This blog contains experience gained over the years of implementing (and de-implementing) large scale IT applications/software.

SAP note 830576 – PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET on Oracle 10gR2

SAP note 830576Parameter Recommendations for Oracle 10g” is quite a popular one for me.
It lists all the SAP recommended Oracle 10g parameter settings for Oracle 10.2.0.4 and 10.2.0.5.
It’s a good point of reference and I’d recommend you implement it as a baseline before tuning the system further.
It has a buddy note, 1289199Information About Oracle Parameters” which describes some of the parameters in more detail.

Unfortunately, there is a major flaw on note 830576.  When setting PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET the SAP note says 20% of available memory.  It fails to mention that this should be 20% of the SGA size, not O/S memory.
The Oracle docs (see MYOS note 153367.1) say that the value should be:

Syntax                PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET = integer [K | M | G]
Default value      10 MB or 20% of the size of the SGA, whichever is greater
Modifiable         ALTER SYSTEM
Range of values Minimum: 10 MB
                         Maximum: 4096 GB – 1

The Oracle note goes on to say that when sizing the Oracle database memory areas, you should consider the SGA size first, then assign any spare memory to PGA.
Now in an SAP landscape with a single Central Instance + Dialog Instance on the same server as the database, you may wish to use the SAP 70/30 rule (70% to SAP, 30% to Oracle).

My order of sizing would look something like this:
1, Determine number of users of SAP system.
2, Determine number of DIALOG work processes + Background work processes + Update processes (~= Oracle “processes”).
3, Determine leftover memory for Oracle SGA (split between pools, SAP doesn’t support automatic memory management).
4, Determine leftover memory for PGA + overheads.

If you get to step 4 and you have diddly squat RAM left (hardly any), then consider adding more RAM to your server.  Remember, we don’t like pageing.

SAP note 789011 “FAQ: Oracle Memory Areas”, provides a range of SQL statements for checking the actual size of the PGA.  Since PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET is only telling Oracle what you would like the maximum PGA allocation to be.

When you set PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET, you also allow Oracle to release PGA memory back to the O/S.  Using the *_AREA_SIZE parameters and setting PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET to 0, forces a specific size of PGA which does not release the memory to the O/S.

/* Actual PGA consumption */
SELECT VALUE FROM V$PGASTAT WHERE NAME = 'total PGA allocated';

/* Chronological PGA allocation (needs AWR license) */
SELECT SUBSTR(S.END_INTERVAL_TIME, 1, 40) TIME,
               P.VALUE PGA_ALLOCATION
  FROM DBA_HIST_SNAPSHOT S, DBA_HIST_PGASTAT P
WHERE P.NAME = 'total PGA allocated'
    AND S.SNAP_ID = P.SNAP_ID
ORDER BY P.SNAP_ID;

Oracle states:
Memory Area                                                             Dedicated Server     Shared Server
Nature of session memory                                                     Private           Shared
Location of the persistent area                                               PGA              SGA
Location of part of the runtime area for SELECT statements  PGA              PGA
Location of the runtime area for DML/DDL statements          PGA              PGA

When installing Oracle for SAP, by default it uses DEDICATED server mode (see note 70197).

Oracle on NetApp via NFS (yes, really, NFS!)

I’ve blogged about SAP on HP-UX before, which includes a load of notes and whitepapers about Oracle on HP-UX.
This blog post is about Oracle storage on NetApp.

Here’s a NetApp whitepaper specifically for Oracle on HP-UX, when using NFS mounted partitions from a NetApp device.
You should pay particular attention to ensuring that you have the correct OS patches applied, plus the kernel settings related to NFS should be set.  You should also note the section on direct I/O.

This is the HP whitepaper for NFS tuneables but it’s been moved into the new HP site.  It looks like it’s possible to get a slightly older version for HP-UX 11iv2 from ManualShark.org here.

I’m currently seeing average Oracle sequential read times of about 5-8ms running over a single gigabit ethernet card.

If at all possible ensure that you test the new architecture before hand (TEST should be representative of PRD!).
Make sure you identify and reduce Oracle full tablescans if possible.  Basically reduce I/O as much as possible.
Be prepared to bump up the buffer cache a little if you have the RAM (or the slots for the RAM).

Ensure that your Oracle partitions are seperate partitions and not shared with any other apps, so that you can change the mount point options specifically for Oracle.
Set the Oracle partitions file system block sizes according to Oracle/HP-UX best practice (again, see my other SAP on HP-UX post for more on this).

Most importantly, have your DB tuning team on standby, get those AWR snapshots running more frequently and make use of the ASH reports specifically for tuning SQL statements.

Oracle Tracing & Interpreting Traces – Notes

Oracle Trace Details; abstracted from MYOS Note ID 376442.1 and added flair.

This section details various ways of actually getting an Oracle session level trace file, interpreting the trace file and useful links to MYOS notes about the trace data:

/* Oracle 10g+ trace session using DBMS_MONITOR includes BINDS and WAITS */
/* However, this is limited to one session only */
EXEC DBMS_MONITOR.SESSION_TRACE_ENABLE(session_id =>1181,
                                       serial_num =>7218,
                                       waits      => TRUE,
                                       binds      => TRUE);

EXEC DBMS_MONITOR.SESSION_TRACE_DISABLE(session_id => 1181,

                                        serial_num => 7218);

/* Oracle 9i Trace excludes BINDS and WAITS */
/* Again, limited to one session only */
EXEC DBMS_SYSTEM.SET_SQL_TRACE_IN_SESSION(16,38779,TRUE);
EXEC DBMS_SYSTEM.SET_SQL_TRACE_IN_SESSION(16,38779,FALSE);

/ * Trace your own session with BINDS and WAITS */
ALTER SESSION SET SQL_TRACE=TRUE;
or
ALTER SESSION SET EVENTS ''10046 trace name context forever, level 12'';

/* Trace using OraDebug with BINDS and WAITS */
connect / as sysdba
oradebug setorapid 9834  << Insert your Oracle PID here.
oradebug unlimit
oradebug event 10046 trace name context forever,level 12

/* And switch it off again */
oradebug event 10046 trace name context off

/* Logon trigger trace for Oracle 9i+ */
/* This is the best way to trace when using Oracle Forms because it allows for multiple spontaneous sessions.
I can also confirm that this traces sessions executed on a database link */
/* First you must grant ALTER SESSION to the user */
GRANT ALTER SESSION TO <USERNAME> ;

/ * Now create the trigger */
CREATE OR REPLACE TRIGGER SYS.set_trace
AFTER LOGON ON DATABASE
WHEN (USER like '&USERNAME')
DECLARE
lcommand varchar(200);
BEGIN
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'alter session set statistics_level=ALL';
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'alter session set max_dump_file_size=UNLIMITED';
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'alter session set events ''10046 trace name context forever, level 12''';
END set_trace;
/

/* Simply disable the trigger when done */
ALTER TRIGGER SYS.SET_TRACE DISABLE;

/* List non-system users, very useful when attempting to trace a session */
SELECT username,sid,serial#,status,module
   FROM v$session
 WHERE username is not null
      AND username <> 'SYS'
 ORDER BY username;

/* Enable the trace on ALL current sessions of a specific user in the system. */
set serveroutput on size 10000;
DECLARE
BEGIN
FOR c1_row IN (SELECT sid,serial#
FROM v$session where username = '<<A USER>>') LOOP
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Enabling trace for session: '||c1_row.sid||' serial#: '||c1_row.serial#);
DBMS_MONITOR.SESSION_TRACE_ENABLE(session_id => c1_row.sid, serial_num => c1_row.serial# ,waits => TRUE, binds => TRUE);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Tracing for session: '||c1_row.sid||' serial#: '||c1_row.serial#);
END LOOP;
EXCEPTION
WHEN OTHERS THEN
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(SUBSTR(SQLERRM,1,250));
END;
/
select username,sql_trace from v$session order by username;

/* Disable the trace on ALL current sessions of a specific user in the system. */
set serveroutput on size 10000;
DECLARE
BEGIN
FOR c1_row IN (SELECT sid,serial#
FROM v$session where username = '<<A USER>>') LOOP
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Disabling trace for session: '||c1_row.sid||' serial#: '||c1_row.serial#);
DBMS_MONITOR.SESSION_TRACE_DISABLE(session_id => c1_row.sid, serial_num => c1_row.serial#);
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE('Tracing disabled for session: '||c1_row.sid||' serial#: '||c1_row.serial#);
END LOOP;
EXCEPTION
WHEN OTHERS THEN
DBMS_OUTPUT.PUT_LINE(SUBSTR(SQLERRM,1,250));
END;
/
select username,sql_trace from v$session order by username;

/* Run TKProf as sysdba with EXPLAIN plan included */
/* See TKProf Interpretation (9i and above) [ID 760786.1] */
tkprof <tracefile>.trc /tmp/<tracefile>.trc.tk explain=" / as sysdba"

/* TKProf sorting by highest elapsed time */
tkprof <tracefile>.trc /tmp/<tracefile>.trc.tk sort=fchela,exeela,prsela

Once you have your trace file and you have run it through TKProf and are still struggling, you may need to read it raw.
Check out the following MYOS articles:
“Interpreting Raw SQL_TRACE and DBMS_SUPPORT.START_TRACE output [ID 39817.1]”.

The excellent but slightly unheard of “Oracle Performance Diagnostic Guide (OPDG) [ID 390374.1]”.