STATSPACK scripts for post 8.1.6 STATSPACK Oracle Tips by Burleson Consulting

You can see all of the scripts by going to the $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin directory and listing all files that begin with “sp”:

Let's begin by reviewing the functions of each of these files. Several of the files call subfiles, so it helps if we organize the files as a hierarchy:

• spcreate.sql This is the first install script run after you create the tablespace. It calls several subscripts:

• spcsr.sql This script creates a user called PERFSTAT with the required permissions.

• spctab.sql This creates the STATSPACK tables and indexes, owned by the PERFSTAT user.

• spcpkg.sql This creates the PL/SQL package called STATSPACK with the STATSPACK procedures.

• spauto.sql This script contains the dbms_job.submit commands that will execute a STATSPACK snapshot every hour.

• spdrop.sql This script is used to drop all STATSPACK entities. This script calls these subscripts:

• spdtab.sql This drops all STATSPACK tables and indexes.

• spdusr.sql This script drops the PERFSTAT user.

• spdoc.txt This is a generic read-me file explaining the installation and operation of the STATSPACK utility.

• spreport.sql This is the shell for the only report provided in STATSPACK. It prompts you for the start and end snapshots, and then produces an elapsed-time report.

• sprepins.sql This is the actual SQL that produces the STATSPACK report.

• sppurge.sql This is a script to delete older unwanted snapshots.

• spuexp.par This is a export parameter file to export all of the STATSPACK data.

• sptrunc.sql This is a script to truncate all STATSPACK tables.

• spup816.sql This is a script to upgrade pre-8.1.7 STATSPACK tables to use the latest schema. Note that you must export the STATSPACK schema before running this script.

• spup817.sql This is a script to upgrade to Oracle 8.1.7 from Oracle 8.1.6.

Now, let’s take a closer look at the installation procedures.

The STATSPACK utility requires an isolated tablespace to contain all of the objects and data. For uniformity, it is suggested that the tablespace be called perfstat, the same name as the schema owner for the STATSPACK tables. Note that I have deliberately not used the AUTOEXTEND option. It is important for the Oracle Remote DBA to closely watch the STATSPACK data to ensure that the stats$sql_summary table is not taking an inordinate amount of space. We will talk about adjusting the STATSPACK thresholds later in this chapter.

Next, we create a tablespace called perfstat with at least 180 megabytes of space in the datafile:

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Now that the tablespace exists, we can begin the installation process of the STATSPACK software.

Because of the version differences, we will break this section into one for pre-8.1.7 installation and another for post-8.1.7 installs.

Run the pre-8.1.7 install scripts

The statscre.sql script creates a user called PERFSTAT, executes the script to create all of the STATSPACK tables, and installs the STATSPACK PL/SQL package. When you run this script, you will be prompted for the following information:

·        Specify PERFSTAT user's default tablespace: perfstat

·        Specify PERFSTAT user's temporary tablespace: temp

·        Enter tablespace where STATSPACK objects will be created: perfstat

Install Prerequisites

Note that you must have performed the following before attempting to install STATSPACK:

1.      Run catdbsyn.sql when connected as SYS.

2.      Run dbmspool.sql when connected as SYS.

3.      Allocate a tablespace called perfstat with at least 180 megabytes of storage.

NOTE: The STATSPACK scripts are designed to stop whenever an error is encountered. The statsctab.sql script contains the SQL*Plus directive whenever sqlerror exit;. This means that the script will cease execution if any error is encountered. If you encounter an error and you need to restart the script, just comment out the whenever sqlerror exit line and run the script again. Also, note that the STATSPACK install script contains SQL*Plus commands. Hence, be sure you run it from SQL*Plus and do not try to run it in SVRMGRL or SQL*Worksheet.

Once you have completed running the spcreate.sql script, you will need to ensure that you do not have errors. The STATSPACK utility creates a series of files with the .lis extension as shown here:

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To check for errors, you need to look for any lines that contain “ORA-” or the word “error”, since the presence of these strings indicates an error. If you are using Windows NT, you can check for errors by searching the output file in MS Word. However, most Oracle administrators on NT get a freeware grep for DOS, which is readily available on the Internet.

The code here shows the UNIX grep commands that are used to check for creation errors.

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Now that we have installed the user, tables, indexes, and the package, we are ready to start collecting STATSPACK data. We will begin by testing the STATSPACK functionality and then schedule a regular STATSPACK collection job.

This is an excerpt from "Oracle9i High Performance tuning with STATSPACK" by Oracle Press.

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