Re: "Optimizing Oracle Performance" Book

"Margie" <spy_234432_at_yahoo.com> wrote in message news:8a535156.0311201345.2596c371_at_posting.google.com...
> Publisher is O'Reilly, author is Cary Millsap
>
> Have you used this book to resolve a performance problem? Are you a
> production DBA, not a developer?
>
> I'm just curious if the method described in this book helps. I read
> the first chapter from www.oreilly.com, and the promises made in the
> chapter seem too good to be true, like the newest wonder diet.

It does sound a bit like that doesn't it.

I can't claim to have exclusively used this method, but we have used the general approach successfully with our ERP system since 1999. We are fortunate in that the ERP system also produces timed logs.

For those that don't know the method is essentially

1. identify your problem process.
2. trace it with extended trace
3. find where it spends most time.
4. fix.

Our method has been

1. identify your problem process.
2. trace it with application log and/or trace
3. find where it spends most time.
4. attempt to tune most time consuming sql.

This definitely works. The advantage of the method described by Cary is of course that it addresses the whole range of performance issues that you mght have, not just bad sql/missing indexes etc, in other words where I could previously only know that a db call took 10 seconds from the apps point of view I can now see where that 10s was spent I don't have to assume that 'its the sql stupid'. The really cool thing about this is that it is user focussed - NOT metric focussed, that is to say you are troubleshooting the issues that directly affect the users of the system rather than ticking boxes in a checklist or SLA.

The book has 9 reviews on Amazon. All give it 5 stars. In addition they are doing one of their double discount things with Tom Kytes latest, which I see was also recommended to you.

Alternatively, spend the 30 dollars and see.

-- 
Niall Litchfield
Oracle DBA
Audit Commission UK