1. Agenda Overview of the optimizer How SQL is executed Identifying statements that need tuning Explain Plan Modifying the plan

2. Optimizer Attempts to find best path Mode is set in init.ora file (can also be set for a session) –Rule Based Init.ora optimizer_mode = rule Based on set of rules executed in order –Cost Based Init.ora optimizer_mode = choose and table(s) analyzed (uses rule otherwise) Based on statistics logged in tables Tables analyzed by DBA - this generates the statistics –NOTE that these must be updated regularly to be meaningful

3. Processing SQL Optimizer looks at the following: –details of the syntax –any conditions to satisfy (where) –the tables and indexes (if any) –any “hints” –any stats via the ANALYZE function –WHERE clause - least restrictive to most restrictive

4. SQL Execution Stages Parse –SQL syntax is checked –Placed into cursor cache in the SGA –Execution plan is built Describe/Bind –program variables are associated with the cursor Open/Execute –SQL is run until the first row returns Fetch

5. Tuning SQL – identifying statements –Set timing on –V$sqlarea DEFINE threshold = 100 SELECT parsing_user_id, command_type, disk_reads, buffer_gets, executions, sql_text FROM v$sqlarea WHERE disk_reads > &threshold ORDER BY disk_reads DESC; –explain plan –set autotrace on set autotrace traceonly explain statistics

6. Explain Plan Overview Explain Plan provides explanation of path taken to retrieve data (SQL execution path) Set up Explain plan environment –Create the PLAN_TABLE with @ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/utlxplan.sql –run explain plan by preceeding SQL with explain plan set statement_id=user||’_1’ -- identify your SQL statements for

7. Explain Plan Overview (con’d) Read the plan by selecting from PLAN_TABLE SELECT LPAD(‘ ’,2*Level)||Operation||’ ’ || Options || ‘ ’ || decode(object_owner, null, ‘ ’, object_owner||‘.’||object_name) || ‘ ’ ||initcap(optimizer)||decode(cost, null, ‘ ’, ‘Cost=‘||cost)|| decode(cardinality, null, ‘ ’, ‘Rows Expected=‘ ||cardinality|| ‘Result Set Size=‘||bytes|| ‘ Bytes’) Q_Plan FROM PLAN_TABLE CONNECT BY prior ID = Parent_ID AND Statement_ID=user||’_1’ START WITH ID=0 and Statement_ID=user||‘_1’;

8. Operations and options –index range scan, unique scan –table access full, by rowid –join operations nested loops, merge join Delete from PLAN_TABLE when done tuning by changing the plan –add/modify indexes –optimizer hints –rewrite SQL Explain Plan Overview (con’d)

9. Sample Output SQL> Explain plan set statement_id='demo' for 2 select ename, loc, sal, hiredate 3 from emp, dept 4 where emp.deptno=dept.deptno; Explained. SQL> SELECT LPAD(' ',2*(level-1)) || operation operation, 2 Options, object_name, position 3 FROM plan_table 4 CONNECT BY PRIOR id=parent_id 5 and statement_id='demo' 6 START WITH id=1 and statement_id='demo'; OPERATION OPTIONS OBJECT_NAME POSITION ------------------------------ ------------------------- --------------- --------- MERGE JOIN 1 SORT JOIN 1 TABLE ACCESS FULL DEPT 1 SORT JOIN 2 TABLE ACCESS FULL EMP 1

10. Changing the PLAN Change order of tables in from clause suppress indexes where applicable –concatenate a null to a char column or add zero to number column will suppress the index –use FULL hint use complete key for joins don’t use function calls on columns in the where clause unless you have a function based index (possible with 8i) improve the index scheme to match access pattern

11. SQL tuning tips try EXISTS instead of IN try NOT EXISTS instead of NOT IN use joins in place of EXISTS use most selective index use rowid if possible? -careful remember the cache! Full table scans aren’t always bad… timing information

12. Hints /*+ and */ after a SELECT designate a hint to the optimizer if you don’t include the +, Oracle will not give you an error - just becomes a comment many available hints –index select /*+ INDEX(COMPANY) */ Name, City, State from COMPANY where City = 'Roanoke' and State = 'VA'; –full, all_rows, first_rows, index_desc, use_nl, many others...

13. Lab: Explain Plan Setup PLAN_TABLE run explain plan query PLAN_TABLE delete from PLAN_TABLE (or change statement_id) modify query and re-run