Contents

Title and Copyright Information

Preface

Send Us Your Comments

Part I Parallel Processing Fundamentals

1 Introduction to Oracle Parallel Server

What Is Oracle Parallel Server?

Benefits of Oracle Parallel Server

Scalability

High Availability

Transparency

2 Parallel Hardware Architecture

Overview of Cluster Hardware Components

What is a Node?

Memory Access

Uniform Memory Access

Non-Uniform Memory Access

The High Speed Interconnect

Clusters - Nodes and the Interconnect

Storage Access in Clustered Systems

Uniform Disk Access

Non-Uniform Disk Access

Oracle Parallel Server Runs on a Wide Variety of Clusters

3 Oracle Parallel Server Architecture

Oracle Parallel Server Components for Clustered Systems

Overview of Components for Clustered Systems

The Cluster Manager

Distributed Lock Manager

The Cluster Interconnect and Inter-Process Communication (Node-to-Node)

Disk Subsystems

Part II Oracle Parallel Server Lock Processing

4 Inter-instance Coordination

Synchronization

Local Locks

Global Locks

Non-Parallel Cache Management Coordination

Non-Parallel Cache Management Locks

Non-PCM Global Locks

Overview of Non-Parallel Cache Management Locks

Parallel Cache Management Coordination

Example of Parallel Cache Management Processing

Block Level Locking

5 Parallel Cache Management

Parallel Cache Management and Lock Implementation

The Role of Cache Fusion in Resolving Cache Coherency Conflicts

Lock Duration and Granularity

Two Types of Lock Duration

Two Forms of Lock Granularity

The Cost of Locks

Coordination of Locking Mechanisms by the Distributed Lock Manager

Lock Modes As Resource Access Rights

Instances Map Database Resources to Distributed Lock Manager Resources

The Distributed Lock Manager Records Lock Information

How Distributed Lock Manager Locks and Global Locks Relate

One Lock Per Instance on a Resource

Lock Elements and Parallel Cache Management Locks

Lock Elements for Fixed Parallel Cache Management Locks

Lock Elements for Releasable Parallel Cache Management Locks

Lock Elements for 1:1 Parallel Cache Management Locks

How Parallel Cache Management Locks Operate

Parallel Cache Management Locks Are Owned by Instance LCK Processes

Multiple Instances Can Own the Same Locks

How 1:1 Locking Works

Number of Blocks Per Parallel Cache Management Lock

Example of Locks Covering Multiple Blocks

Periodicity of Fixed Parallel Cache Management Locks

Pinging: Signaling the Need to Update

Lock Mode and Buffer State

How The DLM Grants and Coordinates Resource Lock Requests

Specifying the Allocation and Duration of Locks

Number of Blocks Per Parallel Cache Management Lock

Selecting Lock Granularity

Simultaneously Using Fixed and Releasable Locking

Group-Owned Locks

Distributed Lock Manager Support for Multi-threaded Server and XA

Memory Requirements for the Distributed Lock Manager

Part III Implementing Oracle Parallel Server

6 Oracle Parallel Server Components

Instance and Database Components for Oracle Parallel Server

Parallel Server-Specific Processes

Overview of Oracle Parallel Server Processes

Cache Fusion Processing and the Block Server Process

System Change Number Processing

How Lamport SCN Generation Works

7 Oracle Parallel Server Storage Considerations

Oracle Parallel Server-Specific Storage Issues

Data Files

Redo Log Files

Rollback Segments

Space Management and Free List Groups

How Oracle Handles Free Space

Segments, Extents, and The High Water Mark

Free Lists and Free List Groups

Free List Groups

Avoiding Contention for The Segment Header and Free LIst

Free List Group Examples

Partitioning Data with Free List Groups

How Oracle Partitions Free List Groups

Associating Instances, Users, and Locks with Free List Groups

Associating Instances with Free Lists

Associating User Processes with Free Lists

Associating PCM Locks with Free Lists

SQL Options for Managing Free Space

Controlling Extent Allocation

Automatic Allocation of New Extents

Pre-allocation of New Extents

Moving the High Water Mark of a Segment

8 Scalability and Oracle Parallel Server

Scalability Features of Oracle Parallel Server

Enhanced Throughput: Scale-up

Speed-Up and Scale-up: the Goals of Parallel Processing

When Is Parallel Processing Advantageous?

Decision Support Systems

Applications Updating Different Data Blocks

Application Profiles

Multi-Node Parallel Execution

Overview of Client-to-server Connectivity

Enhanced Scalability Using the Multi-threaded Server

Connect-Time Failover for Multiple Listeners

Client Load Balancing for Multiple Listeners

The Four Levels of Scalability

Scalability of Hardware and Network

Scalability of Operating System

Scalability of Database Management System

Scalability of Application

The Sequence Generator

Oracle Parallel Execution on Oracle Parallel Server

9 High Availability and Oracle Parallel Server

What is High Availability?

Measuring Availability

The Metrics of High Availability

Causes of Outages

Planning for High Availability

System Level Planning

Oracle Parallel Server and High Availability

Cluster Components and High Availability

Disaster Planning

Failure Protection Validation

Failover and Oracle Parallel Server Systems

The Basics of Failover

The Duration of Failover

Client Failover

Uses of Transparent Application Failover

Server Failover

Host-Based Failover

Oracle Parallel Server Failover

How Does Oracle Parallel Server Failover Work?

Oracle Parallel Server High Availability Configurations

Default N-node Parallel Server Configuration

Basic High Availability Configuration

Shared High Availability Node Configuration

Toward Deploying High Availability

Part IV Reference

A Differences Between Releases

Differences Between 8.1 and 8.1.6

New Features

Obsolete Parameters

Obsolete Statistics

New Statistics

Changes in Default Parameter Settings

Differences Between 8.0.4 and 8.1

Cache Fusion Architecture Changes

New Views

Removal of GMS

Parallel Transaction Recovery is now"Fast-Start Parallel Rollback"

Changes to Instance Registration

Listener Load Balancing

Diagnostic Enhancements

Oracle Parallel Server Management (OPSM)

Parallel Server Installation and Database Configuration

Instance Affinity for Jobs

Obsolete Parameters

Differences Between Release 8.0.3 and Release 8.0.4

New Initialization Parameters

Obsolete Initialization Parameters

Obsolete Startup Parameters

Dynamic Performance Views

Group Membership Services

Differences Between Release 7.3 and Release 8.0.3

New Initialization Parameters

Obsolete GC_* Parameters

Changed GC_* Parameters

Dynamic Performance Views

Global Dynamic Performance Views

Integrated Distributed Lock Manager

Instance Groups

Group Membership Services

Fine Grain Locking

Client-side Application Failover

Recovery Manager

Differences Between Release 7.2 and Release 7.3

Initialization Parameters

Data Dictionary Views

Dynamic Performance Views

Free List Groups

Fine Grain Locking

Instance Registration

Sort Improvements

XA Performance Improvements

XA Recovery Enhancements

Deferred Transaction Recovery

Load Balancing at Connect

Bypassing Cache for Sort Operations

Delayed-Logging Block Cleanout

Parallel Execution Processor Affinity

Differences Between Release 7.1 and Release 7.2

Pre-allocating Space Unnecessary

Data Dictionary Views

Dynamic Performance Views

Free List Groups

Table Locks

Lock Processes

Differences Between Release 7.0 and Release 7.1

Initialization Parameters

Dynamic Performance Views

Differences Between Version 6 and Release 7.0

Version Compatibility

File Operations

Deferred Rollback Segments

Redo Logs

Free Space Lists

SQL*DBA

Initialization Parameters

Archiving

Media Recovery

B Restrictions

Compatibility Between Shared and Exclusive Mode

The Export and Import Utilities

Compatibility Between Shared and Exclusive Modes

Restrictions

Maximum Number of Blocks Allocated at a Time

Restrictions in Shared Mode