerably faster.
5. Parse to execute ratio: SQL statements must be parsed according to syntax check, semantic check, decision tree, or execution plan when they’re first executed. If you’re experiencing problems with the parse to execute ratio, it might be due to ineffective cursor sharing.
6. Rows read/rows selected ratio: This metric shows how many database rows were read before getting a return for the specified rows.

The right Oracle performance analyzer can help make it easier to optimize your database by monitoring these metrics and more.

How does the Oracle performance analyzer work in SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer (DPA) for Oracle ?

SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer (DPA) for Oracle is an enterprise-grade database performance management solution specially designed for Oracle SE. Scaling down to Oracle SE from Oracle EE doesn’t mean you have to settle for a less robust Oracle database analysis tool.

DPA monitors database performance 24/7, so you can stay aware of what’s going on within your database right up to the minute with a detailed view of historical data to use for analysis. This tool can help break down performance according to wait times, client machines, users, blocking data, top Oracle metrics, and more. A customizable and comprehensive alerting system can also notify you of potential performance issues before they become slowdowns. With alert customizations to make you aware of only the issues that matter most to you, these notifications are also designed to not overwhelm your inbox.

DPA also helps database administrators troubleshoot more effectively. The built-in, intelligent machine-learning algorithms can learn your database’s performance baselines and send out alerts when they detect a significant deviation from those baselines. These algorithms can also get smarter and more accurate with time. Additionally, the integrated table tuning advisors can offer expert tuning advice to help you ensure queries, indexes, and tables are as efficient as possible.

With SolarWinds Database Performance Analyzer for Oracle, database administrators have the toolkit they need to keep their databases running smoothly.