Determining Table Size and Growth

The database system includes a CCMS enhancement for determining the size and growth of
tables. Schedule a regular background job for determining this data. You can also determine the
size and growth of single tables directly.

Procedure
1. Create a variant (such as TGT_DEFAULT) for the ABAP report RSADAT6M
(transaction SE38).
2. Set the following attributes for the report RSADAT6M, variant TGT_DEFAULT:
Do not specify a table name.
Choose Calculate Table Size. This is the most efficient measurement.
Select:
Determine Table Sizes
Determine Index Sizes
Save Results in Moni
Screen Output
3. Schedule a background job for the report RSADAT6M with the variant
TGT_DEFAULT and a period of 7 days (transaction SM36). You can also start the table
analysis immediately. However, do this only if you are analyzing single tables.

Result
The system determines the table sizes and growth. The runtime depends on the fill level of the
database instance and the number of tables you are analyzing.
The report RSADAT6M, with the parameters above, logs the measurement data in the following
areas:

Spool/Screen
You can print the measurement data, or download it for external tools.

Table MONI
The data is displayed in the Database Assistant (Table Sizes and Growth).

Table ADATABSIZE
You can use the SQL Studio database tool to access the measurement data in the
table ADATABSIZE directly.

Table Size and Growth

The Statistics user menu displays, among other things, statistics on table
size and growth.

Prerequisites
Prerequisites
Determining Table Size and Growth

Procedure
In the database assistant, choose Statistics Table Sizes and Growth.
1. ...

Result
You can choose from the following displays:

Tables with Greatest Growth

You can set the comparison period, comparison interval, and the number of tables
displayed.

Largest Tables
You can set the date and the number of the tables displayed.

Growth of a Table
You can set the name of the table and the display period.

You can display all statistics as graphics.

Database Growth Monitoring

Purpose
It is important to monitor the space situation in your Informix database.
Otherwise, dbspaces and tables might fill and cause processing to stop.
Problems with database space occur mainly due to:

Natural database growth

Addition of new hardware

Addition of new applications

All of these can cause the distribution of data in the database to become
unbalanced, with negative effects on performance. The purpose of
monitoring is to locate problems if possible anticipating them before they
occur and decide when and how to intervene to bring the database back
into balance.

Process Flow
You use the following features of SAPDBA and CCMS to monitor the growth
of dbspaces and tables in your database:

SAPDBA (Informix database administration tool from SAP)

You can view storage information in SAPDBA at the dbspace, table, or index level.

1 Dbspaces
SAPDBA offers you reports showing space usage by dbspace, chunk, or
device. These are as follows:

Listing Dbspaces with SAPDBA shows the free space in each

dbspace.
Listing Chunks with SAPDBA shows similar information at the
chunk level.
Listing Devices with SAPDBA shows information about the
physical devices, including numbers of disk accesses to each chunk
of a device.

Be sure to monitor dbspaces PSAPBTAB, PSAPSTAB, PSAPPOOL, PSAPPROT

carefully, as they can grow rapidly PSAPCLU.
If you work with client computers based on different hardware
platforms, be sure to also monitor PSAPLOADcarefully.

Changes to default values for dbspaces are possible, especially when SAP's
EarlyWatch has determined other values to be more effective for your system. For
more information on EarlyWatch, see
SAP Safeguarding.

1 Tables
Analyzing Tables for Critical Next Extent Size with SAPDBA shows the
tables that could not be properly extended (due to space shortage) if
the need arose. Be sure to extend the dbspaces for any tables on this
report as soon as possible, assuming that the next extent size specified
for the table is reasonable. Refer to Extension of a Dbspace.
Analyzing Tables by Fill Level, Size, and Extents with SAPDBA offers you
different ways to view table information by size, fill level, number of
extents or number of extents still available.
Analyzing Table Information with SAPDBA lets you look in detail at a
single table to see if it needs reorganizing.
1 Indexes
Analyzing Indexes by Fill Level, Leaves, and Levels with SAPDBA offers
you different ways to view index information by fill level, number of
extents or number of extents still available.
Analyzing Indexes of a Table with SAPDBA shows all indexes of a single
table.
Analyzing Index Information with SAPDBA lets you look in detail at a
single index to see if it needs reorganizing.

Computing Center Management System (CCMS) in the SAP System

Reports are available at three separate levels, database, dbspace, and table level. Refer
to Checking State on Disk (Informix). The following options are particularly useful for
managing database growth:

1 Space statistics for dbspaces

This shows the history of dbspace growth.
1 Free space statistics for dbspaces
This shows the available freespace in each dbspace and which objects
in each dbspace are in danger of filling.
1 Space critical objects for tables
This shows tables that are in danger of filling.
1 Space statistics for tables
This shows the size (in KB or extents) of individual tables. You can use
the historical analysis in this report to see how much a table has been
extended over a certain period of time, such as a day, week, or month.

Result
By monitoring database growth closely you can anticipate problems and so
take corrective action to avoid downtime for your SAP System.
Deciding when to intervene is sometimes difficult and is often a matter of
judgment. Refer to Recognition of Space Problems and Errors for hints on

what you need to look for. If you decide to take action, see Reorganization of
Tables, Indexes, and Dbspaces with SAPDBA.
In general, when thinking about how to accommodate database growth in
relation to the available disk drives, you can use the same guidelines as for
setting up your database. Refer to Database Setup for Production.

See also:
Informix documentation at http://www.informix.com

How does one monitor database space growth?

SAP/R3 ships complete with all tables needed for all modules. Whether or
not the modules are being used determines whether certain tables will grow
or not.
By modules, we mean applications - SD (Sales and Distribution), MM
(Material Management), HR (Human Resources), FI (Financials), etc. All of
these tables are initially created with 16K initial extent, 16K next extent.
The growth of 50GB a month shows that your site is probably using a lot of
the modules (as one would expect with a properly used ERP app) or that
there are many users with a lot of volume for a handful of modules.
Using the SAP transaction DB02, one can watch the growth of extents and
tablespace allocations.