Oracle RAC Transaction Workload Test

Knowing the count of transactions executing on each node/instance of the Oracle cluster per second can indicate the transaction load on the node in an Oracle cluster. However, the true impact of this load can be assessed and understood only if administrators are enabled to determine the number and type of database operations each transaction triggers. This is where the Oracle RAC Transaction Workload test helps! This test reports how many key database operations - e.g., data modifications, block changes, reads/writes, parses, rollbacks, etc. - are performed on the server per transaction. This way, the test reveals the real workload of the server. In addition, the test also enables administrators to compare current CPU usage with the real workload, so that they can figure out whether/not the server needs to be resized to handle its load.

Target of the test : Oracle RAC

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for every node in the Oracle cluster

Configurable parameters for the test
TEST PERIOD - How often should the test be executed. Host – The host for which the test is to be configured. Port - The port on which the server is listening. orasid - The variable name of the oracle instance. service name - A ServiceName exists for the entire Oracle RAC system. When clients connect to an Oracle cluster using the ServiceName, then the cluster routes the request to any available database instance in the cluster. By default, the service name is set to none. In this case, the test connects to the cluster using the orasid and pulls out the metrics from that database instance which corresponds to that orasid. If a valid service name is specified instead, then, the test will connect to the cluster using that service name, and will be able to pull out metrics from any available database instance in the cluster. To know the ServiceName of a cluster, execute the following query on any node in the target cluster: select name, value from v$parameter where name =’service_names’ 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. Password – Password of the specified database user Confirm password – Confirm the password by retyping it here. SSL- By default, this flag is set to No, as the target Oracle cluster is not SSL-enabled by default. If the target cluster is SSL-enabled, then set this flag to Yes. SSL Cipher-This parameter is applicable only if the target Oracle Cluster 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 cluster. By default, this parameter is set to none. TRUSTSTORE FILE- This parameter is applicable only if the target Oracle Cluster 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 cluster 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. TRUSTSTORE TYPE-This parameter is applicable only if the target Oracle Cluster 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. TRUSSTORE PASSWORD-This parameter is applicable only if the target Oracle Cluster 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
Redo size	Indicates the amount of data written to the redo logs per transaction since the last measurement period.	MB/Trans	If the value of this measure keeps growing, it could indicate that transactions are making numerous and frequent changes to the data in the databases.
Logical reads	Indicates the number of logical reads performed by the server per transaction.	Reads/Trans	These measures are good indicators of the level of activity that every transaction generated on the database server.
Block changes	Indicates the number of database blocks that were changed per transaction.	Blocks/Trans
Physical reads:	Indicates the number of physical reads performed per transaction.	Reads/Trans
Physical writes	Indicates the number of physical writes performed per transaction.	Writes/Trans
User calls	Indicates the number of user calls made per transaction.	Calls/Trans
Parses	Indicates the number of parses executed by the server per transaction.	Parses/Trans	Parsing is one stage in the processing of a SQL statement. When an application issues a SQL statement, the application makes a parse call to Oracle Database. During the parse call, Oracle Database: Checks the statement for syntactic and semantic validity. Determines whether the process issuing the statement has privileges to run it. Allocates a private SQL area for the statement. If the value of this measure keeps increasing consistently, it could indicate on an average, transactions are executing many SQL statements on the server, thus generating more parses.
Hard parses:	Indicates the number of hard parses executed per transaction.	Parses/Trans	As opposed to a soft parse, a hard parse loads the SQL source code into RAM for parsing. A high value for this measure therefore indicates that the server is performing many hard parses.
WA memory processed	Indicates the amount of work area memory used up by the server per transaction.	MB/Trans	Oracle Database reads and writes information in the PGA on behalf of the server process. An example of such information is the run-time area of a cursor. Each time a cursor is executed, a new run-time area is created for that cursor in the PGA memory region of the server process executing that cursor. For complex queries (such as decision support queries), a big portion of the run-time area is dedicated to work areas allocated by memory intensive operators, including: Sort-based operators, such as ORDER BY, GROUP BY, ROLLUP, and window functions Hash-join Bitmap merge Bitmap create Write buffers used by bulk load operations For example, a sort operator uses a work area (sometimes called the sort area) to perform the in-memory sort of a set of rows. Similarly, a hash-join operator uses a work area (also called the hash area) to build a hash table from its left input. If the amount of data to be processed by these two operators does not fit into a work area, then the input data is divided into smaller pieces. This allows some data pieces to be processed in memory while the rest are spilled to temporary disk storage to be processed later. A consistent increase in the value of this measure is indicative of excessive usage of the work area by transactions. This could indicate that the transaction workload is characterized by complex queries that use memory intensive operators such as sort, hash-join, etc. You may want to fine-tune the work area size in order to enable it to handle the memory-intensive load better.
Logons	Indicates the number of users logging in per transaction.	Logons/Trans	A steady rise in this value is indicative of a steady increase in user activity on the server.
Executes	Indicates the number of executes performed per transaction.	Executions/Trans
Rollbacks	Indicates the number of rollbacks performed per transaction.	Rollbacks/Trans	Ideally, the value of this measure should be low. This is because, rollbacks are expensive operations and should be avoided at all costs. A consistent increase in the value of this measure is hence a cause for concern.