Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Database Design Tuning:
In database design tuning, you are concerned with the
physical and logical structure of the database. During this exercise, the DBA examines
and takes decisions about refining the logical and physical structure of the database.
Among the issues that may be addressed are the following:
•
Determining whether critical database components (tablespaces,
datafiles, log-files, etc) need to be redefined and/or relocated (to
different directories/folders).
•
Determining whether critical database objects (primarily
tablespaces and tables) need to be partitioned (i.e. fragmented
into different partitions).
•
Determining whether critical database tables need to be
restructured.
•
Determining whether additional database objects (tables, logical
views, etc.) are required, and if so, where they should be placed.
Database Application Tuning:
In database application tuning, the concern is on
end-user access to the database. During this exercise, the DBA determines ways to better
facilitate access to the database by the various applications that need to use it. Among the
issues that may be addressed are the following:
•
Ascertaining whether existing database application objects
(procedures, triggers, etc.) are performing according to
expectations.
•
Determining whether additional database application objects
(procedures, triggers, etc.) are required and where to place them.
•
Determining whether adequate database access points (including
ODBC connections, database service connections, etc.) are in
place and are working acceptably.
Memory and I/O Management Tuning:
Memory management tuning in closely
related to database design tuning. This is critical because poor database design could
lead to poor memory performance which in turn leads to poor database performance.
Among the issues that may be addressed are the following:
•
Storage allocations for database objects (primarily tablespaces,
datafiles, and tables).
•
Storage allocations for the database itself (these parameters are
set at database creation or database alteration).
Oracle provides a number of utilities for managing memory performance of database
tables. However, a full discussion of these is beyond the scope of this course. Suffice it to
say that the database fault rate on each table can be monitored. If the fault rate is high, the
table needs to be reorganized.
Database Contention:
Database contention relates to how the database is handling
multi-user access as well as concurrent access. Like memory management, there are specific
utilities for managing this issue; these utilities are typically provided by the DBMS suite.
