Explaining The Explain Plan

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Explaining the Explain Plan
Disclaimer
The goal of this session to provide you with a guide for reading SQL execution plans and to help you determine if that plan is what you should be expecting This session will not provide you with sudden enlightenment making you an Optimizer expert or give you the power to tune SQL statements with the flick of your wrist!
Agenda
What is an execution plan and how to generate one What is a good plan for the optimizer Understanding execution plans
Cardinality Access paths Join order Join type Partitioning pruning Parallelism
Execution plan examples
What is an execution plan and how to generate one
What is an Execution plan?

Execution plans show the detailed steps necessary to execute a SQL statement These steps are expressed as a set of database operators that consumes and produces rows The order of the operators and their implementation is decided by the optimizer using a combination of query transformations and physical optimization techniques The display is commonly shown in a tabular format, but a plan is in fact tree-shaped
What is an Execution plan?

Query
SELECT prod_category, avg(amount_sold) FROM sales s, products p WHERE p.prod_id = s.prod_id GROUP BY prod_category;
Tabular representation of plan

----------------------------------------------------------Id Operation Name ----------------------------------------------------------0 SELECT STATEMENT 1 HASH GROUP BY 2 HASH JOIN 3 TABLE ACCESS FULL PRODUCTS 4 PARTITION RANGE ALL 5 TABLE ACCESS FULL SALES ----------------------------------------------------------
Tree-shaped representation of plan

GROUP BY | JOIN _______|_______ | TABLE ACCESS PRODUCTS | TABLE ACCESS SALES
How to get an Execution Plan

Two methods for looking at the execution plan
1.EXPLAIN PLAN command

Displays an execution plan for a SQL statement without actually executing the statement
2.V$SQL_PLAN
A dictionary view introduced in Oracle 9i that shows the execution plan for a SQL statement that has been compiled into a cursor in the cursor cache
Use DBMS_XPLAN package to display plans

Under certain conditions the plan shown with EXPLAIN PLAN can be different from the plan shown using V$SQL_PLAN

Example 1 EXPLAIN PLAN command & dbms_xplan.display function SQL> EXPLAIN PLAN FOR
SELECT prod_category, avg(amount_sold) FROM sales s, products p WHERE p.prod_id = s.prod_id GROUP BY prod_category; Explained SQL> SELECT plan_table_output FROM table(dbms_xplan.display('plan_table',null,'basic'));
-----------------------------------------Id Operation Name -----------------------------------------0 SELECT STATEMENT 1 HASH GROUP BY 2 HASH JOIN 3 TABLE ACCESS FULL PRODUCTS 4 PARTITION RANGE ALL 5 TABLE ACCESS FULL SALES -------------------------------------------

Example 2 Generate & display execution plan for the last SQL stmts executed in a session
SQL>SELECT prod_category, avg(amount_sold)
FROM sales s, products p WHERE p.prod_id = s.prod_id GROUP BY prod_category; no rows selected
SQL> SELECT plan_table_output FROM table(dbms_xplan.display_cursor(null,null,'basic')); -----------------------------------------Id Operation Name -----------------------------------------0 SELECT STATEMENT 1 HASH GROUP BY 2 HASH JOIN 3 TABLE ACCESS FULL PRODUCTS 4 PARTITION RANGE ALL 5 TABLE ACCESS FULL SALES -------------------------------------------

Example 3 Displaying execution plan for any other statement from V$SQL_PLAN 1.Directly:
SQL> SELECT plan_table_output FROM

table(dbms_xplan.display_cursor('fnrtqw9c233tt',null,'basic')) ;
2.Indirectly:
SQL> SELECT plan_table_output FROM v$sql s, TABLE(dbms_xplan.display_cursor(s.sql_id,s.child_number, 'basic')) t WHERE s.sql_text like 'select PROD_CATEGORY%';
Note More information on www.optimizermagic.blogspot.com
What is a good plan for the optimizer
Whats a Good Plan for the Optimizer?

The Optimizer has two different goals Serial execution: Its all about cost
The cheaper, the better
Parallel execution: its all about performance

The faster, the better
Two fundamental questions: What is cost? What is performance?
What is Cost?
A magically number the optimizer makes up? Resources required to execute a SQL statement? Result of complex calculations? Estimate of how long it will take to execute a statement?
Actual Definition
Cost represents units of work or resources used

Optimizer uses CPU & memory usage plus IO as units of work Cost is an estimate of the amount of CPU and memory plus the number of disk I/Os, used in performing an operation
Cost is an internal Oracle measurement
What is performance?
Getting as many queries completed as possible? Getting fastest possible elapsed time using the fewest resources? Getting the best concurrency rate? Actual Definition Performance is fastest possible response time for query
Goal is to complete the query as quickly as possible
Optimizer does not focus on resources needed to execute the plan
Understanding an Execution Plan
SQL Execution Plan

When looking at a plan can you determine if the following is correct?
Cardinality
Are the correct number of rows coming out of each object?
Access paths
Is the data being accessed in the best way? Scan? Index lookup?
Join order
Are tables being joined in the correct order to eliminate as much data as early as possible?
Join type
Are the right join types being used?
Partitioning pruning
Did I get partition pruning? Is it eliminating enough data?
Parallelism
Cardinality
What is it?
Estimate of number rows that will be returned Cardinality for a single value predicate = num_rows total / num_distinct total
E.g. 100 rows total, 10 distinct values => cardinality=10 rows
OR if histogram present num_rows * Density
Why should you care?

Influences access method and Join Order If estimate is off it can have a huge impact on a plan
What causes Cardinality to be wrong?

Data Skews Multiple single column predicates on a table A function wrapped where clause predicate
Cardinality or Selectivity
Cardinality the estimated # of rows returned
To determine correct cardinality using a simple SELECT COUNT(*) from each table applying any WHERE Clause predicates belonging to that table
Data Skew
Cardinality = num_rows / num_distinct
If there is a data skew the selectivity could be way off Create a histogram to correct the selectivity calculation Oracle automatically creates a histogram if it suspects a data skew
Be careful
Histograms have an interesting side effects on statements with binds
Less relevant for data warehousing
Prior to 11g stmt with binds had only one plan based on first literal value But presence of a histogram indicate skew unlikely one plan good for all bind values In 11g multiple execution plans allowed for a single statement
Multiple Single Column Predicates

Optimizer always assumes each additional predicate
increases the selectivity

Selectivity of predicate 1 * selectivity of predicate 2 etc
But real data often shows correlations

Job title influences salary, car model influences make
How do you tell the Optimizer about the correlation?

Extended Optimizer Statistics provides a mechanism to
collect statistics on a group of columns

Full integration into existing statistics framework Automatically maintained with column statistics Instantaneous and transparent benefit for any migrated application
A function Wrapped Where Clause Predicate

SELECT * FROM customers WHERE lower(country_id) = 'us';
Applying a function to a column means the optimizer does not know how it will effect the cardinality Most likely the optimizer will under-estimate the cardinality Creating extended statistics for this function allows the optimizer to get the correct cardinality
exec dbms_stats.gather_table_stats(sh,'customers', method_opt => 'for all columns size skewonly for columns(lower(country_id))');
Access Paths
How to get data out of the table The access path can be:
Full table scan Table access by Rowid Index unique scan Index range scan (descending) Index skip scan Full index scan Fast full index scan Index joins Bitmap indexes
Access Path
Look in Operation session to see how obj is being accessed
If you know the wrong access method is being used check cardinality, join order
Access Path examples

A table countries contains 10K rows & has a primary key on country_id What plan would you expect for these queries?
Select country_id, name from countries
where country_id in ('AU','FR','IE);
Select country_id, name from countries where country_id between 'AU' and 'IE';
Select country_id, name from countries where name='USA';
Join Type
A Join retrieve data from more than one table Possible join types are
Nested Loops joins Hash Joins Partition Wise Joins Sort Merge joins Cartesian Joins Outer Joins
Join Type Example 1

What Join type should be use for this Query?
SELECT e.name, e.salary, d.dept_name FROM hr.employees e, hr.departments d WHERE d.dept_name IN ('Marketing,'Sales') AND e.department_id=d.department_id;
Employees has 107 rows Departments has 27 rows Foreign key relationship between Employees and Departments on dept_id
Join Type Example 2

SELECT o.customer_id, l.unit_price * l.quantity FROM oe.orders o ,oe.order_items l WHERE l.order_id = o.order_id;
Orders has 105 rows Order Items has 665 rows
Join Type Example 3

SELECT o.order_id,0.order_date,e.name FROM oe.orders o , hr.employees e;
Orders has 105 rows Employees has 107 rows
Join Type Example 4

SELECT d.department_id,e.emp_id FROM hr.employees e FULL OUTER JOIN hr.departments d ON e.department_id = d.department_id;
Employees has 107 rows Departments has 27 rows Foreign key relationship between Employees and Departments on dept_id
Join Type
Look in the Operation section to check the right join type is used
If the wrong join type is used go back and check the stmt is written correctly and the cardinality estimates are accurate
Join Orders
The order in which the tables are join in a multi table stmt Ideally start with the table that will eliminate the most rows Strongly effected by the access paths available
Some basic rules

Joins that definitely results in at most one row always go first When outer joins are used the table with the outer join operator must come after the other table in the predicate If view merging is not possible all tables in the view will be joined before joining to the tables outside the view
Join order
1 2 3
Want to start with the table that reduce the result set the most
If the join order is not correct, check the statistics, cardinality & access methods
Partition Pruning
Q: What was the total sales for the weekend of May 20 - 22 2008?
Sales Table
May 18th 2008
May 19th 2008
May 20th 2008
Select sum(sales_amount) From SALES

May 21st 2008
Where sales_date between

to_date(05/20/2008,MM/DD/YYYY) And to_date(05/23/2008,MM/DD/YYYY);
May 22nd 2008
Only the 3 relevant partitions are accessed
May 23rd 2008
May 24th 2008
Partition Pruning
Pstart and Pstop list the partition touched by the query
If you see the word KEY listed it means the partitions touched will be decided at Run Time
Bloom Filter
2. Bloom Filter create: Consumer set creates a hash table and a BIT VECTOR. Bit vector sets a bit for each row that matches the search conditions
DFO
Hash Join
7. Hash Join: Consumers will complete the hash join by probing into the hash table from the time time to find actual matching rows
Filter Create
1. Table scan: Time table is scanned and sent
Receive
4. Bloom Filter send: BIT VECTOR is sent as an additional filter criteria to the scan of the sales table
6. Reduced row sent: Only rows that have a match in the bit vector get sent to the consumers
Receive
DFO
Send
DFO
Send
Set
Shared Bloom filter
Test Scan Time

5. Bloom Filter apply: Join column is hashed and compared to BIT VECTOR
Filter Use
Scan Sales
3. Table Scan: Sales table is scan and rows are filtered based on query predicates
Parallelism
Goal is to execute all aspects of the plan in parallel
Identify if one or more sets of parallel server processes are used
Producers and Consumers
Identify if any part of the plan is running serial
Parallelism
IN-OUT column shows which step is run in parallel and if it is a single parallel server set or not
If you see any lines beginning with the letter S you are running Serial check DOP for each table & index used
Identifying Granules of Parallelism during scans in the plan

Data is Partitioned into Granules either
block range Partition
Each parallel server is allocated one or more granules The granule method is specified on line above the scan in the operation section
Identifying Granules of Parallelism during scans in the plan
Access Paths and how they are parallelized

Access Paths
Full table scan Table accessed by Rowid Index unique scan Index range scan (descending) Index skip scan
Parallelization method Block Iterator Partition Partition Partition Partition
Full index scan

Fast full index scan Bitmap indexes (in Star Transformation)
Partition
Block Iterator Block Iterator
Parallel Distribution
Necessary when producers & consumers sets are used Producers must pass or distribute their data into consumers Operator into which the rows flow decides the distribution Distribution can be local or across other nodes in RAC Five common types of redistribution
HASH
Assumes one of the tables is hash partitioned Hash function applied to value of the join column Distribute to the consumer working on the corresponding hash partition
Broadcast
The size of one of the result sets is small Sends a copy of the data to all consumers
Range
Typically used for parallel sort operations Individual parallel servers work on data ranges QC doesnt have to sort just present the parallel server results in the correct order
Partitioning Key Distribution PART (KEY)

Assumes that the target table is partitioned Partitions of the target tables are mapped to the parallel servers Producers will map each scanned row to a consumer based on the partitioning column
Round Robin
Randomly but evenly distributes the data among the consumers
Shows how the PQ servers distribute rows between each other
Example of reading a plan
Example SQL Statement and Block Diagram

SELECT '(' || pcode || ')' || pcode_desc AS PRODUCT, CNT FROM (SELECT a.pcode, b.pcode_desc, count(a.pcode) CNT FROM BMG.t_acct_master_hd a ,BMG.hogan_pcode_hd_ref b ,BMG.t_tran_detail_hd c WHERE a.pcode = b.pcode AND a.acct_num=c.acct_num AND a.co_id=c.co_id AND c.asof_yyyymm=200102 AND c.tran_amt <2000000000 GROUP BY a.pcode , b.pcode_desc ORDER BY a.pcode , b.pcode_desc )
HOGAN_PCODE_HD_REF PCODE T_TRAN_DETAIL_HD ACCT_NUM CO_ID T_ACCT_MASTER_HD Multiple Terabytes 1 Gigabyte in size
Example Contd Execution plan

1. Check the rows returned is approx correct
2. Are the cardinality estimates correct?

3.Are the access method correct? Means no stats gathered strong indicate this wont be best possible plan
1 2 3
4. Has partition pruning happen?

5. Are the correct join methods used? 6. Is the join order correct? Is the table that eliminates the most rows accessed first?
7. Check all aspects of the plan are executing in parallel 8. Check the distribution method and make sure we are not broadcasting a large table?
Example Contd Execution plan - Solution

1. Only 1 row is actually returned and the cost is 4 X lower now
2 1
3
4. Partition pruning One range partition 4 hash partitions
2. Cardinalities are correct and with each join number of rows reduced 6. The join order has changed - PWJ them join hash to look-up table 5. Join types are still hash joins but now a PWJ 3. Access methods remains the same
7. All aspects of the plan are executing in parallel
8. Row distribution is now all hash
Determining if you get the right plan

Query
SELECT quantity_sold FROM sales s, customers c WHERE s.cust_id =c.cust_id;ID What do you expect the plan to look like for this statement?S NOT NULL)
Explanation
Join to customers is redundant as no columns are selected Presence of primary foreign key relationship means we can remove table
Q&A

Explaining The Explain Plan

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Explaining The Explain Plan

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