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system is defined based on the type of workload (OLTP, DSS, or Batch), downtime tolerance, peak logical write rates, and application information. After the scope is defined, choose the Collect tab to define what data and how much data to collect for analysis. When the collection parameters are defined at the minimum level necessary to meet the tuning session scope, click the Collect button to acquire the required data. Before applying this process to a production database, practice in a test environment until the impact of the various options is understood and the amount of time consumed performing the specified activities is quantified.

Next, select the View/Edit tab to provide more detailed specification for the tuning session. This is where the specific tuning rules and thresholds are defined. Experienced tuners may want to alter some of the hundreds of rules based on the profile of the target database and personal knowledge and experience. For inexperienced tuners, it is an opportunity to see what Expert believes is good and bad.

From the Analyze tab, click the Perform Analysis button to begin the analysis process. After analysis is complete, select the Review Recommendations tab to get advice from Expert (see Figure 9.14). If recommendations are deemed reasonable, use the Implement tab to generate implementation scripts and new parameter files. Run the scripts and implement the new parameters to put Expert advice to work. If the advice does not seem correct, this can often be traced back to a rule that might require modification for the target database environment. Recollecting data is not required to develop new recommendations based on rule changes. Simply alter the rules to better reflect the environment of the target database and rerun the analysis.

FIG. 9.14
These recommenda-
tions are from an
Oracle sample file that
comes with Expert.

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Expert provides the opportunity to aggregate the collected wisdom at Oracle Corporation and add the experience and knowledge of the local database administration team to a structured methodology for performance management. Although most installations do not use this component of Enterprise Manager, it is probably most useful where it is least used—in small organizations with limited database tuning experience. Progressive database administrators in such environments should find a friend in Expert after even a short period of time using the tool.

Using the Enterprise Value-Added Products

Oracle provides several other value-added products that integrate with Enterprise Manager. Each meets specialized requirements for areas such as Web server management and processing of biometrics information such as fingerprints.

Replication Manager is useful for environments that make heavy use of Oracle8 replication features. Oracle Rdb for Windows NT provides tools to manage the Rdb database that Oracle acquired from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) several years ago. Oracle Fail Safe manages high availability environments implemented on Windows NT clusters. Oracle Biometrics works with specialized hardware to administer fingerprint identification used with the Advanced Networking Option (ANO). Oracle also integrates Web Server Manager and Security Server Manager with Enterprise Manager as value-added applications.

Using the Oracle Enterprise Manager Software Developer's Kit (SDK), developers build their own application integrated with Enterprise Manager to meet the specific needs of their environment. Several third-party applications are integrated with the Oracle Enterprise Manager. The functionality of these applications ranges from systems management functions such as transaction processing management connected through Oracle XA to specialized vertical market applications including a computerized medical record system. More third-party applications are under development.l

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