Tag: Execution Plans

Explaining the Explain Plan – How to Read and Interpret Execution Plans

 

Examining the different aspects of an execution plan, from cardinality estimates to parallel execution, and understanding what information you should glean from it can be overwhelming even for the most experienced DBA.

That’s why I’ve put together a series of short videos that will walk you through each aspect of the plan and explain what information you can find there and what to do if the plan isn’t what you were expecting.

What is an Execution Plan?

The series starts at the very beginning with a comprehensive overview of what an execution plan is and what information is displayed in each section. After all, you can’t learn to interpret what is happening in a plan, until you know what a plan actually is.

How to Generate an Execution Plan?

Although multiple different tools will display an Oracle Execution Plan for you, there really are only two ways to generate the plan. You can use the Explain Plan command, or you can view the execution plan of a SQL statement currently in the Cursor Cache using the dictionary view V$SQL_Plan. This session covers both techniques for you and provides insights into what additional information you can get the Optimizer to share with you when you generate a plan. It also explains why you don’t always get the same plan with each approach, as I discussed in an earlier post.

How to use DBMS_XPLAN to FORMAT an Execution Plan

The FORMAT parameter within the DBMS_XPLAN.DISPLAY_CURSOR function is the best tool to show you detailed information about a what’s happened in an execution plan including the bind variable values used, the actual number of rows returned by each step, and how much time was spent on each step.  I’ve also covered a lot of the content in this video in a previous post.

Part 2 of the series covers Cardinality Estimates and what you can do to improve them!

Part 3 of the series covers access Methods and what you can do if you don’t get the access method you were expecting.

Part 4 of the series covers Join Methods and when you can expect each one and what to do if you don’t get the join method you were expecting.

Remember you can always get more information on the Oracle Optimizer on the Optimizer team’s blog.

SQL Plan Management – Selective Automatic Plan Capture Now Available!

Over the years, Oracle has provided a number of techniques to help you control the execution plan for a SQL statement, such as Store Outlines and SQL Profiles but for me, the only feature to truly give you plan stability is SQL Plan Management (SPM). It’s this true plan stability that has made me a big fan of SPM ever since it was introduced in Oracle Database 11g.

With SPM only known or accepted execution plans are used. That doesn’t mean Oracle won’t parse your SQL statements, it will. But before the execution plan generated at parse is used, we will confirm it is an accepted plan by comparing the PLAN_HASH_VALUE to that of the accepted plan. If they match, we go ahead and use that plan.

Continue reading “SQL Plan Management – Selective Automatic Plan Capture Now Available!”

Does the Explain Plan command really show the execution plan that will be used?

When it comes to SQL tuning we often need to look at the execution plan for a SQL statement to determine where the majority of the time is spent. But how we generate that execution plan can have a big impact on whether or not the plan we are looking at is really the plan that is used.

The two most common methods used to generate the execution plan for a SQL statement are:

EXPLAIN PLAN command – This displays an execution plan for a SQL statement without actually executing the statement.

V$SQL_PLAN – A dynamic performance view introduced in Oracle 9i that shows the execution plan for a SQL statement that has been compiled into a cursor and stored in the cursor cache.

My preferred method is always to use V$SQL_PLAN (even though it requires the statement to at least begin executing) because under certain conditions the plan shown by the EXPLAIN PLAN command can be different from the plan that will actually be used when the query is executed.

So, what can cause the plans to differ?

Continue reading “Does the Explain Plan command really show the execution plan that will be used?”

Getting the most out of Oracle SQL Monitor

I’m often asked what is the best tool for viewing execution plans and for me, the answer is always SQL Monitor (included in the Oracle Tuning Pack). It really is the most invaluable tool if you need to determine what is happening during the execution of any long-running SQL statements.

In order to help you get the very most out of using SQL Monitor, I wanted to share with you some of the tips and tricks I‘ve learnt over the years from the original Database Manageability team, especially Cecilia Grant!

So, why do I love it so much?

There are so many reasons to love SQL Monitor; it’s hard for me to know where to begin. So, instead of giving you an exhaustive list I’ve put together a short video to demonstrate how I use SQL Monitor (be sure to set your resolution to 720p).

How do I control what statements are monitored?

Continue reading “Getting the most out of Oracle SQL Monitor”

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