Undo Segments

Undo Segments

Oracle Database maintains records of the actions of transactions, collectively known as undo data. Oracle Database uses undo to do the following:

?       Roll back an active transaction

?       Recover a terminated transaction

?       Provide read consistency

?       Perform some logical flashback operations

Oracle Database stores undo data inside the database rather than in external logs. Undo data is stored in blocks that are updated just like data blocks, with changes to these blocks generating redo. In this way, Oracle Database can efficiently access undo data without needing to read external logs.

Undo data is stored in an undo tablespace. Oracle Database provides a fully automated mechanism, known as automatic undo management mode, for managing undo segments and space in an undo tablespace.

Undo Segments and Transactions

When a transaction starts, the database binds (assigns) the transaction to an undo segment, and therefore to a transaction table, in the current undo tablespace. In rare circumstances, if the database instance does not have a designated undo tablespace, then the transaction binds to the system undo segment.

Multiple active transactions can write concurrently to the same undo segment or to different segments. For example, transactions T1 and T2 can both write to undo segment U1, or T1 can write to U1 while T2 writes to undo segment U2.

Conceptually, the extents in an undo segment form a ring. Transactions write to one undo extent, and then to the next extent in the ring, and so on in cyclical fashion. Figure 12-20 shows two transactions, T1 and T2, which begin writing in the third extent (E3) of an undo segment and continue writing to the fourth extent (E4).

Figure 12-20 Ring of Allocated Extents in an Undo Segment

 

Description of "Figure 12-20 Ring of Allocated Extents in an Undo Segment "

At any given time, a transaction writes sequentially to only one extent in an undo segment, known as the current extent for the transaction. Multiple active transactions can write simultaneously to the same current extent or to different current extents. Figure 12-20 shows transactions T1 and T2 writing simultaneously to extent E3. Within an undo extent, a data block contains data for only one transaction.

As the current undo extent fills, the first transaction needing space checks the availability of the next allocated extent in the ring. If the next extent does not contain data from an active transaction, then this extent becomes the current extent. Now all transactions that need space can write to the new current extent. In Figure 12-21, when E4 is full, T1 and T2 continue writing to E1, overwriting the nonactive undo data in E1.

Figure 12-21 Cyclical Use of Allocated Extents in an Undo Segment

 

Description of "Figure 12-21 Cyclical Use of Allocated Extents in an Undo Segment"

If the next extent does contain data from an active transaction, then the database must allocate a new extent. Figure 12-22 shows a scenario in which T1 and T2 are writing to E4. When E4 fills up, the transactions cannot continue writing to E1 because E1 contains active undo entries. Therefore, the database allocates a new extent (E5) for this undo segment. The transactions continue writing to E5.

 

 

Description of "Figure 12-22 Allocation of a New Extent for an Undo Segment"

 

Transaction Rollback

When a ROLLBACK statement is issued, the database uses undo records to roll back changes made to the database by the uncommitted transaction. During recovery, the database rolls back any uncommitted changes applied from the online redo log to the data files. Undo records provide read consistency by maintaining the before image of the data for users accessing data at the same time that another user is changing it.

Segment Space and the High Water Mark

To manage space, Oracle Database tracks the state of blocks in the segment. The high water mark (HWM) is the point in a segment beyond which data blocks are unformatted and have never been used.

MSSM uses free lists to manage segment space. At table creation, no blocks in the segment are formatted. When a session first inserts rows into the table, the database searches the free list for usable blocks. If the database finds no usable blocks, then it preformats a group of blocks, places them on the free list, and begins inserting data into the blocks. In MSSM, a full table scan reads all blocks below the HWM.

ASSM does not use free lists and so must manage space differently. When a session first inserts data into a table, the database formats a single bitmap block instead of preformatting a group of blocks as in MSSM. The bitmap tracks the state of blocks in the segment, taking the place of the free list. The database uses the bitmap to find free blocks and then formats each block before filling it with data. ASSM spread out inserts among blocks to avoid concurrency issues.

Every data block in an ASSM segment is in one of the following states:

?       Above the HWM

These blocks are unformatted and have never been used.

?       Below the HWM

These blocks are in one of the following states:

o       Allocated, but currently unformatted and unused

o       Formatted and contain data

o       Formatted and empty because the data was deleted

Figure 12-23 depicts an ASSM segment as a horizontal series of blocks. At table creation, the HWM is at the beginning of the segment on the left. Because no data has been inserted yet, all blocks in the segment are unformatted and never used.

 

Description of "Figure 12-23 HWM at Table Creation"

Suppose that a transaction inserts rows into the segment. The database must allocate a group of blocks to hold the rows. The allocated blocks fall below the HWM. The database formats a bitmap block in this group to hold the metadata, but does not preformat the remaining blocks in the group.

In Figure 12-24, the blocks below the HWM are allocated, whereas blocks above the HWM are neither allocated or formatted. As inserts occur, the database can write to any block with available space. The low high water mark (low HWM) marks the point below which all blocks are known to be formatted because they either contain data or formerly contained data.

 

Description of "Figure 12-24 HWM and Low HWM"

In Figure 12-25, the database chooses a block between the HWM and low HWM and writes to it. The database could have just as easily chosen any other block between the HWM and low HWM, or any block below the low HWM that had available space. In Figure 12-25, the blocks to either side of the newly filled block are unformatted.

 

Description of "Figure 12-25 HWM and Low HWM"

The low HWM is important in a full table scan. Because blocks below the HWM are formatted only when used, some blocks could be unformatted, as in Figure 12-25. For this reason, the database reads the bitmap block to obtain the location of the low HWM. The database reads all blocks up to the low HWM because they are known to be formatted, and then carefully reads only the formatted blocks between the low HWM and the HWM.

Assume that a new transaction inserts rows into the table, but the bitmap indicates that insufficient free space exists under the HWM. In Figure 12-26, the database advances the HWM to the right, allocating a new group of unformatted blocks.

 

Description of "Figure 12-26 Advancing HWM and Low HWM"

When the blocks between the HWM and low HWM are full, the HWM advances to the right and the low HWM advances to the location of the old HWM. As the database inserts data over time, the HWM continues to advance to the right, with the low HWM always trailing behind it. Unless you manually rebuild, truncate, or shrink the object, the HWM never retreats.

 

 

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