6 Managing Memory

About Automatic Shared Memory Management

Automatic Shared Memory Management simplifies SGA memory management. You specify the total amount of SGA memory available to an instance using the SGA_TARGET initialization parameter and Oracle Database automatically distributes this memory among the various SGA components to ensure the most effective memory utilization.

When automatic shared memory management is enabled, the sizes of the different SGA components are flexible and can adapt to the needs of a workload without requiring any additional configuration. The database automatically distributes the available memory among the various components as required, allowing the system to maximize the use of all available SGA memory.

If you are using a server parameter file (SPFILE), the database remembers the sizes of the automatically tuned SGA components across instance shutdowns. As a result, the database instance does not need to learn the characteristics of the workload again each time the instance is started. The instance can begin with information from the previous instance and continue evaluating workload where it left off at the last shutdown.

Components and Granules in the SGA

The SGA comprises several memory components, which are pools of memory used to satisfy a particular class of memory allocation requests. Examples of memory components include the shared pool (used to allocate memory for SQL and PL/SQL execution), the java pool (used for java objects and other java execution memory), and the buffer cache (used for caching disk blocks). All SGA components allocate and deallocate space in units of granules. Oracle Database tracks SGA memory use in internal numbers of granules for each SGA component.

The memory for dynamic components in the SGA is allocated in the unit of granules. The granule size is determined by the amount of SGA memory requested when the instance starts. Specifically, the granule size is based on the value of the SGA_MAX_SIZE initialization parameter. Table 6-1 shows the granule size for different amounts of SGA memory.

Some platform dependencies may arise. Consult your operating system specific documentation for more details.

You can query the V$SGAINFO view to see the granule size that is being used by an instance. The same granule size is used for all components in the SGA.

If you specify a size for a component that is not a multiple of granule size, Oracle Database rounds the specified size up to the nearest multiple. For example, if the granule size is 4 MB and you specify DB_CACHE_SIZE as 10 MB, the database actually allocates 12 MB.

Setting Maximum SGA Size

The SGA_MAX_SIZE initialization parameter specifies the maximum size of the System Global Area for the lifetime of the instance. You can dynamically alter the initialization parameters affecting the size of the buffer caches, shared pool, large pool, Java pool, and streams pool but only to the extent that the sum of these sizes and the sizes of the other components of the SGA (fixed SGA, variable SGA, and redo log buffers) does not exceed the value specified by SGA_MAX_SIZE.

If you do not specify SGA_MAX_SIZE, then Oracle Database selects a default value that is the sum of all components specified or defaulted at initialization time. If you do specify SGA_MAX_SIZE, and at the time the database is initialized the value is less than the sum of the memory allocated for all components, either explicitly in the parameter file or by default, then the database ignores the setting for SGA_MAX_SIZE and chooses a correct value for this parameter.

Setting SGA Target Size

You enable the automatic shared memory management feature by setting the SGA_TARGET parameter to a nonzero value. This parameter sets the total size of the SGA. It replaces the parameters that control the memory allocated for a specific set of individual components, which are now automatically and dynamically resized (tuned) as needed.

Table 6-2 lists the SGA components that are automatically sized when SGA_TARGET is set. For each SGA component, its corresponding initialization parameter is listed.

The manually sized parameters listed in Table 6-3, if they are set, take their memory from SGA_TARGET, leaving what is available for the components listed in Table 6-2.

In addition to setting SGA_TARGET to a nonzero value, you must set to zero all initialization parameters listed in Table 6-2 to enable full automatic tuning of the automatically sized SGA components.

Alternatively, you can set one or more of the automatically sized SGA components to a nonzero value, which is then used as the minimum setting for that component during SGA tuning. This is discussed in detail later in this section.

SQL> select * from v$sga_target_advice order by sga_size;
 
  SGA_SIZE SGA_SIZE_FACTOR ESTD_DB_TIME ESTD_DB_TIME_FACTOR ESTD_PHYSICAL_READS
---------- --------------- ------------ ------------------- -------------------
       290              .5       448176              1.6578             1636103
       435             .75       339336              1.2552             1636103
       580               1       270344                   1             1201780
       725            1.25       239038               .8842              907584
       870             1.5       211517               .7824              513881
      1015            1.75       201866               .7467              513881
      1160               2       200703               .7424              513881

Enabling Automatic Shared Memory Management

The procedure for enabling automatic shared memory management (ASMM) differs depending on whether you are changing to ASMM from manual shared memory management or from automatic memory management.

To change to ASMM from manual shared memory management:

1. Run the following query to obtain a value for SGA_TARGET:

   SELECT (
      (SELECT SUM(value) FROM V$SGA) -
      (SELECT CURRENT_SIZE FROM V$SGA_DYNAMIC_FREE_MEMORY)
      ) "SGA_TARGET"
   FROM DUAL;
   

2. Set the value of SGA_TARGET, either by editing the text initialization parameter file and restarting the database, or by issuing the following statement:

   ALTER SYSTEM SET SGA_TARGET=value [SCOPE={SPFILE|MEMORY|BOTH}]
   

   where value is the value computed in step 1 or is some value between the sum of all SGA component sizes and SGA_MAX_SIZE. For more information on the ALTER SYSTEM statement and its SCOPE clause, see Oracle Database SQL Language Reference.

3. Do one of the following:

   • For more complete automatic tuning, set the values of the automatically sized SGA components listed in Table 6-2 to zero. Do this by editing the text initialization parameter file or by issuing ALTER SYSTEM statements.

   • To control the minimum size of one or more automatically sized SGA components, set those component sizes to the desired value. (See the next section for details.) Set the values of the other automatically sized SGA components to zero. Do this by editing the text initialization parameter file or by issuing ALTER SYSTEM statements.

To change to ASMM from automatic memory management:

1. Set the MEMORY_TARGET initialization parameter to 0.

   ALTER SYSTEM SET MEMORY_TARGET = 0;
   

   The database sets SGA_TARGET based on current SGA memory allocation.

2. Do one of the following:

   • For more complete automatic tuning, set the sizes of the automatically sized SGA components listed in Table 6-2 to zero. Do this by editing the text initialization parameter file or by issuing ALTER SYSTEM statements.

   • To control the minimum size of one or more automatically sized SGA components, set those component sizes to the desired value. (See the next section for details.) Set the sizes of the other automatically sized SGA components to zero. Do this by editing the text initialization parameter file or by issuing ALTER SYSTEM statements.

ALTER SYSTEM SET SGA_TARGET = 992M;
ALTER SYSTEM SET SHARED_POOL_SIZE = 0;
ALTER SYSTEM SET LARGE_POOL_SIZE = 0;
ALTER SYSTEM SET JAVA_POOL_SIZE = 0;
ALTER SYSTEM SET DB_CACHE_SIZE = 0;
ALTER SYSTEM SET STREAMS_POOL_SIZE = 0;

Automatic Shared Memory Management Advanced Topics

This section provides a closer look at automatic shared memory management. It includes the following topics:

• Setting Minimums for Automatically Sized SGA Components

• Dynamic Modification of SGA_TARGET

• Modifying Parameters for Automatically Sized Components

• Modifying Parameters for Manually Sized Components

Enabling Manual Shared Memory Management

There is no initialization parameter that in itself enables manual shared memory management. You effectively enable manual shared memory management by disabling both automatic memory management and automatic shared memory management.

To enable manual shared memory management:

1. Set the MEMORY_TARGET initialization parameter to 0.

2. Set the SGA_TARGET initialization parameter to 0.

You must then set values for the various SGA components, as described in the following sections.

Setting the Buffer Cache Initialization Parameters

The buffer cache initialization parameters determine the size of the buffer cache component of the SGA. You use them to specify the sizes of caches for the various block sizes used by the database. These initialization parameters are all dynamic.

The size of a buffer cache affects performance. Larger cache sizes generally reduce the number of disk reads and writes. However, a large cache may take up too much memory and induce memory paging or swapping.

Oracle Database supports multiple block sizes in a database. If you create tablespaces with nonstandard block sizes, you must configure nonstandard block size buffers to accommodate these tablespaces. The standard block size is used for the SYSTEM tablespace. You specify the standard block size by setting the initialization parameter DB_BLOCK_SIZE. Legitimate values are from 2K to 32K.

If you intend to use multiple block sizes in your database, you must have the DB_CACHE_SIZE and at least one DB_nK_CACHE_SIZE parameter set. Oracle Database assigns an appropriate default value to the DB_CACHE_SIZE parameter, but the DB_nK_CACHE_SIZE parameters default to 0, and no additional block size caches are configured.

The sizes and numbers of nonstandard block size buffers are specified by the following parameters:

DB_2K_CACHE_SIZE
DB_4K_CACHE_SIZE
DB_8K_CACHE_SIZE
DB_16K_CACHE_SIZE
DB_32K_CACHE_SIZE

Each parameter specifies the size of the cache for the corresponding block size.

DB_BLOCK_SIZE=4096
DB_CACHE_SIZE=1024M
DB_2K_CACHE_SIZE=256M
DB_8K_CACHE_SIZE=512M

Specifying the Shared Pool Size

The SHARED_POOL_SIZE initialization parameter is a dynamic parameter that lets you specify or adjust the size of the shared pool component of the SGA. Oracle Database selects an appropriate default value.

In releases before Oracle Database 10g Release 1, the amount of shared pool memory that was allocated was equal to the value of the SHARED_POOL_SIZE initialization parameter plus the amount of internal SGA overhead computed during instance startup. The internal SGA overhead refers to memory that is allocated by Oracle Database during startup, based on the values of several other initialization parameters. This memory is used to maintain state for different server components in the SGA. For example, if the SHARED_POOL_SIZE parameter is set to 64MB and the internal SGA overhead is computed to be 12MB, the real size of the shared pool is 64+12=76MB, although the value of the SHARED_POOL_SIZE parameter is still displayed as 64MB.

Starting with Oracle Database 10g Release 1, the size of the internal SGA overhead is included in the user-specified value of SHARED_POOL_SIZE. If you are not using automatic memory management or automatic shared memory management, the amount of shared pool memory that is allocated at startup is equal to the value of the SHARED_POOL_SIZE initialization parameter, rounded up to a multiple of the granule size. You must therefore set this parameter so that it includes the internal SGA overhead in addition to the desired value for shared pool size. In the previous example, if the SHARED_POOL_SIZE parameter is set to 64MB at startup, then the available shared pool after startup is 64-12=52MB, assuming the value of internal SGA overhead remains unchanged. In order to maintain an effective value of 64MB for shared pool memory after startup, you must set the SHARED_POOL_SIZE parameter to 64+12=76MB.

When migrating from a release that is earlier than Oracle Database 10g Release 1, the Oracle Database 11g migration utilities recommend a new value for this parameter based on the value of internal SGA overhead in the pre-upgrade environment and based on the old value of this parameter. Beginning with Oracle Database 10g, the exact value of internal SGA overhead, also known as startup overhead in the shared pool, can be queried from the V$SGAINFO view. Also, in manual shared memory management mode, if the user-specified value of SHARED_POOL_SIZE is too small to accommodate even the requirements of internal SGA overhead, then Oracle Database generates an ORA-00371 error during startup, with a suggested value to use for the SHARED_POOL_SIZE parameter.When you use automatic shared memory management in Oracle Database 11g, the shared pool is automatically tuned, and an ORA-00371 error would not be generated.

Specifying the Large Pool Size

The LARGE_POOL_SIZE initialization parameter is a dynamic parameter that lets you specify or adjust the size of the large pool component of the SGA. The large pool is an optional component of the SGA. You must specifically set the LARGE_POOL_SIZE parameter to create a large pool. Configuring the large pool is discussed in Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide.

Specifying the Java Pool Size

The JAVA_POOL_SIZE initialization parameter is a dynamic parameter that lets you specify or adjust the size of the java pool component of the SGA. Oracle Database selects an appropriate default value. Configuration of the java pool is discussed in Oracle Database Java Developer's Guide.

Specifying the Streams Pool Size

The STREAMS_POOL_SIZE initialization parameter is a dynamic parameter that lets you specify or adjust the size of the Streams Pool component of the SGA. If STREAMS_POOL_SIZE is set to 0, then the Oracle Streams product transfers memory from the buffer cache to the Streams Pool when it is needed. For details, see the discussion of the Streams Pool in Oracle Streams Replication Administrator's Guide.

Specifying the Result Cache Maximum Size

The RESULT_CACHE_MAX_SIZE initialization parameter is a dynamic parameter that enables you to specify the maximum size of the result cache component of the SGA. Typically, there is no need to specify this parameter, because the default maximum size is chosen by the database based on total memory available to the SGA and on the memory management method currently in use. You can view the current default maximum size by displaying the value of the RESULT_CACHE_MAX_SIZE parameter. To change this maximum size, you can set RESULT_CACHE_MAX_SIZE with an ALTER SYSTEM statement, or you can specify this parameter in the text initialization parameter file. In each case, the value is rounded up to the nearest multiple of 32K.

If RESULT_CACHE_MAX_SIZE is 0 upon instance startup, the result cache is disabled. To reenable it you must set RESULT_CACHE_MAX_SIZE to a nonzero value (or remove this parameter from the text initialization parameter file to get the default maximum size) and then restart the database.

Note that after starting the database with the result cache disabled, if you use an ALTER SYSTEM statement to set RESULT_CACHE_MAX_SIZE to a nonzero value but do not restart the database, querying the value of the RESULT_CACHE_MAX_SIZE parameter returns a nonzero value even though the result cache is still disabled. The value of RESULT_CACHE_MAX_SIZE is therefore not the most reliable way to determine if the result cache is enabled. You can use the following query instead:

SELECT dbms_result_cache.status() FROM dual;

DBMS_RESULT_CACHE.STATUS()
---------------------------------------------
ENABLED

The result cache takes its memory from the shared pool, so if you increase the maximum result cache size, consider also increasing the shared pool size.

The view V$RESULT_CACHE_STATISTICS and the PL/SQL package procedure DBMS_RESULT_CACHE.MEMORY_REPORT display information to help you determine the amount of memory currently allocated to the result cache.

The PL/SQL package function DBMS_RESULT_CACHE.FLUSH clears the result cache and releases all the memory back to the shared pool.

Specifying Miscellaneous SGA Initialization Parameters

You can set a few additional initialization parameters to control how the SGA uses memory.