Preface

This manual describes the administrative and deployment tasks for the Oracle Parallel Server. You should read this book after you have completed the procedures in the Oracle8i Parallel Server Setup and Configuration Guide. You should also have read Oracle8i Parallel Server Concepts.

This manual prepares you to implement parallel processing by describing the administrative procedures to follow after installing Oracle Parallel Server. It also advises you how to develop and deploy applications, as well as how to tune them. Information in this manual applies to Oracle Parallel Server as it runs on all operating systems. Where necessary, this manual refers to platform-specific documentation.

See Also: You can also use the Oracle8i Parallel Server Documentation Online Roadmap to help you use the online Oracle Parallel Server Documentation set.

What's New in Oracle8i?

This book is new for Oracle8i. Oracle8i introduces Cache Fusion, a feature that reduces the overhead of resolving read/write conflicts caused by inter-instance contention. This greatly enhances performance as well as Oracle Parallel Server scalability.

See Also: Oracle8i Parallel Server Concepts for information on feature changes from one release of Oracle Parallel Server to another.

Release 8.1.5

Release 8.1.5 introduced the first phase of cache fusion.

Release 8.1.6

Release 2 (8.1.6) introduces further enhancements to cache fusion as well as the Primary/Secondary instance feature. There are also several new performance statistics.

Intended Audience

This manual is written for database administrators and application developers who work with Oracle Parallel Server.

How this Book is Organized

This book presents Oracle Parallel Server administration, deployment, and performance in five parts. It begins with the fundamental administration of Oracle Parallel Server and then presents application and database design and deployment for Parallel Server. The last parts of the book present performance tuning as well as maintenance topics, such as backup and recovery.

Structure

The following describes the five parts of this book.

Chapter 1, "Parameter Files and Oracle Parallel Server-Specific Parameters"

This chapter describes the parameter files and Oracle Parallel Server-specific parameters.

Part I, "Administering Oracle Parallel Server Parameter Files"

Part II, "Oracle Parallel Server Administration"

Chapter 2, "Parallel Execution in Oracle Parallel Server Environments"	This chapter describes parallel execution as used within Oracle Parallel Server environments.
Chapter 3, "Oracle Parallel Server Database Creation Issues"	This chapter describes Oracle Parallel Server database creation issues. The information in this chapter is supplemental to the information in the Oracle8i Parallel Server Setup and Configuration Guide.
Chapter 4, "Administering Instances"	This chapter describes the basic administrative procedures for instance management.

Part III, "Oracle Parallel Server Design and Deployment"

Chapter 5, "Application Analysis and Partitioning"	This chapter describes analysis and partitioning for Oracle Parallel Server environments.
Chapter 6, "Database Design Techniques"	This chapter describes Oracle Parallel Server database design issues such as block and extent operations, contention reduction, and locking strategies.
Chapter 7, "Planning the Use of PCM and Non-PCM Instance Locks"	This chapter explains how to use and maintain both PCM and non-PCM locking resources.
Chapter 8, "Using Free List Groups to Partition Data"	This chapter explains how to improve performance by using free list groups to partition data.
Chapter 9, "Setting Instance Locks"	This chapter describes how to set instance locks within Oracle Parallel Server environments.
Chapter 10, "Ensuring DLM Capacity for Locks and Resources"	This chapter explains how to plan and manage the use of locks and resources to optimize performance.

Part IV, "Oracle Parallel Server Performance Monitoring and Tuning"

Chapter 11, "General Tuning Recommendations"	This chapter presents general tuning recommendations.
Chapter 12, "Tuning Oracle Parallel Server and Inter-Instance Performance"	This chapter describes how to monitor and tune inter-instance performance issues.

Part V, "Oracle Parallel Server Maintenance"

Chapter 13, "Backing Up Your Database"	This chapter describes the procedures for backing up Oracle Parallel Server databases.
Chapter 14, "Recovering the Database"	This chapter describes the procedures for recovering Oracle Parallel Server databases.

Related Documents

Before reading this manual, you should read Oracle8i Parallel Server Concepts and the Oracle8i Parallel Server Setup and Configuration Guide.

You can also read the following manuals for more information:

Installation Guides

• Oracle8i Installation Guide for Sun Solaris, HP 9000 and AIX-based systems

• Oracle8i Installation Guide for Windows NT

• Oracle Diagnostics Pack Installation

Operating System-Specific Administrative Guides

• Oracle8i Administrator's Reference for Sun Solaris, HP 9000 or AIX-based systems

• Oracle Parallel Server Administrator's Guide for Windows NT

• Oracle8i Administrator's Guide for Windows NT

Oracle Parallel Server Management

• Oracle Enterprise Manager Administrator's Guide

• Getting Started with the Oracle Diagnostics Pack

Oracle Server Documentation

• Getting to Know Oracle8i

• Oracle8i Concepts

• Oracle8i Administrator's Guide./

• Oracle8i Reference

• Net8 Administrator's Guide

Conventions

This section explains the conventions used in this manual including the following:

• Text

• Syntax diagrams and notation

• Code examples

Text

This section explains the conventions used within the text:

UPPERCASE Characters

Uppercase text is used to call attention to command keywords, object names, parameters, filenames, and so on.

For example, "If you create a private rollback segment, the name must be included in the ROLLBACK_SEGMENTS parameter of the parameter file."

Italicized Characters

Italicized words within text are book titles or emphasized words.

Syntax Diagrams and Notation

The syntax diagrams and notation in this manual show the syntax for SQL commands, functions, hints, and other elements. This section tells you how to read syntax diagrams and examples and write SQL statements based on them.

Keywords

Keywords are words that have special meanings in the SQL language. In the syntax diagrams in this manual, keywords appear in uppercase. You must use keywords in your SQL statements exactly as they appear in the syntax diagram, except that they can be either uppercase or lowercase. For example, you must use the CREATE keyword to begin your CREATE TABLE statements just as it appears in the CREATE TABLE syntax diagram.

Parameters

Parameters act as place holders in syntax diagrams. They appear in lowercase. Parameters are usually names of database objects, Oracle datatype names, or expressions. When you see a parameter in a syntax diagram, substitute an object or expression of the appropriate type in your SQL statement. For example, to write a CREATE TABLE statement, use the name of the table you want to create, such as EMP, in place of the table parameter in the syntax diagram. (Note that parameter names appear in italics in the text.)

This list shows parameters that appear in the syntax diagrams in this manual and examples of the values you might substitute for them in your statements:

Parameter	Description	Examples
table	The substitution value must be the name of an object of the type specified by the parameter.	emp
'text'	The substitution value must be a character literal in single quotes.	'Employee Records'
condition	The substitution value must be a condition that evaluates to TRUE or FALSE.	ename > 'A'
date d	The substitution value must be a date constant or an expression of DATE datatype.	TO_DATE ( '01-Jan-1996', DD-MON-YYYY')
expr	The substitution value can be an expression of any datatype.	sal + 1000
integer	The substitution value must be an integer.	72
subquery	The substitution value must be a SELECT statement contained in another SQL statement.	SELECT ename FROM emp
statement_name block_name	The substitution value must be an identifier for a SQL statement or PL/SQL block.	s1 b1

Code Examples

SQL and SQL*Plus commands and statements appear separated from the text of paragraphs in a monospaced font. For example:

   INSERT INTO emp (empno, ename) VALUES (1000, 'SMITH'); 
   ALTER TABLESPACE users ADD DATAFILE 'users2.ora' SIZE 50K; 

Example statements may include punctuation, such as commas or quotation marks. All punctuation in example statements is required. All example statements terminate with a semicolon (;). Depending on the application, a semicolon or other terminator may or may not be required to end a statement.

Uppercase words in example statements indicate the keywords within Oracle SQL. When you issue statements, however, keywords are not case sensitive.

Lowercase words in example statements indicate words supplied only for the context of the example. For example, lowercase words may indicate the name of a table, column, or file.