Configuration of OraTabGrwthTest

Periodic monitoring of the usage of the database is essential to ensure that the database is always adequately sized to handle current and future loads. It is also essential to monitor the size of the objects within a database too. If the growth of any object is uncontrollable, then other objects in the database may be deprived of space to store critical data. The Oracle Object Growth test helps administrators in figuring out the exact objects that have been growing beyond a pre-configured size. Using this test administrators can isolate the objects that have been growing uncontrollably and analyze if those objects need to be resized.

This test monitors the objects in the target Oracle Database server and reports the count of objects that have exceeded growing beyond a pre-configured size

This test is disabled by default. To enable the test, go to the enable / disable tests page using the menu sequence : Agents -> Tests -> Enable/Disable, pick Oracle Database as the Component type, Performance as the Test type, choose this test from the disabled tests list, and click on the << button to move the test to the ENABLED TESTS list. Finally, click the Update button.

Note:

This test will not report metrics for an Oracle 12c CDB server.

The default parameters associated with this test are as follows:

• The TEST PERIOD list box helps the user to decide how often this test needs to be executed.

• In the HOST text box, the host for which the test is to be configured has to be specified.

• In the PORT text box, enter the port number at which the target host being monitored listens.

• In order to monitor an Oracle database server, a special database user account has to be created in every Oracle database instance that requires monitoring. A Click here hyperlink is available in the test configuration page, using which a new oracle database user can be created. Alternatively, you can manually create the special database user. When doing so, ensure that this user is vested with the select_catalog_role and create session privileges.

  The sample script we recommend for user creation (in Oracle database server versions before 12c) for eG monitoring is:

  create user oraeg identified by oraeg

  create role oratest;

  grant create session to oratest;

  grant select_catalog_role to oratest;

  grant oratest to oraeg;

  The sample script we recommend for user creation (in Oracle database server 12c) for eG monitoring is:

  alter session set container=;

  create user identified by container=current default tablespace temporary tablespace ;

  Grant create session to ;

  Grant select_catalog_role to ;

  The name of this user has to be specified in the USER text box, and the password of this user has to be entered in the PASSWORD text box. This login information is required to query Oracle's internal dynamic views, so as to fetch the current status / health of the various database components.

• Confirm the password by retyping it in CONFIRM PASSWORD textbox.

• In large environments, where the volume of transactions to the Oracle database server is generally very high, this test may take time to execute and retrieve the desired results. To ensure that the test is faster and is resource-efficient, administrators of such environments can create an alternate ‘view’ on the target Oracle database server, and grant select privileges to the view to the special database user mentioned above. Once the view is created, the test should be configured to use the alternate view for metrics collection; to achieve this, specify the name of the view in the ALTERNATE VIEW text box. By default, this text box is set to none, which implies that the alternate view is not used by default.

  This alternate ‘view’ should be created with the following structure:

  CREATE OR REPLACE VIEW ( TABLESPACE_NAME, FILE_ID, BLOCK_ID, BYTES, BLOCKS, RELATIVE_FNO ) AS select /*+ use_hash (tsfi, fet2) */ tsfi.tablespace_name, tsfi.file_id, fet2.block_id, tsfi.blocksize * fet2.blocks, fet2.blocks, tsfi.relfile# from (select /*+ use_hash (ts, fi) */ ts.name tablespace_name, fi.file# file_id, ts.BLOCKSIZE, fi.relfile#, ts.ts# from sys.ts$ ts, sys.file$ fi where ts.ts# = fi.ts# and ts.online$ in (1,4)) Tsfi, (select f.block# block_id, f.length blocks, f.file# file_id, f.ts# from sys.fet$ f union all select f.ktfbfebno block_id, f.ktfbfeblks blocks, f.ktfbfefno, ktfbfetsn from sys.x$ktfbfe f) Fet2 where fet2.file_id = tsfi.relfile# and fet2.ts# = tsfi.ts# ;

• Specify the size limit (in GB) for the objects against the OBJECT SIZE GB text box beyond which the objects are termed as large objects. The default value is set to none.

• If the ISPASSIVE parameter is set to YES, then it means that, by default, all Oracle servers being monitored by the eG system are the passive servers of an Oracle cluster. No alerts will be generated if the servers are not running. Measures will be reported as "Not applicable" by the agent if the servers are not up.

• If multiple components of the same component type are awaiting configuration, then an APPLY TO OTHER COMPONENTS check box will appear in this page. Clicking on this check box will allow you to apply the configuration to all/selected components of that type.

• Once the necessary values have been provided, clicking on the UPDATE button will register the changes made.

When changing the configuration for specific servers, a “*” beside the text box corresponding to the parameter signifies that these values have to be manually configured by the user. The parameter values that require to be configured will typically be prefixed with a “$” or contain a series of “*”. A value of “none” in the parameter value indicates that the corresponding parameter value can be changed if required.