Automatic Memory Management (AMM) in 11g

Up to Oracle 9i one of the hectic process was to define the memory parameters (SGA and PGA) and there are some thumb role needs to followed for
the each parameters.
Now DBA sit back and relax since Oracle automated the Memory parameter completely on 11g.
Some lights on old versions:
Oracle 8i db_block_buffer,shared_pool_size,large_pool_size,java_pool_size,sort_area_size,pga size,etc
Oracle 9i - introduced PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET.
Oracle 10g - continued this era by automating SGA management using the SGA_TARGET and PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET parameter.
Oracle 11g - Fully automated using MEMORY_TARGET
There are just 2 initialization parameters needed for AMM configuration:
MEMORY_MAX_TARGET: This defines the maximum size the MEMORY_TARGET can be increased to without an instance restart. If the
MEMORY_MAX_TARGET is not specified, it defaults to MEMORY_TARGET setting.
MEMORY_TARGET: This is the initialization parameter setting for all of the memory allocated to both the PGA and SGA combined (new in
11g). Setting MEMORY_TARGET enables Automatic Memory Management, so Oracle allocates memory for you based on system needs, but
you can also set minimum values for key parameters. MEMORY_TARGET is used for everything that SGA_TARGET was used for but now
additionally includes the PGA (especially important as MEMORY_TARGET now includes the important area PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET).
Important parameters such as DB_CACHE_SIZE, SHARED_POOL_SIZE, PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET, LARGE_POOL_SIZE, and
JAVA_POOL_SIZE are all set automatically when you set MEMORY_TARGET. Setting minimum values for important initialization parameters
in your system is also a very good idea.
Automatic Memory Management Setup:
The DBCA is also allows you to configure automatic memory management during database creation.
We can manually set, the appropriate MEMORY_TARGET and MEMORY_MAX_TARGET initialization parameters before creating the database or
after.
Kindly use the following calculations:
MEMORY_TARGET = SGA_TARGET + GREATEST(PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET, "maximum PGA allocated")
The following queries show you how to display the relevant information and how to combine it in a single statement to calculate the required value.
-- Individual values.
COLUMN name FORMAT A30
COLUMN value FORMAT A10
SELECT name, value
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FROM
WHERE
UNION
SELECT
FROM
WHERE

v$parameter
name IN ('pga_aggregate_target', 'sga_target')
'maximum PGA allocated' AS name, TO_CHAR(value) AS value
v$pgastat
name = 'maximum PGA allocated';

Assuming our required setting was 4G, we might issue the following statements.

Sqlplus /as sysdba

#Set the static parameter. Leave some room for possible future growth without restart.
ALTER SYSTEM SET MEMORY_MAX_TARGET=5G SCOPE=SPFILE;
#Set the dynamic
ALTER SYSTEM SET
ALTER SYSTEM SET
ALTER SYSTEM SET

parameters. Assuming Oracle has full control.

PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET=0 SCOPE=SPFILE;
SGA_TARGET=0 SCOPE=SPFILE;
MEMORY_TARGET=4G SCOPE=SPFILE;

#Shutdown and restart the instance

SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE;
STARTUP;

The database is restarted the MEMORY_TARGET parameter can be amended as required without an instance restart.
ALTER SYSTEM SET MEMORY_TARGET=4G SCOPE=SPFILE;

Dictionary View Informations:

V$MEMORY_TARGET_ADVICE
V$MEMORY_CURRENT_RESIZE_OPS
V$MEMORY_RESIZE_OPS
V$MEMORY_DYNAMIC_COMPONENTS

When using automatic memory management, the SGA_TARGET and PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET act as minimum size settings for their
respective memory areas. To allow Oracle to take full control of the memory management, these parameters should be set to zero.
The amount of memory allocated to each dynamic component is displayed using the V$MEMORY_DYNAMIC_COMPONENTS view.
COLUMN component FORMAT A30
SELECT
FROM
WHERE

component, current_size, min_size, max_size

v$memory_dynamic_components
current_size != 0;

COMPONENT
CURRENT_SIZE
MIN_SIZE
MAX_SIZE
------------------------------ ------------ ---------- ---------shared pool
197132288 192937984 197132288
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large pool
java pool
SGA Target
DEFAULT buffer cache
PGA Target

4194304
41943040
318767104
71303168
104857600

4194304
41943040
285212672
41943040
104857600

4194304
41943040
318767104
75497472
138412032

The V$MEMORY_TARGET_ADVICE view provides information to help tune the MEMORY_TARGET parameter. It displays a range of possible
MEMORY_TARGET settings, as factors of the current setting, and estimates the potential DB Time to complete the current workload based on these
memory sizes.
SELECT * FROM v$memory_target_advice ORDER BY memory_size;
MEMORY_SIZE MEMORY_SIZE_FACTOR ESTD_DB_TIME ESTD_DB_TIME_FACTOR
VERSION
----------- ------------------ ------------ ------------------- ---------303
.75
3068
1.0038
2
404
1
3056
1
2
505
1.25
3056
1
2
606
1.5
3056
1
2
707
1.75
3056
1
2
808
2
3056
1
2

Top 25 Oracle Initialization Parameters

The following list is my list of the top 25 most important initialization parameters, in order of importance. Your top 25 may vary somewhat from my top
25 because everyone has a unique business, unique applications, and unique experiences.
MEMORY_TARGET This is the initialization parameter setting for all of the memory allocated to both the PGA and SGA combined (new in
11g). Setting MEMORY_TARGET enables Automatic Memory Management, so Oracle allocates memory for you based on system needs, but
you can also set minimum values for key parameters. MEMORY_TARGET is used for everything that SGA_TARGET was used for but now
additionally includes the PGA (especially important as MEMORY_TARGET now includes the important area PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET).
Important parameters such as DB_CACHE_SIZE, SHARED_POOL_SIZE, PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET, LARGE_POOL_SIZE, and
JAVA_POOL_SIZE are all set automatically when you set MEMORY_TARGET. Setting minimum values for important initialization parameters
in your system is also a very good idea.
MEMORY_MAX_TARGET This is the maximum memory allocated for Oracle and the maximum value to which MEMORY_TARGET can be
set.
DB_CACHE_SIZE Initial memory allocated to data cache or memory used for data itself. This parameter doesnt need to be set if you set
MEMORY_TARGET or SGA_TARGET, but setting a value for this as a minimum setting is a good idea. Your goal should always be toward a
memory resident database or at least toward getting all data that will be queried in memory.
SHARED_POOL_SIZE Memory allocated for data dictionary and for SQL and PL/SQL statements. The query itself is put in memory here. This
parameter doesnt need to be set if you set MEMORY_TARGET, but setting a value for this as a minimum is a good idea. Note that SAP
recommends setting this to 400M. Also note that the Result Cache gets its memory from the shared pool and is set with the
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RESULT_CACHE_SIZE and RESULT_CACHE_MODE (FORCE/AUTO/MANUAL) initialization parameters. Lastly, an important note for 11g
is that this parameter now includes some SGA overhead (12M worth) that it previously did not (in 10g). In 11g, set this 12M higher than you did
in 10g!
SGA_TARGET If you use Oracles Automatic Shared Memory Management, this parameter is used to determine the size of your data cache,
shared pool, large pool, and Java pool automatically. Setting this to 0 disables it. This parameter doesnt need to be set if you set
MEMORY_TARGET, but you may want to set a value for this as a minimum setting for the SGA if youve calibrated it in previous versions. The
SHARED_POOL_SIZE, LARGE_POOL_SIZE, JAVA_POOL_SIZE, and DB_CACHE_SIZE are all set automatically based on this parameter
(or MEMORY_TARGET if used).
PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET Soft memory cap for total of all users PGAs. This parameter doesnt need to be set if you set
MEMORY_TARGET, but setting a value as a minimum setting is a good idea. Note that SAP specifies to set this to 20 percent of available
memory for OLTP and 40 percent for OLAP.
CURSOR_SHARING Converts literal SQL to SQL with bind variables, reducing parse overhead. The default is EXACT. Consider
setting it to FORCE after research (or at least, SIMILAR)
SGA_MAX_SIZE Maximum memory that SGA_TARGET can be set to. This parameter doesnt need to be set if you set MEMORY_TARGET,
but you may want to set a value if you use SGA_TARGET.
SEC_CASE_SENSITIVE_LOGON The default is TRUE, which makes passwords case sensitive (new in 11g). Set this to FALSE to disable
this feature.
SEC_MAX_FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS This locks an account if the user fails to enter the correct password after this many tries (new in
11g). The default is 10 (consider lowering this value for very secure systems). The DBA must issue an ALTER USER username ACCOUNT
UNLOCK; to unlock the account.
OPTIMIZER_USE_INVISIBLE_INDEXES The default is FALSE to ensure invisible indexes are not used by default (new in 11g). Set this
parameter to TRUE to use all of the indexes and to check which ones might have been set incorrectly to be invisible; this could be a helpful
tuning exercise, or it could also bring the system to halt so only use in development.
OPTIMIZER_USE_PENDING_STATISTICS The default is FALSE to ensure pending statistics are not used, whereas setting this to TRUE
enables all pending statistics to be used (new in 11g).
OPTIMIZER_INDEX_COST_ADJ Coarse adjustment between the cost of an index scan and the cost of a full table scan. Set between 1 and
10 to force index use more frequently. Setting this parameter to a value between 1 and 10 pretty much guarantees index use, however, even
when not appropriate, so be careful because it is highly dependent on the index design and implementation being correct. Please note that if
you are using Applications 11i, setting OPTIMIZER_INDEX_COST_ADJ to any value other than the default (100) is not supported (see
Metalink note 169935.1). Ive seen a benchmark where this was set to 200. Also, see bug 4483286. SAP suggests that you not set it for OLAP,
but set it to 20 for OLTP.
DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT For full table scans to perform I/O more efficiently, this parameter reads the given number of blocks
in a single I/O. The default value is 128 in 11gR2, but it is usually noted not to change this from the default.
LOG_BUFFER Buffer for uncommitted transactions in memory; it must be set in the PFILE if you want to change it. SAP says to use the
default, whereas Oracle Applications sets it to 10M. Ive seen benchmarks with it set over 100M.
DB_KEEP_CACHE_SIZE Memory allocated to keep pool or an additional data cache that you can set up outside the buffer cache for very
important data that you dont want pushed out of the cache.
DB_RECYCLE_CACHE_SIZE Memory allocated to a recycle pool or an additional data cache that you can set up outside the buffer cache
and in addition to the keep cache described in item 17. Usually, DBAs set this up for ad hoc user query data with poorly written queries.
OPTIMIZER_USE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES The default is TRUE, which means Oracle uses these baselines if they exist (new in 11g). Note
that Stored Outlines are deprecated (discouraged but they still work) in 11g, as they are replaced with SQL Plan Baselines.
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that Stored Outlines are deprecated (discouraged but they still work) in 11g, as they are replaced with SQL Plan Baselines.
OPTIMIZER_CAPTURE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES The default is FALSE, which means that Oracle does not capture them by default, but if
you create some, it will use them as stated in the previous parameter (new in 11g).
LARGE_POOL_SIZE Total blocks in the large pool allocation for large PL/SQL and a few other Oracle options less frequently used.
STATISTICS_LEVEL Used to enable advisory information and optionally keep additional OS statistics to refine optimizer decisions. TYPICAL
is the default.
JAVA_POOL_SIZE Memory allocated to the JVM for JAVA stored procedures.
JAVA_MAX_SESSIONSPACE_SIZE Upper limit on memory that is used to keep track of the user session state of JAVA classes.
OPEN_CURSORS Specifies the size of the private area used to hold (open) user statements. If you get an ORA-01000: maximum open
cursors exceeded, you may need to increase this parameter, but make sure you are closing cursors that you no longer need. Prior to 9.2.0.5,
these open cursors were also cached and, at times, caused issues (ORA-4031) if OPEN_CURSORS was set too high. As of 9.2.05,
SESSION_CACHED_CURSORS now controls the setting of the PL/SQL cursor cache. Do not set the parameter
SESSION_CACHED_CURSORS as high as you set OPEN_CURSORS, or you may experience ORA-4031 or ORA-7445 errors. SAP
recommends setting this to 2000; Oracle Applications has OPEN_CURSORS at 600 and SESSION_CACHED_CURSORS at 500.

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