Resizing of Data Files - How Long SHOULD It Take?

I'm not an Oracle DBA, but am a UNIX (Solaris) Sys Admin.....recently, I have had a question come up from an Oracle DBA relating to time it took to resize a data file with an inference that there was a problem with a controller/disk on that particular server "because on other domains it would have taken SECONDS!"

I do not know what all is involved with resizing a data file, but I will attempt to provide some data below which, hopefully, will allow someone to shed some light on what the norm is for resizing and how long it takes.

Example 1:

     data file "p65.dbf"
     resized 1750m  -  took 1 minute 22 seconds
     current file size: 1,835,016,192 bytes

Example 2:
     data file "23p.dbf"
     resized 1800m  -  took 45 seconds
     current file size: 2,097,160,192 bytes

Example 3:
     data file "12p.dbf"
     resized 2400m  -  took 34 minutes 38 seconds
     current file size: 1,677,729,792 bytes

As you can see, there is no firm correlation with larger resizes taking longer.
In doing iostat comparisons between the disks involved in THESE resizes and those on other domains (which Oracle says takes "only SECONDS" to resize), I see no difference in service times or busy rates. I guess my main question here is: What are some other factors I should be considering in trying to come up with an explanation of why it is taking so long to resize? What is the norm time required to resize? I do not want to spin my wheels trying to come up with something that does not exist simply because our Oracle folks are TOO impatient, yet I want to be able to better investigate and fix a problem if, in fact, these times ARE too slow. Any feedback greatly appreciated.

Richard Received on Tue May 28 2002 - 08:19:03 CDT