How to determine SGA Size (7.x, 8.x, 9.x, 10g) [ID 1008866.

6] Modified 24-JUL-2010 ***Checked for relevance on 25-Jul-2010*** NOTE: This article was written for Oracle7 and Oracle8 databases. With the latest versions of Oracle it is best to use the advise information in the Statspack/AWR reports or looking at V$SHARED_POOL_ADVICE. Note:255409.1 SCRIPT Size Shared Pool using V$shared_pool_advice Note:4061621.8 Bug 4061621 - Shared pool advisory does not consider PLSQL objects PURPOSE The following explains how to approximate the size of the SGA (System Global Area). SCOPE & APPLICATION It is very difficult and time consuming to exactly calculate the SGA size based on values of init.ora parameters. It is difficult because of different port specific sizes of data structures that are allocated in the SGA. It is time consuming because there are so many parameters that influence the SGA size. For example, any parameter that configures a number of resources, such as PROCESSES and SESSIONS, will have an impact on the SGA size. This article will concentrate on: - Showing size of the SGA once connected to a running database. - Present a brief overview on different sub-divisions of the SGA - How to ESTIMATE the size of the SGA based on values of init.ora parameters. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ How to Approximate the Size of the SGA in in 8.0.X, 8i, 9i, and 10g: =============================================================== This section discusses Oracle8, Oracle8i, Oracle9i, and Oracle 10g. at the end of this note. Showing size of the SGA ----------------------SGA size information are displayed upon startup of the database. It can also be displayed using svrmgrl or sqlplus. See examples below. 8.0.X - svrmgrl connect internal show sga 8.1.X - svrmgrl or sqlplus /nolog connect internal show sga 9.X / 10g - sqlplus SQL*Plus: Release 9.0.1.0.0 - Production on Thu Aug 23 15:40:29 2001 (c) Copyright 2001 Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved. Enter user-name: sys as sysdba Enter password: Connected to: Oracle9i Enterprise Edition Release 9.0.1.0.0 - Production With the Partitioning option Oracle7 is discussed Type BULLETIN Status ARCHIVED

JServer Release 9.0.1.0.0 - Production SQL> show sga Total System Global Area Fixed Size Variable Size Database Buffers Redo Buffers 72123504 279664 67108864 4194304 540672 bytes bytes bytes bytes bytes

Different sub-divisions of the SGA ---------------------------------Sample from svrmgrl SHOW SGA: Total System Global Area Fixed Size Variable Size Database Buffers Redo Buffers 23460696 72536 22900736 409600 77824 bytes bytes bytes bytes bytes

Total System Global Area - Total in bytes of all the sub-divisions that makes up the SGA. Fixed Size - Contains general information about the state of the database and the instance, which the background processes need to access. - No user data is stored here. - This area is usually less than 100k in size. Variable Size - This section is influenced by the following init.ora parameters shared_pool_size large_pool_size java_pool_size - See 'Approximating Size of the SGA' section of this article for version specific information. Database Buffers - Holds copies of data blocks read from datafiles. size = db_block_buffers * block size Redo Buffers - A circular buffer in the SGA that holds information about changes made to the database. - Enforced mininum is set to 4 times the maximum database block size for the host operating system. NOTE: Memory structures were moved from the SGA to the shared pool in 10g. Reference: Note 270935.1 Shared pool sizing in 10g Approximating size of the SGA ----------------------------8.0.X To approximate size of the SGA (Shared Global Area), use the following formula: ((db_block_buffers * block size) + (shared_pool_size + large_pool_size + log_buffers) + 1MB 8.1.X To approximate size of the SGA (Shared Global Area), use the following formula: ((db_block_buffers * block size) + (shared_pool_size + large_pool_size + java_pool_size + log_buffers) + 1MB 9.X/10g

In Oracle9i/Oracle 10g, the SGA can be configured as in prior releases to be static, or can now be dynamically configured. The size of the dynamic SGA is determined by the values of the following database initialization parameters: DB_BLOCK_SIZE, DB_CACHE_SIZE, SHARED_POOL_SIZE, and LOG_BUFFER. Beginning with Oracle9i, the SGA infrastructure is dynamic. This means that the following primary parameters used to size the SGA can be changed while the instance is running: Buffer cache ( DB_CACHE_SIZE) -- the size in bytes of the cache of standard blocks Shared pool ( SHARED _POOL_SIZE) -- the size in bytes of the area devoted to shared SQL and PL/SQL statements Large pool (LARGE_POOL_SIZE) (default is 0 bytes) -- the size in bytes of the large pool used in shared server systems for session memory, parallel execution for message buffers, and by backup and restore processes for disk I/O buffers. The LOG_BUFFER parameter is used when buffering redo entries to a redo log. It is a static parameter and represents a very small portion of the SGA and can be changed only by stopping and restarting the database to read the changed value for this parameter from the initialization parameter file (init.ora). Note that even though you cannot change the MAX_SGA_SIZE parameter value dynamically, you do have the option of changing any of its three dependent primary parameters: DB_CACHE_SIZE, SHARED_POOL_SIZE, and LARGE_POOL_SIZE to make memory tuning adjustments on the fly. (NOTE: LARGE_POOL_SIZE cannot be dynamically changed in Oracle 9.0.1, it is anticipated to be made dynamic in the next release).

To help you specify an optimal cache value, you can use the dynamic DB_CACHE_ADVICE parameter with statistics gathering enabled to predict behavior with different cache sizes through the V$DB_CACHE_ADVICE performance view. Use the ALTER SYSTEM...SET clause... statement to enable this parameter. See Oracle9i/Oracle10g Database Performance Guide and Reference for more information about using this parameter. Beginning with Oracle9i, there is a concept of creating tablespaces with multiple block sizes and specifying cache sizes corresponding with each block size. The SYSTEM tablespace uses a standard block size and additional tablespaces can use up to four non-standard block sizes. The standard block size is specified by the DB_BLOCK_SIZE parameter. Its cache size is specified by the DB_CACHE_SIZE parameter. Non-standard block sizes are specified by the BLOCKSIZE clause of the CREATE TABLESPACE statement. The cache size for each corresponding non-standard block size is specified using the notation: DB_nK_CACHE_SIZE parameter, where the value n is 2, 4, 8, 16, or 32 Kbytes. The standard block size, known as the default block size, is usually set to the same size in bytes as the operating system block size, or a multiple of this size. The DB_CACHE_SIZE parameter, known as the DEFAULT cache size, specifies the size of the cache of standard block size (default is 48M bytes). The system tablespace uses the standard block size and the DEFAULT cache size. Either the standard block size or any of the non-standard block sizes and their associated cache sizes can be used for any of the other tablespaces. If you intend to use multiple block sizes in your database storage design, you must specify at least the DB_CACHE_SIZE and one DB_nK_CACHE_SIZE parameter value. You must specify all sub-caches for all the other non-standard block sizes that you intend to use. This block size/cache sizing scheme lets you use up to four different non-standard block sizes for your tablespaces and lets you specify respective cache sizes for each corresponding block size. Because the DB_BLOCK_SIZE parameter value can be changed only by re-creating the database, the value for this parameter must be chosen carefully and

remain unchanged for the life of the database. To approximate size of the SGA (Shared Global Area), use following formula: DB_CACHE_SIZE + DB_KEEP_CACHE_SIZE + DB_RECYCLE_CACHE_SIZE + DB_nk_CACHE_SIZE + SHARED_POOL_SIZE + LARGE_POOL_SIZE + JAVA_POOL_SIZE + LOG_BUFFERS + 1MB NOTE: ADD IN EACH DB_nk_CACHE_SIZE. THERE CAN BE UP TO 4 DB_nk_CACHE_SIZE (2, 4, 8, 16, 32k) DEFINED. ONE OF THE BLOCK SIZES IS THE DEFAULT BLOCK SIZE AND ITS CACHE SIZE IS DEFINED BY DB_CACHE_SIZE.

Additional Information: ----------------------- Redo Buffers in SHOW SGA does not match init.ora:log_buffer parameter setting. - Enforced mininum is set to 4 times the maximum database block size for the host operating system. For more details, see: Note 30753.1 Init.ora Parameter "LOG_BUFFER" Reference Note - Java_pool_size not accounted for in SHOW SGA or v$sga. This is a bug that is fixed in 8.1.6. - Java_pool_size restrictions in 8.1.5. The default is 20000K. If specifying in the init.ora, must it must be greater than 1000K, or you will receive an ORA-01078 "failure in processing initialization parameters" error on startup. - Java_pool_size restrictions in 8.1.6. The default is 20000K. This parameter can be set in the init.ora, but the enforced mininum is 32768. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Approximating SGA Size and Showing Existing SGA in Oracle7: =========================================================== To approximate the size of the SGA (Shared Global Area), use the following formula: ( (db_block_buffers * block size) + shared_pool_size + log_buffers) /.9 Example (from 7.0.16 on PORT 2 HP-UX 9000): From the init<SID>.ora DB_BLOCK_BUFFERS = 200 LOG_BUFFERS = 8192 SHARED_POOL_SIZE = 3500000 Default Block Size = 2048 bytes The Block Size is an Operating System specific default. db_block_buffers * block size + shared_pool_size + log_buffers ( (200 * 2048) + 3500000 + 8192 ) / .9 409600 + 3500000 + 8192 = 3917792 bytes dividing by 0.9 = 4,353,102 bytes or 4M The division by .9 is used to take into account the variable portion of the SGA -- this is only an approximation of the actual value. Our calculations come up to 4353102 but the actual value is 4504072(see below). To check the actual size of the SGA, issue these commands using either sqldba or svrmgrl: 7.0.X - 7.2.X

% sqldba lmode=y SQLDBA> connect internal SQLDBA> show sga 7.1.X - 7.3.X % svrmgrl SVRMGR> connect internal SVRMGR> show sga Example of Output: Total System Global Area Fixed Size Variable Size Database Buffers Redo Buffers 4504072 37704 4048576 409600 8192 bytes <-- total size loaded into memory bytes bytes bytes bytes ('log buffers')

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ References: =========== Note:30753.1 PARAMETER: INIT.ORA: LOG_BUFFER Note:1058897.6 WHAT DO V$SGASTAT AND V$SGA INDICATE AND DO THEY RELATE? Note:270935.1 Shared pool sizing in 10g Search words: ============ semaphores, memory, shared pool, calculation, calculate formula, increase sga , estimate

Related Products Oracle Database Products > Oracle Database > Oracle Database > Oracle Server - Enterprise Edition Keywords UNIXBASICS; UNIXOSCONFIG Errors ORA-1078; ORA-7307

Back to top Copyright (c) 2007, 2010, Oracle. All rights reserved. Legal Notices and Terms of Use | Privacy Statement