Chapter 1

Enterprise DB Architecture

What is an Enterprise Database?

Database (DB): Data and Metadata

Database Management System (DBMS)
Systems that provide services and tools for managing DBs
Enterprise Database
o Used by the Entire Organization
o Supports Many Users (more than 50, usually hundreds or thousands)
o Across Many Departments/Business Units and could be across countries.

Oracle Database Application Architectures:

Client/Server Architecture
o Client: initiates request and presents data to users
o Database server: runs Oracle software, stores data, receives and processes SQL
and PL/SQL statements that originate from clients
Multitier Architecture with Application Server(s)
o Client: initiates a request and presents data to users
o Application server(s): interfaces between clients and multiple database servers,
provide additional features on top of the database servers
o Database server(s): runs Oracle software, stores data, receives and processes SQL
and PL/SQL statements that originate from clients and application servers.

Oracle Client/Server Architecture:

Multitier Architecture with Application Server(s):

Oracle Database Server Architecture:

An Oracle database server architecture contains:

o Database
o User Processes
o Server Processes
o Oracle Instance
o Other files and memory structures

Oracle Database Server Architecture (Diagram):

Physical Database Structures

Data files: contain all the database data

Control files: contain entries that specify the physical structure of the database
Redo log files: contain redo entries
Archived log files: contain archived redo log entries
Parameter file: contains a list of configuration parameters for an instance and the database
Alert and trace log files: contains a chronological log of alter and error messages
Backup files: contain backup copies of database files

Oracle Instance:
An Oracle instance is the part of an Oracle database executing in memory when an Oracle
database is running (after start up)
An Oracle instance consists of memory structures called the System Global Area (SGA) and
the Background Processes.

Oracle Instance: Memory Structure

The two major memory structures associated with an Oracle instance are:
System Global Area (SGA):
o Private to each Oracle instance, allocated when the Oracle instance is started, deallocated when the Oracle instance is shut down.
o Shared by multiple server and background processes of the same Oracle instance
o Contains shared program code, cached data, information about connected
sessions, database server parameters.
o Stores data in memory to minimize disk I/O.
o SGA_MAX_SIZE in the initialization parameter file determines the maximum
size of the SGA.
o SGA_TARGET: a dynamic parameter that Oracle uses to determine the total size
of the SGA components

Program Global Area (PGA)

Private to each Oracle server processes

configuration depends on the Oracle Server connection configuration
o shared server or dedicated server

Oracle Instance: Memory Structure, Major Components

Database Buffer Cache:

o Stores the most recently used blocks of data.
o Caches data that is kept in memory, less disk I/O is needed, improved
performance
Redo Log Buffer
o Stores redo entries - a log of changes made to the database
Shared Pool
o Contains shared SQL areas
o Each SQL statement has its own shared SQL area
Stores parse tree and execution plan
Shared by multiple applications that issue the same statement.

Oracle Instance: Memory Structure, SGA

The size of the SGA is determined by several initialization parameters. The following
parameters have the greatest effect on SGA size:
o DB_CACHE_SIZE: specifies the size of the cache of standard blocks.
o LOG_BUFFER: specifies the number of bytes allocated for the redo log buffer.
o SHARED_POOL_SIZE: specifies the size in bytes of the area devoted to shared
SQL and PL/SQL statements.
o LARGE_POOL_SIZE: specifies the size of the large pool, the default is 0.
o JAVA_POOL_SIZE: specifies the size of the Java pool.
If the value for SGA_MAX_SIZE in the initialization parameter file is less than the
sum the memory allocated for all components, the database ignores the setting for
SGA_MAX_SIZE.

User Process & Server Process:

User Process
starts when a database client application connects to an Oracle database
server, it runs an Oracle user process
a session is established for each client connection
each Oracle user can run multiple sessions at the same time
Server Process
o handles the request on behalf of the user process(s)
parse and run SQL statements
read data from disk into shared database buffer in SGA.
o has a process specific memory area called the Program Global Area (PGA).
Program Global Area: PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET: specifies the total memory
size dedicated to the PGA for an Oracle instance