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Question and Answer

Tom Kyte

Thanks for the question, Sam.

Asked: January 02, 2003 - 1:59 pm UTC

Last updated: November 11, 2010 - 1:38 pm UTC

Version: 9.2.0

Viewed 1000+ times

You Asked

Tom,

I have the following query:
select /*+ USE_NL(p po) leading(p) */ * from lookup_codes p, order_headers po
where p.lookup_type = 'PO TYPE' and
po.type_lookup_code = p.lookup_code and
po.agent_id = :b1
(the hint is added to force the plan to illustrate my question)

In 8.1.7 it generates the following plan:
PLAN
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1:SELECT STATEMENT Cost =4,1
2:NESTED LOOPS COST=4,1
3:TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID LOOKUP_CODES COST=4,1
4:INDEX RANGE SCAN LOOKUP_CODES_N1 COST=3,1
3:TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID ORDER_HEADERS COST=,1
4:INDEX RANGE SCAN ORDER_HEADERS_N3 COST=,1

In 9i it generates the following plan:
PLAN
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1:SELECT STATEMENT Cost =32,16
2:TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID ORDER_HEADERS COST=28,43
3:NESTED LOOPS COST=32,16
4:TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID LOOKUP_CODES COST=4,1
5:INDEX RANGE SCAN LOOKUP_CODES_N1 COST=3,1
4:INDEX RANGE SCAN ORDER_HEADERS_N3 COST=1,259

ORDER_HEADERS_N3 is a non-unique index on the AGENT_ID column in ORDER_HEADERS.
LOOKUP_CODES_N1 is a non-unique index on LOOKUP_TYPES column in LOOKUP_CODES

I can understand the plan in 8i. But in 9i, I don't understand why the TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID ORDER_HEADERS has been moved to outside the nested loop. Since ORDER_HEADERS_N3 does not contain the TYPE_LOOKUP_CODE column, how is it possible to resolve the join by just doing the INDEX RANGE SCAN on ORDER_HEADERS_N3 inside the nested loop part?

Are the two plans essentially the same? Why is the plan listed different in 8i vs 9i?

Table ORDER_HEADERS:
ORDER_ID NUMBER NOT NULL
TYPE_LOOKUP_CODE VARCHAR2(10) NOT NULL
SUPPLIER_ID NUMBER NOT NULL
ORDER_DATE DATE NOT NULL
TOTAL_AMOUNT NUMBER
AGENT_ID NUMBER
NEED_BY_DATE DATE

Cardinality: 9053 NBLKS: 367 AVG_ROW_LEN: 244

Indexes
ORDER_HEADERS_U1(ORDER_ID) Unique
LVLS: 1 #LB: 19 #DK: 9053 LB/K: 1 DB/K: 1 CLUF: 2022

ORDER_HEADERS_N1(SUPPLIER_ID)
LVLS: 1 #LB: 32 #DK: 305 LB/K: 1 DB/K: 8 CLUF: 2486

ORDER_HEADERS_N2(NEED_BY_DATE) Non-unique
LVLS: 1 #LB: 33 #DK: 576 LB/K: 1 DB/K: 4 CLUF: 2728

ORDER_HEADERS_N3(AGENT_ID) Non-unique
LVLS: 1 #LB: 29 #DK: 65 LB/K: 1 DB/K: 13 CLUF: 903

Table LOOKUP_CODES
LOOKUP_TYPE VARCHAR2(10) NOT NULL
LOOKUP_CODES VARCHAR2(10) NOT NULL
LOOKUP_DISPLAY VARCHAR2(10) NOT NULL

Cardinality: 82430 NBLKS: 1485 AVG_ROW_LEN: 111

Indexes
LOOKUP_CODES_N1(LOOKUP_TYPE) Non-unqiue
LVLS: 1 #LB: 42 #DK: 2050 LB/K: 1 DB/K: 8 CLUF: 530



Thank you very much.

and Tom said...

In 8i what it is doing it something like this (in psuedo code)


loop over the rowids in the LOOKUP_CODES_N1 index where lookup_codes = 'PO TYPE'
goto the LOOKUP_CODES table and get that row
loop over the rowids in the ORDER_HEADERS_N3 index where agent_id = :b1
join the rows
goto the ORDER_HEADERS table and get that row
apply predicate po.type_lookup_code = p.lookup_codes
if matched then OUTPUT ROW
end loop
end loop


Now, in 9i, the plan is changed to this (in psuedo code)

loop over the rowids in the LOOKUP_CODES_N1 index where lookup_codes = 'PO TYPE'
goto the LOOKUP_CODES table and get that row
loop over the rowids in the ORDER_HEADERS_N3 index where agent_id = :b1
join them all and output to SUBRESULT-1
end loop

now take SUBRESULT-1's set of rowids and access the ORDER_HEADERS table
in order to get the blocks from the table in a more optimal fashion.
process the predicate (po.type_lookup_code=p.lookup_codes). If matched
then OUTPUT ROW
end loop


It is deferring the table access by rowid which is needed to evaluate the predicate po.type_lookup_code=p.lookup_codes, until AFTER it has done the cartesian product in effect -- in the hopes that it can more efficiently access the base table ORDER_HEADERS in "batch" after doing the join (you say they are joined by type lookup code to lookup codes, I'm saying that is just a predicate really -- given the plan we have) -- rather then rowid by rowid by rowid


You can use this script to reproduce these findings:

drop table ORDER_HEADERS;
create table ORDER_HEADERS (
ORDER_ID NUMBER NOT NULL,
TYPE_LOOKUP_CODE VARCHAR2(10) NOT NULL,
SUPPLIER_ID NUMBER NOT NULL,
ORDER_DATE DATE NOT NULL,
TOTAL_AMOUNT NUMBER,
AGENT_ID NUMBER,
NEED_BY_DATE DATE
)
/

exec dbms_stats.set_table_stats( user, 'ORDER_HEADERS', numrows => 9053, numblks => 397, avgrlen => 244 );

alter table order_headers add constraint ORDER_HEADERS_U1 primary key(order_id);
create index order_headers_n1 on order_headers(supplier_id);
create index order_headers_n2 on order_headers(need_by_date);
create index order_headers_n3 on order_headers(agent_id);

drop Table LOOKUP_CODES;
create Table LOOKUP_CODES (
LOOKUP_TYPE VARCHAR2(10) NOT NULL,
LOOKUP_CODES VARCHAR2(10) NOT NULL,
LOOKUP_DISPLAY VARCHAR2(10) NOT NULL
)
/
exec dbms_stats.set_table_stats( user, 'LOOKUP_CODES', numrows => 82430, numblks => 1485, avgrlen => 111 );

create index lookup_codes_n1 on lookup_codes(lookup_type)
/


variable b1 number

set autotrace traceonly explain

select /*+ USE_NL(p po) leading(p) */ *
from lookup_codes p, order_headers po
where p.lookup_type = 'PO TYPE'
and po.type_lookup_code = p.lookup_codes
and po.agent_id = :b1
/
set autotrace off




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Is this answer out of date? If it is, please let us know via a Comment

Comments

Batching rowids

Sam To, January 03, 2003 - 12:43 pm UTC

Tom,

You listed this step in your response:
"loop over the rowids in the ORDER_HEADERS_N3 index where agent_id = :b1
join them all and output to SUBRESULT-1
end loop"

So is it true that in this case the CBO decides that the savings by batching the rowid fetches on ORDER_HEADERS more than offset the cost of the cartesian product? I always thought cartesian product are quite bad, except in the case when one of the row sources has very few rows.

Tom Kyte
January 03, 2003 - 12:54 pm UTC

You were already doing a cartesian product with a filter.


All of the rows in the orders table that matched that index were joined to every row in the lookup that matched that other index -- AND THEN the predicate would be resolved.

Like full scans -- just keep repeating

"cartesian joins are not evil", "cartesian joins are not evil"......


if they were, we would never do them. This is not a true cartesian product in the traditional sense but in fact every row in lookup that is PO TYPE is matched to every row in orders where agent_id = :b1 regardless of version! The "when the predicate is evaluated" is done in a different place, that is all.

It's clear now

Sam To, January 03, 2003 - 1:25 pm UTC

Tom,

Thanks for the followup answer. It is clear to me now.

If I add an extra join to the query, the table access on ORDER_HEADERS is now pushed back into the nested loop, which is what I expect:

select /*+ USE_NL(p po s) leading(p) */ * from lookup_codes p, order_headers po, suppliers s
where p.lookup_type = 'PO TYPE' and
po.type_lookup_code = p.lookup_code and
po.agent_id = :b1 and
s.supplier_id = po.supplier_id

1:SELECT STATEMENT Cost =28,6
2:NESTED LOOPS COST=28,6
3:NESTED LOOPS COST=19,9
4:TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID LOOKUP_CODES COST=4,1
5:INDEX RANGE SCAN LOOKUP_CODES_N1 COST=3,1
4:TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID ORDER_HEADERS COST=15,1
5:INDEX RANGE SCAN ORDER_HEADERS_N3 COST=1,145
3:TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID SUPPLIERS COST=1,248
4:INDEX UNIQUE SCAN SUPPIERS_U1 COST=,1

Originally I was concerned about the cartesian product creating a large row source for the subsequent join steps. But the plan above indicates this will not happen.

Tom Kyte
January 03, 2003 - 2:28 pm UTC

don't be concerned -- it is the job of the optimizer to be concerned. Let is do its job. This (the moving of the table access by rowid ) is an OPTIMIZATION, not a decrease in performance option!

clarification

Stu Charlton, January 03, 2003 - 2:16 pm UTC

Perhaps I'm misreading the EXPLAIN PLAN or misunderstand the algorithm, but I'd like a clarification on this new algorithm.

In this article:

</code> http://asktom.oracle.com/pls/asktom/f?p=100:11:::::P11_QUESTION_ID:6643159615303 <code>

Connor refers to this new nested loops algorithm in a comment, and says "Then it sorts the rowids so that it only has to visit each table block once."

I also notice that in the EXPLAIN PLAN above, the TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID ORDER_HEADERS occurs outside of the "NESTED LOOPS" operation (which seems to resonate with what Connor says above).

If this is the case, wouldn't the pseudo-code be more like:

loop over the rowids in the LOOKUP_CODES_N1 index where lookup_codes = 'PO TYPE'
goto the LOOKUP_CODES table and get that row
loop over the rowids in the ORDER_HEADERS_N3 index where agent_id = :b1
join them all and output to SUBRESULT-1
end loop
end loop
(^^^ the nested loops end here)

Now take SUBRESULT-1's set of rowids
- sort to remove duplicate rowids
- access the ORDER_HEADERS table
- process the predicate (po.type_lookup_code=p.lookup_codes).
- If matched then OUTPUT ROW

If SUBRESULT-1 is predicate-matched within the nested loop as you've written above, then the whole point of this optimization doesn't seem to click.

My understanding of this optimized algorithm is: The "cartesian" product with the index is cheaper than accessing table blocks repeatedly inside a nested loop (because index blocks are fewer, denser, etc)... so defer the table access until after you've cartesian joined potential rowid's together through the indices. Am I wrong?

Cheers
Stu

Tom Kyte
January 03, 2003 - 2:47 pm UTC

Not the way NL joins are processed -- NL joins stream data back ASAP.

If it where a sort/merge or a hash join, you would be correct. with NL, nope.


It always did a "cartesian join", in both 8i and 9i. It found a row in LOOKUP, it found all rows in ORDERS -- it joined every row it found in orders with that lookup row, evaluated that predicate and then either kicked a row out or rejected it.

It they went on to the next row in lookup and did the same thing all over again.


In 9i, it just postpones the one step -- it gets all of the ORDERS rows for agent_id = :b1, joins them to that single lookup row -- sorts the rowids and accesses the table as efficiently as possible -- does the predicate -- outputs.


A nested loop feeds the output part of the plan ASAP. Else you would have to wait till the last row was finished to get the first row (and you don't)

got it

Stu Charlton, January 03, 2003 - 3:27 pm UTC

Thanks for your time Tom, I understand now.


Nested Loop Verses Merge join

reader, February 21, 2003 - 4:00 pm UTC

In what scenario one is better than the other. Can you please give some conceptual details about nested loops and merge joins or point to a resource.

Thanks.

Tom Kyte
February 21, 2003 - 6:35 pm UTC

You know -- if you use the CBO, it'll tell you when one is preferred over the other! that is exactly the job of an optimizer.


Think of nested loops like this:


for x in ( select * from T1 )
loop
for y in ( selectd * from t2 where t2.joins = t1.joins )
loop
output records
end loop
end loop


whereas a sort merge is like:


sort t1 by joins into temp1
sort t2 by joins into temp2

read a rec from temp1;
read a rec from temp2;
loop
while (temp1_rec < temp2_rec) read temp1
while (temp1_rec > temp2_rec) read temp2
if ( temp1_rec = temp2_rec ) output record
exit when end of file on temp1 or temp2
end;


the nested loops joins can be very poor performers for tons of rows -- whereas the sort merge excels at them (lots less index lookups)

if you want the first rows fastest however -- nested loops is the way to go.


excellent explanation of prefetch

Mikito Harakiri, February 24, 2003 - 7:03 pm UTC


Pauline, September 08, 2003 - 2:21 pm UTC

Tom,

We just upgrade one oracle8i database to oracle9i database by using dbua tool.When we run the query to check if database has locks, it takes very long tile.
But this query returns very soon( 3-5 seconds ) in all our other oracle8i database. To test it, we also run it on one 9i database which is created by dbca tool. It takes more than 1 minutes.

The query statement is:

SELECT /*+ CHOOSE */ s.username,
s.osuser,
s.serial# "Serial#",
lk.block, -- block = 0 non blocking, block = 1 blocking others
S.PROGRAM "Program",
s.sql_address "address",
s.sql_hash_value "Sql hash",
--lk.sid,
DECODE(lk.TYPE, 'MR', 'Media Recovery', 'RT', 'Redo Thread', 'UN', 'User Name', 'TX', 'Transaction',
'TM', 'DML', 'UL', 'PL/SQL User Lock', 'DX', 'Distributed Xaction', 'CF', 'Control File',
'IS', 'Instance State', 'FS', 'File Set', 'IR', 'Instance Recovery', 'ST', 'Disk Space Transaction',
'TS', 'Temp Segment', 'IV', 'Library Cache Invalidation', 'LS', 'Log Start or Switch', 'RW', 'Row Wait',
'SQ', 'Sequence Number', 'TE', 'Extend Table', 'TT', 'Temp Table', lk.TYPE) lock_type,
DECODE(lk.lmode, 0, 'None', 1, 'Null', 2, 'Row-S (SS)', 3, 'Row-X (SX)', 4, 'Share', 5, 'S/Row-X (SSX)',
6, 'Exclusive', TO_CHAR(lk.lmode)) mode_held,
DECODE(request, 0, 'None', 1, 'Null', 2, 'Row-S (SS)', 3, 'Row-X (SX)', 4, 'Share', 5, 'S/Row-X (SSX)',
6, 'Exclusive', TO_CHAR(lk.request)) mode_requested,
TO_CHAR(lk.id1) lock_id1,
TO_CHAR(lk.id2) lock_id2, -- will show the job number corresponding in dba_jobs
s.USERNAME "DB User",
s.sid,
OWNER||'.'||OBJECT_NAME "Object"
FROM v$lock lk,
v$session s,
DBA_OBJECTS ao
WHERE lk.lmode > 1
AND s.username is not null
AND lk.sid = s.sid
AND ao.OBJECT_ID(+) = lk.id1
ORDER BY 1, "Object";


We compared the execution plan for Oracle9i database and Oracle8i database, they are very different for this query:

Oracle9i database execution plan:

Query Plan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.106 SELECT STATEMENT
2.1 SORT ORDER BY
3.1 HASH JOIN OUTER
4.1 NESTED LOOPS
5.1 MERGE JOIN CARTESIAN
6.1 NESTED LOOPS
7.1 FIXED TABLE FULL X$KSUSE
7.2 FIXED TABLE FIXED INDEX X$KSUSE (ind:1)
6.2 BUFFER SORT
7.1 FIXED TABLE FULL X$KSQRS
5.2 VIEW GV$_LOCK

Query Plan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.1 UNION-ALL
7.1 VIEW GV$_LOCK1
8.1 UNION-ALL
9.1 FIXED TABLE FULL X$KDNSSF
9.2 FIXED TABLE FULL X$KSQEQ
7.2 FIXED TABLE FULL X$KTADM
7.3 FIXED TABLE FULL X$KTCXB
4.2 VIEW DBA_OBJECTS
5.1 UNION-ALL
6.1 FILTER
7.1 NESTED LOOPS

Query Plan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.1 TABLE ACCESS FULL OBJ$
8.2 TABLE ACCESS CLUSTER USER$
9.1 INDEX UNIQUE SCAN I_USER# NON-UNIQUE
7.2 TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID IND$
8.1 INDEX UNIQUE SCAN I_IND1 UNIQUE
6.2 HASH JOIN
7.1 TABLE ACCESS FULL LINK$
7.2 TABLE ACCESS FULL USER$

30 rows selected.


Oracle8i database:

Query Plan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.86 SELECT STATEMENT
2.1 SORT ORDER BY
3.1 HASH JOIN
4.1 FIXED TABLE FULL X$KSUSE
4.2 HASH JOIN OUTER
5.1 VIEW V$LOCK
6.1 NESTED LOOPS
7.1 HASH JOIN
8.1 VIEW GV$_LOCK
9.1 UNION-ALL
10.1 VIEW GV$_LOCK1

Query Plan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
11.1 UNION-ALL
12.1 FIXED TABLE FULL X$KDNSSF
12.2 FIXED TABLE FULL X$KSQEQ
10.2 FIXED TABLE FULL X$KTADM
10.3 FIXED TABLE FULL X$KTCXB
8.2 FIXED TABLE FULL X$KSUSE
7.2 FIXED TABLE FIXED INDEX #1 X$KSQRS
5.2 VIEW DBA_OBJECTS
6.1 UNION-ALL
7.1 FILTER
8.1 NESTED LOOPS

Query Plan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9.1 TABLE ACCESS FULL OBJ$
9.2 TABLE ACCESS CLUSTER USER$
10.1 INDEX UNIQUE SCAN I_USER# NON-UNIQUE
8.2 TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID IND$
9.1 INDEX UNIQUE SCAN I_IND1 UNIQUE
7.2 NESTED LOOPS
8.1 TABLE ACCESS FULL LINK$
8.2 TABLE ACCESS CLUSTER USER$
9.1 INDEX UNIQUE SCAN I_USER# NON-UNIQUE

31 rows selected.

The time for returing the result from the query in Oracle8i and 9i database
also very different:
Oracle8i databases only need 3 - 5 seconds to return the result.
Oracle9i database (created by dbca tool) returns the result by 49 seconds.
Oracle9i database (upgraded by dbua tool) returns the result by 37 minutes.
I see MERGE JOIN CATTESIAN in 9i database execution plan. Is it the reason
taking so long to return the result? How can we fix/avoid such problem so that once we upgrade production database to 9i, we won't have similar problem.


Thanks for your help.


Tom Kyte
September 08, 2003 - 5:32 pm UTC

try

SELECT /*+ CHOOSE */ s.username,
s.osuser,
s.serial# "Serial#",
lk.block, -- block = 0 non blocking, block = 1 blocking others
S.PROGRAM "Program",
s.sql_address "address",
s.sql_hash_value "Sql hash",
--lk.sid,
DECODE(lk.TYPE, 'MR', 'Media Recovery', 'RT', 'Redo Thread', 'UN', 'User
Name', 'TX', 'Transaction',
'TM', 'DML', 'UL', 'PL/SQL User Lock', 'DX', 'Distributed Xaction', 'CF',
'Control File',
'IS', 'Instance State', 'FS', 'File Set', 'IR', 'Instance Recovery', 'ST',
'Disk Space Transaction',
'TS', 'Temp Segment', 'IV', 'Library Cache Invalidation', 'LS', 'Log Start
or Switch', 'RW', 'Row Wait',
'SQ', 'Sequence Number', 'TE', 'Extend Table', 'TT', 'Temp Table', lk.TYPE)
lock_type,
DECODE(lk.lmode, 0, 'None', 1, 'Null', 2, 'Row-S (SS)', 3, 'Row-X
(SX)', 4, 'Share', 5, 'S/Row-X (SSX)',
6, 'Exclusive', TO_CHAR(lk.lmode)) mode_held,
DECODE(request, 0, 'None', 1, 'Null', 2, 'Row-S (SS)', 3, 'Row-X (SX)',
4, 'Share', 5, 'S/Row-X (SSX)',
6, 'Exclusive', TO_CHAR(lk.request)) mode_requested,
TO_CHAR(lk.id1) lock_id1,
TO_CHAR(lk.id2) lock_id2, -- will show the job number corresponding in dba_jobs
s.USERNAME "DB User",
s.sid,
(select OWNER||'.'||OBJECT_NAME from dba_objects where object_id = lk.id1) "Object"
FROM v$lock lk,
v$session s
WHERE lk.lmode > 1
AND s.username is not null
AND lk.sid = s.sid
ORDER BY 1, "Object";

Pauline, September 10, 2003 - 5:58 pm UTC

Tom,
Your query running faster on our 8i database. But in our oracle 9i database it takes 57 minutes. I think this 9i database might have something wrong with data dictionaries.
When I login using Connect "/ as sysdba" against this 9i database, I get incorrect results. For example:
<dbstg1:stg1:/appl/oracle/SQLTXPLAIN> sqlplus /nolog

SQL*Plus: Release 9.2.0.1.0 - Production on Wed Sep 10 17:24:08 2003

Copyright (c) 1982, 2002, Oracle Corporation.  All rights reserved.

SQL> conn / as sysdba
Connected.
SQL> SELECT USERENV('SESSIONID') FROM DUAL;

USERENV('SESSIONID')
--------------------
                   0


SQL> SELECT s.audsid, p.spid, p.addr
  2    FROM v$parameter u,
       v$session   s,
  3    4         v$process   p
 WHERE u.name   = 'user_dump_dest'
  5    6     AND s.audsid = USERENV('SESSIONID')
   AND p.addr   = s.paddr;  7  

    AUDSID SPID         ADDR
---------- ------------ ----------------
         0 25188        000000039537E638
         0 4868         000000039538A568
         0 4985         0000000395389148
         0 25228        00000003953827A0
         0 25226        0000000395382298
         0 25224        0000000395381D90
         0 25222        0000000395381888
         0 25220        0000000395380970
         0 25200        0000000395380468
         0 25198        000000039537FF60
         0 25196        000000039537FA58

    AUDSID SPID         ADDR
---------- ------------ ----------------
         0 25190        000000039537EB40
         0 25194        000000039537F550
         0 25192        000000039537F048

14 rows selected.

The second query returns multiple rows and it will cause
other query depending on this query to get error of
ORA-01422: exact fetch returns more than requested number of rows

But when I login as user with dba role:
SQL> conn /
Connected.
SQL> SQL> SELECT USERENV('SESSIONID') FROM DUAL;

USERENV('SESSIONID')
--------------------
             3978577

SQL> SELECT s.audsid, p.spid, p.addr
  2    FROM v$parameter u,
       v$session   s,
  3    4         v$process   p
 WHERE u.name   = 'user_dump_dest'
  5    6     AND s.audsid = USERENV('SESSIONID')
  7     AND p.addr   = s.paddr;


    AUDSID SPID         ADDR
---------- ------------ ----------------
   3978577 9273         0000000395389650


Can you tell me which result is correct? Suppose should return one row or multiple rows? 

Tom Kyte
September 10, 2003 - 8:22 pm UTC

backgrounds have a sessionid of 0 -- both are correct.

Pauline, September 11, 2003 - 10:17 am UTC

Thanks for the answer to give the key point.

A reader, September 11, 2003 - 12:42 pm UTC

Tom,
I got some information that I was told this is the BUG:2243239 Connect "/ as sysdba" causes sessionid to be 0. It is fixed on oracle10g. I tried to search bug list
from metalink but could not find. Can you tell me is it
true or not.

Tnanks.

Pauline

Tom Kyte
September 11, 2003 - 7:23 pm UTC

use

(select sid from v$mystat where rownum=1)


don't use sessionid, i never do, it is zero for internal/sysdba for a while.

select * from v$session where sid = (select sid from v$mystats where rownum=1)



Pauline, September 12, 2003 - 11:23 am UTC

Thanks for good advice. I will do as you suggested.

list fully scaned tables

Gabriel, September 17, 2003 - 1:45 pm UTC

Your answers are very interesting, as usual. We recently migrated from 8i to 9i. We experience many more full table scans. Can you please tell me if there is a query that will show us all the tables that are fully scanned?

Thank you very much,

Tom Kyte
September 17, 2003 - 5:29 pm UTC

they should pop to the top of your top sql reports if they are problems (statspack)

you can use v$segment_statistics to get a count of logical io's against the segments as well -- looking for "big" ones.

Article on nested loop joins.

Sai., December 01, 2003 - 1:46 pm UTC

Hi Tom,

I remember you talking about "how nested loop joins can sometimes kill performance with lots of LIO". I couldn't find that link. Could you please help me find that link.

Thanks,
Sai.

Your query running faster on our 8i database. But ...

Swetlana, January 03, 2004 - 6:38 am UTC

Hi Tom.
We have like problem. Explain please what happen and what do? Query is:
select s.username,s.sid,l.type,l.id1,l.id2,l.lmode,
l.request,p.spid pid,s.serial#
from v$lock l,v$session s,v$process p
where s.sid=l.sid and p.addr=s.paddr
and s.username is not null
order by id1,s.sid,request;

Thanks.


Tom Kyte
January 03, 2004 - 9:22 am UTC

huh?

what "like" problem?

We have like problem

Swetlana, January 06, 2004 - 1:11 am UTC

We just upgrade one oracle8i database to oracle9i database.
When we run the query to check if database has locks, it takes very long tile. Query is :

select s.username,s.sid,l.type,l.id1,l.id2,l.lmode,
l.request,p.spid pid,s.serial#
from v$lock l,v$session s,v$process p
where s.sid=l.sid and p.addr=s.paddr
and s.username is not null
order by id1,s.sid,request;
What happen ?
Thanks.

Tom Kyte
January 06, 2004 - 8:36 am UTC

select x.username, x.sid, l.type, l.id1, l.id2, l.lmode, l.request, x.pid, x.serial#
from ( select s.username, s.sid, p.spid pid, s.serial#
from v$session s, v$process p
where s.paddr = p.addr(+)
and rownum > 0
and s.username is not null ) x,
v$lock l
where x.sid = l.sid
order by l.id1, x.sid, l.request
/


Swetlana, January 08, 2004 - 1:04 am UTC

Thanks for the answer.

Is there any Problem ???

Riaz Shahid, January 27, 2004 - 3:55 pm UTC

  1* select * from v$session where sid = (select sid from v$mystats where rownum=1)
SQL> /
select * from v$session where sid = (select sid from v$mystats where rownum=1)
                                                     *
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00942: table or view does not exist 

Tom Kyte
January 28, 2004 - 8:10 am UTC

sorry, typo on my part. got it right on the line above.

singular -- v$mystat



why this query runs so fast

A reader, February 05, 2004 - 9:31 am UTC

Hi

I have a query which I expected it to run very slow but to my surprise it runs instantaneously

SELECT b.setid, b.inst_prod_id
FROM sysadm.ps_rf_inst_prod a, sysadm.ps_pa_arbor_elemen b
WHERE a.parent_inst_prodid = ' '
AND a.product_id = :b1
AND b.pa_comp_inst_id = 0
AND a.inst_prod_id = b.inst_prod_id
AND a.setid = b.setid

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost | Pstart| Pstop |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1 | 67 | 642 | | |
| 1 | NESTED LOOPS | | 1 | 67 | 642 | | |
|* 2 | TABLE ACCESS BY GLOBAL INDEX ROWID| PS_RF_INST_PROD | 1 | 45 | 640 | ROWID | ROW L |
|* 3 | INDEX RANGE SCAN | PSBRF_INST_PROD | 880 | | 5 | | |
|* 4 | TABLE ACCESS BY GLOBAL INDEX ROWID| PS_PA_ARBOR_ELEMEN | 1 | 22 | 2 | ROWID | ROW L |
|* 5 | INDEX UNIQUE SCAN | PS_PA_ARBOR_ELEMEN | 2 | | 1 | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------

2 - filter("A"."PRODUCT_ID"=:Z)
3 - access("A"."PARENT_INST_PRODID"=:Z)
4 - filter("B"."PA_COMP_INST_ID"=0)
5 - access("A"."SETID"="B"."SETID" AND "A"."INST_PROD_ID"="B"."INST_PROD_ID")


select count(*)
2 from sysadm.ps_rf_inst_prod
3 where parent_inst_prodid = ' ';

COUNT(*)
----------
5684073

I thought this scan

INDEX UNIQUE SCAN | PS_PA_ARBOR_ELEMEN

has to happen 5684073 times and would be slow... but it´s fast do you see how?!

Tom Kyte
February 05, 2004 - 9:48 am UTC

i cannot read the wrapped stuff there. and i'm not sure that query is the one explained (the filters in the explain do not map to it anyway)

but basically it looks like this:

nested loop
TABLE ACCESS BY GLOBAL INDEX ROWID| PS_RF_INST_PROD
INDEX RANGE SCAN | PSBRF_INST_PROD
TABLE ACCESS BY GLOBAL INDEX ROWID| PS_PA_ARBOR_ELEMEN
INDEX UNIQUE SCAN | PS_PA_ARBOR_ELEMEN


and with the filters it is doing:

a) read the index psbrf_inst_prod to find parent_inst_prodid = :z in table A. We expect to get about 880 hits for this.

b) then goto the table ps_rf_inst_prod and apply the predicate product_id = :z. We expect 1 row to meet that criteria.

c) then do the index range scan to pick up the single row from the other table and join.

So, it should be very fast if the assumptions about the cardinality are in fact correct.


cardinality is wrong!

A reader, February 05, 2004 - 10:22 am UTC

sql>var b0 varchar2(30)
sql>var b1 varchar2(15)
sql>exec :b0:=' '

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.
sql>exec :b1:='20'

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

sql>set autotrace trace exp
sql>r
1 SELECT b.setid, b.inst_prod_id
2 FROM sysadm.ps_rf_inst_prod a, sysadm.ps_pa_arbor_elemen b
3 WHERE a.parent_inst_prodid = :b0
4 AND a.product_id = :b1
5 AND b.pa_comp_inst_id = 0
6 AND a.inst_prod_id = b.inst_prod_id
7* AND a.setid = b.setid

Execution Plan
----------------------------------------------------------
0 SELECT STATEMENT Optimizer=CHOOSE (Cost=642 Card=1 Bytes=67)
1 0 NESTED LOOPS (Cost=642 Card=1 Bytes=67)
2 1 TABLE ACCESS (BY GLOBAL INDEX ROWID) OF 'PS_RF_INST_PROD' (Cost=640 Card=1 Bytes=45)
3 2 INDEX (RANGE SCAN) OF 'PSBRF_INST_PROD' (NON-UNIQUE) (Cost=5 Card=880)
4 1 TABLE ACCESS (BY GLOBAL INDEX ROWID) OF 'PS_PA_ARBOR_ELEMEN' (Cost=2 Card=1 Bytes=22)
5 4 INDEX (UNIQUE SCAN) OF 'PS_PA_ARBOR_ELEMEN' (UNIQUE) (Cost=1 Card=2)


explain plan for
SELECT b.setid, b.inst_prod_id
FROM sysadm.ps_rf_inst_prod a, sysadm.ps_pa_arbor_elemen b
WHERE a.parent_inst_prodid = :b0
AND a.product_id = :b1
AND b.pa_comp_inst_id = 0
AND a.inst_prod_id = b.inst_prod_id
AND a.setid = b.setid;

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost | Pstart| Pstop |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1 | 67 | 642 | | |
| 1 | NESTED LOOPS | | 1 | 67 | 642 | | |
|* 2 | TABLE ACCESS BY GLOBAL INDEX ROWID| PS_RF_INST_PROD | 1 | 45 | 640 | ROWID | ROW L |
|* 3 | INDEX RANGE SCAN | PSBRF_INST_PROD | 880 | | 5 | | |
|* 4 | TABLE ACCESS BY GLOBAL INDEX ROWID| PS_PA_ARBOR_ELEMEN | 1 | 22 | 2 | ROWID | ROW L |
|* 5 | INDEX UNIQUE SCAN | PS_PA_ARBOR_ELEMEN | 2 | | 1 | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------

2 - filter("A"."PRODUCT_ID"=:Z)
3 - access("A"."PARENT_INST_PRODID"=:Z)
4 - filter("B"."PA_COMP_INST_ID"=0)
5 - access("A"."SETID"="B"."SETID" AND "A"."INST_PROD_ID"="B"."INST_PROD_ID")


that 880 is wrong, it should be over 5000000!!!

The column has histograms by the way, otherwise the query is damn slow

Tom Kyte
February 05, 2004 - 7:24 pm UTC

if it were over 5,000,000 for the predicate, the query would not return fast.

show us the TKPROF with the actual row counts, then we can comment.d

what rownum>0 means?

Andrew, February 05, 2004 - 7:09 pm UTC

Tom,

in the answer to "we have like problem" (she meant "we have similar problem") you use inline view to speed up the output. In this subquery you use rownum>0. Could you please explain what's the point of "and rownum>0"

Isn't that any query if it returns row will always have 0<rownum for every row?

So it's an obsolete line, IMHO. Please correct me if I am mistaken.

Thank you

Tom Kyte
February 06, 2004 - 8:35 am UTC

well, it obviously isn't "obsolete" :) it works after all...


it causes the inline view to be "evaluated once and stored in temp" to avoid view merging.


if you have my book "Effective Oracle By Design" -- i cover this in some more detail/depth.

rownum > 0

A reader, February 06, 2004 - 2:21 am UTC

is to avoid view merging

TKPROF

A reader, February 06, 2004 - 2:30 am UTC

Hi here is the result

SELECT b.setid, b.inst_prod_id
FROM sysadm.ps_rf_inst_prod a, sysadm.ps_pa_arbor_elemen b
WHERE a.parent_inst_prodid = :b0
AND a.product_id = :b1
AND b.pa_comp_inst_id = 0
AND a.inst_prod_id = b.inst_prod_id
AND a.setid = b.setid

call count cpu elapsed disk query current rows
------- ------ -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Parse 1 0.01 0.00 0 0 0 0
Execute 1 0.00 0.00 0 0 0 0
Fetch 1 0.00 0.00 0 4 0 0
------- ------ -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
total 3 0.01 0.00 0 4 0 0

Misses in library cache during parse: 1
Optimizer goal: CHOOSE
Parsing user id: 123

Rows Row Source Operation
------- ---------------------------------------------------
0 TABLE ACCESS BY GLOBAL INDEX ROWID OBJ#(48103) PARTITION: ROW LOCATION ROW LOCATION (cr=4 r=0 w=0 time=238 us)
1 NESTED LOOPS (cr=4 r=0 w=0 time=228 us)
0 TABLE ACCESS BY GLOBAL INDEX ROWID OBJ#(47711) PARTITION: ROW LOCATION ROW LOCATION (cr=4 r=0 w=0 time=219 us)
0 INDEX RANGE SCAN OBJ#(55911) (cr=4 r=0 w=0 time=215 us)(object id 55911)
0 INDEX RANGE SCAN OBJ#(55791) (cr=0 r=0 w=0 time=0 us)(object id 55791)


Elapsed times include waiting on following events:
Event waited on Times Max. Wait Total Waited
---------------------------------------- Waited ---------- ------------
SQL*Net message to client 1 0.00 0.00
SQL*Net message from client 1 36.17 36.17



select object_id, object_name from dba_objects where object_id in (55911, 55791)

OBJECT_ID OBJECT_NAME
---------- --------------------
55791 PS_PA_ARBOR_ELEMEN
55911 PS2RF_INST_PROD

select index_name, column_name
from dba_ind_columns
where index_name in ('PSBRF_INST_PROD', 'PS_PA_ARBOR_ELEMEN', 'PS2RF_INST_PROD')

INDEX_NAME COLUMN_NAME
------------------------------ --------------------
PS_PA_ARBOR_ELEMEN SETID
PS_PA_ARBOR_ELEMEN INST_PROD_ID
PS2RF_INST_PROD PRODUCT_ID
PS2RF_INST_PROD SETID
PS2RF_INST_PROD INST_PROD_ID
PSBRF_INST_PROD PARENT_INST_PRODID


I can see from TKPROF that the plan is totally different from that shown in autotrace or explain plan for... (and may be this is why it´s so fast). Why is this, does this mean we should stop using set autotrace and explain plan from now on?

It´s Oracle 9.2.0.4

Tom Kyte
February 07, 2004 - 12:14 pm UTC

explain plan for
SELECT b.setid, b.inst_prod_id
FROM sysadm.ps_rf_inst_prod a, sysadm.ps_pa_arbor_elemen b
WHERE a.parent_inst_prodid = :b0
AND a.product_id = :b1
AND b.pa_comp_inst_id = 0
AND a.inst_prod_id = b.inst_prod_id
AND a.setid = b.setid;

if :b0 / :b1 are to be numbers or dates -- use to_number/to_date -- else they are assumed to be strings and that can through off the explain plan. that is my guess. be careful with binds in explain plans -- use EXPLICIT to_numbers/to_dates on them!

autotrace/explain plan show you want "might happen".

only tkprof shows you what "really did happen"

Cartesian join

VA, April 17, 2006 - 12:35 pm UTC

I have a 1000 row table and a 100,000 row table. Each table has 4 "keys" that are generated according to a complicated algorithm.

I need to match the 2 tables on these keys to determine matching rows. Something like

select * from (
select
decode(t1.key1,t2.key1,'Y','N') key1_match,
decode(t1.key2,t2.key2,'Y','N') key2_match,
decode(t1.key3,t2.key3,'Y','N') key3_match,
decode(t1.key4,t2.key4,'Y','N') key4_match,
...
from t1,t2
) where key1_match||key2_match||key3_match||key4_match like '%Y%'

In other words, do a cartesian join of the 2 tables (generating 100,000,000 rows!) and do a nested loop matching each row against all the others.

I thought that doing this in plain SQL would be slow so I loaded up both the tables in PL/SQL tables using BULK COLLECT and did nested FOR loops in PL/SQL. Basically, I wrote the above SQL in procedural code.

This took 2 hours to process.

When I just ran the SQL above, it took just 25 minutes! That is pretty darn impressive to plough through a billion rows.

Questions
1. Why is the in-memory operation so slow?
2. How is the SQL so fast?
3. Any way to speed this up even more? :-)

Thanks

Tom Kyte
April 17, 2006 - 8:12 pm UTC

1) why do you think SQL is not "just as in memory as you were". Databases were

a) BORN TO JOIN
b) BORN TO BE WRITTEN TO

I am suddenly reminded of tigger - joining is what databases do best.

2) because it is SQL, it is designed to munch data for us, that is its purpose in life.

3) where 'Y' in (key1_match, key2_match, key3_match, key4_match)

perhaps - why concatenate to like when you could just say "a='y' or b='y' or...." which is what the in will do.

or likely a union of four joins - by key1 to key1, key2 to key2 and so on.

11gR2 Nested loop implementation using vector I/O?

phoenixbai, October 24, 2010 - 11:10 pm UTC

Hi Tom,

11gR2 doc said new implementation is introduced for nested loop to make use of vector I/O. Could you help explain what is vector I/O? and how does it differ from normal physical I/O?

Here is the quote from 11gR2 doc:
11.3.3.1.2 New Implementation for Nested Loop Joins

Oracle Database 11g introduces a new implementation for nested loop joins to reduce overall latency for physical I/O. When an index or a table block is not in the buffer cache and is needed to process the join, a physical I/O is required. Oracle Database 11g can batch multiple physical I/O requests and process them using a vector I/O instead of processing them one at a time.

Thanks
Tom Kyte
October 25, 2010 - 5:53 pm UTC

it is an array request to the OS with an "array of blocks to read" rather than a single block at a time.

Think of reading blocks from disk like picking up paper on the floor. You spend a a lot time bending over and getting back up to pick up the paper (IO). If you were asked to get papers 1, 3, 5, and 7 one at a time - you'd bend over and get up 4 times. If we asked you to get 1,3,5 and 7 all at once - you'd have to bend over and get up only once. You'd still have the seek times and physical IO times - but a big chunk of time would be removed.

vector = array in this context.

thank you very much for the explanation

phoenixbai, October 26, 2010 - 8:32 pm UTC

Reading asktom has been one of the most interesting things in my life. We(on behalf of all the people who read asktom) can`t thank you enough for putting all those time and energy to answer all of our questions.

You are just AWESOME!

Nested Loop working

Amardeep Sidhu, November 10, 2010 - 1:08 am UTC

Hi Tom,

Greetings...

My question is regarding your answer to the very first question in this thread. You have written:

In 8i what it is doing it something like this (in psuedo code)

loop over the rowids in the LOOKUP_CODES_N1 index where lookup_codes = 'PO TYPE'
      goto the LOOKUP_CODES table and get that row
      loop over the rowids in the ORDER_HEADERS_N3 index where agent_id = :b1
           join the rows
           goto the ORDER_HEADERS table and get that row
           apply predicate po.type_lookup_code = p.lookup_codes 
               if matched then OUTPUT ROW
      end loop
end loop


But according to what you have mentioned in Effective Oracle by Design, page no 466 ( http://bit.ly/bhIB0V ) shouldn't it be something like:

for x in (select * from LOOKUP_CODES (using index) where lookup_codes = 'PO TYPE')

loop
 index loopup the rowid for x.type_lookup_code & agent_id = :b1
 select * from order_headers where rowid=rowid coming from above index scan 
 output joined record

end loop


Could you please comment on this.

Regards,
Amardeep Sidhu
Tom Kyte
November 11, 2010 - 1:38 pm UTC

what do you see different about them?


for x in (select * from lookup_codes (using index) where lookup codes = 'PO TYPE')

is identical to

loop over the rowids in the LOOKUP_CODES_N1 index where lookup_codes = 'PO
TYPE'
goto the LOOKUP_CODES table and get that row



and so on - one uses "SQL" as psuedo code - and the other uses psuedo code for psuedo code.

But - what did you see that was "different" between them otherwise?

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