A Structured Tuning Approach
Successful tuning of an Oracle database requires a careful, disciplined approach. Like overall system configuration, tuning must address the following:
Hardware and operating system performance
Oracle instance performance
Individual transaction (SQL) performance
These should be addressed in sequence, since database performance tuning is not possible until the operating system and hardware have been well tuned, and an individual SQL statement cannot be properly tuned if Oracle is not running efficiently. When tuning any of these areas, there are three distinct steps in the process:
Measure current performance.
Make appropriate changes.
Assess the result.
Warning
Some changes to the Oracle instance may result in the need for changes to the operating system environment. For example, allocating additional database buffers may cause the operating system to start paging, which may require additional operating system tuning to eliminate.
The tuning process is almost always an iterative one. That is, after completing the three steps outlined above, the DBA must return to step 1 and repeat the process. This continues until no additional performance gains are possible.
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