7
Working with Oracle Performance Manager Data

This chapter describes how you can collect and access data for display in Oracle Performance Manager charts. Specifically, it covers the following topics:

• Saving and Reusing Chart and Chart Window Definitions
• Working with Historical Data

Saving and Reusing Chart and Chart Window Definitions

Attention: The repository tables required by the Load Charts and Save Charts features are created when the Oracle Enterprise Manager Performance Pack repository is created. For more information, see the Oracle Enterprise Manager Configuration Guide.

For information on deleting named historical data collections, see the Oracle Enterprise Manager Oracle Trace User's Guide.

How Chart and Chart Window Definitions are Saved

If you create or modify a chart or chart window, and you want to make it available for reuse it in a future Oracle Performance Manager session, you must use the Save Charts menu item before exiting the current Oracle Performance Manager session. Otherwise, that chart or chart window would not be saved for reuse in the future.

If you have launched Oracle Performance Manager from Oracle Enterprise Manager, your changes are automatically saved to the current Oracle Enterprise Manager repository. However, if you launched Oracle Enterprise Manager as a standalone application, the first time you choose Save Charts for that session, the Repository Login dialog box is displayed. This dialog box allows you to specify the repository to which you want to save chart and chart window definitions for that session. After that first save, subsequent saves are saved to that same repository by default.

When you use the Save Charts menu item, you are saving user-defined charts and chart windows for reuse in future Oracle Performance Manager sessions in the current repository user's schema. For example, if you save a new chart while logged into the MarketingII repository as the SYSTEM user, you would have to log into the MarketingII repository as the same user name in order to access that chart definition in the future. You can think of these changes as being written to a file that can be accessed by a specific login to a specific repository over time.

Sharing Chart and Chart Window Definitions

Suppose you are a member of a group of DBAs managing all of the databases for a large corporation. As all of you perform similar tasks, you want to be able to exchange the charts you create and modify for your environment. Also, because each of you manage more than one database, you want to monitor these databases using many of the same user-defined and modified charts. In such cases, it is recommended that a shared username and password be created for the express purpose of sharing charts and chart windows. In order to access this set of charts, members of the group would then establish a repository connection using the shared username and password.

In cases when you want to share with another user the chart and chart window definitions created under your personal username and password, you could perform the following steps:

1. Log into Oracle Performance Manager. and connect to the Oracle Performance Manager using the same credentials used when the charts and chart windows were saved.

   Doing so will allow you to access these chart and chart window definitions.

2. Choose Load Charts from the File menu.
3. Choose Change Repository Connection from the File menu, and log in with the user name and password of the user you want to allow to use your chart and chart window definitions.
4. As this other user, choose Save Charts from the File menu.

   Doing so allows a copy of the user-defined charts and chart windows you loaded under your usual login to also be saved under the other user's login. This other user now has a copy of your charts which he or she can display, modify, or add to.

   Attention: If the receiver of your user-defined charts and chart windows has previously saved his or her own user-defined charts and chart windows, these will be overwritten by those you save to the receiver's repository under the receiver's login. It is important that the receiver understand this fact.

Working with Historical Data

Oracle Performance Manager allows you to collect performance statistics over time and replay them. This section describes how you do so.

Attention: In order to use the Record menu items, you must first create the Oracle Trace formatter tables in any database in which you want to store recorded historical data. For more information, see the section on creating Oracle Trace formatter tables in the Performance Pack chapter of the Oracle Enterprise Manager Configuration Guide.

Collection

To collect historical data for future display in a chart, perform the following steps:

1. Display the chart window(s) containing the data you would like to record.

   To collect data for multiple chart windows during a single data collection session, display each of those chart windows at this time.

2. On the displayed chart window(s), if desired, use the Interval min and sec combo boxes to adjust the polling interval for each chart window displayed during this data collection session.

   If you are displaying multiple charts for a data collection session, it is possible to set a different polling interval for each of these charts.

3. To begin the data collection session, choose Start Recording from the Record menu.

   Attention: Do not modify a chart or window using the Modify Chart or Modify Window property sheets while you are recording data for that chart or window.

4. In the resulting Data Collection Name dialog box, enter a name for this historical data collection, and then click OK.

   Data collection is now taking place on a realtime basis, at the polling interval specified by the Interval min and sec combo boxes on each displayed chart window. The data is saved to the file \ORACLE_HOME\SYSMAN\TRACE\DataCollectionName.DAT. Additional information is stored in DataCollectionName\.CDF, DataCollectionNamennn\.CHF, and VMMnnn.FDF, where nnn is an internally generated number. These files are used in the following steps to format the data from the .DAT file to the repository. The .CHF files must remain in their current directory for playback purposes, in order to initialize the charts.

   Attention: These files are not automatically deleted after the data has been formatted to the repository. If you wish to remove them, you need to do so manually using the operating system. Note that since the .CHF files are needed for playback purposes, you should only delete them if the corresponding collection will no longer be played back.

5. When a sufficient period for data collection has transpired, choose Stop Recording from the Record menu.

   The length of this time period will vary, depending on your goals for collecting the data. For example, if you wanted to monitor file I/O during the peak usage period following lunch, it might be appropriate to collect data between 1 PM and 2 PM.

6. In the resulting Format/Playback Login dialog box, enter the connect string for the historical data collection repository that was set up during product installation, and click OK.

   On subsequent recording sessions during the current Oracle Performance Manager session, the connect string you entered for the first recording session is displayed by default. In such cases, you could accept this default or enter the connect string for a different historical data collection repository that was set up during product installation.

   After you click OK on the Format/Playback Login dialog box, the Oracle Trace Formatter Status window automatically displays. This window provides information concerning the formatting of the historical data collection for display in Oracle Performance Manager charts. It includes the following elements:

   Format Done: Displays a graphic showing formatting progress while that operation takes place.

   Formatter Messages: Displays error messages concerning the formatting of this historical data collection for display in Oracle Performance Manager charts. If no messages display, no errors occurred during the formatting process.

   Attention:: If error messages do appear in the Formatter Messages box, the Oracle Trace formatter tables may not have been validated (upgraded) during product installation. For more information, see the Oracle Enterprise Manager Configuration Guide. It is also possible to run a standalone executable to format the data. For more information, see "Formatting with the Standalone Executable".

7. To exit the Format/Playback Login dialog box, click Cancel.

Display

To display historical data in one or more charts, perform the following steps:

1. Choose Playback from the Record menu.
2. In the resulting Format/Playback Login dialog box, enter the connect string for the historical data collection repository to which you saved the data collection you now want to play back.

   After the first time you play back historical data during the current Oracle Performance Manager session, the Format/Playback Login connect string from the previous playback session appears in the Format/Playback Login dialog box by default.

3. In the resulting Select a Collection for Playback dialog box, select the historical data collection you want to play back, and then click OK.

   Notice that each entry in this dialog box includes the name, date and the starting time of the historical data collection.

   The appropriate chart window(s) displays, and data from the selected historical data collection is played back. Notice that the title bar of a chart window displayed during playback includes the chart name, indicates that a playback session is in progress, and lists the name of the historical data collection being played back. It also includes the name of the database being monitored during the data recording session, even if that database is different from the database currently being monitored.

   Playback occurs in realtime, meaning that a data collection session of 10 minute duration would take 10 minutes to play back. However, you can speed up (or slow down) the playback of an historical data collection by adjusting the Interval sec and min combo boxes during playback. For example, if the polling interval was 10 seconds for a data collection session of 10 minutes duration, you could halve the playback time to 5 minutes by adjusting the polling interval to 5 seconds during playback.

   When the playback session is finished, the text, "Playback Complete" displays in the title bar of the chart window.

4. At any time during the playback session, you can terminate the playback session by closing the chart window.

Formatting with the Standalone Executable

If the Oracle Trace formatter tables were validated (upgraded) during product installation, but the errors still appeared in the Formatter Messages box of the Format/Playback Login dialog box, you may want to run the standalone formatting executable. Running \orant\bin\otrcfmtw.exe in a Windows environment displays the Oracle Trace Data Formatter dialog box. It contains the following elements.

Collection Data File

Enter the name of the data collection file you want to format for playback.

Username

Enter the username for logging into the trace repository.

Password

Enter the password for this username.

Connect String

Enter the database containing the trace repository.

Full

Check this box to format all of the data in the data collection file. It is recommended that you do so.

Commit Interval

Enter how often you want to flush data from buffers to the database.

Delete CDF/Data Files

Check this box to delete the formatting files after the data collection has been formatted.

Format

Click this button to format the data collection.

Deleting an Historical Data Collection

To delete a named historical data collection, perform the following steps:

1. Choose Delete Recorded Data from the Record menu.
2. In the resulting Format/Playback Login dialog box, enter the connect string for the historical data collection repository to which you saved the data collection you now want to play back.
3. In the resulting Select a Collection to Delete dialog box, select the historical data collection you want to delete, and then click OK.

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