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Tom Kyte

Thanks for the question, Phillip.

Asked: June 29, 2000 - 4:08 pm UTC

Last updated: January 26, 2004 - 1:43 pm UTC

Version: 8051

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You Asked

Is there a limit to the number of datafiles Oracle can address?

Is there a limit to the size of a datafile (I could have datafiles
in the region of 30-100 GB)

Are there any limitions to the size of RAW disk Oracle can
address?

and Tom said...

From the SERVER REFERENCE manual, database limits section:
</code> http://docs.oracle.com/cd/A58617_01/server.804/a58242/ch5.htm#576 <code>

o max datafiles / tablespace 1,022.
max datafiles / database 65533

o max datafile size: O/S dependent, limited by maximum
O/S file size; typically 2^22 or 4M blocks. This means 32gig per datafile realistically.

o raw disk is just like a "file" to us. same restrictions apply...




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Comments

Can you have too many datafiles (drawback)

Miho Shibata, January 26, 2004 - 8:57 am UTC

Hi Tom,

Is there a drawback to having too many tablespaces/datafiles?

I'm thinking of a backup solution for a data warehouse.
Once a partition is loaded, set the tablespace read-only
until it gets rolled out. Saves on Backup requirements.
This would require minimum one tablespace per partition
(i.e. a lot of tablespaces).

But this will result in a lot of datafiles. Can this
have adverse effects (e.g. CHECKPOIONT).

Thanks Tom.

Miho

Tom Kyte
January 26, 2004 - 9:14 am UTC

if they are read only -- checkpointing isn't going to be an issue there.....

it is a very valid approach. very common in fact.

Problem with a larger datafile

Pichai Bala, January 26, 2004 - 12:54 pm UTC

Hi Tom,
Thanks for your excellent service. Personally I know of an occassion where we had a trouble in dropping a tablespace of 80G having only one datafile. So now I follow the following: fan out the tablespace as a set of datafiles like 80G is split into 9 datafiles of 9G each. This way it will help the IO also by reducing the contention as well as helps in dropping the tablespace easily.
What is your opinion regarding?

Tom Kyte
January 26, 2004 - 1:09 pm UTC

why do you believe it was the size of the file.

sorry but "we had a trouble" is so vague.... no one can respond to that.


It was more likely (guess) that

a) this was a dictionary managed tablespace
b) you had an object with thousands of extents
c) you tried to drop it including contents
d) it took a really long time


solution: don't use DMT's, use LMT's.


I doubt the size of the file had anything to do with anything. You would have had that issue with 9 9gig files.


OS Striping is much better than putting files here there and everywhere.

Great

Pichai Bala, January 26, 2004 - 1:43 pm UTC

Hi Tom,
All your guesses are true. Also the files are OS striped.
Now we use only LMTs.

Thanks a lot