Oracle SQL Tuning Masterclass with Dan Hotka

Prerequisites:

A working knowledge of the SQL language. Knowledge of SQL Explain Plans is helpful but not necessary.

Topics covered:

How Oracle arrives at an Execution Plan
In-depth look at Explain Plans
Index Review/Index Internals
SQL Trace/Stats Pack
PL/SQL Tuning/Profiling
SQL problem-solving topics using V$ Table information
Lectures and topics are enhanced with live illustrations and hands-on exercises

Attendees Receive:

Study guide with presentations and relevant white papers
Diskette full of tuning and problem discovery scripts
Opportunity to ask the tough Oracle questions
A hands-on opportunity to learn more about Oracle, TOAD and/or SQL Developer

Course Outline:

SQL Statement Tuning 
- Oracle RDBMS Architecture overview
- Understanding/Reading/Interpreting Explain Plans
- Understanding the Rule-based Optimizer
- Understanding the Cost-based Optimizer
- Working with Hints

SQL Tuning Tools

- Tuning Tool Review: Statspack, Events, Tracing/Tkprof
- Profiling and tuning PL/SQL
- Finding Problem SQL using v$ information

Detailed Overview:

The course starts out with a complete overview of the Oracle architecture, so students can get an understanding how their SQL and applications can take advantage of the computing environment. It then moves to a discussion on the differences of the various Explain Plan steps such as Merge-Join and Nested-Loop, and when is it best to use each. Dan goes into considerable detail, with SQL examples, on how the optimizers (both rule and cost) make their decisions. Participants will work with a variety of SQL statements, reviewing explain plans and making changes to make these SQL statements perform better. They will also experience how to monitor their application environment, and see how to find problem SQL in their applications.

This workshop includes a section on monitoring Oracle RDBMS and SQL via the v$ tables and TOAD and is packed full of scripts to discover a variety of issues.

The programme is perfect for developers who need to know more on how Oracle works and how to get their SQL to perform better. This course is also good for those who are light on SQL tuning or perhaps are new to the Oracle RDBMS.

The course utilizes a variety of current tools. Participants will have the opportunity to learn more about TOAD and SQL Developer, as well as the Oracle tools like SQL*Plus, TKProf, and Stats Pack.

About Dan Hotka:

Dan Hotka is a Training Specialist and an Oracle ACE Director who has over 32 years in the computer industry, over 27 years of experience with Oracle products. His experience with the Oracle RDBMS dates back to the Oracle V4.0 days. Dan’s latest book is the Oracle SQL Tuning: A Close Look at Explain Plans by Amazon. He is also the author of TOAD Handbook by Pearson, SQL Developer Handbook by Oracle Press, SQL Developer Handbook by Oracle Press, Oracle9i Development By Example, and Oracle8i from Scratch by Que and has co-authored 7 other popular books including the Database Oracle10g Linux Administration by Oracle Press.