Donald K. Burleson Oracle Tips

Oracle Performance Methodologies

Database performance analysis can be carried out in many ways, and it seems that every database professional has their own preferred method.  It can somewhat be likened to investment/stock analysis.  There are many techniques that investors use to choose stocks for their portfolios, but most can be boiled down to two basic methods: fundamental and technical analysis. 

Those who follow fundamental analysis look for things like continuous increases in a company’s earnings per share, sales and revenue growth rates, profit margins, and other key factors that typically indicate a company’s stock may be ready to rise.  Proponents of technical analysis sneer at fundamentalists and insist that the way to pick winning stocks is by examining chart patterns of a company’s stock, along with other market-leading indicators that can signal when to buy or sell. 

Even though both techniques have their advocates, there are some investment professionals (most of them pretty good), who, instead of limiting themselves to one method, embrace both.  The bursting of the tech bubble in the early 2000’s taught technical enthusiasts one thing: a company’s fundamentals and bottom line do matter. 

And, fundamentalists learned that even a stock with outstanding corporate sales and revenue acceleration could be dragged down when its peers in the same industry group head south.

Like stock analysts, database performance analysts typically use one of two methods for examining the performance levels of a database. 

·        Ratio-based Analysis - This involves examining a number of key database ratios that can be used to indicate how well a database is running. 

·        Bottleneck Analysis - This seems to be more in vogue today, with many experts on database performance deriding those who still dare to practice any ratio-based analysis.  Instead of using ratios, this methodology focuses on finding the things that cause the database to wait, and removing them where possible. 

But, could it be that both analytical methods are needed to accurately diagnose a database’s performance level?  Just like smart investors who use both fundamental and technical analysis to make money in the stock market, should the smart database administrator use both ratio-based and bottleneck analysis to determine if a database is performing well? 

That is the question this chapter strives to answer.  Both techniques are examined and contrasted in detail.  The best ways to practice both will be discussed, so you can combine both techniques to come up with one comprehensive and winning game plan that will serve you well in troubleshooting performance problems in Oracle databases.  In addition to these methodologies, a third technique for analyzing database performance will also be presented.

The above is an excerpt from Oracle Performance Troubleshooting by Robin Schumacher.

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