Introduction to Oracle

Physical Structure
Logical Structure

SGA / PGA

Background Processes

Backup Methods

Computer Science Database

CS01
Administrative Tasks
 Physical Structures
Datafiles (*.dbf)
The datafiles contain all the database data. The data of logical
database structures, such as tables and indexes, is physically stored in
the datafiles allocated for a database.

Control Files (*.ctl)

Every Oracle database has a control file. A control file contains entries
that specify the physical structure of the database such as Database
name and the Names and locations of datafiles and redo log files.

Redo Log Files (*.log)

The primary function of the redo log is to record all changes made to
data. If a failure prevents modified data from being permanently
written to the datafiles, then the changes can be obtained from the
redo log, so work is never lost.
 Physical Structures (contd)
Archive Log Files (*.log)
Oracle automatically archives log files when the database is in
ARCHIVELOG mode. This prevents oracle from overwriting the redo log
files before they have been safely archived to another location.

Parameter Files (initSID.ora)

Parameter files contain a list of configuration parameters for that
instance and database.

Alert and Trace Log Files (*.trc)

Each server and background process can write to an associated trace file. When
an internal error is detected by a process, it dumps information about the error to
its trace file. The alert log of a database is a chronological log of messages and
errors.
 Logical Structures
Tablespaces
A database is divided into logical storage units called tablespaces,
which group related logical structures together. One or more datafiles
are explicitly created for each tablespace to physically store the data of
all logical structures in a tablespace.

Oracle Data Blocks

At the finest level of granularity, Oracle database data is stored in data
blocks. One data block corresponds to a specific number of bytes of
physical database space on disk. The standard block size is specified
by the DB_BLOCK_SIZE initialization parameter.
 Logical Structures (contd)
Extents
The next level of logical database space is an extent. An extent is a
specific number of contiguous data blocks, obtained in a single
allocation, used to store a specific type of information.

Segments
Above extents, the level of logical database storage is a segment. A
segment is a set of extents allocated for a certain logical structure.
The different types of segments are :
Data segment stores table data
Index segment stores index data
Temporary segment temporary space used during SQL execution
Rollback Segment stores undo information
 Logical Structures (contd)
Schema Overview
A schema is a collection of database objects. A schema is owned by a
database user and has the same name as that user. Schema objects
are the logical structures that directly refer to the database's data.
Schema objects include structures like tables, views, and indexes.
 Oracle Instance
An Oracle database server consists of an
Oracle database and an Oracle instance.
Every time a database is started, a
system global area (SGA) is allocated
and Oracle background processes are
started. The combination of the
background processes and memory
buffers is called an Oracle instance.
 System Global Area (SGA)
The System Global Area (SGA) is a shared memory region that contains
data and control information for one Oracle instance. Users currently
connected to an Oracle database share the data in the SGA. The SGA
contains the following memory structures :

Database Buffer Cache

Database buffers store the most recently used blocks of data. The set
of database buffers in an instance is the database buffer cache. The
buffer cache contains modified as well as unmodified blocks. Because
the most recently (and often, the most frequently) used data is kept in
memory, less disk I/O is necessary, and performance is improved.
System Global Area (contd)
Redo Log Buffer of the SGA
The redo log buffer stores redo entriesa log of changes made to the
database. The redo entries stored in the redo log buffers are written to
an online redo log, which is used if database recovery is necessary. The
size of the redo log is static.

Shared Pool of the SGA

The shared pool contains shared memory constructs, such as shared
SQL areas. A shared SQL area is required to process every unique SQL
statement submitted to a database. A shared SQL area contains
information such as the parse tree and execution plan for the
corresponding statement.
Program Global Area (PGA)
PGA is a memory buffer that contains data and control information
for a server process. A server process is a process that services a
clients requests. A PGA is created by oracle when a server process
is started. The information in a PGA depends on the oracle
configuration. The PGA area is a non-shared area of memory
created by oracle when a server process is started.

The basic difference between SGA and PGA is that PGA cannot be
shared between multiple processes in the sense that it is used
only for requirements of a particular process whereas the SGA is
used for the whole instance and it is shared.
 Oracle Background
Processes
An Oracle database uses memory structures and processes to manage and
access the database. All memory structures exist in the main memory of
the computers that constitute the database system. Processes are jobs that
work in the memory of these computers.

Oracle creates a set of background processes for each instance. The

background processes consolidate functions that would otherwise be
handled by multiple Oracle programs running for each user process. They
asynchronously perform I/O and monitor other Oracle processes to provide
increased parallelism for better performance and reliability.

The most common background processes are :

System Monitor SMON

This database background process performs instance recovery at the
start of the database. SMON also cleans up temporary segments that
are no longer in use and recovers dead transactions skipped during
crash and instance recovery because of file-read or offline errors. It
coalesces i.e. combines contiguous free extents into larger free
extents.
 Background Processes
(contd)
Process Monitor - PMON
This database background process cleans up failed user processes.
PMON is responsible for releasing the lock i.e. cleaning up the cache
and freeing resources that the process was using. Its effect can be seen
when a process holding a lock is killed.

Database Writer - DBWR

This background process is responsible for managing the contents of
the data block buffer cache and dictionary cache. DBWR performs
batch writes of changed block. Since Oracle uses write-ahead logging,
DBWR does not need to write blocks when a transaction commits. In
the most common case, DBWR writes only when more data needs to be
read into the system global area and too few database buffers are free.
The least recently used data is written to the datafiles first.
Although there is only one SMON and one PMON process running per
database instance, one can have multiple DBWR processes running at
the same time. Note the number of DBWR processes running is set via
the DB_WRITER_PROCESSES.
 Background Processes
(contd)
Log Writer - LGWR
This background process manages the writing of the contents of the
redo log buffer to the online redo log files. LGWR writes the log entries
in batch form. The Redo log buffers entries always contain the most up-
to-date status of the database.

Archiver - ARCH
The Archiver process reads the redo log files once Oracle has filled
them and writes a copy of the used redo log files to the specified
archive log destination(s). Actually, for most databases, ARCH has no
effect on the overall system performance. On some large database
sites, however, archiving can have an impact on system performance.
 Background Processes
(contd)
Checkpoint - CKPT
All modified information in database buffer in the SGA is written to the
datafiles by a database write process (DBWR). This event indicates a
checkpoint. The checkpoint process is responsible for signaling DBWR at
checkpoints and updating all of the datafiles and control files of the
database.

Recover - RECO
The recover process automatically cleans up failed or suspended
distributed transactions.

Job Queue Processes

Job queue processes are used for batch processing. They run user jobs.
They can be viewed as a scheduler service that can be used to schedule
jobs as PL/SQL statements or procedures on an Oracle instance. Given a
start date and an interval, the job queue processes try to run the job at the
next occurrence of the interval.
Computer Science Database

Server Information
Sun e4500
8GB Ram
8 x 400mhz CPU
32GB Disk for
Oracle
4mm DAT DDS3
Tape Backup
Computer Science Database
Instance Name : CS01 (v$database)
Instance Version : 8.1.6.0.0
Tablespaces : (dba_tablespaces)
SYSTEM holds all system tables
INDEX01 user indexes
USERS01 user tables
USERS02 user tables (faculty)
RBS rollback segments
 Backup Methods
Cold Backup (aka Consistent Backups)
The only way to make a consistent whole
database backup is to shut down the database
with the NORMAL, IMMEDIATE, or
TRANSACTIONAL options and make the backup
while the database is closed.
Advantage : No recovery is required after
datafiles are restored quicker restore
Disadvantage : No access to database during
backup time (depends on size/system speed)
 Backup Methods (contd)
Hot Backup (aka Inconsistent Backups)
If the database must be up and running 24 hours a
day, seven days a week, then you have no choice
but to perform inconsistent backups of the whole
database. A backup of online datafiles is called an
online backup. This requires that you run your
database in ARCHIVELOG mode.
Advantage : Database remains open during backup
Disadvantage : Large databases may have
performance impact during backup, recovery takes
longer and is slightly more complex
 Backup Methods (contd)
Logical backup (Export)
Logical backups are exports of schema objects,
like tables and stored procedures, into a binary
file. Oracle utilities are used to move Oracle
schema objects in and out of Oracle.
Not recommended for backup of a whole
database, but useful for backing up individual
objects or schemas or moving data into
another database
 Administrative Tasks
Daily Checks
Check database availability
Check logs / trace files
Check free space / resources
Check for invalid objects
Check for broken jobs
Verify backup
 Administrative Tasks
(contd)
Weekly Tasks
Collect statistics (database job)
Archive / delete log files
Run performance reports (statspack)
 Administrative Tasks
(contd)
Others
Applying patches
Database upgrades
New Database installations
Creating user accounts
 More Information
Oracle 10g Release 2 Database Documentation
http://www.oracle.com/pls/db102/

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