The Second 5 top new features in Oracle Database 11gR2

Oracle Database 11g Release 2 New Features Summary, Part 2

Synopsis.
After what seemed an eternity, Oracle finally released the long-awaited Oracle
Database 11g Release 2 (11gR2) in September 2009. This final article in this
two-part series completes a high-level evaluation of Oracle 11gR2’s plethora of
new features so that Oracle DBAs can decide whether to upgrade their Oracle 9i,
10g, and 11gR1 databases to Oracle 11g Release
2 in the near term.

I
summarized five new features in Oracle Database 11g Release 2 in the prior
article
in this series that are sure to assist Oracle DBAs, including:

  • Ubiquitous new Grid
    Infrastructure
    components
  • Intelligent data
    placement
    for ASM disks
  • ACFS,
    ASM’s new clustered file system
  • Zero downtime
    patching
    for Oracle Clusterware
  • DBMS_SCHEDULER
    upgrades

Here’s
my vote for the next five – but no less impressive! – features of this new
release that simplify deployment of
application code versions
, improve data
warehouse performance
, increase the efficiency of Recovery Manager (RMAN), extend the disaster
recovery and reporting capabilities of Data
Guard
, and offer extremely
efficient segment storage. Please be sure to visit
Database Journal’s Oracle 11g Central
periodically over the next several months as I probe these new features to demonstrate
how they can help increase a DBA’s productivity and leverage her time
effectively.

#6: Data Warehouse Performance Gets Pumped

Oracle
11gR1 added some excellent new
features primarily for data warehousing environments – most especially, the several
new partitioning methods, the ability to limit gathering optimizer statistics
only for affected partitions, and an improved SQL Access Advisor that can even
recommend partitioning for large tables. Oracle 11gR2 builds upon these features to improve parallel query performance, increase the
performance and efficiency of data warehouse
extraction, transformation and load
operations, and refresh
materialized views with even greater speed:

Instance “Caging.”
Oracle 8i introduced Database Resource Manager (DRM), which
offers the ability to limit CPU resource usage to groups of application
sessions via resource plan directives. Subsequent database releases improved
significantly the range and granularity of DRM limitations, including the
capability to limit even I/O throughput to specific resource consumer groups.
Perhaps the greatest limitation to wider acceptance of DRM, however, was its
inability to restrict any one database instance from capturing a majority of
the CPU resources to the detriment of all other instances running on the same
server.

Since
it’s not uncommon today to encounter a database server whose 16, 32, or even 64
CPUs might be shared across dozens of database instances, this was a serious
flaw. Oracle 11gR2 overcomes this
limitation with an easy-to-implement feature called instance caging. By simply setting the CPU_COUNT
initialization parameter to an appropriate value for one or more database
instances, DRM can limit CPU resources across multiple databases on the same
server to insure that no single instance consumes all CPU resources.

Automatic Degree of Parallelism.
Data warehousing applications often take advantage of parallelism to process information quickly
and effectively, especially when running queries against tables that are extremely
large or that are joined in a complex fashion. The degree of parallelism (DOP) that the optimizer should use
when performing parallel operations against accessed objects can be specified
either within the query itself (via the +PARALLEL optimizer hint) or as a
distinct attribute of the table or index itself (via its PARALLEL
attribute). However, determining exactly what is an appropriate DOP often
requires a detailed understanding of just how the tables are typically joined,
which indexes could most benefit from parallelism, and even what type of
workload might be executing at the same time as the parallel query.

The
good news is that Oracle 11gR2
can now determine the DOP automatically
for any parallel statement. The optimizer uses the settings from two new
initialization parameters, PARALLEL_DEGREE_POLICY and PARALLEL_MIN_TIME_THRESHOLD,
to calculate the automatic degree of
parallelism
(ADOP). For
example, if PARALLEL_DEGREE_POLICY
is set to a value of AUTO, the 11gR2
optimizer will first determine if the query could indeed benefit from parallel
operations and what would be an appropriate DOP value. Oracle 11gR2 will next ascertain if the query’s
estimated execution time is likely to run longer than the acceptable value (in
seconds) for PARALLEL_MIN_TIME_THRESHOLD
and, if sufficient resources for parallel execution exist right now, it will
allow the query to execute; otherwise, it will delay its execution until
sufficient resources exist. This helps prevent a single parallel query from
consuming excessive resources – for example, all possible parallel execution
threads, or all CPUs in a clustered environment – at the cost of other
non-parallelizable operations. It’s important to note that ADOP features aren’t
extended to parallel recovery or parallel replication; they only apply to
parallel query execution.

Parallel Data Cache: In-Memory Parallel Execution.
Many Oracle database shops have discovered that a Real Application Cluster (RAC) database provides both high
availability for OLTP applications, but also provides outstanding performance
for data warehousing applications because it can parallelize queries across
multiple instances on different nodes in the RAC cluster. Oracle 11gR2 takes even better advantage of this
architecture because it can intelligently cache the buffers used for
parallelized queries within a RAC clustered database’s buffer caches.

If
the new PARALLEL_DEGREE_POLICY initialization parameter
is set to AUTO
and a parallelized query is executed, then Oracle 11gR2 develops a strategy to map all of the data “pieces”
(i.e. data or index blocks) necessary for its efficient execution into multiple
database buffer caches of the RAC database’s instances. If one RAC instance
needs to read that same buffer to complete its task during the parallelized
query’s execution, it will automatically use this mapping to determine which remote instance is already a holder of
that buffer. This can have a tremendous positive impact on physical I/O because
it leverages the entire database buffer cache of all instances that are
assigned to service the parallel query’s execution.

Performing Parallel DML In “Chunks.”
I haven’t seen an IT shop yet that doesn’t have at least one requirement to perform
DML against large amounts of data “in bulk.” A simple example would be a bulk
invoicing module that needs to scan through millions of customer payments
received from multiple transaction sources (e.g. check, credit card, or ETF)
and then apply the resulting receipts against tens of thousands of outstanding
invoices to update each invoice’s balance as well as the total balance due for
the customer.

The
new DBMS_PARALLEL_EXECUTE package offers an
intriguing set of features that would be most useful in this situation because
it allows a large DML statement like the one described above to be executed in
parallel so that it processes data in several large “chunks.” The “chunks” can
be defined based on simple selection criteria against the source table’s ROWID,
primary key values, or virtually any application-defined ruleset. Once these
“chunking” rules are defined, DBMS_SCHEDULER is used to process each data
“chunk” and commit the changed data. If a particular “chunk” should fail during
its processing, it’s even possible to reschedule the “chunk” for reprocessing.
Finally, Oracle 11gR2 provides
several new parallel task metadata views (DBA_PARALLEL_EXECUTE_*) that
track the boundaries that DBMS_PARALLEL_EXECUTE has defined for the
“chunks” as well as the progression of each “chunk”’s processing.

Faster Refreshes for Materialized Views.
Data warehousing applications tend to leverage materialized
views
(MVs) heavily, especially when rewriting a query so that it can gather the necessary
information from the MV’s much smaller dataset than by querying the base tables
directly. When the underlying base tables for a MV change frequently, materialized view logs are used to
populate just the changed data to the MV. Oracle 11gR2 now offers the ability to purge the MV logs from outside
the refresh process, and that means improved performance, especially for any MV
that contains aggregates, joins, or both. Also, the new WITH COMMIT SCN
directive of the ON COMMIT FAST REFRESH clause tells Oracle 11gR2 to use commit SCN-based materialized
view logs for faster refresh times.

Preprocessors for ORACLE_LOADER.
Loading data into data warehouses from legacy systems can be an expensive
operation because of the system resources required for loading data into the
database via the SQL*Loader bulk loading utility, the cost of the “tier 1” storage for the data warehouse’s tablespaces, and even the cost of storage of the legacy system’s
“flat files.”

It’s
not unusual for these legacy files to be stored in a compressed format on lower
cost storage; however, before SQL*Loader could load the legacy data into the
warehouse, these files would have to be uncompressed before loading … and that
meant additional storage to hold the uncompressed data. Unfortunately, this
restriction also applied to any external
table
that used the ORACLE_LOADER access method to retrieve
data directly from legacy files. Many Oracle shops have leveraged external
tables to quickly construct reports against legacy files, or even used an INSERT INTO … SELECT
FROM
SQL statement to first aggregate or otherwise “massage”
legacy data and then load it directly into data warehousing tables in the
database.

All
this changes in Oracle 11gR2 because
the ORACLE_LOADER access method has been enhanced so
that it can preprocess workloads
for both SQL*Loader operations and external tables. The new PREPROCESSOR
clause specifies an existing DIRECTORY object and an executable program within
that directory that will preprocess
the legacy file’s data – for example, uncompressing it using the Linux gunzip
decompression utility – and then the ORACLE_LOADER access method reads
the processed data from the standard output stream (stdout) as if it were reading directly from the legacy file
itself
.

#7: Data Guard: Disaster Recovery On Steroids

I’ve demonstrated
the resiliency and flexibility of the Oracle 11gR1
Data Guard disaster recovery methodology in my Oracle
Database 11g: Data Guard
series. Here’s my vote for some of most welcome augmented
Data Guard features in Oracle 11gR2:

Manageable Standby Databases Increased.
In anticipation of the expansion of Data Guard platforms for intense data
warehousing operations, Oracle 11gR2
has increased the number of manageable standby databases from only nine to a
total of thirty (30) in any
combination (physical standby, logical standby, or snapshot standby).

Integrated Application Failover. Earlier
releases of Data Guard provided for relatively quick failover of application
sessions during switchover and failover operations using Transparent Application Failover (TAF),
but Oracle 11gR2 now offers the
ability to leverage Fast Application
Notification
(FAN) features for even faster application failover.

Real Time Apply Lag Time Apply Limits.
As part of the separately-licensed Active
Data Guard
option, Oracle 11gR1
offered Real Time Apply (the
ability to apply redo to a physical standby database while it was still open
for read-only reporting) in concert with Real
Time Query
(the ability to query a read-only standby database while
redo was still being applied). This provided an alternative to using basic
replication for read-only data warehouse reporting, with one important
exception: there was no way to respond to any significant delays in the
application of redo information on the physical standby database. Oracle 11gR2 provides a new session-level
parameter, STANDBY_MAX_DATA_DELAY,
that specifies an acceptable lag time (in seconds) for stale data in this
situation. Should redo application cause data to become unacceptably “stale,” Oracle
11gR2 can simply refuse to
execute that query and instead raise an exception (ORA-03172).

Support for Compressed Tables and SecureFiles.
Oracle 11gR2 now fully supports the
application of redo to logical standby databases with SQL Apply for primary
database tables that use either basic (DSS) or advanced (OLTP) table compression because the LogMiner
utility also now supports translation of redo entries for any tables using
these data compression features. In addition, LogMiner and SQL Apply now
support application of redo on logical standby databases for SecureFile LOBs.

#8: RMAN Automation and Simplification

Oracle
11gR2 extends the already-robust
suite of backup and recovery tools that comprise Recovery Manager (RMAN) with some notable new enhancements,
many of which are obvious extensions of earlier features:

Automatic Block Recovery.
In my humble opinion, Oracle 10gR1’s introduction of block-level media recovery (BMR) should have been enough to
convince even the most stalwart advocate of user-managed recovery to at least
consider using RMAN instead of the antiquated ALTER
TABLESPACE … BEGIN BACKUP
method to back up her database. BMR meant
it was no longer necessary to restore and recover an entire datafile when only
a few blocks needed to be recovered. Oracle 11gR2
has now automated BMR so that if one or more corrupted blocks within a datafile
are detected, RMAN will automatically restore and recover the blocks without
the need for DBA intervention. And if Data Guard’s Real Time Query mode is enabled,
Oracle 11gR2 can check the
corresponding physical standby for a more recent version of the non-corrupted
block and transmit that block to the primary database.

Flexible SET NEWNAME Directives.
If you’ve ever had to key in a long list of several dozen datafiles while
restoring a database to a different platform or file system using either RMAN, DUPLICATE DATABASE,
or tablespace point-in-time recovery,
you know how welcome these new features are. Oracle 11gR2 now accepts either a tablespace-level or database-level FORMAT specification for datafile
names. In addition, it’s now possible to list either a unique identifier (%U)
or the base name (%b) for easier specification of new
datafile names.

“Targetless” Database Duplication.
Cloning an Oracle database in prior database releases required a connection to
a target database, but that wasn’t always the most convenient option because
the target might not be available for duplication at the appropriate time. So
Oracle 11gR2 now offers the
ability to perform a targetless duplication
of any selected database via the DUPLICATE DATABASE command. While
it’s still necessary to make an AUXILIARY connection to the
eventually-duplicated database, of course, a CATALOG connection to a recovery
catalog database is now required as well. Targetless duplication also requires
the specification of the NOREDO and UNDO TABLESPACE directives
because there’s no way for the duplication operation to detect if the source
database is in ARCHIVELOG
mode and which of the source database’s tablespace(s) are UNDO
tablespace(s).

Enhanced TSPITR. Oracle
11gR2 has removed some glaring
limitations from Tablespace Point-In-Time
Recovery
(TSPITR) – an extremely useful tool for recovering a
tablespace set to a previous point in time earlier than the database’s current
SCN. TSPITR can now also be performed multiple times against the same
tablespace set regardless if a recovery catalog was available. Also, TSPITR can
also be used to recover a tablespace that’s been dropped.

Backing Up to the Cloud.
It’s obvious that the next big thing is the approaching sea change of cloud computing. Oracle 11gR2 now provides the ability to back up an
Oracle database to Amazon Simple Storage
Service
(S3) through its Oracle
Secure Backup
media management layer software.

#9: Edition-Based Redefinition

I
started my IT career as an applications developer, so until I became an Oracle
DBA I never really knew how much grief my systems administrator (and later,
database administrator) had to go through to make sure that my latest
application code changes were deployed at just the right time to limit
disruption to the application user community. And it wasn’t until the first
time I had to reverse a complete application release at the database level
(i.e. all related procedures, functions, packages, types, and triggers) that I
really appreciated how difficult that task can be unless my team’s application
developers had kept meticulous track of exactly
which version
each object needed to be rolled back to so that the
application’s original
functionality could be restored.

Oracle
Database 11gR2 adds a powerful
new tool to any Oracle DBA’s application deployment tool belt: the ability to
post the next release of an application’s database objects to a logical
construct called an edition. Not
all database objects are editionable,
but private synonyms, views, and almost all PL/SQL objects, including
procedures, functions, types, type bodies, packages, package bodies, and
triggers certainly are. The real beauty of editioning is that it makes it
simpler than ever to deploy application code changes to a production database
just by advancing the database to the appropriate next edition … and if the
deployment should encounter a serious bug or other failure, it’s just as easy
to revert to the prior edition to roll back the changes to all affected
objects.

(It’s
obviously impossible to cover editioning in just a few paragraphs, so I promise
to delve much more deeply into these and many other myriad features of
editioning in an upcoming article.)

#10: Potpourri

Finally,
here’s a few new Oracle 11gR2
features that defy an easy classification:

DDL Restrictions Lifted on Flashback Data
Archive.
I delved into Oracle 11gR1’s new Flashback
Data Archive (FBDA)
features
in a prior article. FDBA – also known as Total
Recall
– offers the ability to capture only the “deltas” of modified
data for selected tables and retain those delta vectors within a special set of
objects that comprise a FBDA. When a user queries deep into the past history of
that table via, say, a Flashback Versions query, Oracle will return the most
recently changed data directly from the database’s UNDO tablespace, but will
use the FDBA to return older versions of that data.

As
powerful as this feature was, it placed some rather severe strictures on what
types of DDL commands could be issued against a table whose data was being
tracked in an FDBA, including restrictions against adding, modifying, renaming,
or dropping the table’s columns, truncating the table, modifying the table’s constraints,
and (especially frustrating!) modifying a partitioned table’s partitioning
specifications. In Oracle 11gR2,
however, almost all of these restrictions against straightforward DDL
statements have been removed. For more complex DDL operations – for example,
using the DBMS_REDEFINITION package to redefine the base
table that’s already stored within a FBDA — Oracle 11gR2 provides the new DBMS_FLASHBACK_ARCHIVE
package. Procedure DISASSOCIATE_FBA will disassociate the base table
from the FDBA; then, once all desired changes are complete, procedure REASSOCIATE_FBA
is used to re-associate the modified table once again with the base table.

“On-demand” Segment Creation.
In prior releases, whenever a table was created with the CREATE TABLE
statement, the initial segment for the table was automatically created at the
same time. Starting in Oracle 11gR2,
this default behavior is changed: the segment is not created until a row has been inserted into the
table. In addition, any indexes or LOB segments that depend on the table are
not created until row insertion occurs. The SEGMENT CREATION DEFERRED storage
attribute for the table specifies this default behavior; however, it can be
overridden by specifying SEGMENT CREATION IMMEDIATE instead.

Zero Sized Unusable Indexes.
When it’s time to reload any large table – say, a data warehouse fact table of
several million rows – one neat trick to speed the table’s loading is to simply
make any indexes for the table unusable,
and then rebuild the indexes
after data loading is complete. Oracle 11gR2
acknowledges and augments this technique by automatically dropping any index segment when the index
is marked unusable.

Conclusion

Oracle
Database 11g Release 2 continues the
massive paradigm shift that started in Oracle Database 10g toward self-managed, self- tuning, and
self-healing databases. This new release offers a plethora of features – some long-overdue,
some simply revolutionary! – that any Oracle DBA can use as a force multiplier
to improve her efficiency and effectiveness as a true “information engineer.”

Before
you proceed to experiment with any of these new features, I strongly suggest
that you first look over the corresponding detailed Oracle documentation before
trying them out for the first time. I’ve drawn upon the following Oracle
Database 11g Release 2 documents
for this article’s technical details:

E10471-04 Oracle Database 11gR2 Advanced Application
Developer’s Guide

E10500-02 Oracle Database 11gR2 Storage Administrator’s Guide

E10592-03 Oracle Database 11gR2 SQL Language Reference

E10595-05 Oracle Database 11gR2 Administrator’s Guide

E10700-01 Oracle Database 11gR2 DataGuard Concepts and
Administration

E10713-03 Oracle Database 11gR2 Concepts

E10820-02 Oracle Database 11gR2 Reference

E10837-02 Oracle Database 11gR2 VLDB and Partitioning Guide

E10881-02 Oracle Database 11gR2 New Features

»


See All Articles by Columnist
Jim Czuprynski

Jim Czuprynski
Jim Czuprynski
Jim Czuprynski has accumulated over 30 years of experience during his information technology career. He has filled diverse roles at several Fortune 1000 companies in those three decades - mainframe programmer, applications developer, business analyst, and project manager - before becoming an Oracle database administrator in 2001. He currently holds OCP certification for Oracle 9i, 10g and 11g. Jim teaches the core Oracle University database administration courses on behalf of Oracle and its Education Partners throughout the United States and Canada, instructing several hundred Oracle DBAs since 2005. He was selected as Oracle Education Partner Instructor of the Year in 2009. Jim resides in Bartlett, Illinois, USA with his wife Ruth, whose career as a project manager and software quality assurance manager for a multinational insurance company makes for interesting marital discussions. He enjoys cross-country skiing, biking, bird watching, and writing about his life experiences in the field of information technology.

Get the Free Newsletter!

Subscribe to Cloud Insider for top news, trends & analysis

Latest Articles