When using either Toad’s Stats Pack Browser or AWR Browser screens (both part of the optional DBA module and/or bundle), the plethora of graphs can sometimes be a wee bit overwhelming – as shown in the screen snapshot below. So how is any DBA in an urgent situation or hurry to both successfully and expediently interpret such database activity?
That’s where Toad’s basic mantra once again comes into play – making all things Oracle easier, and thereby increasing one’s overall database related productivity.
The Toad 9.7 beta (which has already begun) offers a new feature to directly address this need to interpret the data. Look again at the screen snapshot below, by simply choosing a snapshot pair and choosing the right-hand-menu (RHM) option for “View Advice on Selected Snapshot Pair”, Toad will populate the Advice tab with wait recommendations for the top ten or so wait events -- often the source of database delay.
So running a 20 user TPC-C OLTP benchmark on my notebook PC, I get the following wait analysis advice:
No surprise here? My notebook has only one drive and limited memory for either SGA or PGA usage, thus the solution recommendations here seems quite reasonable. But not only were potential solutions offered – but also an explanation of the wait events itself, as well as some things known to cause it. In the example above, there was but a single wait event condition causing performance issues. If there had been multiple wait event issues, they all would have been listed on the Advice tab in this manner.
Thus now one can get their arms around a poorly performing database by simply taking a Stats Pack or AWR snapshot before and after a problematic period, and simply obtaining the wait event analysis advice. This little performance report can be a real time saver.