We’re mixing things up a bit and offering an extended technical session.  Come join us for a special three hour workshop for DBAs and Developers that will dive into the fundamentals of SQL Tuning!

Event :           SQL Tuning Extended Technical Session

When:            Wednesday, April 19th 10:00 AM to 1:30 PM

Where:           Banfield Pet Hospital - Vancouver Campus Community Room

                      18101 SE 6th Way, Vancouver, WA

                      (Columbia Tech Center - off of Mill Plain between 164th and 192nd)

Includes Lunch and Free Parking (north parking lot).  Sign up now!

Carlos Sierra, an Oracle ACE Director, is a regular speaker at Oracle Users Groups on topics related to Performance and SQL Tuning. He is the author of legacy tools like SQLTXPLAIN and SQLHC; and of some modern ones like eDB360 and eSP.  

Carlos has 20 years of experience in Oracle databases, and many more on legacy UNISYS and IBM mainframes.

Carlos currently works as a consultant for Accenture Enkitec Group, where he leads the Oracle database Health-Check and Sizing team. His expertise includes database performance, SQL tuning, data warehousing, data modeling, proof of concepts, systems sizing and applications design.

1st hour: SQL Tuning 101

Learn from the author of SQLTXPLAIN the fundamentals of SQL Tuning: 1) Diagnostics Collection; 2) Root Cause Analysis (RCA); and 3) Remediation.

SQL Tuning is a complex and intimidating area of knowledge, and it requires years of frequent practice to master it. Nevertheless, there are some concepts and practices that are fundamental to succeed. From basic understanding of the Cost-based Optimizer (CBO) and the Execution Plans, to more advance topics such as Plan Stability and the caveats of using SQL Profiles and SQL Plan Baselines, this session is full of advice and experience sharing. Learn what works and what doesn't when it comes to SQL Tuning.

Participants of this session will also learn about several free tools (besides SQLTXPLAIN) that can be used to diagnose a SQL statement performing poorly, and some others to improve Execution Plan Stability.

Either if you are a novice DBA, or an experienced DBA or Developer, there will be something new for you on this session. And if this is your first encounter with SQL Tuning, at least you will learn the basic concepts and steps to succeed in your endeavor.

2nd hour. Understanding SQL Trace, TKPROF and Execution Plan for beginners

The three fundamental steps of SQL Tuning are: 1) Diagnostics Collection; 2) Root Cause Analysis (RCA); and 3) Remediation. This introductory session on SQL Tuning is for novice DBAs and Developers that are required to investigate a piece of an application performing poorly.

On this session participants will learn about producing a SQL Trace then a summary TKPROF report. A sample TKPROF is navigated with the audience, where the trivial and the no so trivial is exposed and explain. Execution Plans are also navigated and explained, so participants can later untangle complex Execution Plans and start diagnosing SQL performing badly.

This session encourages participants to ask all kind of questions that could be potential road-blocks for deeper understanding of how to address a SQL performing poorly.

3rd hour. Understanding database through SQL*Plus using the free tool eDB360

This session introduces eDB360 - a free tool that is executed from SQL*Plus and generates a set of reports providing a 360-degree view of an Oracle database; all without installing anything on the database.

If using Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM) is off-limits for you or your team, and you can only access the database through a SQL*Plus connection with no direct access to the database server, then this tool is a perfect fit to provide you with a broad overview of the database configuration, performance, top SQL and much more. You only need a SQL*Plus account with read access to the data dictionary, and common Oracle licenses like the Diagnostics or the Tuning Pack.

Typical uses of this eDB360 tool include: databases health-checks, performance assessments, pre or post upgrade verifications, snapshots of the environment for later use, compare between two similar environments, documenting the state of a database when taking ownership of it, etc.

Once you learn how to use eDB360 and get to appreciate its value, you may want to execute this tool on all your databases on a regular basis, so you can keep track of things for long periods of time. This tool is becoming part of a large collection of goodies many DBAs use today.