Database Reference
In-Depth Information
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Define and manage sensitive types
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Export and import application data models
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Verify and associate definitions with multiple targets
These management packs allow you to define and extract test data that can be used in creating environments for
testing on a variety of engineered systems and generic system platforms. Overall, these management packs help in
defining, refining, and giving realistic testing results for migrations and consolidation efforts.
Validating Application Performance
After establishing your testing environment, you need to perform tests to validate that performance is acceptable
compared to current production loads. Three tools that Oracle has developed to help with validating application
performance are Database Replay, SQL Performance Analyzer, and SQL Tuning Sets. All of these capabilities are
part of the Real Application Testing (RAT) suite. RAT is an option available with Oracle Database. RAT offers an ideal
solution for validating production load performance in test environments.
The Database Replay feature provides the ability to capture production workloads, including online and batch
workloads, and replay them against a test environment. It enables DBAs to test system changes, dependencies, and
timings without the use of customized testing scripts. This saves both time and effort by reducing the time it takes to
test, hence reducing overall testing cost. EM12c supplements RAT functionality by simplifying the process of saving
and transferring the captured workload and performance data to the test system, setting up the test system, and
replaying them via its central console.
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in order to use the features of real application testing (rat), you must purchase licenses. the only exception is
SQL tuning Sets, which can be licensed under either Oracle tuning pack or rat.
Note
eM12c also introduced application replay, functionality similar to database replay, for the middle tier. application replay
provides the most efficient, optimized, and highest-quality testing for validating application infrastructure changes for all
Web and packaged Oracle applications.
The SQL Performance Analyzer helps to predict and prevent SQL execution performance problems. It provides
a detailed view of the impact of environment changes by running the SQL statements serially before and after the
changes. It also generates a clear, detailed report outlining the impact on the workload due to the system change
as well as the set of regressed SQL statements. The Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c Tuning Advisor supplements
SQL Performance Analyzer and provides recommendations to optimize and tune the SQL statements for the best
possible performance.
SQL Tuning Sets are groupings of SQL statements that serve as input to Automatic Database Diagnostic
Monitor (ADDM)), SQL Tuning Advisor, or SQL Access Advisor. They are database objects that include one or more
SQL statements with their associated execution statistics and context. These tuning sets are used to help the DBA
perform automatic tuning of SQL statements and they can be exported to test systems where they can be evaluated
and improved.
The three tools discussed in this section—Database Replay, SQL Performance Analyzer, and SQL Tuning
Sets—were produced by Oracle to provide a methodological way for testing database loads. These tools work well
individually. And together they provide a powerful way to monitor any environment, especially engineered systems.
