Richard Foote's Oracle Blog

Storage Indexes vs Database Indexes IV: 8 Column Limit (Eight Line Poem) May 1, 2013

As Exadata Storage Indexes (SI) are purely memory only structures located on the Exadata storage servers, care needs to be taken in how much memory they can potentially consume. As a result, there is a limit of 8 columns (or 8 SIs) that can be defined for a given 1M storage region at any point in time, even though SIs are much smaller structures than equivalent database indexes. As database indexes are physical constructs however, there’s no such limit on the number of indexes that can be defined for a table. This can become another key difference between SIs and database indexes.

The following table has more than 8 columns, each with differing numbers of distinct values or distributions of data:

SQL> create table radiohead (id number, col1 number, col2 number, col3 number, col4 number, col5 number, col6 number, col7 number, col8 number, col9 number, col10 number, col11 number, col12 number, some_text varchar2(50));
Table created.

SQL> insert into radiohead select rownum, mod(rownum,10), mod(rownum,100), mod(rownum,1000), mod(rownum,10000), mod (rownum,100000), mod(rownum,1000000), ceil(dbms_random.value(0,10)), ceil(dbms_random.value(0,100)), ceil
 (dbms_random.value(0,1000)), ceil(dbms_random.value(0,10000)), ceil(dbms_random.value(0,100000)), ceil(dbms_random.value (0,1000000)), 'OK COMPUTER' from dual connect by level <=2000000; 2000000 rows created. SQL> commit;

Commit complete.

SQL> insert/*+ append */ into radiohead select * from radiohead;

2000000 rows created.

SQL> commit;

Commit complete.

SQL> insert/*+ append */ into radiohead select * from radiohead;

4000000 rows created.

SQL> commit;

Commit complete.

SQL> insert/*+ append */ into radiohead select * from radiohead;

8000000 rows created.

SQL> commit;

Commit complete.

SQL> exec dbms_stats.gather_table_stats(ownname=>user, tabname=>'RADIOHEAD', estimate_percent=>null, method_opt=> 'FOR ALL COLUMNS SIZE 1');

Let’s start by running a highly selective query of the ID column:

SQL> select * from radiohead where id = 42;
8 rows selected.

Elapsed: 00:00:00.05

Execution Plan
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 8 | 416 | 42425 (1)| 00:08:30 |
 |* 1 | TABLE ACCESS STORAGE FULL| RADIOHEAD | 8 | 416 | 42425 (1)| 00:08:30 |
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

1 - storage("ID"=121212)
 filter("ID"=121212)

If we look at the session statistics, we’ll notice that a SI has been created and saved us physical IOs. Note: If you follow the demo, you’ll need to keep track of these statistics after each query or simply reconnect as a new session to ensure a SI has or has not been used.

SQL> select name , value/1024/1024 MB from v$statname n, v$mystat s where n.statistic# = s.statistic# and n.name in ('cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan', 'cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index');

NAME MB
 ---------------------------------------------------------------- ----------
 cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index 1333.99219
 cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan .164878845

OK, let’s now run a selective query on the COL1 column (there are no values 42 in this case and so no rows are returned):

SQL> select * from radiohead where col1=42;
no rows selected

Elapsed: 00:00:00.01

Execution Plan
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1 | 52 | 42440 (1)| 00:08:30 |
 |* 1 | TABLE ACCESS STORAGE FULL| RADIOHEAD | 1 | 52 | 42440 (1)| 00:08:30 |
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

1 - storage("COL1"=42)
 filter("COL1"=42)

SQL> select name , value/1024/1024 MB from v$statname n, v$mystat s where n.statistic# = s.statistic# and n.name in
 ('cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan', 'cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index');

NAME MB
 ---------------------------------------------------------------- ----------
 cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index 2546.90625
 cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan .341438293

Again, a SI has been created and used here. The SI in this case has been extremely beneficial because no data exists for 42 (only the values 1 – 10 exist). However, if an existing value were to be selected, the SI would be next to useless as such a value would exist throughout all 1M storage regions. With just 10 distinct randomly distributed values, this SI has the potential to be a waste of time. But while we search for values that don’t exist, it serves a very useful purpose. An important consideration in what’s to come.

If we now run a query now using column COL4:

SQL> select * from radiohead where col4=42;
1600 rows selected.

Elapsed: 00:00:00.68

Execution Plan
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1600 | 83200 | 42486 (1)| 00:08:30 |
 |* 1 | TABLE ACCESS STORAGE FULL| RADIOHEAD | 1600 | 83200 | 42486 (1)| 00:08:30 |
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

1 - storage("COL4"=42)
 filter("COL4"=42)

SQL> select name , value/1024/1024 MB from v$statname n, v$mystat s where n.statistic# = s.statistic# and n.name in
 ('cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan', 'cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index');

NAME MB
 ---------------------------------------------------------------- ----------
 cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index 2612.64063 <= + 66MB
 cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan 32.3048401

OK, this is the really important one to note. Firstly, yes again a SI has been created and used. Note though that this has not been the first SI to be created or used on this table; SIs have previously been created and used in the previous two queries on different columns. This will also not be the most recent SI to be created, more will soon follow. However, this is by far the least effective use of a SI, because of both the selectivity of the query and distribution of data. Here, only some 66MB or so of physical IOs have been saved.

We now repeat this process, running a query against a different column, being very selective and ensuring a SI is created and used. We finally reach a point when 8 SIs have been created on the table:

SQL> select * from radiohead where col9=0;
no rows selected

Elapsed: 00:00:00.02

Execution Plan
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 15984 | 811K| 42561 (1)| 00:08:31 |
 |* 1 | TABLE ACCESS STORAGE FULL| RADIOHEAD | 15984 | 811K| 42561 (1)| 00:08:31 |
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

1 - storage("COL9"=0)
 filter("COL9"=0)

SQL> select name , value/1024/1024 MB from v$statname n, v$mystat s where n.statistic# = s.statistic# and n.name in
 ('cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan', 'cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index');

NAME MB
 ---------------------------------------------------------------- ----------
 cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index 8792.94531
 cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan 45.3872757

OK, we’ve now reached the point where  8 SIs have definitely been created on this table.

If we now run a query that could potentially use a SI but isn’t particularly effective, basically on a par to the one we saw created previously on COL4:

SQL> select * from radiohead where col10=42;
1536 rows selected.

Elapsed: 00:00:00.73

Execution Plan
----------------------------------------------------------
Plan hash value: 2516349655

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1600 | 83200 | 42577 (1)| 00:08:31 |
|* 1 | TABLE ACCESS STORAGE FULL| RADIOHEAD | 1600 | 83200 | 42577 (1)| 00:08:31 |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------

1 - storage("COL10"=42)
 filter("COL10"=42)

SQL> select name , value/1024/1024 MB from v$statname n, v$mystat s where n.statistic# = s.statistic# and n.name in ('cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan', 'cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index');

NAME MB
---------------------------------------------------------------- ----------
cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index 8792.94531
cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan 45.9288864

We notice that no bytes have been saved here via a SI. We can run this query repeatedly and the results will be the same. No SI is created and no bytes are saved. Although Oracle could potentially create a SI and save some work, the fact we already have 8 SIs created for this table means we have already reached the limit on the number of SIs that can be created for this table. 8 is it.

Let’s run another query now using yet another different column (COL12), but this time it’s again a very selective query, much more selective and efficient than the previous query based on COL4 in which a SI had been created:

SQL> select * from radiohead where col12=42;
8 rows selected.

Elapsed: 00:00:00.39

Execution Plan
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 19 | 988 | 42607 (1)| 00:08:32 |
 |* 1 | TABLE ACCESS STORAGE FULL| RADIOHEAD | 19 | 988 | 42607 (1)| 00:08:32 |
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

1 - storage("COL12"=42)
 filter("COL12"=42)

SQL> select name , value/1024/1024 MB from v$statname n, v$mystat s where n.statistic# = s.statistic# and n.name in
 ('cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan', 'cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index');

NAME MB
 ---------------------------------------------------------------- ----------
 cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index 9526.01563
 cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan 53.5218124

This time however the number of bytes saved has again gone up from previously meaning that indeed a new SI has been created and used for column COL12. But this makes 9 SIs in total now for this table where the limit should be a maximum of 8 ?

Does this mean that a previously created SI has been dropped and replaced by this new one. If so, which SI is now gone ?

Well, let’s go back to the first SI we created and the one that hasn’t been used for the longest period of time. If we re-run the first query again:

SQL> select * from radiohead where id=42;
8 rows selected.

Elapsed: 00:00:00.05

Execution Plan
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 8 | 416 | 42425 (1)| 00:08:30 |
 |* 1 | TABLE ACCESS STORAGE FULL| RADIOHEAD | 8 | 416 | 42425 (1)| 00:08:30 |
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

1 - storage("ID"=42)
 filter("ID"=42)

SQL> select name , value/1024/1024 MB from v$statname n, v$mystat s where n.statistic# = s.statistic# and n.name in
 ('cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan', 'cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index');

NAME MB
 ---------------------------------------------------------------- ----------
 cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index 10726.9844
 cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan 53.5264816

We notice that not only has it used a SI, but it has saved the maximum amount of IO bytes possible here meaning there was no “warming up” processes happening here indicating a newly created SI. So not only did it use a SI, it clearly used a previously created one. So this SI was not obviously impacted by the creation of this “9th” SI.

However, if we run the query again that used column COL4, the query that previously used a SI but was by far the least effective in saving physical IOs:

SQL> select * from radiohead where col4 = 4242;
1600 rows selected.

Elapsed: 00:00:00.73

Execution Plan
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1600 | 83200 | 42486 (1)| 00:08:30 |
 |* 1 | TABLE ACCESS STORAGE FULL| RADIOHEAD | 1600 | 83200 | 42486 (1)| 00:08:30 |
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

1 - storage("COL4"=4242)
 filter("COL4"=4242)

SQL> select name , value/1024/1024 MB from v$statname n, v$mystat s where n.statistic# = s.statistic# and n.name in
 ('cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan', 'cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index');

NAME MB
 ---------------------------------------------------------------- ----------
 cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index 10726.9844 No Change !!
 cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan 54.1522598

This time we notice there’s no change to the number of bytes saved by a SI. No matter how often we run this query now, no SI is used. So the SI that was created previously is now gone as a result of creating the more effective SI on the COL12 column. Indeed there are still just the 8 SIs on this table.

So Oracle will indeed limit the number of SIs to 8 for each table/storage region. However, it’s not simply a case of “first in first served” or some such, with Oracle using (undocumented) performance metrics to determine which 8 SIs/columns to choose. This means it might be possible in some rarer scenarios where more than 8 columns get referenced in SQL statements for SIs to come and go depending on changing workloads.  Another example of where database indexes may yet play a role in Exadata environments, where currently tables have more than 8+ indexed columns.

Storage Indexes vs Database Indexes Part III: Hidden Values (Hide Away) February 7, 2013

OK, my holiday to Hawaii is now slowing fading away into distant memory. Time for a new post :)

In my previous post on differences between Exadata Storage Indexes and Database Indexes Part II, I discussed how the clustering of data within the data is an important factor (pun fully intended !!) in the performance and efficiency of both types of indexes. In this post, I’ll expand a little more on this point and highlight scenarios where a normal database index can significantly improve performance but be totally ineffective as a Storage Index.

Storage Indexes can only determine where required data can’t exist within a (1M default) storage region via the associated Min/Max values of the index. If a required value can’t possibly exist within the Min/Max range boundary, the specific storage region can be ignored and not be accessed during the full scan operation. However, in some scenarios, there can be limitations in the usefulness of only having Min/Max values to work with if both Min and Max values are relatively common and randomly distributed throughout the table. This is not an uncommon scenario when dealing with columns that have data such as code status values.

In the BIG_BOWIE table I’ve been using in this series, I have a FORMAT_ID column that was initially populated with just values 2,4,6,8 and 10, evenly distributed throughout the table. I then updated a relatively small number of these values in the following manner:

SQL> update big_bowie set format_id = 3 where mod(id,10000)=0;
1000 rows updated.

SQL> commit;

Commit complete.

SQL> update big_bowie set format_id = 5 where id between 424242 and 425241;

1000 rows updated.

SQL> commit;

Commit complete.

So I have relatively few FORMAT_ID = 3 (1000 in 10M rows, 0.01% of data) littered throughout the table and a few FORMAT_ID = 5 located in a specific portion/location of the table.

I’ll now create a normal database index on this FORMAT_ID column and a histogram to let the CBO know there are indeed relatively few occurances of values 3 and 5 within the table:

SQL> create index big_bowie_format_id_i on big_bowie(format_id);
Index created.

SQL> exec dbms_stats.gather_table_stats(ownname=>user, tabname=>'BIG_BOWIE', method_opt=> 'FOR COLUMNS FORMAT_ID SIZE 10');

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

OK, if we now run a query looking for all the FORMAT_ID = 3:

SQL> select album_id, total_sales from big_bowie where format_id = 3;
1000 rows selected.

Elapsed: 00:00:00.01

Execution Plan
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1000 | 11000 | 72 (0)| 00:00:01 |
 | 1 | TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID| BIG_BOWIE | 1000 | 11000 | 72 (0)| 00:00:01 |
 |* 2 | INDEX RANGE SCAN | BIG_BOWIE_FORMAT_ID_I | 1000 | | 4 (0)| 00:00:01 |
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

2 - access("FORMAT_ID"=3)

Statistics
 ----------------------------------------------------------
 0 recursive calls
 0 db block gets
 1072 consistent gets
 0 physical reads
 0 redo size
 22984 bytes sent via SQL*Net to client
 1250 bytes received via SQL*Net from client
 68 SQL*Net roundtrips to/from client
 0 sorts (memory)
 0 sorts (disk)
 1000 rows processed

We notice  the CBO has used the index to efficiently retrieve just the 0.01% of required rows because of the high selectivity of the query, even though the overall Clustering Factor of the index is appalling.

It does an even better job when accessing FORMAT_ID = 5 as these specific values are all well clustered and  found within in a very tight portion of the table:

SQL> select album_id, total_sales from big_bowie where format_id = 5;
1000 rows selected.

Elapsed: 00:00:00.00

Execution Plan
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1000 | 11000 | 72 (0)| 00:00:01 |
 | 1 | TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID| BIG_BOWIE | 1000 | 11000 | 72 (0)| 00:00:01 |
 |* 2 | INDEX RANGE SCAN | BIG_BOWIE_FORMAT_ID_I | 1000 | | 4 (0)| 00:00:01 |
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

2 - access("FORMAT_ID"=5)

Statistics
 ----------------------------------------------------------
 0 recursive calls
 0 db block gets
 154 consistent gets
 0 physical reads
 0 redo size
 22685 bytes sent via SQL*Net to client
 1250 bytes received via SQL*Net from client
 68 SQL*Net roundtrips to/from client
 0 sorts (memory)
 0 sorts (disk)
 1000 rows processed

At just 154 consistent gets in this example, the results return almost instantaneously. The database index is extremely effective in these examples because it can point just to the locations within the table where these relatively few rows of interest are located.

Let’s see how Storage Indexes cope in this scenario. First, we make the database index invisible:

SQL> alter index big_bowie_format_id_i invisible;
Index altered.

We now run the same query again (this can be repeated as many times as you like):

SQL> select album_id, total_sales from big_bowie where format_id = 3;
1000 rows selected.

Elapsed: 00:00:00.80

Execution Plan
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1000 | 11000 | 36682 (1)| 00:07:21 |
 |* 1 | TABLE ACCESS STORAGE FULL| BIG_BOWIE | 1000 | 11000 | 36682 (1)| 00:07:21 |
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

1 - storage("FORMAT_ID"=3)
 filter("FORMAT_ID"=3)

SQL> select name , value/1024/1024 MB from v$statname n, v$mystat s where n.statistic# = s.statistic# and n.name in ('cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan', 'cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index');

NAME MB
 ---------------------------------------------------------------- ----------
 cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index 0
 cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan .397476196

We notice no matter how often we try, that Storage Indexes have managed to save us precisely nothing. The entire table has had to be scanned and read during the Full Table Scan operation.

SQL> select album_id, total_sales from big_bowie where format_id = 5;
1000 rows selected.

Elapsed: 00:00:00.89

Execution Plan
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | Id | Operation | Name | Rows | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time |
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 | 0 | SELECT STATEMENT | | 1000 | 11000 | 36682 (1)| 00:07:21 |
 |* 1 | TABLE ACCESS STORAGE FULL| BIG_BOWIE | 1000 | 11000 | 36682 (1)| 00:07:21 |
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

1 - storage("FORMAT_ID"=5)
 filter("FORMAT_ID"=5)

SQL> select name , value/1024/1024 MB from v$statname n, v$mystat s where n.statistic# = s.statistic# and n.name in ('cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan', 'cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index');

NAME MB
 ---------------------------------------------------------------- ----------
 cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index 0
 cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan .565643311

Same results when accessing the FORMAT_ID = 5. Any possible Storage Indexes have been totally ineffective and the Full Table Scan has had to read the entire table.

The result being performance is significantly slower than with the database indexes visible and in place.

Why ?

The data consists primarily of randomly distributed values 2,4,6,8 and 10, with the odd value 3 and 5 littered around. This means that if created, the Storage Index Min/Max values will effectively be 2 and 10 for all 1M storage regions throughout the entire table.

Therefore, both values 3 and 5 could possibly exist within all/any of the table storage regions as they sit inside the 2 – 10 Min/Max range boundaries. These 3 and 5 values are effectively “hidden” within the Storage Index Min/Max values making Storage Indexes totally ineffective in this scenario, as they can’t skip a thing.

A final point here. If one of these rarer values of interest were to be say value “12″, then a Storage Index could be useful when searching for this particular value as any Min/Max ranges of 2-10 that don’t therefore contain a value of 12 can be skipped. However, if values 3 and 5 were also of interest, the Storage Index would still only be useful in a subset of required cases. A database index would therefore still be required to cater all necessarily cases.

As Database indexes can directly point to indexed values of interest, this is another example of where we would likely not want to just drop a database index in Exadata.

Exadata Storage Indexes Part IV – Fast Full Table Scans (Speed of Life) November 8, 2012

OK, let’s look at Storage Indexes in action.

But first, following is the setup for the various demos to come. I basically create one table called BIG_BOWIE that’s about 1GB in size and then simply create another table called DWH_BOWIE where the contents of this are re-insert into itself a few times to get to about a 60GB table. The various columns have differing distinct values and distributions of data.

I used an X2-2 1/2 rack as my toy and yes, once people saw the table names instantly knew who created them :)

SQL> create table big_bowie (id number not null, album_id number not null, artist_id number not null,
format_id number, release_date date, total_sales number, description varchar2(100));

Table created.

SQL> create sequence bowie_seq order;

Sequence created.

SQL> create or replace procedure pop_big_bowie as
  2  begin
  3     for v_album_id in 1..100 loop
  4         for v_artist_id in 1..100000 loop
  5             insert into big_bowie values (bowie_seq.nextval, v_album_id, v_artist_id, ceil(dbms_random.value(0,5)) * 2,
  6               trunc(sysdate-ceil(dbms_random.value(0,10000))), ceil(dbms_random.value(0,500000)),
'THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS');
  7         end loop;
  8         commit;
  9     end loop;
 10     commit;
 11  end;
 12  /

Procedure created.

SQL> exec pop_big_bowie

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

I modified some of the data to have a few occurrences of some specific data. This will be used on a later post.

SQL> update big_bowie set format_id = 3 where mod(id,10000)=0;

1000 rows updated.

SQL> commit;

Commit complete.

SQL> update big_bowie set format_id = 5 where id between 424242 and 425241;

1000 rows updated.

SQL> commit;

Commit complete.

SQL> exec dbms_stats.gather_table_stats(ownname=>user, tabname=>'BIG_BOWIE‘, method_opt=>'FOR ALL COLUMNS SIZE 1');

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

SQL> select blocks from dba_tables where table_name = 'BIG_BOWIE';

    BLOCKS
----------
    134809

Like I said, another DWH_BOWIE table as basically created with this data re-inserted into itself 6 times to create roughly a 60GB table.

OK, let’s now run an “expensive” query on this bigger table without any of the Exadata smart scan magic enabled:

SQL> alter session set cell_offload_processing=false;

Session altered.

SQL> select * from dwh_bowie where album_id = 42 and artist_id between 42 and 4200;

266176 rows selected.

Elapsed: 00:04:43.38

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id  | Operation         | Name      | Rows  | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time     |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|   0 | SELECT STATEMENT  |           |   266K|    23M|  2348K  (1)| 07:49:45 |
|*  1 |  TABLE ACCESS FULL| DWH_BOWIE |   266K|    23M|  2348K  (1)| 07:49:45 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------
   1 - filter("ALBUM_ID"=42 AND "ARTIST_ID"<=4200 AND "ARTIST_ID">=42)

Statistics
----------------------------------------------------------
          1  recursive calls
          0  db block gets
    8644512  consistent gets
    8625479  physical reads
          0  redo size
   12279634  bytes sent via SQL*Net to client
     195719  bytes received via SQL*Net from client
      17747  SQL*Net roundtrips to/from client
          0  sorts (memory)
          0  sorts (disk)
     266176  rows processed

So it takes about 4 mins and 43 secs to return the necessary 266,176 rows from an approx. 60GB table (that’s 8.6 million 8K blocks). Not bad really.

However, if we run the same query with the Exadata smarts enabled:

SQL> alter session set cell_offload_processing=true;

Session altered.

SQL> select * from dwh_bowie where album_id = 42 and artist_id between 42 and 4200;

266176 rows selected.

Elapsed: 00:00:03.97

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id  | Operation                 | Name      | Rows  | Bytes | Cost (%CPU)| Time     |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|   0 | SELECT STATEMENT          |           |   266K|    23M|  2348K  (1)| 07:49:45 |
|*  1 |  TABLE ACCESS STORAGE FULL| DWH_BOWIE |   266K|    23M|  2348K  (1)| 07:49:45 |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

   1 - storage("ALBUM_ID"=42 AND "ARTIST_ID"<=4200 AND "ARTIST_ID">=42)
       filter("ALBUM_ID"=42 AND "ARTIST_ID"<=4200 AND "ARTIST_ID">=42)

Statistics
----------------------------------------------------------
          0  recursive calls
          0  db block gets
    8626963  consistent gets
    8625479  physical reads
          0  redo size
   12279634  bytes sent via SQL*Net to client
     195719  bytes received via SQL*Net from client
      17747  SQL*Net roundtrips to/from client
          0  sorts (memory)
          0  sorts (disk)
     266176  rows processed

We see that execution times reduce significantly, down to just 4 secs. So we manage to read via a FTS a 60GB table in under 4 seconds, not bad at all.

A hint that something different might have occurred here is the appearance of the “storage” predicate listing. This basically tells us that a smart scan “might” have occurred. Note though that the “reported” physical reads and consistent gets as reported by the database is basically the same as the previous run. More on this in later posts.

The reason for this improvement is due in large part to the use of Exadata Storage Indexes. As discussed previously, a Storage Index can potentially automatically avoid having to read significant portions of data by determining areas of storage that can’t possibly contain data of interest. This is a classic example of Storage Indexes in operation, putting into practice the notion that the quickest way to do something is to avoid doing as much work as possible.

But how to tell whether a Storage Index really did kick in and how much work did it actually save ?

The V$SQL view now has a number of additional columns that provides useful information:

SQL> select sql_text, io_cell_offload_eligible_bytes, io_interconnect_bytes, io_cell_uncompressed_bytes, io_cell_offload_returned_bytes
     from v$sql where sql_id = 'admdhphbh1a1c';

SQL_TEXT
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IO_CELL_OFFLOAD_ELIGIBLE_BYTES IO_INTERCONNECT_BYTES IO_CELL_UNCOMPRESSED_BYTES
------------------------------ --------------------- --------------------------
IO_CELL_OFFLOAD_RETURNED_BYTES
------------------------------
select * from dwh_bowie where album_id = 42 and artist_id between 42 and 4200
                    1.4132E+11              55217792                 1.6718E+10
                      55217792

There are also numerous new statistics which begin with ‘cell ‘ that I generally capture before and after a particular operation to see the storage related workloads. Two statistics I find particularly useful are:

SQL> select name , value/1024/1024 MB from v$statname n,  v$mystat s
where n.statistic# = s.statistic# and n.name in ('cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan', 'cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index');

NAME                                                                MB
----------------------------------------------------------- ----------
cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index               59414.9453
cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan   26.329895

The cell physical IO bytes saved by storage index statistic denotes how much storage has not had to be read due to Storage Indexes. So this tells us just how useful Storage Indexes have been in reducing physical IO operations. The cell physical IO interconnect bytes returned by smart scan statistic denotes how much data has actually been returned to the database servers as a result of a smart scan.

As the above numbers highlight (note this last query had been the only activity within the session), the Storage Indexes were highly effective and were able to physically skip reading the vast majority of the table (59,414MB) during the Full Table Scan operation and that only a  relatively small amount data (26MB) had to be returned back to the database servers.

By not having to read most of the data, the resultant Full Table Scan on this relatively large table was completed not in minutes as previously, but in a matter of a few seconds.

The potential power of Storage Indexes …