Oracle DataFiles Test

This test indicates the level of activity on a specific datafile in terms of the rate of physical reads and physical writes.

Note:

This test will not report metrics for an Oracle 12c CDB server.

Target of the test : An Oracle server

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for every SID monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test
  1. TEST PERIOD - How often should the test be executed
  2. Host – The host for which the test is to be configured
  3. Port - The port on which the server is listening

  4. User – In order to monitor an Oracle database server, a special database user account has to be created in every Oracle database instance that requires monitoring. A Click here hyperlink is available in the test configuration page, using which a new oracle database user can be created. Alternatively, you can manually create the special database user. When doing so, ensure that this user is vested with the select_catalog_role and create session privileges.

    The sample script we recommend for user creation (in Oracle database server versions before 12c) for eG monitoring is:

    create user oraeg identified by oraeg

    create role oratest;

    grant create session to oratest;

    grant select_catalog_role to oratest;

    grant oratest to oraeg;

    The sample script we recommend for user creation (in Oracle database server 12c) for eG monitoring is:

    alter session set container=<Oracle_service_name>;

    create user <user_name>identified by <user_password> container=current default tablespace <name_of_default_tablespace> temporary tablespace <name_of_temporary_tablespace>;

    Grant create session to <user_name>;                                

    Grant select_catalog_role to <user_name>;

    The name of this user has to be specified here.

  5. Password – Password of the specified database user

    This login information is required to query Oracle’s internal dynamic views, so as to fetch the current status / health of the various database components.

  6. Confirm password – Confirm the password by retyping it here.
  7. ISPASSIVE – If the value chosen is yes, then the Oracle server under consideration is a passive server in an Oracle cluster. No alerts will be generated if the server is not running. Measures will be reported as “Not applicable" by the agent if the server is not up.
  8. includepath - This test reports a set of results for each datafile on the target Oracle database server. This means that every datafile is a descriptor of this test. By default, while displaying the descriptors of this test, the eG monitoring console does not prefix the datafile names with the full path to the datafiles. This is why, the INCLUDE PATH flag is set to No by default. If you want the data file names to be prefixed by the full path to the data files, then, set the INCLUDE PATH flag to Yes.
  9. SSL- By default, this flag is set to No, as the target Oracle database is not SSL-enabled by default. If the target database is SSL-enabled, then set this flag to Yes.
  10. SSL Cipher-This parameter is applicable only if the target Oracle database is SSL-enabled, if not, set this parameter to none. A cipher suite is a set of cryptographic algorithms that are used before a client application and server exchange information over an SSL/TLS connection. It consist of sets of instructions on how to secure a network through SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) or TLS (Transport Layer Security). In this text box, provide a comma-seperated list of cipher suites that are allowed for SSL/TLS connection to the target database. By default, this parameter is set to none.
  11. TRUSTSTORE FILE- This parameter is applicable only if the target Oracle database is SSL-enabled, if not, set this parameter to none. TrustStore is used to store certificates from Certified Authorities (CA) that verify and authenticate the certificate presented by the server in an SSL connection. Therefore, the eG agent should have access to the truststore where the certificates are stored to authenticate and connect with the target database and collect metrics. For this, first import the certificates into the following default location <eG_INSTALL_DIR>/lib/security/mytruststore.jks. To know how to import the certificate into the truststore, refer toPre-requisites for monitoring Oracle Cluster. Then, provide the truststore file name in this text box. For example: mytruststore.jks. By default, none is specified against this text box.
  12. TRUSTSTORE TYPE-This parameter is applicable only if the target Oracle database is SSL-enabled, if not, set this parameter to none.Specify the type of truststore that contains the certificates for server authentication in this text box. For eg.,JKS. By default, this parameter is set to the value none.
  13. TRUSSTORE PASSWORD-This parameter is applicable only if the target Oracle database is SSL-enabled, if not, set this parameter to none. If a Truststore File name is provided, then, in this text box, provide the password that is used to obtain the associated certificate details from the Truststore File. By default, this parameter is set to none.
Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Physical block read rate:

Indicates the rate at which disk blocks are being read from a specific datafile.

Blocks/Sec

A scenario in which more than 50% of blocks are being read from a single datafile could signify a problem.

Physical block write rate:

Indicates the rate at which disk blocks are being written to a specific datafile.

Blocks/Sec

A scenario in which more than 50% of blocks are being written to a single datafile could signify a problem. Too much activity to a specific datafile can result in reduced database performance. To improve performance, consider balancing I/O across disks, and reorganize tables across tablespaces to reduce activity to a specific datafile.

Percent total I/O:

Indicates the percentage of total I/O operations on the database server that were handled by a data file.

 

Percent

Disk reads and writes are expensive operations and all I/Os should be balanced across the different data files of an Oracle database for optimal performance. This metric reports the percentage of all I/O of an Oracle database that are happening on each of the data files of the Oracle database. This metric allows an Oracle administrator to determine which is/are the hot data file(s) (e.g., which data file is handling 80% of the total I/O).