Oracle Real Application Testing – Database...

. . . . . . . .

© Copyright IBM Corporation, 2012. All Rights Reserved. All trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective holders

Oracle Real Application Testing – Database Replay

Surya Rao Service Line Architect, IBM Senior Certified IT Specialist

IBM GTS, Service Delivery, Data Management July 15, 2012

In Collaboration with the IBM Oracle International Competency Center

Oracle Real Application testing http://www.ibm.com/support/techdocs © Copyright 2012, IBM Corporation

Table of contents

Abstract........................................... .......................................................................................... 1

Prerequisites...................................... ....................................................................................... 1

1.0 Executive Summary.............................. .............................................................................. 1

2.0 Introduction ................................... ..................................................................................... 2 2.1 Licensing Considerations ............................................................................................................. 3

3.0 Bird’s eye view of Workload Capture & Replay... ............................................................. 4

4.0 PRE CAPTURE CHECKLIST.......................... ..................................................................... 6 4.1 Limitations & Restrictions ............................................................................................................. 6 4.2 Check List .................................................................................................................................... 6

5.0 Capturing a Workload ........................... ............................................................................. 9 5.1 Creating a Capture Directory ........................................................................................................ 9 5.2 Capture Directory and its contents................................................................................................ 9 5.3 Filtering the capture workload......................................................................................................10 5.4 Start workload capture ................................................................................................................11 5.5 Completing the Capture process .................................................................................................12 5.6 Workload Capture Files ...............................................................................................................14 5.7 Workload Capture Report............................................................................................................15 5.8 Exporting AWR data....................................................................................................................16 5.9 Useful Views ...............................................................................................................................17

6.0 PRE REPLAY CHECKLIST ........................... .................................................................... 18 6.1 Pre-process the captured workload ........................................................................18 6.2 Prepare the Test System .......................................................................................19

7.0 Replaying a Workload ........................... ........................................................................... 21 7.1 Workload Analyzer ......................................................................................................................21 7.2 Calibrating the workload before replay.........................................................................................22 7.3 Initialize the Workload Replay......................................................................................................23 7.4 Connection Maps ........................................................................................................................23 7.5 Prepare the Workload Replay and check status...........................................................................24 7.6 Starting the Workload Replay Clients (wrc)..................................................................................26 7.7 Starting the Workload Replay ......................................................................................................27 7.8 Changing Workload Replay execution status...............................................................................28 7.9 Replay information extraction ......................................................................................................29 7.10 Extracting the Replay report for a specific Workload ..................................................................29 7.11 Sample Replay Report ..............................................................................................................30 7.12 Exporting AWR data..................................................................................................................31 7.13 Useful Views .............................................................................................................................33

8.0 Data Divergence on Replay Sample Simulation .... ......................................................... 33 8.1 A Test case for demonstrating Data Divergence ..........................................................................34 8.2 Replaying the workload to cause a Data Divergence ...................................................................38 8.3 Checking for Data Divergences ..................................................................................................41

Oracle Real Application testing http://www.ibm.com/support/techdocs © Copyright 2012, IBM Corporation

8.4 Extract the Diverging SQL statement ...........................................................................................42

9.0 Using Enterprise Manager for Real Application T esting............................................. ... 43

Summary............................................ ..................................................................................... 45 Operating system..............................................................................................................................45 Storage System Management ...........................................................................................................45

Resources.......................................... ..................................................................................... 46

About the author................................... .................................................................................. 46

Appendix........................................... ...................................................................................... 47 1.0 Common Errors and Resolutions .................................................................................................47 2.0 Patch level for RAT......................................................................................................47

Trademarks and special notices ..................... ...................................................................... 48

Oracle Real Application Testing http://www.ibm.com/support/techdocs © Copyright 2012, IBM Corporation

1

Abstract This white paper describes Oracle Real Application Testing product functionality. This is a

tool that captures workload including timing, concurrency and dependency information and

is able to run this “captured” load into an alternate environment. Real application Testing is

two tools. It is SQL Performance Analyzer where you perform SQL unit testing to identify

SQL regression. Database replay is what is described in this document. The target audience

is installations running Oracle Database on IBM hardware and IBM field specialist that

support those environments.

Prerequisites

The reader of this document is expected to have a general and basic knowledge of the Oracle Database and IBM servers.

1.0 Executive Summary Change is an inevitable part of the IT industry and it is almost always

associated with risks. To mitigate risks in production systems due to planned changes, there are various approaches prevalent in the industry – the most

prominent approach pertains to load testing with third party tools on non-

production environments. Majority of these “conventional” tools rely on the Test Scripter’s understanding of the Production workload and generate their workloads based on certain inputs and parameters specified. However, none of these Load Testing tools available today are able to generate an exact

workload of production and run them on non-production databases – and hence open to risks

This results in issues being faced in production (Post the change activity)

even after successfully completing the conventional load testing. To drastically mitigate this risk and address the shortcomings prevalent in

conventional Load Testing tools, Oracle introduced the Real Application Testing offering. This is the solution in the industry which captures an actual

production workload including timing, concurrency and dependency information and is able to run this “captured” load into an alternate

environment. With this load testing, we are able to know the exact impact of a prospective change and hence avoid unknown risks.

Below are some of change examples where customer will benefit with Real Application Testing tools.

� Database upgrades

� Database Patches � Storage changes � Network Changes


2

� Hardware upgrades

� OS upgrades � Database configuration changes

� Scale up testing and consolidation

Some of Key features of Real Application Testing tools

� Web based interface � Able to access impact of complex change on complex production

environment from months to days � Able to capture load from prior releases and replay them only on 11g

upwards � SQL Performance Analyzer will analyze change on SQL execution plan

and performance

The Oracle Real Application Testing option includes the following features:

� Database Replay � SQL Performance Analyzer (SPA) � SQL Tuning Sets (STS). This is also part of the Tuning Pack

SPA and STS are not in the scope of this white paper.

2.0 Introduction

Oracle Real Application Testing is a separately licensed option with Oracle Database Enterprise Edition 11g. The purpose of this product is to allow

extraction of production workloads and simulate running them on pre-production or test databases to replicate a current performance issue for

deeper analysis and resolution on non production environments.

The Database Replay feature of the Real Application Testing suite can be

used to test any substantial changes such as Database upgrades, Storage or network changes, Hardware or OS upgrades, Database configuration changes etc.

It can also be used in Change Management related baselines and regression testing scenarios where the behavior of the system has to be observed


3

based on a fixed and unchanging workload to ensure that the results are

comparable across test runs.

Note that although this feature was introduced in Oracle Database 11g, it is possible to capture workloads from 10.2.0.4 databases but it is possible to

replay them only on Oracle Database 11g and upwards. We can also capture workloads from 9.2.0.8, 10.2.0.2 & 10.2.0.3 provided that the RAT capture

patch is installed. This could be an excellent avenue for testing pre and post upgrade environments, an area that is not very easy to cover at the

moment, in the absence of Real Application Testing

2.1 Licensing Considerations

The Oracle Real Application Testing option includes the following features:

• Database Replay • SQL Performance Analyzer (SPA) • SQL Tuning Sets (STS)

In order to use the features listed in this whitepaper, it is required to

purchase licenses for the Oracle Real Application Testing option, with one exception: SQL Tuning Sets (STS) can be used if you have licensed either

the Tuning Pack or Oracle Real Application Testing. Oracle Real Application Testing functionality can be accessed from the Enterprise Manager as well as through the database server command-line APIs. The use of either interface

requires an Oracle Real Application Testing option license. Additionally, the Oracle Real Application Testing license is required on both the capture and replay systems for Database Replay and is charged by the total number of CPUs on those systems. In production Oracle charges according to the

license model that is used. On Test you can either choose between CPU or NUP (No. of Processors). Refer to this link for more information on the various licensing options


4

3.0 Bird’s eye view of Workload Capture & Replay Oracle strongly recommends the usage of SPA to address SQL regression

analysis before using the Database Replay option.

The steps involved in using Oracle Real Application Testing can be summarized as follows:

1. Workload Capture (On Source/Production database)

2. Workload Pre-processing (On the Target/Test database) 3. Prepare / Initialize the Target DB for the workload replay 4. Calibrate the workload to estimate number of workload replay clients

needed

5. Initiate the workload replay clients (wrc clients) 6. Start the Workload replay 7. Generate the Replay report

8. Analyze the reports


5

x


6

4.0 PRE CAPTURE CHECKLIST

4.1 Limitations & Restrictions

1. For versions prior to 11g, i.e. 10.2.0.x, and 9.2.0.8, there are mandatory patches to

be applied before workloads can be captured. These patches (applied via opatch utility) install the required Real Application Testing functionality in the Pre-11g releases.

2. For a source 10g R2 database, the minimum version for which capture is possible is

10.2.0.2 for non-Windows operating systems and 10.2.0.3 for Windows operating systems.

3. Note that the captured workloads can only be replayed on versions 11.1 and above. 4. The entire list of patches for each source (capture) and target (replay) version is

mentioned in the My Oracle Support article 560977.1

5. The following types of client requests are not captured in a workload as

per the Oracle Documentation * Direct path load of data from external files using utilities such as

SQL*Loader * Non-PL/SQL based Advanced Queuing (AQ)

* Flashback queries * Oracle Call Interface (OCI) based object navigations

* Non SQL-based object access * Distributed transactions (any distributed transactions that are captured

will be replayed as local transactions). Distributed transactions using two phase commit are not supported and will not be replayed as even local

transactions.

4.2 Check List

1. Ensure Oracle Home binary is at the correct patch level for Real

Application Testing capture. (see appendix )

2. Real Application Testing option must be installed 3. Activate the Real Application Testing option.


7

a. For Oracle Database 11g it is enabled by default but package

DBMS_WORKLOAD_CAPTURE must be valid. If this package is absent, it can be created by running dbmswrr.sql.

b. For Oracle Database release 10.2.0.4 and 10.2.0.5 execute wrrenbl.sql to set PRE_11G_ENABLE_CAPTURE.

4. Setting up a Database Replay Administrator

The SYS or SYSTEM account is not required to be used for the capture and replay steps described above. Any user that is granted the below privileges can be used to administer Capture and Replay CREATE USER <USERNAME> IDENTIFIED BY oracle; GRANT CREATE SESSION, RESOURCE to <USERNAME>; GRANT EXECUTE ON DBMS_WORKLOAD_CAPTURE TO <USERNAME>; GRANT EXECUTE ON DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPLAY TO <USERNAME>; GRANT CREATE SESSION TO <USERNAME>; GRANT CREATE ANY DIRECTORY TO <USERNAME>; GRANT SELECT_CATALOG_ROLE TO <USERNAME>; GRANT BECOME USER TO <USERNAME>; GRANT UNLIMITED TABLESPACE TO <USERNAME>

5. Save the spfile / database initialization parameters and environment

specifics in order to replicate in replay environment. This is particularly applicable for Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) environments.

6. Capture scripts should be run as SYS 7. A Database Directory Object has to be created for capture file. In a

RAC environment must be on shared disk storage. Ensure enough capacity is available.

8. Identify workload period processing window based on the target

technical goal of completing the replay as outlined in introduction section of this document.

9. Plan to capture the logical/physical state of the database to clone in the test environment, has to be time synchronized with the start of the

capture window to avoid data divergence results on the test environment.. Other alternative methods are the use of datapump or snapshot standby.

10. May need to consider restarting the database or commencing

capture in dormant periods to ensure transaction activity is at a consistent point . This will lessen the volume of divergence events on the Test environment when replayed.

11. The recommendation is to put the database into restricted mode

to allow the capture process to be started . Once capture is started then database is automatically taken out of restricted mode.In a


8

production environment that would limit client access for a short

period of time. Can be bypassed but at the expense of transaction capture integrity ( auto_unrestrict => FALSE )


9

5.0 Capturing a Workload Capturing a workload is performed either using the Oracle supplied PL/SQL

APIs or using Enterprise Manager. In this document, we have predominantly shown examples using the Oracle supplied PL/SQL APIs.

5.1 Creating a Capture Directory

5.2 Capture Directory and its contents

This is the directory where the metadata related to the workload capture will

be placed. Initially the directory and its sub-directories will either be empty

or not even exist.

If the capture processing is initiated with a previous workload's captured files still existing in the directory, the below error would be encountered.

SQL> !ls -l /home/oracle/capture

total 0

drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 256 Oct 07 00:41 cap drwxr-xr-x 3 oracle oinstall 256 Oct 07 00:24 capfiles

SQL> create directory CAPTURE_DIR as 'c:\app\captur e'; Directory created.

ORA-15505: cannot start workload capture because instance 1 encountered errors while accessing directory Reason:

There is an existing file in the CAPTURE Directory. There should be no files including no hidden files, before the dbms_workload_capture.start_capture is executed. Delete all

content in the capture directory and retry


10

The schema that is used to run the workload can belong to any user who has

the necessary privileges to perform the required DML, DDL against the objects referred to in the workload SQL sets.

5.3 Filtering the capture workload

Filtering can be done on the following attributes. The default action is to include all transactions in the replay. To include or exclude specific

workloads, the following filters can be applied before the “Capture” or during the “Replay”

1. Instance_Number

2. User 3. Module

4. Program 5. Action 6. Service

The steps for the Workload capture are as demonstrated below. The recommendation is to filter out monitoring activities like those performed by Enterprise Manager.

Adding a Filter is basically performed to restrict and exclude unwanted workloads from being captured. By default everything is captured in the absence of the filters

BEGIN DBMS_WORKLOAD_CAPTURE.ADD_FILTER ( fname => 'user_scott', fattribute => 'USER', fvalue => 'SCOTT');

DBMS_WORKLOAD_CAPTURE.ADD_FILTER ( fname => 'instance_filter', fattribute => 'INSTANCE_NUMBER' , fvalue => '1' ); END; /


11

If a filter that was previously added needs to be removed before capturing

the workload, the following command can be used to delete it.

BEGIN DBMS_WORKLOAD_CAPTURE.DELETE_FILTER (fname => ‘user_scott’);

END; /

To check the filters defined and their statuses i.e NEW or USED, use the below step

5.4 Start workload capture

BEGIN DBMS_WORKLOAD_CAPTURE.START_CAPTURE (

name => 'PEAK_PROCESSING_2', dir => 'CAPTURE_DIR', default_action=>'EXCLUDE', duration => null, --means capture has to b e ended manually auto_unrestrict => FALSE --if the above is TRUE all instances started up in RESTRICT mode will be made -- unrestricted when the capture ends ); END; /

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

SQL> select * from dba_workload_filters; TYPE ID STATUS NAME ATTRIBUTE VALUE --------------------------------------------------- CAPTURE 0 NEW USER_SCOTT USER SCOTT


12

To check for the captures that have been completed on this database or to query

the ones that are currently in progress, follow the step provided below

Once capture complete, status should be completed. SQL> select id, name, status,start_scn, end_scn, db time_total, connects, dir_path from dba_workload_captures; ID NAME STATUS START_SCN END_SCN DBTIME_TOTAL CONNECTS DIR_PATH ---------- -------------------- -------------- ---- ------ ---------- -- 1 PEAK_PROCESSING COMPLETED 625372 628334 986970 1 0 c:\app\capture 3 PEAK_PROCESSING_2 IN PROGRESS 631001 715205 5 3 c:\app\capture

For RAC, capture is executed on one node only For 1 0.2.0.4 onwards. In earlier releases the capture will have to be initiated on all the nodes.

5.5 Completing the Capture process

set lines 200 col status format a15 col name format a15 col dbversion format a12 SELECT ID, NAME, DBID,DBNAME,DBVERSION, PARALLEL,STATUS, to_char(START_TIME,'dd/mm/yyyy hh 24:mi'), to_char(END_TIME,'dd/mm/yyyy hh24:mi'),DURATION_SEC S FROM DBA_WORKLOAD_CAPTURES;


13


BEGIN DBMS_WORKLOAD_CAPTURE.FINISH_CAPTURE (); END; / PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.


14

5.6 Workload Capture Files

The following files are created in the designated capture directory. These

files are release dependent and may vary for older releases

NOTE - Once a set of filters are defined and used by starting and finishing a capture, these filters are marked as USED in dba_workload_filters and can't

be used again. The same filter names can be redefined and will show up as NEW in the

dba_workload_filters view.

SQL> !ls -l /home/oracle/capture/cap total 104 -rw-r--r-- 1 oracle oinstall 30038 Oct 07 00:41 wcr_cr.html -rw-r--r-- 1 oracle oinstall 11338 Oct 07 00:41 wcr_cr.text -rw-r--r-- 1 oracle oinstall 268 Oct 07 00:40 wcr_fcapture.wmd -rw-r--r-- 1 oracle oinstall 171 Oct 07 00:24 wcr_scapture.wmd SQL> !ls -l /home/oracle/capture/capfiles/inst1 total 16 drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 4096 Oct 07 00:40 aa drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 256 Oct 07 00:24 ab drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 256 Oct 07 00:24 ac drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 256 Oct 07 00:24 ad drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 256 Oct 07 00:24 ae drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 256 Oct 07 00:24 af drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 256 Oct 07 00:24 ag drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 256 Oct 07 00:24 ah drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 256 Oct 07 00:24 ai drwxr-xr-x 2 oracle oinstall 256 Oct 07 00:24 aj -rw-r--r-- 1 oracle oinstall 143 Oct 07 00:24 wcr_8x37xh0000000.rec

TYPE ID STATUS NAME ATTRIBUTE VALUE --------------------------------------------------- ---------- CAPTURE 1 USED USER_SCOTT USER SCOTT CAPTURE 1 USED INSTANCE_FILTER INSTANCE_NUMBE R 1 CAPTURE 0 NEW USER_SCOTT USER SCOTT CAPTURE 0 NEW INSTANCE_FILTER INSTANCE_NUMBE R 1


15

5.7 Workload Capture Report

The workload capture report is very similar to an AWR report detailing most

aspects of the workload as shown below

Database Capture Report For ORCL DB Name DB Id Release RAC Capture Na me Status ------------ ----------- ----------- --- ---------- ---------------- ---------- ORCL 1286621985 11.2.0.1.0 NO PEAK_PROCE SSING_2 COMPLETED Start time: 11-Aug- 11 15:24:53 (SCN = 631001) End time: 11-Aug- 11 15:48:47 (SCN = 633971) Duration: 23 minutes 54 second s Capture size: 15.12 KB Directory object: CAPTURE_DIR Directory path: c:\app\capture Directory shared in RAC: TRUE Filters used: 2 INCLUSION filters Statistic Name Va lue % Total ---------------------------------------- ---------- --- --------- DB time (secs) 5 .89 79.59 Average Active Sessions 0 .00 User calls captured 18 5.90 User calls captured with Errors 0 Session logins 3 3.61 Transac tions 41 22.53 ----------------------------------------- -------------------- Top Events Captured DB: ORCL Snaps: 7-8 Avg Active Event Event Class % Event Sessions ----------------------------------- --------------- ---------- ---------- db file scatte red read User I/O 13.64 0.00 CPU + Wait for CPU CPU 9.09 0.00 WCR: capture file IO write Other 4.55 0.00 control file sequential read System I/O 4.55 0.00 ----------------------------------------- --------------------

SQL> set pagesize 0 long 30000000 longchunksize 200 0 SQL> select dbms_workload_capture.report (capture_i d =>1,format=>'TEXT') from dual;


16

Sid, Serial# % Activity Event % Event --------------- ---------- ------------------------ ------ ---------- User Program # Samples Active XIDs -------------------- ------------------------------ ------------------ -------- 6, 1 22.73 control file parallel write 13.64 SYS ORACLE.EXE (CKPT) 3/1,434 [ 0%] 0 control file se quential read 9.09 2/1,434 [ 0%] 0 5, 1 9.09 db file parallel write 9.09 SYS ORACLE.EXE (DBW0) 2/1,434 [ 0%] 0 21, 280 4.55 W CR: capture file IO write 4.55 SYS ORACLE.EXE (J001) 1/1,434 [ 0%] 0 24, 28 4.55 WCR: capture file IO wri te 4.55 SYS ORACLE.EXE (M001) 1/1,434 [ 0%] 0 58, 4 4.55 control file sequential read 4.55 SYS ORACLE.EXE (ARC1) 1/1,434 [ 0%] 0 ----------------------------------------- -------------------- Workload Filters DB: ORCL Snaps: 7-8 # Filter Name Type Attribute V alue --- ------------------------ ------- ------------ - ------------------------- 1 INSTANCE_FILTER INCLUDE INSTANCE_NUM 1 2 USER_SCOTT INCLUDE USER S COTT ----------------------------------------- --------------------

5.8 Exporting AWR data

AWR data can be exported during the time of the capture as well as during the replays. Exporting the workload capture AWR data is is recommended since it is used for replay performance comparison. At the end of each capture or replay, the relevant AWR snapshots for the period during which the capture or replay was executing will be automatically exported and included in the captured or replayed data. The export log would look something like the below.


17

. . exported "SYS"."WRH$_SYSMETRIC_HISTORY" 13.46 KB 100 rows

. . exported "SYS"."WRH$_SQL_PLAN" 6.355 MB 26787 rows

. . exported "SYS"."WRH$_SYSMETRIC_SUMMARY" 32.19 KB 296 rows

. . exported "SYS"."WRH$_ENQUEUE_STAT" 18.02 KB 174 rows

. . exported "SYS"."WRH$_WAITCLASSMETRIC_HISTORY" 9.429 KB 0 rows These exported AWR snapshots can then be imported into another system into a specified and empty schema. The commands to export AWR reports during Capture and Replay are provided below EXEC DBMS_WORKLOAD_CAPTURE.EXPORT_AWR (capture_id => 12); EXEC DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPLAY.EXPORT_AWR (replay_id => 13);

5.9 Useful Views

This section summarizes the views that you can display to monitor workload replay. You need DBA privileges to access these views.

• The DBA_WORKLOAD_CAPTURES view lists all the workload captures that have been captured in the current database.

• The DBA_WORKLOAD_FILTERS view lists all workload filters for workload captures defined in the current database.

• The DBA_WORKLOAD_REPLAYS view lists all the workload replays that have been replayed in the current database.

• The DBA_WORKLOAD_REPLAY_DIVERGENCE view enables you to view information about diverged calls, such as the replay identifier, stream identifier, and call counter.

• The DBA_WORKLOAD_REPLAY_FILTER_SET view lists all workload filters for workload replays defined in the current database.

• The DBA_WORKLOAD_CONNECTION_MAP view lists the connection mapping information for workload replay.

• The V$WORKLOAD_REPLAY_THREAD view lists information about all sessions from the replay clients.

The following Oracle supplied PL/SQL API packages contain the sub-programs to completely manage and administer the Capture and Replay

processes

DBMS_WORKLOAD_CAPTURE package

DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPLAY package


18

6.0 PRE REPLAY CHECKLIST

6.1 Pre-process the captured workload

The preprocessing should always be done on a system which has the same DB version as the source DB where the workload was captured. This step

converts the captured data into replay files and also creates the necessary metadata. This step is required to be done only once (for each version of the target system) after which it can repeatedly be replayed on a target system.

Preprocess of captured work load is resource intensive hence this step should be done on a test system separate from the Production system from where the workload was captured. This system can be the same as the

replay system or a different one. For a RAC configuration, it is required to do

the pre-processing against any one node only.

Workload capture happen into 'c:\app\capture’ directory in previous section while for pre-processing we are doing on 'c:\app\ca pture2’ directory.

Pre-processed files are created on c:\app\capture2 directory. These pre-

processed files will be used by the replay clients in constructing the workload during the replay stage. The preprocessed files contain the metadata (i.e.

attributes) describing the workload

CREATE OR REPLACE DIRECTORY capture_dir AS 'c:\app\ capture2'; Directory created. BEGIN DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPLAY.PROCESS_CAPTURE (capture_dir => 'CAPTURE_DIR'); END; / PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.


19

6.2 Prepare the Test System

The test system can be prepared as follows

• Ensure Oracle Home binary on database replay hosts and replay client

hosts, is at the correct patch level for Real Application Testing replay. (see appendix ).

• Setting up a Database Replay Administrator

The SYS or SYSTEM account is not required to be used for the capture and replay steps described above. Any user that is granted the below privileges can be used to administer Capture and Replay CREATE USER <USERNAME> IDENTIFIED BY oracle; GRANT CREATE SESSION, RESOURCE to <USERNAME>; GRANT EXECUTE ON DBMS_WORKLOAD_CAPTURE TO <USERNAME>; GRANT EXECUTE ON DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPLAY TO <USERNAME>; GRANT CREATE SESSION TO <USERNAME>; GRANT CREATE ANY DIRECTORY TO <USERNAME>; GRANT SELECT_CATALOG_ROLE TO <USERNAME>; GRANT BECOME USER TO <USERNAME>; GRANT UNLIMITED TABLESPACE TO <USERNAME>

• Ensure key database initialization parameters are set correctly based on target goal of replay. Check host(s) environment configuration is

set up correctly e.g RAC. • Restore the Production system and clone it to the test system OR

• Restore only selected and relevant schemas from Production to Test • In addition, the System time of the replay system must be close to the

Production system if the workload has time sensitive data

Note from the Oracle documentation:

It is recommended that the system time on the replay system host be changed to a value that approximately matches the capture start time

just before replay is started. Otherwise, an invalid data set may result when replaying time-sensitive workloads. For example, a captured workload that contains SQL statements using the SYSDATE and SYSTIMESTAMP functions may cause replay divergence when replayed

on a system that has a different system time. Resetting the system

time will also minimize job scheduling inconsistencies between capture and replay. The Workload Analyzer will recommend if the captured

workload is sensitive to time and if system clock needs to be reset.


20

This is not mandatory, but recommended for workloads that are

sensitive to time(e.g., sysdate)

• If the source system makes use of DB Links, these DB links have to be created or modified on the target system. The same consideration

applies to external directories and external tables. • Ensure all SQLNET connectivity files do not point to the production

environment target host and distributed interfaces . • Ensure object code is checked and amended for all external interface

communication e.g url access , mail , ftp. • Execute Workload analyzer on preprocessed directory to validate

capture files before replay. Analyze the result and address the recommendations.

• For repeated testing – i.e. to repeatedly replay the captured workload, each time making changes to the code, DB configuration or other

variables, it is useful to create a Savepoint as described below. In addition, if we find that the replay runs for long periods of time, we could make use of the “create restore point <savepoint name>

guarantee flashback database”.

• Once a Savepoint has been created, the DB can be reverted back to the Savepoint as follows and then the replay can be executed once

again.

See the steps described in the below box.

drop restore point < Savepoint Name> ; create restore point < Savepoint Name> ;


21

After the DB has been reverted back to a clean slate as described above, the workload can be replayed once again. This approach allows us to

make changes to the configuration, code or other variables and replay the workload any number of times until we achieve a satisfactory

performance.

7.0 Replaying a Workload

7.1 Workload Analyzer

Refer to this Metalink article for full details. A snippet from the My Oracle Support note states as follows. The workload analyzer can be downloaded from the above article. It will be available in the 11.2.0.2 RDBMS and can

also be directly executed from EM 12c.

SQL> connect / as sysdba Connected. SQL> shutdown immediate Database closed. Database dismounted. ORACLE instance shut down. SQL> startup mount ORACLE instance started. Total System Global Area 954155008 bytes Fixed Size 1303916 bytes Variable Size 692062868 bytes Database Buffers 255852544 bytes Redo Buffers 4935680 bytes Database mounted. SQL> flashback database to restore point <Savepoint_name> ; Flashback complete. SQL> alter database open resetlogs; Database altered.


22

The Workload Analyzer is a Java program that analyzes a workload capture

directory and identifies parts of a captured workload that may not replay accurately due to factors that include insufficient data, errors that occurred

during workload capture, or usage of features that are not supported by Database Replay. The results of the workload analysis are saved to an HTML

report named wcr_cap_analysis.html located in the capture directory that is being analyzed. If an error can be prevented, the workload analysis report

displays available preventive actions that can be implemented before replay. If an error cannot be corrected, the workload analysis report provides a

description of the error so it can be accounted for during replay. Running Workload Analyzer is the default option and is strongly recommended.

7.2 Calibrating the workload before replay Calibrating the workload is done to understand the characteristics of the captured workload such as number of concurrent sessions that were in play and total number of sessions. The calibration feature also provides a

recommended estimate of the number of wrc clients per CPU that could be used for the actual replay for best simulation of the workload. In addition, it also reports on the memory needed per client process

wrc system mode=replay replaydir=c:\app\capture

Password: Errors in file : ORA-15554: cannot start workload replay client because the database server is not in PREPARE mode

wrc mode=calibrate replaydir=c:\app\capture2 Workload Replay Client: Release 11.2.0.1.0 - Produc tion on Thu Aug 11 19:33:10.11 Copyright (c) 1982, 2009, Oracle and/or its affilia tes. All rights reserved. Report for Workload in: c:\app\capture2 ----------------------- Recommendation: Consider using at least 1 clients divided among 1 C PU(s) You will need at least 3 MB of memory per client pr ocess. If your machine(s) cannot match that number, consid er using more clients. Workload Characteristics: - max concurrency: 1 sessions - total number of sessions: 3 Assumptions: - 1 client process per 50 concurrent sessions - 4 client process per CPU - 256 KB of memory cache per concurrent session - think time scale = 100 - connect time scale = 100 - synchronization = TRUE


23

7.3 Initialize the Workload Replay

This step loads the metadata contained in the pre-processed files into internal tables. Basically, this step places the DB in a state of readiness for the replay. Connections strings are loaded into the DBA_WORKLOAD_CONNECTION_MAP view

7.4 Connection Maps

When the workload is captured on the source system, all the connection strings used to establish connections to the target DB are captured as part of the workload. Needless to say, these connection strings will not be valid for the replay system as it will be a different DB and even perhaps on a different

server. Therefore, connections strings need to be remapped prior to the replay on the target system. Connections can be remapped as follows. The

connection_id is obtained by querying the

DBA_WORKLOAD_CONNECTION_MAP view

BEGIN DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPLAY.INITIALIZE_REPLAY (replay_na me => 'PEAK_REPLAY', replay_dir => 'CAPTURE_D IR'); END; / PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

exec dbms_workload_replay.remap_connection(<connect ion_id>, '<replay_connection>'); e.g. exec dbms_workload_replay.remap_connection(1, '(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=test_host )(PORT=1521))(CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=TEST_SERVICE)))');


24

For Oracle Real Application Clusters databases, you can map all connection

strings to a load balancing connection string. This is especially useful if the number of nodes on the replay system is different from the capture system.

Alternatively, if you want to direct workload to specific instances, you can use services or

explicitly specify the instance identifier in the remapped connection strings.

7.5 Prepare the Workload Replay and check status

Checking for replays in progress

BEGIN DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPLAY.PREPARE_REPLAY (SYNCHRONIZATION=>TRUE, --means transactions are replayed in SCN order CONNECT_TIME_SCALE=>100, --means same time between connections as in capture d workload

THINK_TIME_S CALE=>100, --means 1.5 x the time between subsequent calls THINK_TIME_A UTO_CORRECT=>false, SCALE_UP_MUL TIPLIER=>1); --means how many times to mu ltiply the workload by during replay END; / PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

COL NAME FORMAT A15 COL STATUS FORMAT A20 SET LINES 200 SELECT ID,NAME, STATUS FROM DBA_WORKLOAD_REPLAYS;


25

Workload replay filters can be added if required similar to the filters defined during the capture process. If no filters are defined, the entire captured

workload is replayed.

The following replay options can be specified with the DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPLAY.PREPARE_REPLAY procedure during the

Prepare stage

synchronization Controls whether or not the commit order is preserved during replay. I.e. the transactions

are committed in exactly the same order as they were committed in the Capture system.

Alternatively the transactions can be committed in any order as long as they do not violate their transactional dependencies.

Synchronization can also be done at the Object level.

connect_time_scale Scales the time elapsed between the start of the replay and the start of each session

Think_time_scale Scales the time elapsed between two successive user calls from the same session. This parameter can be used to reduce or scale

up the think time to simulate different types of variations to the same workload

Think_time_auto_correct Auto corrects the think time between calls when user calls takes longer during the

replay than during the capture

The below query displays one row for every replay client session that is connected to the database and executing the captured workload.

SQL> select * from v$workload_replay_thread; no rows selected


26

7.6 Starting the Workload Replay Clients (wrc)

Note: Once a workload replay is started, new replay clients will not be able to connect to the database. Only replay clients that were started before the START_REPLAY procedure is executed will be used to replay the captured

workload.

wrc system mode=replay replaydir=c: \ app \ capture2 Workload Replay Client: Release 11.2.0.1.0 - Produc tion on Thu Aug 11 19:58:11 2011 Copyright (c) 1982, 2009, Oracle and/or its affilia tes. All rights reserved. Password:*********** Wait for the replay to start (19:58:14) COL LOGON_USER FORMAT A15 COL PROGRAM FORMAT A8 COL EVENT FORMAT A25 COL SID FORMAT 99 COL FILE FORMAT A5 COL CLOCK FORMAT 99 SET LINES 200 SELECT CLOCK, SID, LOGON_USER, PROGRAM, FILE_NAME,C LIENT_OS_USER,EVENT FROM V$WORKLOAD_REPLAY_THREAD;


27

7.7 Starting the Workload Replay

A few pre-checks to ensure that we have a blank slate to start with.

Now start the workload replay, using the START_REPLAY procedure as follows:

Then, we will see the below appearing in the output of the terminals where the wrc.exe was started

SQL> SHOW USER USER is "SYS" SQL> DESC SCOTT.PEAK_PROCESSING2 ERROR: ORA-04043: object SCOTT.PEAK_PROCESSING2 doe s not exist Note – The error is expected since the workload is expected to create this object

BEGIN DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPLAY.START_REPLAY (); END; /


28

7.8 Changing Workload Replay execution status

Completion Messages

BEGIN DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPLAY.PAUSE_REPLAY (); END; / BEGIN DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPLAY.RESUME_REPLAY (); END; /

Replay started (20:02:43) Replay finished (20:04:50)


29

7.9 Replay information extraction

7.10 Extracting the Replay report for a specific Workload

SET SERVEROUTPUT ON DECLARE cap_id NUMBER; rep_id NUMBER; rep_rpt CLOB; BEGIN cap_id := DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPLAY.GET_REPLAY_INFO(di r => 'CAPTURE_DIR'); /* Get the latest replay for that capture */ SELECT max(id) INTO rep_id FROM dba_workload_replays WHERE capture_id = cap_id; dbms_output.put_line('Max REP_ID is :'||rep_id); end; /

Max REP_ID is : 1


set pagesize 0 long 30000000 longchunksize 2000 select DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPLAY.REPORT(replay_id => 1, format => 'TEXT') from dual;


30

7.11 Sample Replay Report

DB Replay Report for PEAK_REPLAY --------------------------------------------------- -------- | DB Name | DB Id | Release | RAC | Replay Name | Replay Status | --------------------------------------------------- --------| ORCL1 | 1143348259 | 11.2.0.1.0 | NO | PEAK_REPL AY | COMPLETED | --------------------------------------------------- -------- Replay Information --------------------------------------------------- --------| Information | Replay | Capture --------------------------------------------------- --------| Name | PEAK_REPLAY | PEAK_PROCESS ING_2 --------------------------------------------------- --------| Status | COMPLETED | COMPLETED --------------------------------------------------- --------| Database Name | ORCL1 | ORCL --------------------------------------------------- --------| Database Version | 11.2.0.1.0 | 11.2.0.1.0 --------------------------------------------------- --------| Start Time | 11-08-11 14:32:42 | 11-08-11 15: 24:53 --------------------------------------------------- --------| End Time | 11-08-11 14:32:55 | 11-08-11 15:48:4 7 --------------------------------------------------- --------| Duration | 13 seconds | 23 minutes 5 4 seconds | --------------------------------------------------- --------| Directory Object | CAPTURE_DIR | CAPTURE_DIR --------------------------------------------------- --------| Directory Path | c:\app\capture | c:\app\captu re --------------------------------------------------- -------- Replay Options --------------------------------------------------- ------ | Option Name | Value | --------------------------------------------------- ------ | Synchronization | SCN | --------------------------------------------------- ------ | Connect Time | 100% | --------------------------------------------------- ------ | Think Time | 150% | --------------------------------------------------- ------ | Think Time Auto Correct | FALSE |


31

--------------------------------------------------- ------ | Number of WRC Clients | 1 (1 Completed, 0 Runni ng ) | --------------------------------------------------- ------ Replay Statistics --------------------------------------------------- --------| Statistic | Replay | Capture --------------------------------------------------- --------| DB Time | 2.635 seconds | 5.889 secon ds --------------------------------------------------- --------| Average Active Sessions | .2 | 0 --------------------------------------------------- --------| User calls | 18 | 18 --------------------------------------------------- --------| Network Time | 0.426 seconds | . --------------------------------------------------- --------| Think Time | 10.004 seconds | . --------------------------------------------------- --------

7.12 Exporting AWR data

AWR data can be exported during the time of the capture as well as during the replays. The purpose of exporting the AWR data is primarily to compare At the end of each capture or replay, the relevant AWR snapshots for the period during which the capture or replay was executing can be exported and included in the captured or replayed data. The export log would look something like the below. To run the export, the command is as follows: BEGIN DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPLAY.EXPORT_AWR (capture_id => <C APTURE ID>); END; / . . exported "SYS"."WRH$_SYSMETRIC_HISTORY" 13.46 K B 100 rows . . exported "SYS"."WRH$_SQL_PLAN" 6.355 MB 26787 r ows . . exported "SYS"."WRH$_SYSMETRIC_SUMMARY" 32.19 K B 296 rows . . exported "SYS"."WRH$_ENQUEUE_STAT" 18.02 KB 174 rows . . exported "SYS"."WRH$_WAITCLASSMETRIC_HISTORY" 9 .429 KB 0 rows


32

These exported AWR snapshots can then be imported into another system into a specified and empty schema. The commands to export AWR reports during Capture and Replay are provided below EXEC DBMS_WORKLOAD_CAPTURE.EXPORT_AWR (capture_id => 12); EXEC DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPLAY.EXPORT_AWR (replay_id => 13);


33

7.13 Useful Views

This section summarizes the views that you can display to monitor workload replay. You need DBA privileges to access these views.

• The DBA_WORKLOAD_CAPTURES view lists all the workload captures that have been captured in the current database.

• The DBA_WORKLOAD_FILTERS view lists all workload filters for workload captures defined in the current database.

• The DBA_WORKLOAD_REPLAYS view lists all the workload replays that have been replayed in the current database.

• The DBA_WORKLOAD_REPLAY_DIVERGENCE view enables you to view information about diverged calls, such as the replay identifier, stream identifier, and call counter.

• The DBA_WORKLOAD_REPLAY_FILTER_SET view lists all workload filters for workload replays defined in the current database.

• The DBA_WORKLOAD_CONNECTION_MAP view lists the connection mapping information for workload replay.

• The V$WORKLOAD_REPLAY_THREAD view lists information about all sessions from the replay clients.

The following Oracle supplied PL/SQL API packages contain the sub-

programs to completely manage and administer the Capture and Replay processes

DBMS_WORKLOAD_CAPTURE package

DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPLAY package

8.0 Data Divergence on Replay Sample Simulation When the captured workload is replayed on the target system it is highly possible that some workload statements may fail due to DML, DDL or privilege related errors. These errors are called divergences and the

effectiveness of the replay is measured by the % of the captured workload

that could successfully be replayed on the target system. This allows the tester to make appropriate adjustments while reviewing the system performance results.

Data Divergences could occur due to lack of privileges, synonyms on the objects that are referred to in the workload, missing objects and/or schemas, unique key violations, referential integrity violations, space related issues etc.


34

8.1 A Test case for demonstrating Data Divergence

To understand a typical data divergence scenario, a sample test case has been devised based on a unique key constraint violation. In this test case, an employee table has been created with a unique key index and during replay we add a duplicate row into the table and that causes a unique index

violation in the data divergence dictionary views. Same db and schema is used for capture and reply process during test case.

Below are the high level steps outlined below

1) Create an employee table in the SCOTT schema.

2) Start the capture process and insert unique rows into the EMPLOYEE table

3) Once capture completes, remove inserted rows from employee table to start

with a clean slate for the replay

4) Before the replay process is started, insert one duplicate row into the EMPLOYEE table. This gives rise to an unique key constraint violation which will then be populated in the divergence views

5) Check divergence in the Divergence view for the details of the SQL and bind

variables that caused the divergence

The following section provides a step by step approach to simulating and

diagnosing a Data Divergence scenario during replay

Create a sample table which will be used for demonstrating the data divergence scenario

Remove all previous capture metadata if desired. This is not a mandatory step.

Add a filter on the SCOTT schema

create table employee (employeeid number, employee_ name varchar2(40));

select id from DBA_WORKLOAD_CAPTURES; begin DBMS_WORKLOAD_CAPTURE.DELETE_CAPTURE_INFO(<Capture ID>); end; /


35

Add the required filters to restrict the workload that is captured as described below.

Check the current filters and their statuses

SQL> select * from dba_workload_filters; TYPE ID STATUS NAME ATTRIBUTE VALUE --------------------------------------------------- CAPTURE 0 NEW USER_SCOTT USER SCOTT

BEGIN DBMS_WORKLOAD_CAPTURE.ADD_FILTER ( fname => 'user_scott', fattribute => 'USER', fvalue => 'SCOTT');

DBMS_WORKLOAD_CAPTURE.ADD_FILTER ( fname => 'instance_filter', fattribute => 'INSTANCE_NUMBER' , fvalue => '1' ); END; /


36

Create a capture directory (if non-existent) and start the capture process

Check the status of the capture process that has been started as described in the steps below


SQL> create or replace directory CAPTURE_DIR as 'c: \app\capture'; Directory created. SQL> BEGIN

DBMS_WORKLOAD_CAPTURE.START_CAPTURE ( name => 'PEAK_PROCESSING_2', dir => 'CAPTURE_DIR', default_action=>'EXCLUDE', duration => null, --means capture has to b e ended manually auto_unrestrict => FALSE --if the above is TRUE all instances started up in RESTRICT mode will be made -- unrestricted when the capture ends ); END; / PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

ID NAME DBID DBNAME DB VERSION PAR STATUS TO_CHAR(START_TI TO_CHAR(END_TIME DURATION_SECS

---------- --------------- ---------- ---------- -- ---------- --- --------------- ---------------- ---------------- ----- -------- 57 PEAK_PROCESSING_2 1292646392 ORCL 11.2.0.1.0 NO IN PROGRESS 30/10/2011 05:24


37

Insert data into employee table to generate work load in the SCOTT schema.

Complete the workload capture step

Check the capture process status to verify it shows as COMPLETED

This concludes creation and capture of the workload which will be used to simulate the Data Divergence in the subsequent steps

insert into employee values (1,'Akash'); Insert into employee values (2,'Kehul'); insert into employee values (3,'Milan'); insert into employee values (4,'Ajay');

BEGIN DBMS_WORKLOAD_CAPTURE.FINISH_CAPTURE (); END; / PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

set lines 200 col status format a15 col name format a15 col dbversion format a12 SELECT ID, NAME, DBID,DBNAME,DBVERSION, PARALLEL,STATUS, to_char(START_TIME,'dd/mm/yyyy hh 24:mi'), to_char(END_TIME,'dd/mm/yyyy hh24:mi'),DURATION_SEC S FROM DBA_WORKLOAD_CAPTURES; ID NAME D BID DBNAME DBVERSION PAR STATUS TO_CHAR(START_TI TO_CHAR(END_TIME DURATION_SECS ---------- --------------- ---------- ---------- -- ---------- --- --------------- ---------------- ---------------- ---- --------- 57 PEAK_PROCESSING_2 1292646392 ORCL 11.2.0.1.0 NO COMPLETED 30/10/2011 05:24 30/10/2011 05:27 148


38

8.2 Replaying the workload to cause a Data Divergence

To simulate a data divergence, after the capture completes, we remove

inserted data from employee table and add a unique key index and one dummy row which will get duplicated when the replay runs

Pre-process the captured workload

Initialize and calibrate the workload before replay

delete from employee; create unique index employee_empid on employee (emp loyeeid); insert into employee values (1,'Raja');

BEGIN DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPLAY.PROCESS_CAPTURE (capture_dir => 'CAPTURE_DIR'); END; /


BEGIN DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPLAY.INITIALIZE_REPLAY (replay_na me => 'PEAK_REPLAY', replay_dir => 'CAPTURE_D IR'); END; / PL/SQL procedure successfully completed. $ wrc mode=calibrate replaydir=c:\app\capture


39

Prepare the Workload Replay

Check for the replay status as shown below.

COL NAME FORMAT A15 COL STATUS FORMAT A20 SET LINES 200 SELECT ID,NAME, STATUS FROM DBA_WORKLOAD_REPLAYS;

Start the replay clients as described in the steps below.

BEGIN DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPLAY.PREPARE_REPLAY (SYNCHRONIZATION=>TRUE, --means transactions are replayed in SCN order CONNECT_TIME_SCALE=>100, --means same time between connections as in capture d workload

THINK_TIME_S CALE=>100, --means 1.5 x the time between subsequent calls THINK_TIME_A UTO_CORRECT=>false, SCALE_UP_MUL TIPLIER=>1); --means how many times to mu ltiply the workload by during replay END; / PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

wrc system mode=replay replaydir=c: \ app \ capture Workload Replay Client: Release 11.2.0.1.0 - Produc tion on Thu Aug 11 19:58:11 2011 Copyright (c) 1982, 2009, Oracle and/or its affilia tes. All rights reserved. Password:*********** Wait for the replay to start (19:58:14)

ID NAME STATUS ---------- --------------- -------------------- 16 PEAK_REPLAY COMPLETED 1 PEAK_REPLAY CANCELLED 13 PEAK_REPLAY CANCELLED 17 PEAK_REPLAY COMPLETED 34 PEAK_REPLAY COMPLETED 12 PEAK_REPLAY COMPLETED 43 PEAK_REPLAY PREPARE 21 PEAK_REPLAY COMPLETED


40

Start the workload replay as shown below

Then, we will see the below appearing in the output of the terminals where the wrc.exe was started

To check what SQLs are being currently replayed by the wrc clients, the following query can be executed.

BEGIN DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPLAY.START_REPLAY (); END; /

wrc system mode=replay replaydir=c: \ app \ capture Workload Replay Client: Release 11.2.0.1.0 - Produc tion on Sun Oct 30 11:00:18 2011 Copyright (c) 1982, 2009, Oracle and/or its affilia tes. All rights reserved. Password: Wait for the replay to start (11:00:21) Replay started (11:00:40)

SQL> select sid,sql_id from v$session where program like 'wrc%'; SID SQL_ID ---------- ------------- 13 7wn3wubg7gjds


41

8.3 Checking for Data Divergences

After the replay clients have completed, check for any Data Divergences that might have occurred as depicted below.

SQL> set long 5000 SQL> select * from DBA_WORKLOAD_REPLAY_DIVERGENCE w here replay_id=43;


42

8.4 Extract the Diverging SQL statement

To extract the details of the diverging SQL statement and its associated bind variables, follow the steps described below. This can then be used to ascertain if the exclusion of the diverging statements causes an impact to the workload simulation. If it is important that the diverged statements must

be executed, then the data must be corrected on the target system prior to re-running the workload replay

select DBMS_WORKLOAD_REPLAY.GET_DIVERGING_STATEMENT(replay_id => 43, stream_id => stream_id, call_counter => 17) from DBA_WORKLOAD_REPLAY_DIVERGENCE where replay_id=43 and call_counter=17; Diverging Statement Details ---------------------------- <replay_divergence_info> <sql_id>786cwqgg8m5j7</sql_id>

<sql_text> insert into employee values (1,'Akash') </sql_text> <full_sql_text> insert into employee values (1,'Akash') </full_sql_text>

<binds/> </replay_divergence_info> SQL>


43

9.0 Using Enterprise Manager for Real Application

Testing Oracle Enterprise Manager is integrated with the APIs and can be used for performing Database Replays as an alternative to the command prompt. As shown below (for EM 11g), the Software and Support tab contains the links to the Real Application Testing suite. Clicking on the “Database Replay” takes us to the next screen shown further below.

The Database Replay screen contains the links for performing the tasks related to Capturing Workloads, Preprocessing workloads and Replaying workloads.


44

In the preprocess workload screen, a list of available directory objects are displayed from which the desired directory, containing the captured data, is to be chosen

The detailed steps for performing Capture and Replay using Enterprise Manager have intentionally been excluded from this document as the steps and screens are self explanatory


45

Summary

This paper attempted to describe the best practices on deploying Oracle Real Application Testing. This is a toolset/feature which captures an exact production workload including timing, concurrency and dependency information and is able to run this “captured” workload into an alternate environment. With this load testing, we were able to learn the impact of a prospective change to a workload. The installation was done on an IBM POWER6 System.

Operating system

AIX 6.1 (6100-06-04-1112) is the operating system used in the tests described in this paper. This test was pursued in PowerVM VIOS environment. VIOS version 2.2.0.10-FP-24 was used. Virtual SCSI disk method was used to present the Storage LUNs to the AIX Logical partitions (LPAR).

Storage System Management

IBM System Storage Storwize V7000 provides a new embedded web browser based Graphical User Interface (GUI) interface for configuring and managing all aspects of the storage sub system. It also helps to troubleshoot and correct problems. IBM V7000 also provides Command Line Interface (CLI) for the advanced users who are familiar of administering this storage server.


46

Resources

These Web sites provide useful references to supplement the information contained in this document:

IBM Power Systems Information Center o http://publib16.boulder.ibm.com/pseries/index.htm

IBM AIX Information Center

o http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/v5r3/index.jsp

IBM Publications Center

http://www-05.ibm.com/e-business/linkweb/publications/servlet/pbi.wss?CTY=US .

IBM Redbooks o http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/

My Oracle Support articles & references (https://support.oracle.com/CSP/ui/flash.html)

(please note: an userid and password are required to access the above website) o Real Application Testing Now Available for Earlier Releases [ID 560977.1] o Real Application Testing (RAT) API Setup and Verification [ID 1083063.1] o Using the workload capture and replay in 11G [ID 445116.1] o Database Replay Diagnostic information [ID 1287620.1] o Database Capture and replay common errors and reasons [ID 463263.1

Oracle Documentation

http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E11882_01/server.112/e16540/rat_intro.htm#RATUG101

About the author

The author, Surya Rao , is an IBM Senior Certified IT Specialist, an Oracle Certified Master and the Service Line Architect for Data Management, IBM GTS, SO Delivery, India

Viren Parikh , is an Oracle Subject Matter Expert (SME) in Data Management, IBM GTS, SO Delivery

India, and has made significant technical contributions to this document


47

Appendix

1.0 Common Errors and Resolutions

Please refer to the article DATABASE CAPTURE AND REPLAY COMMON

ERRORS AND REASONS [ID 463263.1] for information on common issues that could be faced

2.0 Patch level for RAT

Refer to the MOS Article 560977.1 as the list of patches is constantly changing


48

Trademarks and special notices

© Copyright. IBM Corporation 1994-2012. All rights reserved.

References in this document to IBM products or services do not imply that IBM intends to make them available in every country.

IBM, the IBM logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both:

Java and all Java-based trademarks are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States, other countries, or both.

Microsoft, Windows, Windows Server, and the Windows logo are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.

Intel and Xeon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.

AMD and AMD Opteron are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

Red Hat, the Red Hat "Shadow Man" logo, and all Red Hat-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc., in the United States and other countries.

UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries.

Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or both.

Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.

The information provided in this document is distributed “AS IS” without any warranty, either express or implied.

The information in this document may include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors.

All customer examples described are presented as illustrations of how those customers have used IBM products and the results they may have achieved. Actual environmental costs and performance characteristics may vary by customer.

Information concerning non-IBM products was obtained from a supplier of these products, published announcement material, or other publicly available sources and does not constitute an endorsement of such products by IBM. Sources for non-IBM list prices and performance numbers are taken from publicly available information, including vendor announcements and vendor worldwide homepages. IBM has not tested these products and cannot confirm the accuracy of performance, capability, or any other claims related to non-IBM products. Questions on the capability of non-IBM products should be addressed to the supplier of those products.

All statements regarding IBM future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and represent goals and objectives only. Contact your local IBM office or IBM authorized reseller for the full text of the specific Statement of Direction.

Some information addresses anticipated future capabilities. Such information is not intended as a definitive statement of a commitment to specific levels of performance, function or delivery schedules with


49

respect to any future products. Such commitments are only made in IBM product announcements. The information is presented here to communicate IBM's current investment and development activities as a good faith effort to help with our customers' future planning.

Performance is based on measurements and projections using standard IBM benchmarks in a controlled environment. The actual throughput or performance that any user will experience will vary depending upon considerations such as the amount of multiprogramming in the user's job stream, the I/O configuration, the storage configuration, and the workload processed. Therefore, no assurance can be given that an individual user will achieve throughput or performance improvements equivalent to the ratios stated here.

Photographs shown are of engineering prototypes. Changes may be incorporated in production models.

Any references in this information to non-IBM Web sites are provided for convenience only and do not in any manner serve as an endorsement of those Web sites. The materials at those Web sites are not part of the materials for this IBM product and use of those Web sites is at your own risk.

Oracle Real Application Testing – Database...

Documents

Transcript of Oracle Real Application Testing – Database...