14

Tuning Block Space Usage

Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to do

the following:
• Tune segment space management
• Convert from dictionary-managed tablespaces
• Convert to Automatic Segment Space
Management
• Tune block space management
• Diagnose and correct row migration
• Diagnose table fragmentation
• Compare characteristics of bigfile and smallfile
tablespaces

14-2 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Space Management

Space is managed at three levels:

• Files (OS, ASM, raw partitions) assign disk space
to tablespaces.
• Extents are used to allocate file space to segments
in a tablespace.
• Blocks are used to organize the space inside data
objects.

14-3 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Extent Management

Extents are allocated in two ways:

• Dictionary managed
– Only supported for backward compatibility
– Extents managed in the EXT$ and FET$ dictionary
tables
– Recursive SQL
• Locally managed
– Extents managed in the file header bitmap
– No undo created on extent operations
– Possible contention on file header blocks

14-4 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Locally Managed Extents

• Create a locally managed tablespace:

SQL> CREATE TABLESPACE user_data_1

2 DATAFILE
3 ‘/oracle9i/oradata/db1/lm_1.dbf’
4 SIZE 100M
5 EXTENT MANAGEMENT LOCAL
6 UNIFORM SIZE 2M;

• Default extent management is local.

14-5 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Pros and Cons of Large Extents

• Pros:
– Are less likely to extend dynamically
– Deliver a small performance benefit
– Enable the server process to read the entire extent
map with a single I/O operation
• Cons:
– Free space may not be available
– May contain unused space

14-6 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Migrating the SYSTEM Tablespace
to a Locally Managed Tablespace

• Use the DBMS_SPACE_ADMIN package:

SQL> EXECUTE DBMS_SPACE_ADMIN. -
2 TABLESPACE_MIGRATE_TO_LOCAL('SYSTEM');

• The locally managed SYSTEM tablespace

restrictions are enforced by the migration
procedure.
• Migration is possible only when the system is in
RESTRICTED mode whereas all tablespaces other
than SYSTEM, UNDO, and TEMP are in READ ONLY
mode.
• Convert other dictionary-managed tablespaces with
the same procedure before converting SYSTEM.

14-8 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 How Table Data Is Stored

Columns Blocks

Table A Table B

Rows

Segment Segment

Table
Tablespace

Row piece Extent

14-10 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Anatomy of a Database Block

Block header
Growth
Free space

Row data

14-11 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Minimize Block Visits

Minimize block visits by:

• Using a larger block size
• Packing rows tightly
• Preventing row migration
Tablespace

Segments

Extents

Blocks

14-12 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 The DB_BLOCK_SIZE Parameter

The database block size:

• Is defined by the DB_BLOCK_SIZE parameter
• Is set when the database is created
• Becomes the default block size for tablespaces
and buffer cache
• Is the minimum I/O unit for data file reads
• Is 8 KB by default; up to 32 KB allowed on most
platforms
• Cannot be changed easily
• Should be an integer multiple of the operating
system (OS) block size
• Should be less than or equal to the OS I/O size
14-13 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.
 Small Block Size: Considerations

• Advantages:
– Reduces block contention
– Is good for small rows
– Is good for random access
• Disadvantages:
– Has a relatively large space overhead
– Has a small number of rows per block
– Can cause more index blocks to be read

14-14 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Large Block Size: Considerations

• Advantages:
– Less space overhead
– Good for sequential access
– Good for very large rows
– Better performance of index reads
• Disadvantages:
– Increases block contention
– Uses more space in the buffer cache

14-15 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Block Allocation

• When an INSERT or UPDATE operation requires

more space, a block must be found with adequate
space.
• Two methods:
– Free lists
– Automatic Segment Space Management (ASSM)

14-16 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Free Lists

Free list–managed space characteristics:

• Segment header blocks hold free lists.
• Blocks are added to and removed from the free
lists.
• Free lists are searched for available blocks.
• Segment headers are pinned for the search and
update of free lists.

14-17 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Block Space Management

Each segment has parameters that control the space

usage inside a block. For a table:
• PCTFREE: Amount of space reserved for updates
• PCTUSED: A minimum level of free space in a block
before a block is placed on the free list
For an index:
• PCTFREE: Amount of space reserved for new index
entries at creation time
• PCTUSED: Always 0 for indexes

14-18 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Block Space Management with Free Lists

Inserts PCTFREE Inserts

1 2

Inserts
Inserts

3 PCTUSED 4

14-19 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Automatic Segment Space Management

Automatic Segment Space Management (ASSM)

characteristics:
• Space is managed with bitmap blocks (BMB).
• Multiple processes search different BMBs.
• Availability of block is shown with a full bit.
• The fullness is shown by a percentage full bit for
each of 25, 50, 75, and 100 percent used.

14-21 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Automatic Segment Space Management
at Work

… BMB
BMB BMB BMB BMB

BMB …
BMB BMB
S BMB …
E
G BMB …
BMB BMB
M
E …
N …
… … … DATA
T
Block …

…
{

Extent

14-22 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Block Space Management with ASSM

Inserts Inserts
75%

50%

1 25%
2

Inserts
Inserts

3 4

14-24 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Creating an Automatic Segment Space
Management Segment

• SEGMENT SPACE MANAGEMENT is the attribute used

for tablespace creation, which cannot be
subsequently altered.
• Segment space management is declared at the
tablespace level.
• Tablespace must be permanent and locally
managed.
• Automatic space management segments are
specified through the AUTO keyword.
• For free-list segments, use the default value of
MANUAL.
• For ASSM, PCTUSED, FREELIST, and FREELIST
GROUPS are ignored at table creation.

14-25 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Migration and Chaining

Migration

Chaining

Index Table

14-26 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Guidelines for PCTFREE and PCTUSED

• PCTFREE
– Default: 10
– Zero if no UPDATE activity
– PCTFREE = 100 × UPD / (average row length)
• PCTUSED
– Only with free lists
– Default: 40
– Set if rows are deleted
– PCTUSED = 100 – PCTFREE – (100 × rows × average
row length / block size)

14-28 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Detecting Migration and Chaining

Use the ANALYZE command to detect migration

and chaining:
SQL> ANALYZE TABLE oe.orders COMPUTE STATISTICS;
Table Analyzed.
SQL> SELECT num_rows, avg_row_len, chain_cnt
2 FROM DBA_TABLES
3 WHERE table_name='ORDERS';
NUM_ROWS AVG_ROW_LEN CHAIN_CNT
---------- ----------- ----------
1171 67 83

Detect migration and chaining by using

Statspack/AWR:
Statistic Total Per transaction ...
------------------------- ----- --------------- ...
table fetch continued row 495 .02 …

14-29 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Selecting Migrated Rows

SQL> ANALYZE TABLE oe.orders LIST CHAINED ROWS;

Table analyzed.

SQL> SELECT owner_name, table_name, head_rowid

2 FROM chained_rows
3 WHERE table_name = 'ORDERS';
OWNER_NAME TABLE_NAME HEAD_ROWID
---------- ---------- ------------------
SALES ORDER_HIST AAAAluAAHAAAAA1AAA
SALES ORDER_HIST AAAAluAAHAAAAA1AAB

...

14-30 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Eliminating Migrated Rows

• Export/import:
– Export the table.
– Drop or truncate the table.
– Import the table.
• MOVE table command:
– ALTER TABLE EMPLOYEES MOVE
• Online table redefinition
• Copy migrated rows:
– Find migrated rows by using ANALYZE.
– Copy migrated rows to a new table.
– Delete migrated rows from the original table.
– Copy rows from the new table to the original table.

14-31 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Shrinking Segments: Overview

Data
Unused Unused
Data
space space

HWM

Shrink
operation

Reclaimed space

HWM

14-33 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Shrinking Segments: Considerations

• A shrink operation is an online and in-place

operation.
• It is applicable only to segments residing in ASSM
tablespaces.
• Candidate segment types:
– Heap-organized tables and index-organized tables
– Indexes
– Partitions and subpartitions
– Materialized views and materialized view logs
• Indexes are maintained.
• Triggers are not fired.

14-34 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Shrinking Segments by Using SQL
ALTER … SHRINK SPACE [COMPACT][CASCADE]

TABLE [OVERFLOW] INDEX MATERIALIZED VIEW MATERIALIZED VIEW LOG

MODIFY PARTITION MODIFY SUBPARTITION MODIFY LOB

ALTER TABLE employees ENABLE ROW MOVEMENT; 1

ALTER TABLE employees SHRINK SPACE CASCADE; 2

ALTER TABLE employees MODIFY LOB(resume) (SHRINK SPACE);3

ALTER TABLE employees OVERFLOW SHRINK SPACE; 4

14-35 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Segment Shrink: Basic Execution

ALTER TABLE employees SHRINK SPACE COMPACT;

HWM
1

HWM

ALTER TABLE employees SHRINK SPACE; 2

HWM

14-36 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Segment Shrink:
Execution Considerations

• Use compaction only:

– To avoid unnecessary cursor invalidation
– During peak hours
• DML operations and queries can be issued during
compaction.
• DML operations are blocked when HWM is
adjusted.

14-37 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Using EM to Shrink Segments

14-38 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Bigfile Tablespaces: Overview

• A bigfile tablespace contains a single file.

• Maximum file size ranges from 8 TB to 128 TB.
• Tablespaces are logically equivalent to data files.

Database

Tablespace
Data Data
SMALLFILE BIGFILE
file file

14-39 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Bigfile Tablespaces: Benefits

• Significantly increases the storage capacity

• Simplifies data file management for large
databases by making tablespaces the main units
of disk space administration

BFT 1 … BFT n

One-to-one
mapping

4 billion 8 EB
blocks

14-41 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Using Bigfile Tablespaces

• Supported only for locally managed tablespaces

using Automatic Segment Space Management
• Use with logical volume managers or Automatic
Storage Management (ASM)
• OMF used for complete data file transparency

Database Block Size Recommended Maximum

Number of Extents
2 KB 100,000
4 KB 200,000
8 KB 400,000
16 KB 800,000

14-43 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Practice Overview:
Tune Database Space Usage

This practice covers the following topics:

• Convert from dictionary-managed to locally
managed tablespaces
• Diagnose free-list contention
• Convert segments from Manual to Automatic
Segment Space Management

14-44 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.

 Summary

In this lesson, you should have learned how to:

• Tune segment space management
• Convert from dictionary-managed tablespaces
• Convert to Automatic Segment Space
Management
• Tune block space management
• Diagnose and correct row migration
• Diagnose table fragmentation
• Compare characteristics of bigfile and smallfile
tablespaces

14-45 Copyright © 2006, Oracle. All rights reserved.