DB Benchmark Expert

Introduction :DB Benchmark Expert enables you to setup a benchmark test that you can use to measure performance of your database doing on-line transaction processing work. This database benchmark test simulates a real workload by allowing you to establish large number of concurrent connections performing user-defined transactions simultaneously. This way you can simulate real database users running various database transactions at a high rate performance. The benchmark rules do not necessary reflect your database real world operations, however the benchmark takes into account real transactions made by other users while the test is being performed. DB Benchmark Expert provides you with an option to customize transaction involved in the test. Even if you use default settings, you can still use benchmark results for the performance bottlenecks analysis and other feature- performance considerations.

Because of the number of various interrelated factors the benchmark results for your database may vary at different times. Note that the following factors can significantly affect the results:

1. Server hardware configuration 2. Server Operation System configuration 3. Effective values of database instance parameters. 4. Real-world database workload at the time the benchmark is conducted. 5. Types of transactions and transaction specifics. 6. Number of concurrent connections. 7. Client workstation (benchmark host) performance. 8. Network traffic at the time the benchmark is conducted.

Pre-Requisites for the Benchmark :Choose SQL statements that you want to use for benchmarking. Best SQL statements for benchmarking are these that generate more transactions rather then return or update more records. Queries from your real applications are good candidates for using in performance testing, especially typical SQL statements that run frequently and generate a moderate amount of logical I/O. Ideally you should run DB Benchmark Expert with these queries periodically, perhaps, every week to monitor and compare changes in your application performance and response times. You must have SELECT privileges on the following two dynamic performance tables: V$VERSION, V$SYSSTAT. You must also have CREATE TABLE and DROP TABLE privileges.

How the Tool Works :The DB Benchmark Expert opens one or more simultaneous connections to the database. Each connection is created in a separate thread. You specify number of connections, transaction types, and test interval on the "step 2". All opened connections are used to run simultaneously the specified transactions. The order of transactions is random. You can modify the SQL that will be used for transactions on the "step 3". Make sure you specify valid SQL statements to achieve the correct results. The default benchmark settings and phases are:

1. Create and populate transaction table OM_BENCH. 2. Open 10 connections then use all connections to run simultaneously transactions of SELECT, INSERT, DELETE, and UPDATE types involving transaction table. This phase lasts 60 second. 3. Terminate all previously opened connections then drop transaction table. 4. Evaluate results and build TPS (transactions per second) graph.

The following types of benchmarking and load simulation are supported:

 Server relative performance (TPS) - you can use this benchmark type to measure your Oracle database server relative performance and then use it as a benchmark for other Oracle servers. You can use either pre-defined SQL queries to run this type of test of use your own. At the end of the test, DB Benchmark Expert generates bar graph indicating the achieved TPS (transactions per second) rate. Faster servers typically process more transactions and generate higher TPS numbers.

Server performance / load dependency - you can use this benchmark type to measure your Oracle database server performance dependency for different numbers of concurrent user sessions. Up to 4 pre-defined or user-supplied SQL queries can be used to run this type of test . At the end of the test, DB Benchmark Expert generates line graph indicating the achieved TPS (transactions per second) rate for different number of sessions. The graph can be also used to find out your server optimal throughout.

Application performance / load dependency - you can use this benchmark type to measure your Oracle database server performance dependency for different numbers of concurrent user sessions. This type is similar to the previous type, except that it allows you to specify virtually any number of different queries that you want to use for the testing. It is your responsibility to provide valid queries. At the end of the test, DB Benchmark Expert generates line graph indicating the achieved TPS (transactions per second) rate for different number of sessions. The graph can be also used to find out your server optimal throughout.

Application load simulator you can use this type for simulation your application running by multiple concurrent user sessions and testing how your database server can deal with multiple users. In other words, you can use this type of testing to make your Oracle server busy running application queries and measure your server average response and transaction processing times. This type also allows you to identify the slowest parts of the application code when running under heavy load and multiple sessions.

Using DB Benchmark as Application Load Simulation Tool :In order to use DB Benchmark as an Application Load Simulation too, you should first prepare the application queries to be used for simulation. Application Load Simulation is a simple and effective method that can provide meaningful answers to complex questions about your system capacity, multi-user access, application locking and concurrency, and other similar questions: Typical questions that can be answered with the help of DB Benchmark's Application Load Simulation tool include: If transaction volume doubles or triples, can our system handle them? How concurrent user sessions affect our application response time? Can we safely add 50 more users to an existing server? Will the application that we're thinking of acquiring work well for our company?

 A locking problem reported in production environment cannot be easily reproduced in test environment in which a single tester runs the application. Which parts of our application perform worse in a multi-user environment and can cause application locking.

Here we are providing the duration of the test, the number of connections we wants to establish, timing of the test, what are the queries that are going to be run.

Providing the information of connection to the database with schema name and password .

Providing the sql statements or pl/sql blocks from the application to run concurrently on the database and to simulate the load performance, then the tool establishes the connectivity to the database using the credentials we provided on step 3. Then simulates transactions and load. At the end of the prescribed time the tool will provide us the required the bench mark results.

After You Ran DB Benchmark Expert :Do not rush to tune your database to improve benchmark results. Tuning a database is sometimes like squeezing a balloon - reducing response time for one query often results in the increase of another. Carefully consider your database goal and utilization before making any changes.

Website Url & Price of the Tool :The tool can be downloadable from the website called http://www.softtreetech.com/dbtools/ there is an trial version of the same which runs for 30 days of the period, which we can use for evaluation purpose. The cost of the tool is : For single installation license it is $270 and for multi users (unlimited option) its of $3,900, you can get more information on the pricing in their website along with contact details.