Spotlight On Oracle Getting Started

Spotlight on Oracle 7.
6
Getting Started Guide
2010 Quest Software, Inc.

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Spotlight on Oracle 7.6
Updated October 2010
Table of Contents
Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................... 5
Welcome to Spotlight on Oracle ........................................................................................................................ 7
An overview of the Oracle architecture .................................................................................................................... 7
An overview of Spotlight on Oracle .......................................................................................................................... 9
Features of Spotlight .............................................................................................................................................. 11
Getting started with Spotlight on Oracle ....................................................................................................... 15

Installing Spotlight .................................................................................................................................................. 15
Starting Spotlight .................................................................................................................................................... 18
Creating a new Spotlight user ................................................................................................................................ 19
Creating an Oracle database connection ............................................................................................................... 21
Connecting to an Oracle database......................................................................................................................... 26
Using Toad to launch Spotlight .............................................................................................................................. 27
Installing and using DTrace within Spotlight .......................................................................................................... 29
Using Spotlight on Oracle ................................................................................................................................ 31

The Spotlight on Oracle home page ...................................................................................................................... 31
Spotlight on Oracle alarms ..................................................................................................................................... 39
Spotlight on Oracle drilldowns ................................................................................................................................ 48
Spotlight menus...................................................................................................................................................... 52
Using Spotlight to tune your database ................................................................................................................... 52
Using Spotlight to predict database performance .................................................................................................. 53
Spotlight on Oracle RAC .................................................................................................................................. 59

What is Oracle RAC? ............................................................................................................................................. 59
Spotlight on Oracle
Installing and authorizing Spotlight on Oracle RAC ............................................................................................... 61
Starting Spotlight on Oracle RAC ........................................................................................................................... 61
Creating a new Spotlight user ................................................................................................................................ 62
Creating a connection to an Oracle RAC database ............................................................................................... 62
Connecting to an Oracle RAC database ................................................................................................................ 66
Using Spotlight on Oracle RAC .............................................................................................................................. 67
Troubleshooting ................................................................................................................................................ 77
Product authorization errors ................................................................................................................................... 77
Connection problems .............................................................................................................................................. 78
Drilldown problems ................................................................................................................................................. 79
High Spotlight load on database server.................................................................................................................. 81
Appendix: Contact Quest ................................................................................................................................. 83

Contact Quest Support ........................................................................................................................................... 83
Contact Spotlight support ....................................................................................................................................... 83
Contact Quest Software ......................................................................................................................................... 84
About Quest Software ............................................................................................................................................ 84
Index ................................................................................................................................................................... 85
1
Introduction
This guide provides the basic information you need to start using Spotlight on Oracle
to diagnose the performance of your Oracle databases and clusters. You will read
about:
How Spotlight displays information about your Oracle databases.
How to install and start Spotlight on Oracle.
How to create a Spotlight user for your database.
How to make a Spotlight on Oracle connection to a database.
How to use that Spotlight connection.
How to make and use a Spotlight connection to an Oracle RAC cluster.
How to resolve some common Spotlight problems.
How to contact Quest Software for further assistance.
2
Welcome to Spotlight on Oracle
Spotlight on Oracle is Quest Softwares powerful diagnostic and problemresolution tool for Oracle databases. Its unique user interface provides you with an
intuitive visual representation of the activity on your database and operating system.
This chapter explains the main features of Spotlight on Oracle.
An overview of the Oracle architecture

This section explains how data flows into and out of your databases. This
architecture has been used to design the main Spotlight window.
Basic components of an Oracle server

The following diagram illustrates some of the basic components of an Oracle server
at the memory, database and disk layers. The numbers indicate the order of the flow
of information.
Spotlight on Oracle
The numbered labels in the Oracle architecture diagram correspond to the following
activities:
1 The client program (for example, SQL*PLUS, Oracle Power Objects, or
some other tool) sends a SELECT statement to the server process.
2 The server process looks in the shared pool for a matching SQL statement. If
none is found, the server process parses the SQL and inserts the SQL
statement into the shared pool.
3 The server process looks in the buffer cache for the data blocks required. If
found, the data block must be moved on to the most recently used end of the
Least Recently Used (LRU) list.
4 If the block cannot be found in the buffer cache the server process must fetch
it from the disk file. This requires a disk I/O.
5 The server process returns the rows retrieved to the client process. This may
involve some network or communications delay.
6 When the client issues the UPDATE statement the process of parsing the
SQL and retrieving the rows to be updated must occur. The update statement
then changes the relevant blocks in shared memory and updates entries in the
rollback segment buffers.
7 The update statement also makes an entry in the redo log buffer that records
the transaction details.
Chapter 2
8 The database-writer background process copies modified blocks from the

buffer cache to the database files. The Oracle session performing the update
does not have to wait for this to occur.
9 When the COMMIT statement is issued the log writer process must copy the
contents of the redo log buffer to the redo log file. The COMMIT statement
does not return control to the Oracle session issuing the commit until this
write is complete.
10 If running in ARCHIVELOG mode, the archiver process copies full redo
logs to the archive destination. A redo log is not eligible for re-use until it has
been archived.
11 At regular intervals, or when a redo log switch occurs, Oracle performs a
checkpoint. A checkpoint requires all modified blocks in the buffer cache to
be written to disk. A redo log file cannot be re-used until the checkpoint
completes.
Recommended reading
The best information to help you tune and configure Oracle databases can be found
online. Use as your first point of reference Web sites such as:
The Quest Software Oracle Solutions Web site.
The Oracle home page.
An overview of Spotlight on Oracle

Home page
The Spotlight on Oracle home page provides a detailed view of the Oracle database
as a whole.
The home page helps you locate system bottlenecks quickly. Related server statistics
are grouped together on panels that are connected by a series of graphical flows and
icons. Spotlight updates these flows in real time so that you can see how quickly data
is moving through the system. The icons change color as Spotlight alarms are raised,
upgraded, downgraded and canceled.
10
Spotlight on Oracle
The Spotlight on Oracle home page below has six main panels that reflect the Oracle
architecture (see page 7).
The panels are:
The Sessions panel.
The Host panel.
The Server Processes panel.
The SGA panel.
The Background Processes panel.
The Disk Storage panel.
For more information on the panels in the Spotlight home page, and on using them to
diagnose a specified Oracle database, see Panels on page 32.
Chapter 2
11
Alarms
More detailed information on situations where the diagnosed Oracle database
exceeds acceptable performance thresholds can be viewed in the alarms that
Spotlight raises.
For more information on Spotlight alarms, see Spotlight on Oracle alarms on
page 39.
Drilldowns
More detailed information on the performance of the Oracle database is available in
the charts and tables of the various drilldown pages that can be accessed from the
Spotlight home page.
For more information on Spotlight drilldowns, and on using them to view the
detailed performance of a specified Oracle database, see Spotlight on Oracle
drilldowns on page 47.
Features of Spotlight
Spotlight is designed for ease of installation and use, and offers a range of tools for
problem diagnosis.
Features common to Spotlight applications

Features that are common to most Spotlight applications include:
Easy installation.
The display of real-time data.
Comprehensive information in charts and tables.
Visible, audible and configurable alarms.
Context-sensitive help.
Calibration.
Recording and playback of historical data.
12
Spotlight on Oracle
Common Spotlight technology. Spotlight on Oracle can run within the same
Spotlight console as several other Quest Spotlight products.
Features specific to Spotlight on Oracle

Spotlight features that are specific to Spotlight on Oracle include:
The ability to add new Spotlight on Oracle users, and to convert the accounts
of existing Oracle users so they can use Spotlight on Oracle.
Access to a number of other Quest applications for viewing detailed
information on the specified Oracle database. For details see Spotlight Menus
on page 52, or refer to the online help under Using Spotlight on Oracle to
access detailed Oracle information.
Features specific to Spotlight on Oracle RAC

Spotlight features that are specific to Spotlight on Oracle RAC include:
The ability to verify connection details for Oracle RAC instances.
The ability to open Spotlight on Oracle from Spotlight on Oracle RAC.
Predictive Diagnostics
Predictive Diagnostics allows Spotlight to collect and analyze performance metrics
for:
SQL statements as they are executed on the database instance.
System bottlenecks as they affect database throughput and response time.
Database resources as they reach their full capacity and affect database
throughput and concurrency.
When enough performance data is collected, Spotlight may be able to predict the
future performance for individual SQL statements on that database, for potential
bottlenecks in the system, and for database CPU, memory, and disk I/O resources.
Note:
When you start using Predictive Diagnostics, Spotlight will take about 10 days to collect
enough data to make valid predictions on the future performance of the database.
Chapter 2
13
For more information on Predictive Diagnostics, see Using Spotlight to predict

database performance on page 53.
DTrace analysis (Solaris 10 and later)

DTrace is a dynamic analysis tool for Sun Microsystems operating systems. It was
first introduced in the Solaris 10 operating system, and can be used ONLY on Sun
platforms from Solaris 10 onwards.
Spotlight on Oracle can use DTrace to capture details of the interaction between
Oracle and the operating system when Oracle uses the O/S services provided by
Solaris.
To use DTrace within Spotlight, you need to install and configure a number of
DTrace scripts on the server under investigation, and then enable the DTrace
functionality within Spotlight itself. For detailed instructions on how to do this, see
Installing and Using DTrace within Spotlight on page 27.
3
Getting started with
Spotlight on Oracle
This chapter describes what you need to do to start using Spotlight on Oracle. It
explains:
How to install Spotlight.
How to start Spotlight.
How to set up a Spotlight user.
How to create a Spotlight on Oracle connection.
How to connect to an Oracle database.
Installing Spotlight
To install Spotlight on Oracle, complete the following steps. Close all other
applications before loading the CD into your PC or (if you have downloaded
Spotlight from the Quest Web site) executing the downloaded Quest installer.
You can cancel the installation at any time by pressing the Esc key or by clicking the
Cancel button.
Before installing and running Spotlight

Before you install and run Spotlight, you should ensure that the Spotlight installer
and desktop user have the appropriate client permissions on the Spotlight client
machine.
16
Spotlight on Oracle
Note:
The Spotlight application can be installed only on a supported Windows system where
the current user has Administrator privileges.
At installation
During installation, Spotlight requires write access to the following folders:
The Spotlight installation folder (by default, Program Files\Quest
Software\Spotlight)
Program Files\Common Files\Quest Shared
Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Quest
Software\Spotlight
Documents and Settings\<current user>\Application Data\Quest
Software\Spotlight
and to the following Windows registry keys and sub-keys:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Quest Software\Products
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Quest Software\Spotlight
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT
In many cases, the Spotlight installer will run at elevated privileges in order to
perform the required actions. These privileges can specifically be allowed or
disallowed by system administrators by means of standard Microsoft Installer (MSI)
policy settings.
When running Spotlight

During operation, Spotlight requires write access to the following file locations
under the Documents and Settings folder:
<current user>\Application Data\Quest Software\Shared
<current user>\Application Data\Quest Software\Spotlight
You should also verify that you can run the required Oracle client on the Spotlight
machine.
When authenticating a Spotlight license

When you install a new Spotlight application or update license details on an existing
application, Spotlight requires:
Administrator access to the Windows registry
Chapter 3
Getting Started with Spotlight on Oracle
17
Write access to the Console\Licenses sub-folder of the Spotlight installation

folder.
To install Spotlight on Oracle

Quest Spotlight installers can be delivered on CD or as downloaded executable files.
If installing Spotlight from a CD:
1 Insert the Quest Installer CD into your CD-ROM drive.
Depending on your system's configuration, the installation program may start
automatically. If this happens, follow the instructions on the screen to complete the
installation.
2 If the installation program does not start, select Run from the Windows Start
menu and type the name of the installation package.
For Spotlight delivered as part of the Toad DBA Suite, type d:\TOAD
DBA Suite for Oracle vvv.exe (where d: is the CD-ROM identifier, and
vvv is the version), and click OK.
For Spotlight delivered as a standalone installer type
d:\SpotlightonOracle_750.exe (where d: is the CD-ROM identifier) and
click OK.
3 If you have downloaded the Quest Spotlight installer from the Quest Web
site, execute the downloaded installer.
4 Follow the instructions displayed on the screen.
By default, Spotlight on Oracle is installed into the following directory, though you
can choose a different installation path.
C:\Program Files\Quest Software\Spotlight
Note:
If the database to be diagnosed is running on Windows, and you want to be able to view
operating system metrics in Spotlight, you must have permission to read the registry of
the database machine. For more information, see Connection problems on page 78.
Multiple installations of Spotlight on Oracle

Although many Spotlight applications can run within a single Spotlight installation,
the standalone Spotlight installer will allow you to install and separately upgrade
multiple copies of Spotlight on your computer.
18
Spotlight on Oracle
MSI installation of Spotlight on Oracle

MSI installers are available for Spotlight on Oracle. These installers can be run
silently, and produce an installation that can be captured and re-used via automatic
deployment techniques.
Contact Quest Software for more information on Spotlight MSI installers.
To authorize Spotlight on Oracle

Spotlight comes with a time-limited trial license for Spotlight on Oracle. Contact
your Quest Software representative to obtain the necessary registered keys to ensure
Spotlight remains available when the trial key expires.
After the trial licenses have expired, Spotlight on Oracle reverts to a preview mode,
which limits access to the Spotlight on Oracle home page, with one connection only
at a time.
To view or modify the Spotlight license after you have installed Spotlight on Oracle:
1 Select About Spotlight from the Help menu. (The Installed Products tab
contains license details for all installed Spotlight products.)
2 Select View / change product license under any Spotlight on Oracle entry in
the list of installed products.
For more information, see Product Authorization Errors on page 77.
To uninstall Spotlight on Oracle

To uninstall Spotlight on Oracle, use the Add/Remove Programs option in the
Windows Control Panel in the Start menu that appears when you click the Start
button. (For Windows 7 and Windows Vista operating systems Programs and
Features has replaced the Add/Remove Programs option.)
Starting Spotlight
In order to successfully connect to a database, the following steps must be
completed:
1 Start the Spotlight application.
Chapter 3
19
2 Create a new Spotlight user, if required.

3 Create a Spotlight database connection.
4 Connect to the database.
To start Spotlight on Oracle

To start Spotlight on Oracle, click the Spotlight desktop icon or
1 On the Windows task bar, click Start.
2 From the Programs menu, choose Quest Software | Spotlight | Spotlight.
Creating a new Spotlight user

Spotlight on Oracle users require special privileges, views, and tables so they can
diagnose your Oracle databases. To grant these privileges, Spotlight invokes the
Oracle User Wizard to create and update the required Spotlight users.
Use the wizard to:
Add new users to the database that is to be diagnosed.
Convert the accounts of existing Oracle users so they can use Spotlight on
Oracle.
Reconfigure existing Spotlight on Oracle users to work with new versions of
Spotlight on Oracle (when available).
To create a Spotlight user

1 Start Spotlight on Oracle.
2 From the File menu choose Oracle User Wizard...
3 Click Next.
4 Enter the following details:
Enter the SQL*Net
connection string
Enter the database instance on which you

wish to create the user.
20
Spotlight on Oracle
Enter the user name of a

DBA account
Enter a DBA user name for that database

instance (so that the Spotlight user and the
relevant objects can be created). The user
name requires SYSDBA access.
Enter the password
Enter the DBA user password.
5 Click Next to continue.

6 Click Create a new user and enter the following details:
User name
Enter a name for the new user.
Password
Enter a password for the new user.
Confirm password
Confirm the password.
Select any table
Select this to enable the user to generate

explain plans.
Alter system
Select this to enable the user to trace and

terminate sessions.

8 Select tablespaces to use for
Spotlight tables
The default tablespace is USERS, if

available.
Temporary segments
The default temporary tablespace is TEMP,

if available.

10 You can choose whether to employ Predictive Diagnostics on this database
instance. To use Predictive Diagnostics:
Select Create/Upgrade Predictive Diagnostics schema, and then click
Next.
Choose whether to use an existing Predictive Diagnostics schema
(recommended) or install a new schema, and then click Next.
Chapter 3
21
Choose whether to install a set of sample data (which you can use to
experiment with the Predictive Diagnostics feature), and then click
Next.
Choose the settings that Spotlight will use to schedule the Oracle jobs
that collect data on SQL performance and impending bottlenecks, and
then click Next.
11 Click Next when the user setup is complete.
12 Click Finish to complete the task.
Creating an Oracle database connection

Note:
Before creating the connection, ensure that you have created a Spotlight user (see
page 19) that has the special privileges required to diagnose your Oracle databases.
To create a database connection

1 From the File menu choose Connect...
2 Ensure Spotlight on Oracle is selected on the Connections menu.
3 Double-click the Add new connection icon.
4 A Properties window opens for the new connection. The Details page of the
Properties window has several sections:
Oracle connection details.
ASM connection details. This section is available only for Oracle 10g
systems or later.
Server connection details.
ESX connection details.
StealthCollect connection details. This section appears only if you
already have installed a Quest application (such as Performance
Analysis) that supports StealthCollect.
22
Spotlight on Oracle
5 Enter the following information in the Details page of the Properties window:
Connection String
Select the name of the database that you

wish to connect to. By default this will be
the name of the connection.
Oracle Username
Enter the Spotlight user name.
Oracle Password
Enter the Spotlight user password.
Oracle Home
Select an appropriate Oracle Home a

location where Oracle client software is
installed.
Choose a home that contains a version of
the Oracle client that is compatible with the
server under diagnosis.
6 (Available only in Oracle 10g and later) Select Monitor ASM if you want to
monitor the performance of Oracle's Automated Storage Management (ASM)
technology. ASM is built into the Oracle database kernel; it simplifies the
creation and space management in Oracle databases. Enter the following
details:
ASM Connection String
Enter the connection string required to link

to the ASM database instance that is used
for storage management for the Oracle
database under investigation.
The TNSNAMES entry for the ASM instance must
include the option (UR = A) for the Spotlight
connection to work properly.
Chapter 3
ASM Password
23
Enter the user password that Spotlight uses

when logging on to the ASM database
instance.
There is NO ASM Username box for the ASM
connection, as the ASM instance contains only
one user SYS that can provide access to
ASM-specific information.
SYS access to an ASM instance does NOT create
a security issue for the Oracle database but still
you should limit access to the SYS account to
trusted individuals.
Because the SYS password is stored in encrypted
format, non-privileged users can still access
Spotlight on Oracle. To do so:
Use a pre-configured or shared

Spotlight on Oracle connection, OR
Use a Spotlight connection without ASM

access. Spotlight will display Oraclerelated data, but the ASM drilldown will
contain no data.
7 Select Monitor OS if you want to monitor the operating system on the

database server. Enter the following details:
OS Server
Enter the name of the server that is to be

monitored. Use a period . if you wish to
monitor the local database.
OS Type
Select the type of operating system to

monitor. The supported types are:
Unix(REXEC)
Unix(SSH)
Unix(SSH using Public/Private key)
Windows
If you select one of the Unix systems, make sure

that the relevant SSH or REXEC daemon is
running on the database server, and is configured
to receive remote connections.
24
Spotlight on Oracle
SSH Port
(Enabled only when you
choose to connect to the
database server via SSH.)
OS Username
Enter the port number that Spotlight will use

for its SSH (secure shell) connection to the
Oracle database.
The default value is 22.
Type the username you use when you log

onto the database server.
If the username and password if required are
not completed, you will not be able to view the
operating system performance statistics for the
database server.
(Windows) If your login details have been
assigned remote access to the registry of the
database server, you do not need to complete the
OS Username and OS Password fields.
(If your login details have NOT been set up on the
database server, you must enter a username and
password that has access to the registry of the
server.)
SSH Key Type

connect to the database
server via Unix(SSH using
Public/Private key).
SSH Private Key

Filename
(See SSH Key Type above.)
Choose the type of key to use when making

the Spotlight connection.
Public-key encryption is supported under SSH2
only. The current options are RSA and DSA. For
more information, see Public/Private keypairs in
the online help.
Type the location of the file that contains the

private key for the Spotlight connection, or
click the "..." button to locate it.
Type the passphrase used to decrypt the

private key.
OS Password
Enter the user password (if required).
SSH Passphrase
(Enabled when you connect to

the database server via
Unix(REXEC), Unix(SSH), or
Windows).
Chapter 3
25
8 Select the option Connect to OS Spotlight when starting this connection

to open the relevant operating-system (OS) Spotlight automatically when you
open your Spotlight on Oracle connection.
9 Click the Monitor ESX option if you want to monitor the virtual machine
that hosts the database. This option is enabled when Monitor OS is
checked. Enter the following details.
ESX Web Service
Type or select the URL of the ESX Web

Service that manages the virtual machine.
ESX Username
Type the username required to connect to

the ESX Web Service.
Note: The username specified must have read
only permissions for both the ESX virtual machine
and the ESX host that the virtual machine resides
on, or may reside on.
ESX Password
Type the password required to connect the

specified user to the ESX Web Service.
Virtual Machine Name
Click ... to select the virtual machine.
10 Click the Use StealthCollect option if you wish to use StealthCollect to

collect SQL statements and performance data from the target database.
Note
StealthCollect is installed with Performance Analysis. The Use StealthCollect

option is available while StealthCollect is installed.
StealthCollect is Quest technology designed to collect SQL statements and
performance indicators from Oracle databases and host operating systems without
imposing overheads on the target database itself.
Enter the following details:

SC Port No.
Enter the port number where Spotlight can

access StealthCollect data.
If required, click the button to enter username
and password details for StealthCollect. (The
default StealthCollect username and password
for a new connection profile is quest.)
SC Oracle SID
Enter the StealthCollect Oracle SID for the

target database.
26
Spotlight on Oracle
11 Click Test to check that Spotlight is able to connect successfully with the
details provided.
Note
For connections to virtual machines, testing the connection validates that Spotlight
can connect to the Web Service using the specified username and password
combination, and that the virtual machine exists. It does not check permissions, that
the virtual machine is turned on, or that it is the same machine as the one specified
in the Server Connection Details section.
12 Click the Save password box to save all the password details that have been
entered.
13 Click OK to finish. A connection icon with the name you specified is
created.
Connecting to an Oracle database

Notes: Before connecting to an Oracle database, ensure that you have:
Created a Spotlight user (see page 19) that has the special privileges required to
diagnose your Oracle database.
Created a connection to the Oracle database that you want to diagnose (see
page 21).
To connect to an Oracle database

2 Double-click the connection icon that represents the connection that you
want to open.
Note:
If you encounter problems when connecting, see Connection problems on page 78 for
more information.
Once you have connected

Spotlight requires some additional information once you have connected.
Chapter 3
27
You may need to set the initialization parameter timed_statistics.

If you have a trial version of Spotlight, you may need to obtain a full license
key to continue the full functionality of Spotlight after the initial trial period.
Setting the initialization parameter

In order for Spotlight to accurately monitor the database the timed_statistics
parameter must be set to true in the init.ora file. If it is not set to true for that user, a
message will be displayed that gives you the option to have Spotlight set the
parameter for you.
To set the initialization parameter to true
In the Warning message click Set timed statistics now.
Note:
Spotlight can set the parameter only if you have granted the alter system privilege to
the Spotlight user.
Obtaining a full license key

When installed under a trial key, Spotlight runs for a limited time with full
functionality. You must register the product before the end of the trial period in order
to maintain that full functionality.
To do so, contact your Quest Software representative for information on obtaining a
full license key. For further information see Product authorization errors on page 77.
Using Toad to launch Spotlight

Note:
This section is relevant for systems with the following software installed: Toad DBA
Suite for Oracle with Spotlight on Oracle.
To connect to an Oracle database from within Toad

1 Click the Spotlight button where it appears in Toad.
2 Spotlight on Oracle opens at the Oracle database connection associated with
this Toad for Oracle connection.
28
Spotlight on Oracle
The first time you open this Oracle database connection from within Toad the
Details page opens with the Oracle database and username fields filled in as
per the Toad connection. Security requires that you re-enter your Oracle
password.
Notes: Further information on the Details page:
The default connection name is Toad followed by the name of the Oracle database.
You may choose to replace this with any connection name of your choice. Note that a
limitation of the integration of Toad with Spotlight on Oracle is that this will be a new
Spotlight connection, ignoring all other pre-existing Spotlight connections.
The Oracle username you used in Toad is filled in by default; however you may
choose a different Oracle username to connect to Spotlight. For example, in an
environment with multiple database administrators there may be a communal
username for Spotlight connections. Simply replace the filled in Oracle username with
the appropriate Oracle username and password details.
You can enter additional parameters to monitor ASM, the operating system and for
virtualization. See page 21, from the Details page of the Properties window, step 4.
Notes: Now Spotlight on Oracle is open:
The Spotlight Home Page or Drilldown will open relevant to the location in Toad from
where the Spotlight button was clicked.
You will be prompted to create a new spotlight user if this Oracle username has not
yet been created in Spotlight. See page 19.
This Spotlight connection can be found in the Spotlight Connection Manager. It can be
managed the same as any other Spotlight connection. For example, you can close the
connection, edit the connection details and re-open the connection in the Spotlight
Connection Manager.
Your pre-existing connections to the Spotlight on Oracle database

When you click on the Spotlight button in Toad to connect to the Oracle database, a
new Spotlight connection to the Oracle database is created, regardless of any preexisting Spotlight connections to the Oracle database. To avoid the annoyance of
setting up Spotlight connections in Spotlight that will be set up identical Toad
connections later, you may choose to create all connections through Toad if Toad
integration is desired.
Chapter 3
29
Installing and using DTrace within Spotlight

DTrace is a dynamic analysis tool for Sun Microsystems operating systems from
Solaris 10 onwards. You can enable and use Spotlight's DTrace drilldown to capture
details about the interaction between Oracle and Solaris that would otherwise be
unavailable.
To use DTrace within Spotlight, you need to:
1 Install and configure a number of DTrace scripts on the server under
investigation.
2 Enable DTrace functionality within Spotlight.
3 Use the DTrace drilldown to view the DTrace analysis.
To install and configure DTrace scripts

1 Locate the SoO_DTrace_scripts.tar archive package in the Plug-ins\SoO
sub-folder of the Spotlight installation folder.
2 Unpack the contents of the archive to a directory on the database server.
Ensure that the unpacked files have execute permission.
3 In the .profile of the account that will be used to run O/S commands from
Spotlight, define a QUEST_SOO_HOME variable that points to that
directory on the server.
4 Provide that user with DTrace authority by adding the following line to
/etc/user_attr:
<<username>>::::defaultpriv=basic,dtrace_proc,dtrace_kernel
To enable DTrace within Spotlight

1 From the View | Options menu, choose Spotlight on Oracle.
2 Click the DTrace button.
3 Select Show Solaris DTrace drilldowns.
4 Click OK. The DTrace icon will appear on the Spotlight toolbar, and a
DTrace option will appear on the ViewGo To menu.
30
Spotlight on Oracle
To view the pages in the DTrace drilldown

On the Spotlight toolbar, click the Solaris DTrace button, or
From the View | Go To menu, choose DTrace.
4
Using Spotlight on Oracle
When you use Spotlight on Oracle to diagnose an Oracle database, you can:
View the status of the connected database in the panels and dataflows of the
View the alarms that Spotlight has raised for the connected database.
View the detailed performance of the connected database in the various
Spotlight drilldowns.
Use Spotlight menus and shortcuts to access a number of other Quest
applications for viewing detailed information the specified Oracle database.
The Spotlight on Oracle home page

The Spotlight home page shows an overview of the activity in an Oracle database.
The display is based on the Oracle architecture diagram shown in An overview of the
Oracle architecture on page 7.
32
Spotlight on Oracle
Panels
A panel is a visual feature that groups related information and components on the
Spotlight home page. Components change color as alarms are raised for the metrics
they contain.
There are six main panels on the home page for Spotlight on Oracle. They are:
The Sessions panel. This indicates the status of the Oracle communications
between client and server.
The Host panel. This indicates CPU usage, Virtualization Overhead and free
physical RAM information.
The Server Processes panel. This shows the status of Oracle server
processes. These processes perform database activities on behalf of end
users, and mediate database connections.
Chapter 4
33
The SGA panel. This shows details of specific memory areas within the
system global area (SGA). The SGA is an area of shared or common process
memory that is used to cache frequently used data, SQL statements,
procedures and other structures.
The Background Processes panel. This displays the following key Oracle
background processes: Database Writer (DBWR), Redo Log Writer
(LGWR), Recovery Writer (RVWR) and Archiver (ARCH). It also contains
a status indicator for Spotlight's Predictive Diagnostics capability (if
available).
The Disk Storage panel. This represents Oracle database and log files on
disk.
The panels, and the information they display, are described in more detail below. For
a full discussion of the panels, see the Spotlight online help.
Note:
To view a tool tip for a specific component in a panel, hover the mouse pointer over the
component.
Sessions panel
The Sessions panel indicates the status of the Oracle
communications between client and server. Information
displayed here includes:
The time (in milliseconds) that it takes for the query
select user from dual to be submitted,
executed and returned.
The total number of users connected to the

database.
The number of users who are currently active.
The sum of DB time over all sessions, divided by

elapsed time.
Note: The Average Active Sessions gauge is not available for

Oracle 9i.
The flows between the Sessions panel and the Server

Processes panel represent the rate of data transfer in
both directions across the SQL*NET interface.
34
Spotlight on Oracle
Host panel
The Host panel shows metrics for the operating system.
The information displayed here includes:
The total amount of CPU being used.
The number of tasks waiting for CPU resources.
The percentage of CPU that is unavailable to the

virtual machine (if applicable).
The available physical RAM.
The amount of memory that has been reclaimed

from the virtual machine by ESX (if applicable).
Chapter 4
35
Server Processes panel

The Server Processes panel indicates the status of Oracle
server processes that perform database activities on behalf of
end users, and mediate database connections. Information
displayed here includes:
Statistics for the PGA memory allocated by server
processes.
Dedicated server processes that perform work on behalf of

a single client process.
Shared or multi-threaded servers (MTS) that perform work

on behalf of more than one client process.
MTS dispatchers that coordinate the allocation of shared

servers to client tasks.
Server processes that support parallel execution of queries.
The current length of the Parallel Execution Queue.
Note: The Parallel Exec Queue gauge applies only to Oracle 11gR2.
Job queue server processes that run PL/SQL commands

submitted to the Oracle job queue via the DBMS_JOB
package.
The state of the EM agent connection between Oracle

Enterprise Manager (if installed) and the database.
The number of server processes that are currently active.
The flow to the Server Processes panel from the Disk Storage
panel represents the rate of direct physical reads from disk.
The flows between the Server Processes panel and the SGA
panel represent the rates of:
Blocks reads from the SGA by all server processes.
Block changes in the SGA by all server processes.
Redo buffer entries made by all server processes.
SQL parse requests per second by all server processes.
SQL execution requests per second by all server

processes.
36
Spotlight on Oracle
SGA panel
The SGA panel shows details of specific memory areas
within the system global area (SGA). The SGA is an
area of shared or common process memory that is used
to cache frequently used data, SQL statements,
procedures and other structures. Information displayed
here includes:
The size of the buffer cache and its components.
These hold data that is accessed frequently.
The current size of the SGA.
The size of the Java Pool, which caches class

definitions, Java methods and Java objects.
The size of the Large Pool allocation heap, which is

used in MTS for session memory. It can be used by
parallel execution and backup processes.
The size of the redo buffer. This contains redo

entries that are eventually written to the redo log.
The size of the Shared Pool, which caches SQL

statements, PL/SQL programs, object definitions
and session memory for MTS sessions.
The size and activity of the result cache (Oracle 11g

or later).
Whether the database is in manual or auto memory

management mode (Oracle 10g or later).
The flow between the SGA panel and the Disk Storage
panel represents the rate of block reads from disk.
The flows between the SGA panel and the Background
Processes panel represent the rates of:
Block writes by the Database writer (DBWR)
process.
I/O writes by the Recovery writer (DBWR)

process.
Redo log block writes by the Redo Log Writer

(LGWR) process.
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37
Background Processes panel

The Background Processes panel displays the following
key Oracle background processes:
Database Writer (DBWRn).
The Recovery Writer (RVWRn).
The Log Writer (LGWRn).
The Archiver (ARCHn).
Note: The n value in each process icon indicates the

number of processes there are of that type.
The flows between the Background Processes panel and
the Disk Storage panel represent:
The rate at which modified blocks are written from
the SGA to disk by the DBWR processes.
The rate of I/O write operations to the flash recovery

area by the RVWR processes.
The rate at which redo log entries are written to the

redo log files by the LGWR processes.
The rate at which the archiver copies from redo log

files to archived logs.
The Background Processes panel also contains a status

indicator for Spotlight's Predictive Diagnostics capability
(if installed). This feature helps Spotlight to use collected
data to predict database performance.
38
Spotlight on Oracle
Disk Storage panel

The Disk Storage panel represents Oracle database
and log files on disk, including:
Oracle database files.
Size of the flash cache.
Oracle flashback recovery files.
Oracle redo logs.
The archive log destinations.
Chapter 4
39
Spotlight on Oracle alarms

Spotlight alerts you to problems with your database by issuing an alarm. When an
alarm is triggered, Spotlight performs one or more of the following actions:
Changes in color or intensity for relevant components.
Audible warnings.
E-mail notifications.
With Spotlight alarms you can:
View details of the metric(s) that caused the alarm in a relevant drilldown
page. (For more information on drilldowns, see Spotlight on Oracle
drilldowns on page 41.)
View the help associated with each alarm.
View details of the alarm itself in the Alarm Log drilldown.
Change the actions that follow the raising of alarms.
Enable, disable, or snooze alarms.
Filter alarms.
Change the thresholds and severities that define alarms.
Change alarm notifications.
Save alarm details.
Note:
Detailed information on all these actions can be found in the Spotlight online help.
The following are brief descriptions of the alarms specifically associated with
Spotlight on Oracle. For possible solutions for the problems indicated by these
alarms, or for information on how to diagnose problems further, see Spotlight on
Oracle alarms in the online help.
Archive Critical Failure alarm

An Archive Critical Failure alarm indicates that the number of working archive
destinations for the database instance is about to fall below the minimum number
needed to archive Oracle redo logs successfully. When you see this alarm, you
should make space in the archive log destination by purging or by backing up to an
offline medium any archived files that are not immediately needed.
40
Spotlight on Oracle
Archive Destination Failed alarm

Spotlight raises an Archive Destination Failed alarm when at least one of the archive
destinations specified for redo log files has become full. See Archive Destination
Failure alarm below.
Archive Destination Failure alarm

An Archive Destination Failure alarm when at least one of the archive destinations
specified for redo log files is about to become full. When you see this alarm, you
should make space in the archive log destination by purging it, or by backing it up to
an offline medium.
Array Fetch Size alarm

When more than one row is retrieved from an Oracle database in a single SELECT
(an array fetch), the amount of network traffic associated with SELECT operations is
radically reduced. The Array Fetch Size alarm is raised when the array fetch size for
the database may be too low.
ASM Balance alarm

This alarm indicates that there is unbalanced access to one or more of the disks in the
ASM (Automatic Storage Management) disk group that has been allocated to the
Oracle instance.
ASM Service Time alarm

This alarm indicates that the average time taken to perform I/O on the ASM instance
has exceeded a specified threshold value. (Service time represents the response time
of a disk plus any wait time experienced during disk operations.)
ASM Status alarm

When a Spotlight connection is lost, Spotlight automatically tries to re-establish the
connection. The ASM Status alarm indicates that Spotlight is re-establishing its
connection to the ASM diskgroup for the Oracle instance.
Average Time to Sync a Redo Log Entry alarm

The Average Time to Sync a Redo Log Entry alarm (formerly the Average Redo
Write Time alarm) is activated when the time taken to write redo log entries exceeds
a threshold. Unlike most other Oracle write I/Os, Oracle sessions must wait for redo
log writes to complete before they can continue processing.
Chapter 4
41
Buffer Busy Wait alarm

The Buffer Busy Wait alarm occurs when a session cannot access a block because it
is in use by another session. The two most common causes are insufficient free lists
for a table or insufficient rollback segments.
Cache Buffer Chains Latch Wait alarm

The Cache Buffer Chains Latch Wait alarm occurs because contention for the cache
buffer chains latch exceeds a threshold.
Cache Buffer LRU Chains Latch Wait alarm

The Cache Buffer LRU Chains Latch Wait alarm occurs because contention for the
cache buffer chains latch exceeds a threshold.
Continued Fetch Rate alarm

Oracle sometimes needs to migrate a row in a database from its original block to a
new block, or needs to chain an updated row across multiple blocks. These migrated
and chained rows cause additional I/O, and the Continued Fetch alarm occurs when
the number of these "continued row" fetches exceeds a threshold.
CPU Busy alarm

The CPU Busy alarm occurs when the total CPU utilization of the system exceeds a
threshold.
CPU Virtualization Overhead alarm

The CPU Virtualization Overhead alarm is activated when Virtualization Overhead
is greater than a threshold and CPU Usage is 95% or higher.
Datafile Read Time alarm

The Datafile Read Time alarm occurs if the average time for a random datafile read
exceeds a given threshold.
Dispatchers Busy alarm

The Dispatchers Busy alarm occurs when all or most dispatcher processes are busy.
In an MTS environment, multiple sessions share a smaller number of shared server
processes. The servers are usually allocated by a smaller number of dispatcher
processes.
42
Spotlight on Oracle
EM Agent Not Connected alarm

Oracle Enterprise Manager (where installed) manages Oracle components and
administers Oracle databases. OEM communicates with the databases it administers
via a set of EM agent processes. The EM Agent alarm indicates that OEM is
installed and active, but not connected to the database.
Estimated Shared Pool Size alarm

This alarm occurs when the Shared Pool is set too small. A possible cause is the use
of literals rather than bind variables in SQL statements. You can also increase the
size of the Shared Pool.
Excessive RBS Activities alarm

The Excessive RBS Activities alarm occurs when there are high rollback
extent/shrink/wrap activities.
Flashback Buffer Wait Percentage alarm

This alarm indicates that the percentage of available time spent waiting for the
Recovery Writer (RVWR) to write data to the flashback logs has exceeded a
specified threshold.
Flash Cache Insert Skip: DBWR Overloaded alarm

The Flash Cache Insert Skip: DBWR Overloaded alarm is raised when the ratio of
insert skips from the DBWR being overloaded exceeds a threshold.
Flash Cache Read Latency

The Flash Cache Read Latency alarm is raised when the time taken to read a single
bock from flash cache exceeds a threshold. This may be caused by a low
performance flash device.
Flash Cache Write Complete Waits

The Flash Cache Write Complete Waits alarm is raised when the ratio of 'write
complete waits: flash cache' to DB time exceeds a threshold.
Flashback Buffer Wait alarm

The Flashback Buffer Wait alarm indicates that the percentage of available time
spent waiting for the Recovery Writer (RVWR) to write data to the flashback logs
has exceeded a specified threshold.
Chapter 4
43
Flashback Space Usage alarm

This alarm is raised when the amount of used space in the Flashback Recovery Area
exceeds a threshold.
Free Buffer Waits alarm

The Free Buffer Waits alarm occurs when free buffer waits (as a proportion of total
waits) exceeds a threshold.
In Memory Undo Latch Wait alarm

The in memory undo latch is associated with Oracle's relatively new in memory undo
(IMU) structures. These structures hold in memory information formerly maintained
in rollback (undo) segments.
Instance Failed alarm

Spotlight raises an Instance Failed alarm when a specified instance has failed
because of an Archiver error. See Archive Critical Failure alarm above.
Insufficient Flashback Logs alarm

This alarm fires when the flashback logs in the flashback area do not cover the
amount of time specified in the parameter
DB_FLASHBACK_RETENTION_TARGET.
Job Processes Busy alarm

The Job Processes Busy alarm occurs when all or most job queue processes are busy.
Large Pool Full alarm

This alarm fires when the Large Pool allocation heap is full. The Large Pool is used
in MTS for session memory, and can be used by parallel execution and backup
processes.
Latch Free Waits alarm

If a session needs to acquire a latch that is held by another session, a latch free wait
may occur. The presence of latch free waits may indicate a bottleneck within the
SGA. (The specific action depends on the latch.)
44
Spotlight on Oracle
Library Cache Latches alarms

These alarm fire when the time spent waiting on library cache latches or library
cache pin latches exceeds a threshold. Library cache latches (or mutexes in 10g R2
and above) protect the cached SQL statements and object definitions held in the
library cache within the Shared Pool.
Library Cache Miss Rate alarm

The Library Cache Miss Rate alarm occurs when the library cache hit ratio falls
below a given threshold.
Lock Wait alarm

The Lock Wait alarm occurs when the proportion of time sessions spend waiting for
locks exceeds a threshold.
Log Buffer Space Wait alarm

The Log Buffer Space Wait alarm occurs if the amount of time spent waiting for
space in the redo log buffer exceeds a threshold.
Log Switch Time alarm

The Log Switch Time alarm occurs when the amount of time spent waiting for log
switch events exceeds a threshold.
Low Free Physical RAM alarm

The Low Free Physical RAM alarm occurs when the servers available RAM is low.
Maximum Queued Time alarm

The Maximum Queued Time alarm becomes active when a session has been in the
parallel execution queue for longer than the specified threshold.
Note: Applies only to Oracle 11gR2.
Multi-threaded Server alarm

The Multi-threaded Server alarm occurs when all or most multi-threaded server
(MTS) or dispatcher processes are busy.
Chapter 4
45
Non-reclaimable Flashback Space alarm

This alarm is raised when the amount of non-reclaimable used space in the
Recovery Area (flashback area) exceeds a threshold. Non-reclaimable files include
archived redo logs, which must be backed up before being deleted.
Oracle Memory on Disk alarm

The Oracle Memory on Disk alarm is activated when the amount of guest physical
memory mapped to machine memory is less than the current combined size of
Oracle's SGA and PGA.
Oracle Parameters for Predictive Diagnostics alarm

The Predictive Diagnostics feature cannot predict the behavior of Oracle databases
without the access to Oracle data that is granted by several Oracle parameters.
Oracle Status alarm

connection. The Oracle Status alarm indicates that Spotlight is re-establishing its
connection to the Oracle instance.
Parallel Query Server alarms

The Parallel Query Server alarm occurs when all or most parallel servers are busy.
Parallel server processes perform work to resolve SQL statements that are being
executed in parallel. If all parallel server processes are busy, parallel SQL may be
downgraded, or even executed serially, thus increasing its execution time. Spotlight
can raise these Parallel Query Server alarms: Parallel Query Servers Busy, Parallel
Queries Downgraded, and Parallel Queries Serialized.
Parse Ratio alarm

The Parse Ratio alarm is raised when the ratio of parse calls to execute calls exceeds
a threshold.
Note
This alarm is initially disabled; see Total Parse Wait Time Ratio alarm.
Predictive Diagnostics alarms

A Predictive Diagnostics alarm (SQL Collector or Bottleneck Collector alarm) is
raised when the appropriate collection of predictive data has not been scheduled.
46
Spotlight on Oracle
Predictive Diagnostics Custom SQL Error alarm

This alarm indicates that the customized SQL query use to represent database
concurrency within Predictive Diagnostics has returned an error.
Redo Allocation and Redo Copy Latch Wait alarms

The Redo Allocation and Redo Copy Latch Wait alarms are raised when there is
contention for the redo allocation latch and redo copy latch.
Result Cache Find/Create Ratio alarm

When Oracle executes SQL queries, the result cache stores the result sets of
specified queries in shared memory for later use. The Find/Create Ratio alarm occurs
when the rate of find operations on the result cache drops below the rate of create
operations, and indicates that the contents of the result cache are under-used.
Result Cache Latch Sleep Ratio alarm

Spotlight raises the Result Cache Latch Sleep Ratio alarm when the rate of latch
sleeps for the Result Cache latch indicates that there is contention on the Result
Cache latch, where multiple processes are competing to use the latch and are causing
a significant degradation in response time.
Row Cache objects Latch Wait

The row cache objects latch protects the contents of the row cache; the section of the
shared pool to cache dictionary information.
Sequential Read Time alarm

This alarm fires when the average time that Oracle takes to read a single block of
data typically an index-based lookup is significantly higher than the average
time recorded during calibration.
Sessions Queued alarm

The Sessions Queued alarm becomes active when the number of sessions in the
parallel execution queue exceeds a threshold.
Note
Applies only to Oracle 11gR2.
Chapter 4
47
Shared Pool Latch Wait alarm

Shared pool latches control access to the shared pool memory map.
Shared Pool Lock Percentage alarm

This alarm is raised when one user session holds a lock on object(s) in the Shared
Pool for a prolonged period, and causes other sessions to wait on the same resource.
This "blocking lock" happens rarely. When it does occur, use a SQL query to find
the affected sessions.
Shared Server Converted into Dedicated Server alarm

Spotlight raises an alarm when many shared servers are converted, leaving too few
shared servers to meet the demand. Converted shared servers will have a status of
WAIT(RECEIVE) in v$shared_server.
Temporary IO Wait Ratio alarm

Spotlight raises the Temporary IO Wait Ratio alarm when the time spent in
temporary IO waits is too high as a percentage of the time spent performing user
calls on the Oracle database.
Total Parse Wait Time Ratio alarm

Spotlight raises this alarm when the amount of time spent parsing SQL statements as
a percentage of the active database time exceeds a level that may cause latch
contention on the shared pool and library cache latches.
Note:
The Total Parse Wait Time Ratio alarm is available for Oracle 10.2 and later. When
monitoring earlier Oracle systems, consider reactivating the (disabled) Parse Ratio
alarm.
Unarchived Logs alarm

The Unarchived Logs alarm occurs when the number of unarchived redo logs
exceeds a threshold. If all online logs need archiving, database update activity can be
suspended while the redo log writer waits for the next log to be archived.
Unix Status alarm

When a Spotlight connection is lost, Spotlight automatically attempts to re-establish
the connection. Where the Oracle database is hosted on a Unix server, this alarm
indicates that Spotlight is re-establishing its connection to the Unix server.
48
Spotlight on Oracle
WMI Status alarm

When a Spotlight connection is lost, Spotlight automatically attempts to re-establish
the connection. Where the Oracle database is hosted on a Windows server, this alarm
indicates that Spotlight is re-establishing its WMI connection to the Windows server.
Write Complete Wait alarm

Spotlight raises the a Write Complete Wait alarm when write complete waits (as a
proportion of total waits) exceed a threshold. Write complete waits occur when a
session tries to modify a block that is currently being written to disk by the database
writer process.
Spotlight on Oracle drilldowns

Spotlight on Oracle makes it possible for you to view your system at different levels
of detail.
At its highest level, which is the Spotlight home page, Spotlight displays a visual
representation of the status of the major components in the current system. The detail
at this level is designed to help you locate and identify bottlenecks quickly.
When you have isolated a problem, you can display a drilldown page, whose charts
and tables provide a detailed breakdown of the underlying statistics.
To open a Spotlight drilldown

To access a specified drilldown within Spotlight:
Click the relevant drilldown button on the Spotlight toolbar OR
Choose the relevant drilldown from the View | Go To menu OR
Right-click on a component on the Spotlight home page, and choose an item
from the shortcut menu's Show Details sub-menu OR
Click on a component on the Spotlight home page OR
Use a keyboard shortcut.
Chapter 4
49
List of drilldowns in Spotlight on Oracle

Spotlight on Oracle contains the following drilldowns.
Drilldown
Description
Sessions
The Sessions drilldown displays information about the

users connected to the Oracle database. The pages and
sub-pages in the drilldown display information on:
All users connected to the Oracle database.
Session details for those users, including waits, SQL
statements executed, locks, resource usage, and
Oracle statistics.
Parallel queries executed for all users connected to
the Oracle database.
Oracle jobs currently scheduled for the database.
SQL & Application

Workload
The SQL & Application Workload drilldown allows you

to select, sort and display SQL statements executed
according to specified criteria. The drilldown includes:
The Top SQL page, which displays the SQL
statements that consume the most system resources
for the current connection.
The Array Fetch page, which displays information
on array processing for the Oracle database under
investigation.
The Parse Activity page, which displays information
on SQL statements associated with high parse rates
(Oracle 10.2 and later).
The Sort Activity page, which displays information
on SQL statements associated with high sort activity
(Oracle 10.2 and later).
The Analyze Trace page (formerly a separate
drilldown), which displays the contents of trace files
that store information on how Oracle processes the
execution of SQL statements, and on the resources it
uses to do so (Oracle 10.2 and later).
The Result Cache page (Oracle 11g and later)
50
Spotlight on Oracle
Drilldown
Description
shows information about the result cache, which
stores the result sets of specified queries so they can
be re-used.
Activity
The Activity drilldown displays the activity on the

database. The pages and sub-pages in the drilldown
display information on waits, waiting events, blocking
locks, lock activity, latches, query servers, transactions,
rollbacks, and buffer busy waits.
I/O
The I/O drilldown displays the input and output activity

for the database. The pages and sub-pages in the
drilldown display information on I/O by category,
session, SQL, tablespaces, datafiles, segments and row
chaining.
Configuration &
Memory
The Configuration and Memory drilldown shows the

memory utilization for the Shared Pool and the SGA, as
well as shared pool and buffer cache hit ratios, Oracle
alert log and Oracle parameters.
Operating System
The Operating System drilldown provides information

about the performance, processes, and storage on the
database machine under investigation.
Disk Storage
The Disk Storage drilldown displays information about

online redo logs, tablespace utilization, archive
destinations, and Flashback recovery.
Tuning
You can use the Tuning drilldown to view information

about Oracle memory resources in the Oracle SGA and
PGA (System and Program Global Areas), to tune
memory resources where feasible, and to view and tune
latch activity for systems with multiple CPUs.
ASM
(If available)
If your system uses Automatic Storage Management

(ASM) to manage disk storage, you can use the ASM
drilldown within Spotlight on Oracle to diagnose ASM
performance. ASM is a storage management solution
from Oracle Corporation that automatically reorganizes
data based on statistics collected from usage and user
access patterns over time.
DTrace
DTrace is a dynamic analysis tool that can be used on
Chapter 4
Drilldown
(If available)
Description
Sun platforms from Solaris 10 onwards. Spotlight on
Oracle uses DTrace to capture details of the interaction
between Oracle and the operating system when Oracle
uses the O/S services provided by Solaris.
For detailed instructions on displaying and using the
DTrace drilldown, see Installing and using DTrace
within Spotlight on page 27
Predictive
Diagnostics
(If available)
Use the Predictive Diagnostics home page to identify:

SQL statements ("degrading SQL") whose
performance may not scale adequately in the future
as data volumes and SQL execution rates increase.
51
Waiting events ("bottlenecks") that may in the future

affect database throughput and response time.
Database resources (CPU, memory, and disk I/O)
whose limitations may in the future affect database
performance.
When you start using Predictive Diagnostics, Spotlight
will take about 10 days to collect enough data to make
valid predictions on the future performance of the
database.
For more information Predictive Diagnostics, refer to the
online help under Spotlight on Oracle (Professional)
Predictive Diagnostics.
Virtualization
Use the Virtual Machine page to see detailed

information about the CPU and memory use of a virtual
machine.
Alarm Log
The pages in the Alarm Log drilldown display

information on the alarms associated with the current
Spotlight connection.
You can filter the Alarm Log to display only the alarms
that meet specified criteria.
52
Spotlight on Oracle
Spotlight menus
The Spotlight menus are common to all editions of Spotlight and are explained in the
online help under Spotlight Basics. The exceptions to this within Spotlight on Oracle
are:
The File menu, whose Oracle User Wizard option provides the ability to
add new Spotlight on Oracle users, and to convert the accounts of existing
Oracle users so they can use Spotlight on Oracle.
The Tools menu, which contains links to tools that may help you solve the
performance issues that Spotlight highlights.
Tools menu options

Explain Plan: The Explain Plan allows you to determine the execution plan Oracle
applies to a particular SQL statement. Spotlight allows you to view graphical
representations of the execution plan for SQL statements being executed by a user or
those identified by the Top SQL drilldown.
SQL Optimizer: SQL Optimizer (if installed) provides context-sensitive tuning
advice for SQL statements based on the Oracle execution plan and the database
structure.
Note:
You must have DBA privileges for the database you are diagnosing.
Space Manager: Space Manager (if installed) provides a comprehensive solution

for space management and reorganization. Space Manager offers preventive
maintenance, problem detection and resolution and capacity planning across any
number of databases. You can also launch Space Manager by right-clicking on the
Disk Storage icon on the main page or by right-clicking the tables in the Disk
Storage drilldown
Note:
You must have DBA privileges for the database you are diagnosing.
Using Spotlight to tune your database

Spotlight supports an approach to Oracle performance tuning that could be described
as tuning by bottleneck. Spotlight alerts you if any component of the Oracle
architecture is forming a bottleneck. Additionally, Spotlight provides tools that allow
you to identify and rectify any inefficiency in your databases configuration.
Chapter 4
53
In general, you tune your Oracle instance by reiteratively identifying bottlenecks,

contention and critical resources, and by using Spotlight's online advice to remove
the bottleneck or contention to improve the performance of the resource.
The following is a summary of steps that you can undertake to tune Oracle using
Spotlight.
Use the Spotlight home page (see page 31) to alert you to any obvious
bottlenecks. If Spotlight detects that some component of Oracle constitutes a
performance bottleneck, the corresponding component generates a visual or
auditory alarm. The exact appearance of the alarm depends on how you have
configured alarm severities. When an alarm is current you can press F1 to
display help for the alarm. Clicking the object (in the main window) displays
the relevant drilldown.
Use the Activity drilldown (see page 53) to display overall efficiency and
resource usage. In particular, the Event waits chart shows the amount of time
database sessions are spending waiting for various resources, as well as the
amount of CPU being utilized. Tuning efforts are most likely to succeed if
they are concentrated on the resources being used most heavily. The Wait
activity topic contains a discussion of the meaning and implications of
various wait events.
Other pages help you examine detailed activity. For instance, the Top
Sessions drilldown shows the users who contribute most to database activity.
You can display various details for these sessions, including the SQL
statements, locks and resource usage.
For further information on tuning your database, see the online help.
Using Spotlight to predict database

performance
Use Predictive Diagnostics to predict the future performance of a database (and
identify how to improve that performance) by:
Identifying SQL statements whose performance may not scale adequately as
data volumes and SQL execution rates increase.
Identifying bottlenecks that may in the future affect database throughput and
response time.
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Spotlight on Oracle
Predicting when database resources such as CPU, memory and disk I/O are
expected to reach their full capacity, and recommending strategies to enable
the database to handle high loads at those times.
Access these features through the Predictive Diagnostics home page.
For information on the storage requirements of Predictive Diagnostics, see Storage
requirements for Predictive Diagnostics.
The page contains several sections What To Do Next, Find Impending

Problems, Performance Modeling, and Configuration and a set of images and
hyperlinks that indicate a basic workflow through the predictive process.
How to use Predictive Diagnostics

1 Open the Predictive Diagnostics home page in one of several ways.
On the toolbar
Click Predictive Diagnostics.
Chapter 4
55
Keyboard shortcut
Press CTRL+G.
From the View | Go To

menu
Select Predictive Diagnostics.
From the Spotlight on

Oracle home page
Click Predictive Diagnostics on the

Background Processes panel, and in the help
window click Show me... Predictive
Diagnostics.
2 Click a hyperlink or image in the Predictive Diagnostics home page to open

the corresponding diagnostic page. Although you can use any feature in
Predictive Diagnostics at any time, we recommend the following procedure
for first-time users.
Follow the suggestions in
What To Do Next.
The quality of Predictive Diagnostics

predictions depends on the quality of the
data on which they are based. What To Do
Next tracks the current status of the data and
indicates when that data is incomplete or
outdated.
Wait until enough real data

is available.
This usually occurs about 10 days after you

begin monitoring the database. Before that
time, become familiar with how Predictive
Diagnostics works by using the supplied
sample data.
Improve how the database

is used now.
Employ the Identify Degrading SQL and

Identify Database Bottlenecks features to
optimize data processing on the host system.
Note: Any changes you make MAY cause the
data you collected earlier to become outdated. If
so, you may need to collect new data for another
10 days.
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Spotlight on Oracle
Use the Configuration

pages to identify the
resources available to the
database.
Set parameters for the CPU, memory and

disk I/O resources available to the database.
In particular, use Peak Processing Periods
to identify WHEN database resources are in
greatest demand. This will improve the
precision of your predictions.
The default settings we provide for these
parameters may not be appropriate for your
database.
Use the Performance

Modeling pages.
Predict when and why database resources

will run out, what will cause performance to
suffer, and what you need to do to counter
those problems.
Use Predictive Diagnostics with other Spotlight features

When Predictive Diagnostics identifies a SQL statement that may cause problems in
the future, you can:
Open the Top SQL drilldown to view further details about the SQL
statement.
Open Explain Plan to view further information about the statement's
execution plan.
Open SQL Optimizer to view context-sensitive tuning advice for the SQL
statement based on the Oracle execution plan and the structure of the
database.
When Predictive Diagnostics identifies a bottleneck that may cause problems in the
future, you can:
Open the Waiting Events page in the Activity drilldown to view further
details about the current behavior of potential bottlenecks.
When Predictive Diagnostics identifies a database resource whose limitations may
cause problems in the future, you can:
Open the I/O, Configuration & Memory, and Tuning drilldowns to view
further details about the current behavior of CPU, memory, and disk I/O
resources.
For detailed information on Predictive Diagnostics, see the Spotlight online help
under Spotlight on Oracle (Professional)Predictive Diagnostics.
Chapter 4
57
Storage requirements for Predictive Diagnostics

The disk storage requirements for Predictive Diagnostics schemas comprise:
For sample data
The Predictive Diagnostics sample data requires approximately

70 MB of storage space.
For SQL
statements
A fixed overhead of approximately 10 MB per schema.

An additional requirement of approximately 1 KB per snapshot
for each SQL statement.
The number of individual snapshots collected depend on the
application workload and size of the shared pool. The storage
requirements also depend on the collection interval for
predictive snapshots, and the length of time that each snapshot
is retained.
Example
If there is a fixed overhead of 10 MB, and there are 500 eligible
SQL statements per snapshot, and snapshots are collected twice
a day, and each snapshot is kept for one year, the disk storage
requirement for SQL statements is:
10MB + (500 x .001MB x 2 x 365) = 375 MB
For impending
bottlenecks
Disk storage requirements depend on how frequently data is

collected, and the length of time that snapshots are retained.
Examples
If data is collected every 10 minutes and retained for six
months, the disk storage requirement for impending
bottlenecks is approximately 200 MB.
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Spotlight on Oracle
For
performance
modeling
Note
Disk storage requirements depend on how frequently data is

collected, and the length of time that performance data is
retained.
Example
If data is collected every 10 minutes and retained for one year,
the disk storage requirement for performance modeling is
approximately 130 MB.
Parameters set in Predictive Diagnostics Options and the SQL Statement Trend
Analysis wizard also affect the storage requirements for Predictive Diagnostics data.
See the online help more for more information.
5
Spotlight on Oracle RAC
Spotlight on Oracle RAC is an optional add-on to Spotlight on Oracle. Spotlight on
Oracle RAC is installed automatically on your system via the Spotlight on Oracle
or TOAD DBA Suite installer.
Note:
The detailed procedures for installing and authorizing Spotlight are covered in
Chapter 3, Getting Started with Spotlight on Oracle.
Use Spotlight on Oracle RAC to diagnose Oracle databases on multiple host

machines under the Real Application Clusters (RAC) architecture.
When monitoring the behavior of an Oracle RAC cluster, a database administrator
needs to know:
1 How is each of the instances in my cluster performing?
2 How is the database as a whole performing?
3 Is my database experiencing cluster-related contention?
To further investigate the behavior of individual database instances within the
cluster, the database administrator can use Spotlight on Oracle RAC to launch
Spotlight on Oracle on any particular instance within a cluster. For more
information, see Viewing Oracle RAC instances with Spotlight on Oracle on
page 75.
What is Oracle RAC?

Real Application Clusters (RAC) is a clustering technology introduced by Oracle in
release 9i. It supersedes Oracles previous clustering technology Oracle Parallel
Server (OPS).
Oracle RAC is a shared disk clustering solution that is significantly different from
the architectures offered by Microsoft SQL Server and IBM DB2. Each node in an
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Spotlight on Oracle
Oracle RAC cluster has equal access to all of the database data through a shared disk
subsystem. Data is neither partitioned to specific nodes, nor replicated across nodes.
A high-speed network interconnect allows each node to keep its in-memory view of
data consistent.
An Oracle RAC configuration has the following architectural characteristics:
1 Many instances of Oracle run across several nodes.
2 Many instances share a single physical copy of a shared Oracle database.
3 All instances have common data and control files.
4 Every instance has individual redo logs and undo segments.
5 Every instance can simultaneously execute transactions against the same
database.
The following diagram illustrates the basic components of an Oracle RAC cluster.
A user should find an Oracle RAC database operationally identical to a database

hosted on a single server. From top to bottom, the important features represented are:
Chapter 5
61
Cluster interconnect: A high-speed, high-bandwidth communication

facility that connects the nodes in an Oracle RAC cluster.
Multiple nodes/instances: Oracle instances run on the nodes (host
machines) in the Oracle RAC cluster. Each instance comprises an Oracle
System Global Area (SGA) plus the corresponding Oracle background
processes that retain and process Oracle database requests.
Shared disk subsystem: Database files in Oracle RAC systems are stored
on multiple disks that are shared by all the nodes in the cluster, and all nodes
must be able read and write to those disks.
Installing and authorizing Spotlight on

Oracle RAC
Spotlight on Oracle RAC is installed automatically on your system via the Spotlight
on Oracle or TOAD DBA Suite installer.
The detailed procedures for installing and authorizing Spotlight are covered in
Chapter 3, Getting Started with Spotlight on Oracle.
Note:
Before installing Spotlight, you should review the normal installation requirements for the
products, which include permissions required when installing and running Spotlight, and
those required to authorize the Spotlight license.
Starting Spotlight on Oracle RAC

As with the standard version of Spotlight on Oracle, users of Spotlight on Oracle
RAC must complete the following steps in order to connect successfully to a
database:
1 Start the Spotlight application.
2 Create a new Spotlight user, if required.
3 Create a Spotlight database connection.
4 Connect to the database.
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Spotlight on Oracle
The procedure for starting Spotlight on Oracle RAC is the same as that for the
standard version of Spotlight on Oracle. This is covered in Chapter 3, Getting Started
with Spotlight on Oracle.
Creating a new Spotlight user

As with the standard version of Spotlight on Oracle, users of Spotlight on Oracle
RAC require special privileges, views, and tables so they can diagnose your Oracle
RAC databases.
These privileges are the same as those required by Spotlight on Oracle, and so
Spotlight invokes the Oracle User Wizard to create and update the required
Spotlight users. The detailed procedure is covered in Chapter 3, Getting Started with
Spotlight on Oracle.
Creating a connection to an Oracle RAC

database
The procedure for creating a connection in Spotlight on Oracle RAC is similar (but
not identical) to the equivalent procedure in the standard version of Spotlight on
Oracle. It is described in detail below.
Note:
Before creating the connection, ensure that you have created a Spotlight user (see
page 19) that has the special privileges required to diagnose your Oracle RAC
databases.
To create a database connection

2 Select Spotlight on Oracle RAC from the Connections menu.
3 Double-click the Add new connection icon.
4 A Properties window opens for the new connection. The Details page of the
Properties window has several sections:
Chapter 5
Connection String
63
Enter the name (the SQL*Net alias) of the

Oracle RAC database that you wish to
connect to. The database name is defined
within SQL*Net configuration utilities.
While this can be the name of any instance in the
Oracle RAC cluster, we recommend using the
name of the load-balanced instance the instance
whose TNSNAMES entry includes the option
(LOAD_BALANCE = yes)
Oracle Username
Enter the user name that Spotlight will use

when logging on to the Oracle RAC
database.
Oracle Password
Enter the user password that Spotlight will

use when logging on to the Oracle RAC
database.
From the Oracle Home list, select an
appropriate Oracle Home a location where
Oracle software is installed.
Oracle Home
Choose a home that contains a version of the

Oracle client that is compatible with the server
under diagnosis.
5 (Available only in Oracle 10g and later) Select Monitor ASM if you want to
monitor the performance of Oracle's Automated Storage Management (ASM)
technology. ASM is built into the Oracle database kernel; it simplifies the
creation and space management in Oracle RAC databases. Enter the
following details:
ASM Connection String
Enter the connection string required to link

to the ASM database instance used for
storage management for the Oracle RAC
database under investigation.
The TNSNAMES entry for the ASM instance must
include the option (UR = A) for the Spotlight
connection to work properly.
ASM Password
Enter the user password that Spotlight uses

when logging on to the ASM database
instance.
There is NO ASM Username box for the ASM
connection, as the ASM instance contains only
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Spotlight on Oracle
one user SYS that can provide access to
ASM-specific information.
SYS access to an ASM instance does NOT create
a security issue for the Oracle RAC database
but still you should limit access to the SYS
account to trusted individuals.
Because the SYS password is stored in encrypted
format, non-privileged users can still access
Spotlight on Oracle RAC. To do so:
Use a pre-configured or shared

Spotlight on Oracle connection.
Use a Spotlight connection without ASM

access. Spotlight will display Oraclerelated data, but the ASM drilldown will
contain no data.
6 Select Monitor OS if you want to monitor the operating system. Enter the
following details:
OS Type
Select the type of operating system to

monitor. The supported types are:
Unix(REXEC)
Unix(SSH)
Unix(SSH using Public/Private key), or
Windows
If you select one of the Unix systems, make sure

that the relevant SSH or REXEC daemon is
running on each node of the database cluster, and
is configured to receive remote connections.
SSH Port
choose to connect to the
database server via SSH.)
OS Username
Enter the port number that Spotlight will use

for its SSH (secure shell) connection to the
Oracle database.
The default value is 22.
Type the username you use when you log

onto the database server.
Spotlight will connect successfully to all nodes in
the cluster only if every node employs the SAME
username and password. If the username and
password if required are not completed, you will
not be able to view the operating system
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65
performance statistics for the database server.

(Windows) If your login details have been
assigned remote access to the registry of the
database server, you do not need to complete the
OS Username and OS Password fields.
(If your login details have NOT been set up on the
database server, you must enter a username and
password that has access to the registry of the
server.)
SSH Key Type

connect to the database
server via Unix(SSH using
Public/Private key).
SSH Private Key

Filename
Choose the type of key to use when making

the Spotlight connection.
Public-key encryption is supported under SSH2
only The current options are RSA and DSA. For
more information, see Public/Private keypairs in
the online help.
Type the location of the file that contains the

private key for the Spotlight connection, or
click the "..." button to locate it.
Type the passphrase used to decrypt the

private key
OS Password
Enter the user password (if required).
SSH Passphrase
(Enabled when you connect to

the database server via
Unix(REXEC), Unix(SSH), or
Windows).
7 Select the Launch Spotlight on Oracle option to open a Spotlight on Oracle

connection to the Oracle RAC database whenever you open the Spotlight on
Oracle RAC connection. In most cases, this should not be necessary.
8 Select the Display Connections Verification Details option to display the
Connection Details Verification window when you connect to a specified
Oracle RAC cluster. The window allows you to specify and test connections
to ALL instances in the cluster. For more information, see To verify
connection details on page 66.
9 Click the Save password details box to save all the password details that
have been entered.
10 Click OK to finish. A connection icon with the name you specified is
created.
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Spotlight on Oracle
Connecting to an Oracle RAC database

Use this procedure to connect to an Oracle database running on an Oracle RAC
cluster.
Notes: Before connecting to an Oracle database, ensure that you have:
Created a Spotlight user (see page 19) that has the special privileges required to
diagnose your Oracle RAC databases.
Created a connection to the Oracle RAC databases that you want to diagnose (see
page 62).
To connect to an Oracle RAC database

Note:
When installed under its own trial key, Spotlight runs for a limited time with full
functionality. You must register the product before the end of the trial period in order to
maintain functionality. For further information see Product Authorization Errors on
page 77.
1 From the File menu choose Connect.

2 Double-click the connection icon that represents the connection that you
want to open.
3 Verify connection details for the specified connection, if required.
To verify connection details

When you connect to a Spotlight on Oracle RAC connection, you can use the
Connection Details Verification window to view the available connection data and
provide or modify any data (port number, for example) that is missing or faulty.
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67
The Connection Details Verification window is displayed under the following

conditions:
When the Display this dialog for the current connection option is selected
in the connection properties or in the Verification window itself, OR
When Spotlight encounters an error during the connection process.
For more information verifying connection details, see Verify connection details in
the online help.
Using Spotlight on Oracle RAC

When you use Spotlight on Oracle RAC to diagnose an Oracle database running on
an Oracle RAC cluster, you can:
View the status of the connected database in the panels and dataflows of the
View the alarms that Spotlight has raised for the connected database.
View the detailed performance of the connected database in the various
Spotlight drilldowns.
View the performance of individual database instances in Spotlight on
Oracle.
The Spotlight on Oracle RAC home page

The Spotlight home page shows an overview of the activity in an Oracle RAC
database cluster. The display is based on the Oracle RAC architecture diagram
shown in About Oracle RAC on page 59.
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Spotlight on Oracle
Panels
There are three main panels on the home page for Spotlight on Oracle RAC. The
panels are:
The Interconnect and Global panel. This provides information on how well
data is being shared and transferred between nodes in the cluster.
The Instances panel. Together with separate panels for all participating
instances, this panel provides information on the performance of individual
instances in the cluster.
The I/O Subsystem panel. This provides information on data storage and
archiving in the cluster.
These panels are described in more detail below. For a full discussion of the panels
and the information they display, see the Spotlight online help.
Note:
To view a tool tip for a specific component in a panel, hover the mouse pointer over the
component.
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69
Interconnect and Global panel
This panel at the top of the Spotlight home page shows a combination of
Interconnect and Global Cache Service information, and information about the
Oracle RAC database overall. It consists of information aggregated from queries sent
out to the individual instances.
Some information displayed here is easily calculated: for example, the Total Logical
Reads spinner is the sum of the individual Logical Reads values. Other components,
such as Cluster Latency and Cluster Overhead, have a more complex calculation.
Spotlight uses the Global Database label to indicate alarms in one or more Oracle
instances that may affect the performance of the Oracle RAC database as a whole.
The flows between the Interconnect Panel and the Instances panel below represent
the flow of data from one instance to another across the interconnect.
Instances panel (and individual instances)
70
Spotlight on Oracle
The middle panels show the participating instances of a cluster. Spotlight on
Oracle RAC supports a theoretical maximum of 36 instances, with up to 6 instances
shown on the home page. When there are more than 6 instances (not shown here),
you can use a navigation control in the Instances panel to navigate between groups of
instances.
The color of the border and label on each instance represents the Spotlight on Oracle
severity of the instance. You can move the mouse over a named instance to display a
list of all the alarms currently raised against that instance.
Note:
You can launch Spotlight on Oracle for any of the individual instances in the Instances
Panel. (For more information on this, see Viewing Oracle RAC instances with Spotlight
on Oracle.)
The overall status of the cluster does not necessarily reflect the status of individual
instances, as problems with individual instances do not necessarily translate to a
problem with the cluster as a whole.
Two further metrics Balance and Availability are shown in the instances panel.
Balance indicates the comparative load on the instances. Availability shows the
percentage of instances for which a SQL*Net connection is currently open and
working.
I/O Subsystem panel
This panel shows information relating to the shared storage subsystem for the Oracle
RAC cluster.
Some of this information is aggregated from queries sent to the individual instances;
other information is obtained from a single query to one of the instances.
The ASM spinner on the left of this panel is populated only when ASM (Automatic
Storage Management) is being used and has been defined in the Connection
Properties window (see Creating a connection to an Oracle RAC database on
page 62).
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71
The flows between the I/O Subsystem panel and the individual instances represent
the flow of physical reads and writes between the instances and the physical
database.
Spotlight on Oracle RAC alarms

The following are brief descriptions of the alarms specifically associated with
Spotlight on Oracle RAC.
For possible solutions for the problems indicated by these alarms, or for information
on how to diagnose problems further, see the Spotlight online help.
Aggregated Spotlight on Oracle alarms

Every Oracle instance in an Oracle RAC cluster can have its own performance
issues, but problems in a single instance may not always affect the operation of the
cluster as a whole. In such cases, Spotlight on Oracle RAC can display an alarm in
the relevant instance panel without reporting a specific Spotlight on Oracle RAC
alarm.
However, if a problem in a single instance DOES affect the operation of the whole
cluster or is repeated in multiple instances so that the combined effect is significant
Spotlight on Oracle RAC reports the problem as an aggregated alarm.
These alarms are displayed on the Spotlight on Oracle RAC home page usually in
the Global Database heading of the Interconnect and Global Status panel, or on the
individual components of the IO Subsystem panel.
Note:
Aggregated alarms within Spotlight on Oracle RAC are the same as the corresponding
alarms in Spotlight on Oracle (see page 39).
Not all Spotlight on Oracle alarms are aggregated in Spotlight on Oracle RAC.
Archive Critical Failure alarm

An Archive Critical Failure alarm indicates that the number of working archive
destinations for the database cluster is about to fall below the minimum number
needed to archive Oracle redo logs successfully. When you see this alarm, you
should make space in the archive log destination by purging or by backing up to an
offline medium any archived files that are not immediately needed.
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Spotlight on Oracle
Archive Destination Failed alarm

Spotlight raises an Archive Destination Failed alarm when at least one of the archive
destinations specified for redo log files has become full. See Archive Destination
Failure alarm below.
Archive Destination Failure alarm

An Archive Destination Failure alarm when at least one of the archive destinations
specified for redo log files is about to become full. When you see this alarm, you
should make space in the archive log destination by purging it, or by backing it up to
an offline medium.
ASM Status alarm

connection. The ASM Status alarm indicates that Spotlight is re-establishing its
connection to the ASM diskgroup for the Oracle RAC cluster.
Availability alarm
This alarm indicates that the instances participating in the cluster are NOT all
currently available for access. The database administrator should determine why the
instances are unavailable, and restart them after taking the required actions.
(Global) Cache Miss Rate alarm

See Miss Rate alarm below.
Cluster Latency alarm

Spotlight raises the Cluster Latency alarm when cluster latency from all causes
(interconnect, GES, LMS overhead) exceeds a specified threshold. Cluster latency is
defined as the average elapsed time from when a requesting instance requests a block
of data to the time when the requesting instance receives the block.
Cluster Overhead alarm

Spotlight raises the Cluster Overhead alarm when the percentage of time dedicated to
cluster co-ordination activities exceeds a specified threshold. Cluster overhead is the
amount of time spent waiting for cluster related activities as a percentage of the total
time spent waiting for all activities.
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73
Corrupt or Lost Blocks alarms

Spotlight raises separate alarms for corrupt and lost blocks when a specified
percentage of the blocks transferred across the interconnect are corrupted or lost
during global cache consistent read requests.
High levels of lost or corrupt blocks should not happen in normal circumstances. If
these alarms fire at all, it indicates either very serious overloading of the Oracle RAC
cluster, or software or hardware faults in the cluster.
Instance Failed alarm

Spotlight raises an Instance Failed alarm when a specified instance has failed
because of an Archiver error. See Archive Critical Failure alarm above.
Load Imbalance alarm

Spotlight raises the Load Imbalance alarm when:
The load across instances in the cluster is significantly unbalanced, and
The imbalance is proven to be statistically significant, beyond a 95%
probability.
Cluster balance is a fundamental indication of the health and productivity of an
Oracle RAC environment. If load is not reasonably evenly distributed across the
instances in a cluster, then the DBA is likely to regret having chosen a clustered
environment.
Spotlight on Oracle RAC calculates balance by recording a user-definable metric of
load over time on each instance (the default is Logical Reads, but you can switch
this to CPU usage or Physical Writes via the Spotlight on Oracle RAC Options
window) and calculating the relative balance of load across the cluster.
In the normal course of events, there are always minor variations in load between
instances within the cluster, so Spotlight uses a statistical technique to determine if a
variation is significant.
Note:
The activation of specific Oracle Services can unbalance the workload across the Oracle
RAC cluster. In these cases, Spotlight triggers the Load Imbalance alarm only when a
more significant threshold is reached.
Miss Rate alarm

This alarm, more specifically known as the Cache Miss Rate alarm or Global Cache
Miss Rate alarm, is raised when the global cache local miss rate exceeds a specified
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Spotlight on Oracle
threshold. This rate is the percentage of time that a block required for a logical read
is located in an inconsistent mode on ANOTHER instance in the cluster and must be
transferred.
No Nodes Available alarm

This alarm indicates that Spotlight has lost its connection to the Oracle RAC cluster,
and cannot re-connect to any of the nodes in the cluster. Check the status of your
network connection, your host machines, and your database instances.
Spotlight on Oracle RAC drilldowns

Spotlight on Oracle RAC makes it possible for you to view your system at different
levels of detail.
At its highest level (the home page) Spotlight displays a visual representation
of the status of the major components in the current system.
When you have isolated a problem, you can display a drilldown page, whose
charts and tables provide a detailed breakdown of the underlying statistics.
Spotlight on Oracle RAC contains the following drilldowns, most of which are
equivalent to drilldowns in the standard edition of Spotlight on Oracle. For further
information, see Spotlight on Oracle drilldowns on page 48.
Drilldown
Description
Sessions
As per Spotlight on Oracle.
SQL & Application

Workload
As per Spotlight on Oracle. The SQL & Application

Workload drilldown in Spotlight on Oracle RAC does
NOT contain the following pages:
SQL Analyze Trace
Activity
Result Cache
As per Spotlight on Oracle. The Activity drilldown in

Spotlight on Oracle RAC does NOT contain the
following pages:
Lock Activity
Server
Rollback
Chapter 5
Drilldown
Description
I/O
Configuration &
Memory
As per Spotlight on Oracle. The Configuration &

Memory drilldown in Spotlight on Oracle RAC does
NOT contain the following pages:
Shared Pool Utilization
Disk Storage
75
Buffer Cache
As per Spotlight on Oracle. The Disk Storage drilldown

in Spotlight on Oracle RAC does NOT contain the
following pages:
Online Redo
Recovery Area
Cluster
The pages in the Cluster drilldown display information

about the performance of the Oracle RAC cluster,
including details on cluster latency, balance, overhead,
miss ratios, and corrupt or lost blocks. For further
information see Cluster drilldown in the online help.
ASM (If available)
Services (Oracle 10.2

and later)
The Services drilldown displays details of the services

defined and deployed for the Oracle RAC cluster under
investigation.
Predictive
Diagnostics
(If available)
Alarm Log
Viewing Oracle RAC instances with Spotlight on Oracle

The Spotlight on Oracle installation program installs both Spotlight on Oracle RAC
and Spotlight on Oracle on your system. You can launch Spotlight on Oracle from
any Instance panel on the Spotlight on Oracle RAC home page.
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Spotlight on Oracle
When you click on a component on the Spotlight on Oracle

RAC home page, Spotlight's default behavior is to display a
context-sensitive help window.
When you click the heading of an Instance panel, the help
window contains the following item.
Click Show me the Spotlight on Oracle drilldown to open

Spotlight on Oracle for the corresponding instance. (You
can also use Help Options in the Spotlight Help menu to
configure Spotlight to display the drilldown directly.)
6
Troubleshooting
This chapter suggests solutions to problems that may occur on opening Spotlight and
making a connection.
Product authorization errors

The following are steps that you can take should you encounter an authorization
problem with Spotlight. When first installed, Spotlight can be used with full
functionality for a specified trial period. After this time it reverts to Preview mode
for the standard edition of Spotlight on Oracle.
Preview mode
In preview mode, only the Spotlight on Oracle home page is accessible. If you click
any of the drilldown buttons, the following message is displayed:
You do not have a license for Spotlight on Oracle that
enables access to this functionality. Please contact Quest
Software for information about obtaining the correct license.
If the trial date has not passed, check that the date on your system is set correctly.
Otherwise, contact your Quest Software representative to obtain a registered key.
To enter a new authorization key

You can enter a new authorization key from Spotlight on Oracle itself.
1 From the Help menu, select About Spotlight. (The Installed Products page
contains license details for all installed Spotlight products.)
2 Select View / Change Product License under any Spotlight on Oracle entry
in the list of installed products.
3 In the License Viewer, click the Change this license link.
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Spotlight on Oracle
4 Enter the new Authorization key and Site message and then click OK.
Invalid authorization key

If you enter the authorization key incorrectly, the following message is displayed:
Invalid authorization key
Make sure that you enter the authorization key exactly as stated on your Product
Authorization sheet or as provided by your Quest Software distributor.
Connection problems
The following are a set of problems that may be encountered on connection. Follow
the indicated solutions to resolve those problems.
Spotlight cannot connect to a database

There are a number of possible causes.
Possible cause
Solution
Oracle is not running.
Verify that the Oracle instance is

running and can be accessed from a
host or client workstation.
The connect string and alias of the

database are incorrect or have changed.
Check your SQL* Net configuration

and verify the connect string and alias
you are using are correct.
The user ID you are using to log into

Spotlight does not exist in the database.
Run the User Wizard to establish the

user ID in the database.
The Spotlight user has the wrong

permissions in the database.
Contact your DBA to add relevant

permissions to the user.
Remote commands do not work when

monitoring Unix OS with a user
ID/password that exists on the machine.
Remote commands may not work

unless the user ID is added to the
/etc/hosts.equiv file on that Unix
machine.
Chapter 6
Troubleshooting
79
Error displayed after attempting to connect

The following error message is displayed:
Connection has been refused by the server
This means that Spotlight cannot access the operating statistics of the (Windows)
database machine. Users must have access to the registry so that Spotlight can
retrieve the operating system statistics.
To enable Spotlight to access the Operating System statistics

Give Spotlight the privileges it needs to access the registry. To do this, connect to the
remote machine via a user account that has the appropriate privileges. An account
with administrative rights to the target machine will allow this.
Spotlight cannot connect to ASM

When installed and available, Automatic Storage Management (ASM) stores Oracle
data in a separate ASM database instance. Spotlight on Oracle displays performance
metrics for ASM on the home page and in the ASM drilldown.
If the database under investigation uses ASM but Spotlight cannot connect to it to
retrieve the required information, you may need to edit the TNSNAMES entry for
the ASM instance.
1 Locate the tnsnames.ora file in Oracles network/admin sub-folder of the
Oracle installation folder on your Spotlight client.
2 Edit tnsnames.ora so that the TNSNAMES entry for the target ASM
instance contains the option (UR = A).
Drilldown problems
The following are a set of problems that may be encountered. Follow the indicated
solutions to resolve those problems.
Alarm help displayed instead of the drilldown

This occurs when component that is in alarm status; the alarm help is displayed
instead of the drilldown.
80
Spotlight on Oracle
To display the drilldown

1 From the Help menu choose Help Options.
2 Select Always jump directly to the related drilldown.
The Top Sessions drilldown is displaying dead sessions

This occurs when the Top Sessions drilldown has not been reset recently.
To reset the Top Sessions drilldown

1 From the Top Sessions drilldown click on the Filter button.
2 Click Reset
3 Select the appropriate frequency.
Inaccurate information is displayed in drilldowns

Inaccurate information may be displayed in the following locations:
Buffer Busy Waits (activity drilldown)
Session Details (Top Sessions drilldown)
Session waits (Top Sessions drilldown)
Spotlight may display inaccurate information when you first connect to a database
because the Fast Initialize Spotlight option is ON by default.
To turn Fast Initialize off
1 From the View menu choose Options.
2 Under Data Collection click Oracle Initalization.
3 Click Turn Fast Initialize off.
4 Restart Spotlight.
The OS drilldown contains inaccurate information for Windows systems

The Operating System drilldown displays operating system performance statistics for
the database you are diagnosing. If the database is running on a Windows operating
system, users must have access to the registry so that Spotlight can retrieve the
Chapter 6
Troubleshooting
81
operating system statistics. See To enable Spotlight to access the Operating System
statistics on page 79.
The OS drilldown contains errors for Unix systems

The Operating System drilldown may contain errors if it has lost access to the
database machine. If the database is running on Unix, Spotlight can use one of the
REXEC or SSH protocols to submit various Unix commands (for example, netstat,
vmstat, iostat, sar) to monitor system activity. These commands must be accessible
to an REXEC or SSH session for Spotlight to be able to monitor Unix activity. If
these commands are not located in the standard search path available to the session,
Spotlight displays an error.
Predictive Diagnostics is not available

You can use Predictive Diagnostics to collect and analyze performance metrics for
SQL statements as they are executed on the database instance, system bottlenecks as
they affect database throughput and response time, and database resources whose
limitations affect database performance.
If Predictive Diagnostics is unavailable for your Spotlight connections, re-run the
Oracle user wizard to install Predictive Diagnostics.
1 Close and re-open Spotlight on Oracle.
2 From the File menu choose Oracle User Wizard...
3 Follow the procedure described in the section To create a Spotlight user
(page 19). Make sure that you install Predictive Diagnostics as part of the
procedure.
Note:
When you start using Predictive Diagnostics, Spotlight will take about 10 days to collect
enough data to make valid predictions on the future performance of the database.
During that time, you can use the supplied sample data to view Predictive Diagnostics
at work.
High Spotlight load on database server

The queries that Spotlight uses to collect data from a diagnosed system can place an
additional load on the system under diagnosis. Most Spotlight queries consume a
measurable but not significant amount of system resources. However, queries that
82
Spotlight on Oracle
are complex or collect large amounts of data may put a significant load on the
system.
If you find that the load that Spotlight places on your server is too high, you can
adjust collection rates for different categories of Spotlight data, and so limit the load
that Spotlight places on the system under analysis. You can choose a standard
Spotlight setting, or you can create your own Custom settings.
1 Close and re-open Spotlight on Oracle.
3 In the list of Spotlight on Oracle connections, right-click the connection
whose load you want to change.
4 Select Properties from the shortcut menu.
5 Click the Overhead tab.
6 Use the Overhead Management slider to adjust the overall Spotlight load for
the connection. (Alternatively, click Custom to adjust specific load
categories.)
7 Open the Spotlight connection.
The procedure for adjusting the Spotlight load is covered in more detail in the online
help.
APPENDIX
Appendix: Contact Quest

Contact Quest Support
Quest Support is available to customers who have a trial version of a Quest product
or who have purchased a Quest product and have a valid maintenance contract.
Quest Support provides unlimited 24x7 access to SupportLink, our self-service
portal. Visit SupportLink at http://support.quest.com.
From SupportLink, you can do the following:
y Retrieve thousands of solutions from our online Knowledgebase
y Download the latest releases and service packs
y Create, update and review Support cases
View the Global Support Guide for a detailed explanation of support programs,
online services, contact information, policies and procedures. The guide is available
at: http://support.quest.com.
Note
This document is available only in English.
Contact Spotlight support

Whenever you have a question about Spotlight, click Support Bundle or Contact
Support on the Help menu. This creates a file called spotlightsupport.zip in one of
the following folders:
Windows XP
In a sub-folder under the Documents and Settings folder.
Vista /
Windows 7
In a sub-folder under the Users folder.
84
Spotlight on Oracle
This file contains a snapshot of your Spotlight installation. Send this file and your
request for assistance to Quest Software (support@quest.com).
Notes:
y Support bundles contain information for the active instance only. If you are using Spotlight to
diagnose multiple instances ensure that the correct instance is displayed before creating the
support bundle.
y Support bundles cannot be created when the History Browser is open. For further information
on the History Browser, see the Spotlight online help under Concepts and Features.
Contact Quest Software

Email
info@quest.com
Mail
Quest Software, Inc.

World Headquarters
5 Polaris Way
Aliso Viejo, CA 92656
USA
Web site
www.quest.com
See our web site for regional and international office information.
About Quest Software

Now more than ever, organizations need to work smart and improve efficiency.
Quest Software creates and supports smart systems management productshelping
our customers solve everyday IT challenges faster and easier. Visit www.quest.com
more information.
INDEX
Index
A
Activity drilldown................................. 50, 74
Aggregated alarms ...................................... 71
Alarm Log drilldown ............................ 51, 75
Alarms .................................................. 11, 39
Aggregated alarms .................................. 71
Archive Critical Failure .................... 39, 71
Archive Destination Failed ............... 40, 72
Archive Destination Failure .............. 40, 72
Array Fetch Size ..................................... 40
ASM balance .......................................... 40
ASM service time ................................... 40
ASM status ....................................... 40, 72
Availability ............................................. 72
Average redo write ................................. 40
Average time to sync a redo log entry .... 40
Balance ................................................... 73
Bottleneck collector ................................ 45
Buffer busy wait ..................................... 41
Cache buffer chains latch........................ 41
Cache buffer LRU chains latch ............... 41
Cache Miss Rate ..................................... 73
Cluster Latency ....................................... 72
Cluster Overhead .................................... 72
Continued Fetch Rate ............................. 41
Corrupt Blocks........................................ 73
CPU busy ................................................ 41
Custom SQL Error .................................. 46
Datafile read time ................................... 41
Dispatchers busy ..................................... 41
EM Agent Not Connected ...................... 42
Estimated shared pool size ...................... 42

Excessive RBS activities ......................... 42
Flashback buffer wait percentage............ 42
Flashback space usage ............................ 43
Free buffer waits ..................................... 43
Global Cache Miss Rate .......................... 73
Instance Failed .................................. 43, 73
Insufficient flashback logs ...................... 43
Job processes busy .................................. 43
Large pool full......................................... 43
Latch free waits ....................................... 43
Library cache latches .............................. 44
Library cache miss rate ........................... 44
Load Imbalance ....................................... 73
Lock wait ................................................ 44
Log Buffer Space Wait ........................... 44
Log switch time....................................... 44
Lost Blocks ............................................. 73
Low free physical RAM .......................... 44
Miss Rate ................................................ 73
Multi-threaded server .............................. 44
No Nodes Available ................................ 74
Non-reclaimable flashback space ............ 45
Oracle parameters ................................... 45
Oracle status ............................................ 45
Parallel query server................................ 45
Parse ratio................................................ 45
Predictive Diagnostics....................... 45, 46
Redo allocation and Redo copy latch ...... 46
Result Cache Find/Create Ratio .............. 46
Result Cache Latch Sleep Ratio .............. 46
Sequential Read Time ............................. 46
86
Spotlight on Oracle
Shared pool lock percentage ................... 47

Shared server converted into dedicated
server .................................................. 47
SQL collector .......................................... 45
Temporary IO wait ratio ......................... 47
Total parse wait time ratio ...................... 47
Unarchived logs ...................................... 47
Unix status .............................................. 47
WMI status ............................................. 48
Write complete wait ................................ 48
Archive Critical Failure alarm .............. 39, 71
Archive Destination Failed alarm ......... 40, 72
Archive Destination Failure alarm ........ 40, 72
Array fetch ...................................... 49, 74, 75
Array Fetch Size alarm ............................... 40
ASM ........................................................... 79
ASM Balance alarm.................................... 40
ASM drilldown ..................................... 50, 75
ASM Service Time alarm ........................... 40
ASM Status alarm ................................. 40, 72
Authorization errors .................................... 77
Availability alarm ....................................... 72
Average redo write time alarm ................... 40
Average Time to Sync a Redo Log Entry
alarm ....................................................... 40
B
Background Processes panel....................... 37
Balance alarm ............................................. 73
Benefits ......................................................... 7
Bottleneck collector alarm .......................... 45
Bottleneck, tuning by .................................. 52
Buffer busy wait alarm ............................... 41
C
Cache Buffer Chains Latch alarm ............... 41
Cache Buffer LRU Chains Latch alarm ...... 41
Cache Miss Rate alarm ............................... 73
Charts .......................................................... 11
Client permissions ...................................... 15
Cluster components .............. See Oracle RAC
Cluster drilldown ........................................ 75
Cluster Latency alarm ................................. 72
Cluster Overhead alarm .............................. 72

Components of an Oracle RAC cluster ....... 60
Components of an Oracle server ................... 7
Configuration and Memory drilldown ........ 75
Configuration drilldown .............................. 50
Connecting
to a database ............................................ 26
troubleshooting........................................ 78
Connections........................................... 21, 26
Continued Fetch Rate alarm ........................ 41
Corrupt Blocks alarm .................................. 73
CPU Busy alarm ......................................... 41
Creating a database connection ................... 21
Creating a Spotlight user ....................... 19, 62
Custom SQL Error alarm ............................ 46
D
Database
cannot connect......................................... 78
tuning ...................................................... 52
Datafile Read Time alarm ........................... 41
Disk Storage drilldown ......................... 50, 75
Disk Storage panel ...................................... 38
Dispatchers Busy alarm .............................. 41
Drilldown problems .................................... 79
Drilldowns....................................... 11, 48, 74
Activity ............................................. 50, 74
Alarm Log ......................................... 51, 75
Application Workload ................. 49, 74, 75
Array fetch .................................. 49, 74, 75
ASM .................................................. 50, 75
Cluster ..................................................... 75
Configuration .......................................... 50
Configuration and Memory ..................... 75
Disk Storage ...................................... 50, 75
DTrace..................................................... 50
I/O ........................................................... 50
Memory ................................................... 50
Operating System .................................... 50
Parse activity ............................... 49, 74, 75
Predictive Diagnostics....................... 51, 75
Result Cache ........................................... 49
Services ................................................... 75
87
Index
Sessions ............................................ 49, 74
Sort activity................................. 49, 74, 75
SQL & Application Workload .... 49, 74, 75
SQL Analyze Trace ................................ 49
Top SQL ..................................... 49, 74, 75
troubleshooting ....................................... 79
Tuning..................................................... 50
DTrace .................................................. 13, 29
DTrace drilldown ........................................ 50
E
EM Agent Not Connected alarm ................ 42
Error connection has been refused by the
server ..................................................... 79
Errors
1114 ........................................................ 81
authorization ........................................... 77
operating system drilldown..................... 81
Estimated Shared Pool Size alarm .............. 42
Excessive RBS Activities alarm ................. 42
Explain Plan................................................ 52
F
Features......................................................... 7
DTrace .............................................. 13, 29
Spotlight on Oracle ..................... 11, 13, 29
Flashback Buffer Wait Percentage alarm ... 42
Flashback Space Usage alarm .................... 43
Free buffer waits alarm ............................... 43
G
Global Cache Miss Rate alarm ................... 73
H
History ........................................................ 11
Home page ........................................ 9, 31, 67
Predictive Diagnostics ............................ 51
Host panel ................................................... 34
I
I/O drilldown .............................................. 50
Install .......................................................... 15
Installing Spotlight ............................... 15, 61
Instance Failed alarm ............................ 43, 73
Insufficient Flashback Logs alarm .............. 43

J
Job Processes Busy alarm ........................... 43
L
Large Pool Full alarm ................................. 43
Latch Free Waits alarm ............................... 43
Library Cache Latches alarm ...................... 44
Library Cache Miss Rate alarm................... 44
Load ............................................................ 81
Load Imbalance alarm ................................. 73
Lock wait alarm .......................................... 44
Log Buffer Space Wait alarm ..................... 44
Log Switch Time alarm............................... 44
Lost Blocks alarm ....................................... 73
Low Free Physical RAM alarm................... 44
M
Main Spotlight window ..................... 9, 31, 67
Memory drilldown ...................................... 50
Menus.......................................................... 52
Miss Rate alarm .......................................... 73
MSI installation ........................................... 18
Multiple installations................................... 17
Multi-threaded server alarm ........................ 44
N
No Nodes Available alarm .......................... 74
Non-reclaimable Flashback Space alarm .... 45
O
Operating System drilldown ....................... 50
errors ....................................................... 81
Oracle
architecture ................................................ 7
server components..................................... 7
Oracle Parameters alarm ............................. 45
Oracle RAC
architecture .............................................. 59
cluster components.................................. 60
Oracle Status alarm ..................................... 45
88
Spotlight on Oracle
P
Panels
Background Processes ............................ 37
Disk Storage ........................................... 38
Host......................................................... 34
overview ................................................. 32
Server Processes ..................................... 35
Sessions .................................................. 33
SGA ........................................................ 36
Parallel Query Server alarms ...................... 45
Parse activity................................... 49, 74, 75
Parse Ratio alarm ........................................ 45
Permissions ................................................. 15
Predictive Diagnostics .................... 51, 75, 81
alarms ............................................... 45, 46
storage requirements ............................... 54
Preview mode ............................................. 77
Q
Quest Software
about ....................................................... 84
contacting................................................ 84
contacting Support .................................. 83
R
RAC ...................................... See Oracle RAC
Redo Allocation and Redo Copy Latch
alarms ..................................................... 46
Result Cache ............................................... 49
Result Cache Find/Create Ratio alarm........ 46
Result Cache Latch Sleep Ratio alarm........ 46
S
Sequential Read Time alarm ....................... 46
Server components ........................ See Oracle
Server load .................................................. 81
Server Processes panel................................ 35
Services drilldown ...................................... 75
Sessions drilldown ................................ 49, 74
Sessions panel ............................................. 33
SGA panel .................................................. 36
Shared Pool Lock Percentage alarm ........... 47
Shared Server Converted into Dedicated

Server alarm ............................................ 47
Sort activity ..................................... 49, 74, 75
Space Manager ............................................ 52
Spotlight
alarms ................................................ 11, 39
connections ....................................... 21, 26
drilldowns ................................... 11, 48, 74
DTrace..................................................... 29
home page ..................................... 9, 31, 67
installing ............................................ 15, 61
menus ...................................................... 52
starting............................................... 18, 61
users .................................................. 19, 62
Spotlight on Oracle ............................... 31, 59
MSI installation ....................................... 18
Multiple installations............................... 17
Spotlight on Oracle RAC ............................ 67
SQL & Application Workload drilldown ... 49,
74, 75
SQL Analyze Trace ..................................... 49
SQL Collector alarm ................................... 45
SQL Optimizer ............................................ 52
Starting ........................................................ 15
Starting Spotlight .................................. 18, 61
Summary of tuning steps............................. 53
Support Bundle ........................................... 83
T
Tables .......................................................... 11
Temporary IO Wait Ratio alarm ................. 47
Top SQL.......................................... 49, 74, 75
Total Parse Wait Time Ratio alarm ............. 47
Troubleshooting .......................................... 77
ASM ........................................................ 79
authorization ........................................... 77
connection problems ............................... 78
dead sessions ........................................... 80
drilldown problems ................................. 79
Predictive Diagnostics............................. 81
server load ............................................... 81
Tuning ......................................................... 52
Tuning drilldown......................................... 50
89
Index
U
Unarchived Logs alarm............................... 47
Unix Status alarm ....................................... 47
Users ..................................................... 19, 62
W
WMI Status alarm ....................................... 48
Write Complete Wait alarm ........................ 48

Spotlight On Oracle Getting Started

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Spotlight on Oracle 7.

2010 Quest Software, Inc.

Getting started with Spotlight on Oracle ....................................................................................................... 15

Using Spotlight on Oracle ................................................................................................................................ 31

Spotlight on Oracle RAC .................................................................................................................................. 59

Appendix: Contact Quest ................................................................................................................................. 83

How Spotlight displays information about your Oracle databases.

How to install and start Spotlight on Oracle.

How to create a Spotlight user for your database.

How to make a Spotlight on Oracle connection to a database.

How to use that Spotlight connection.

How to make and use a Spotlight connection to an Oracle RAC cluster.

How to resolve some common Spotlight problems.

How to contact Quest Software for further assistance.

An overview of the Oracle architecture

Basic components of an Oracle server

8 The database-writer background process copies modified blocks from the

An overview of Spotlight on Oracle

Features common to Spotlight applications

Features specific to Spotlight on Oracle

Features specific to Spotlight on Oracle RAC

For more information on Predictive Diagnostics, see Using Spotlight to predict

DTrace analysis (Solaris 10 and later)

Before installing and running Spotlight

When running Spotlight

When authenticating a Spotlight license

Write access to the Console\Licenses sub-folder of the Spotlight installation

To install Spotlight on Oracle

Multiple installations of Spotlight on Oracle

MSI installation of Spotlight on Oracle

To authorize Spotlight on Oracle

To uninstall Spotlight on Oracle

2 Create a new Spotlight user, if required.

To start Spotlight on Oracle

Creating a new Spotlight user

To create a Spotlight user

Enter the database instance on which you

Enter the user name of a

Enter a DBA user name for that database

Enter the password

Enter the DBA user password.

5 Click Next to continue.

Enter a name for the new user.

Enter a password for the new user.

Confirm the password.

Select any table

Select this to enable the user to generate

Select this to enable the user to trace and

7 Click Next to continue.

The default tablespace is USERS, if

The default temporary tablespace is TEMP,

9 Click Next to continue.

Creating an Oracle database connection

To create a database connection

Select the name of the database that you

Enter the Spotlight user name.

Enter the Spotlight user password.

Select an appropriate Oracle Home a

Enter the connection string required to link

Enter the user password that Spotlight uses

Use a pre-configured or shared

Use a Spotlight connection without ASM

7 Select Monitor OS if you want to monitor the operating system on the