Checkpoint Tuning and Troubleshooting Guide

Contents:
内容概要 
1.  What is a Checkpoint?   什么是检查点
2. Checkpoints and Performance  检查点及其性能
3. Parameters related to incremental checkpointing  关于增量检查点的参数
4. Redo logs and Checkpoint  在线重做日志和检查点的关系
5. Understanding Checkpoint Error messages    ("Cannot allocate new log" and "Checkpoint not complete")
   理解常见检查点错误信息
6. Oracle Release Information
7. Using Statspack to determine Checkpointing Problems
   使用 Statspack 来定位检查点问题

1.  What is a Checkpoint?

    A Checkpoint is a database event which synchronizes the modified data blocks in memory with the datafiles on disk.  It offers Oracle the means for ensuring the consistency of data modified by transactions.  The mechanism of writing modified blocks on disk in Oracle is not synchronized with the commit of the corresponding transactions.

   A checkpoint has two purposes: (1) to establish data consistency, and (2) enable faster database recovery.   How is recovery faster?  Because all database changes up to the checkpoint have been recorded in the datafiles, making it unnecessary to apply redo log entries prior to the checkpoint. The checkpoint must ensure that all the modified buffers in the cache are really written to the corresponding datafiles to avoid the loss of data
    which may occur with a crash (instance or disk failure).
     
    Oracle writes the dirty buffers to disk only on certain conditions:
      - A shadow process must scan more than one-quarter of the db_block_buffer  parameter.
      - Every three seconds.
      - When a checkpoint is produced.

    A checkpoint is realized on five types of events:
      - At each switch of the redo log files.
      - When the delay for LOG_CHECKPOINT_TIMEOUT is reached.
      - When the size in bytes corresponding to :
         (LOG_CHECKPOINT_INTERVAL* size of IO OS blocks)
         is written on the current redo log file.
      -  Directly by the ALTER SYSTEM SWITCH LOGFILE command.
      - Directly with the ALTER SYSTEM CHECKPOINT command.
     
    During a checkpoint the following occurs:
     -  The database writer (DBWR) writes all modified database
        blocks in the buffer cache back to datafiles,
     -  Checkpoint process (ckpt) updates the headers of all
        the datafiles to indicate when the last checkpoint
        occurred (SCN)

2. Checkpoints and Performance

    Checkpoints present a tuning dilemma for the Database Administrator.  Frequent
    checkpoints will enable faster recovery, but can cause performance
    degradation. How then should the DBA address this?


    Depending on the number of datafiles in a database, a checkpoint can be a
    highly resource intensive operation, since all datafile headers are frozen
    during the checkpoint.  There is a performance trade-off regarding frequency
    of checkpoints.  More frequent checkpoints enable faster database recovery
    after a crash.  This is why some customer sites which have a very low
    tolerance for unscheduled system downtime will often choose this option.
    However, the performance degradation of frequent checkpoints may not justify
    this philosophy in many cases. Let's assume the database is up and running 95%
    of the time, and unavailable 5% of the time from infrequent instance crashes
    or hardware failures requiring database recovery.  For most customer sites, it
    makes more sense to tune for the 95% case rather than the rare 5% downtime.

    This bulletin assumes that performance is your number one priority and so
    recommendations are made accordingly. Therefore, your goal is to minimize the frequency
    of checkpoints through tuning.

    Tuning checkpoints involves four key initialization parameters
               -  FAST_START_MTTR_TARGET
               -  LOG_CHECKPOINT_INTERVAL
               -  LOG_CHECKPOINT_TIMEOUT
               -  LOG_CHECKPOINTS_TO_ALERT
    These parameters are discussed in detail below.
    Recommendations are also given for handling "checkpoint not complete" messages
    found in the alert log, which indicate a need to tune redo logs and
    checkpoints.

3. Parameters related to incremental checkpointing
    FAST_START_MTTR_TARGET
        Since Oracle 9i FAST_START_MTTR_TARGET parameter is the preferred method
    of tuning incremental checkpoint target. FAST_START_MTTR_TARGET enables you
        to specify the number of seconds the database takes to perform crash recovery
        of a single instance. Based on internal statistics, incremental checkpoint
        automatically adjusts the checkpoint target to meet the requirement of
        FAST_START_MTTR_TARGET.


        V$INSTANCE_RECOVERY.ESTIMATED_MTTR shows the current estimated mean time to
        recover (MTTR) in seconds. This value is shown even if FAST_START_MTTR_TARGET
        is not specified.
        V$INSTANCE_RECOVERY.TARGET_MTTR shows the effective MTTR target in seconds
        enforced by the system.
       V$MTTR_TARGET_ADVICE shows the number of I/Os resulted by the current workload
        under the current MTTR setting and the estimated number of I/Os that would be
        resulted by the current workload under other MTTR settings. This view helps
        the user to assess the trade-off between runtime performance and setting FAST_START_MTTR_TARGET to achieve better recovery time.

    LOG_CHECKPOINT_INTERVAL

    LOG_CHECKPOINT_INTERVAL parameter specifies the maximum number of redo blocks
the incremental checkpoint target should lag the current log tail.
If FAST_START_MTTR_TARGET is specified, LOG_CHECKPOINT_INTERVAL should not be set or set to 0.
    On most Unix systems the operating system block size is 512 bytes.
This means that setting LOG_CHECKPOINT_INTERVAL to a value of 10,000 would
mean the incremental checkpoint target should not lag the current log tail
by more than 5,120,000 (5M) bytes. .  If the size of your redo log is 20M, you are taking 4
checkpoints for each log.
    
    LOG_CHECKPOINT_INTERVAL influences when a checkpoint occurs, which means
careful attention should be given to the setting of this parameter, keeping it
updated as the size of the redo log files is changed.  The checkpoint
frequency is one of the factors which impacts the time required for the
database to recover from an unexpected failure.  Longer intervals between
checkpoints mean that if the system crashes, more time will be needed for the
database to recover.  Shorter checkpoint intervals mean that the database will
recover more quickly, at the expense of increased resource utilization during
the checkpoint operation.


This parameter also impacts the time required to complete a database recovery
operation during the roll forward phase of recovery.  The actual recovery time
is dependent upon this time, and other factors, such as the type of failure
(instance or system crash, media failure, etc.), and the number of archived
redo logs which need to be applied. setting and the estimated number of I/Os that would be
resulted by the current workload under other MTTR settings. This view helps
the user to assess the trade-off between runtime performance and setting
FAST_START_MTTR_TARGET to achieve better recovery time.

    LOG_CHECKPOINT_TIMEOUT

    The LOG_CHECKPOINT_TIMEOUT parameter specifies the maximum number of seconds
the incremental checkpoint target should lag the current log tail.
In another word, it specifies how long a dirty buffer in buffer cache can
remain dirty.
Checkpoint frequency impacts the time required for the
database to recover from an unexpected failure.  Longer intervals between
checkpoints mean that more time will be required during database recovery.

    Oracle recommends using LOG_CHECKPOINT_INTERVAL to control the checkpoint
interval rather than LOG_CHECKPOINT_TIMEOUT, which will initiate a checkpoint
every "n" seconds, regardless of the transaction frequency.  This can cause
unnecessary checkpoints in cases where transaction volumes vary.  Unnecessary
checkpoints must be avoided whenever possible for optimal performance.


It is a misconception that setting LOG_CHECKPOINT_TIMEOUT to a given
value will initiate a log switch at that interval, enabling a recovery
window used for a stand-by database configuration.   Log switches cause a checkpoint,but a checkpoint does not cause a log switch.
 The only way to cause a log switch is manually with
ALTER SYSTEM SWITCH LOGFILE or resizing the redo logs to cause
more frequent switches.  This is controlled by operating system
blocks, not a timed interval.
Sizing of the online redo logs is critical for performance and recovery.
See additional sections below on redo logs and checkpoints.

 LOG_CHECKPOINTS_TO_ALERT
LOG_CHECKPOINTS_TO_ALERT lets you log your checkpoints to the alert file.
Doing so is useful for determining whether checkpoints are occurring at
the desired frequency.
Prior to Oracle9i this parameter was STATIC.
Oracle generally advises this be set to TRUE as the overhead is
negligible but the information in the alert log may be useful.

See Note:76713.1 to have more detail on How those instance parameters can influence the checkpoint.

4. Redo logs and Checkpoint

       A checkpoint occurs at every log switch.  If a previous checkpoint is already
    in progress, the checkpoint forced by the log switch will override the current
    checkpoint.
    This necessitates well-sized redo logs to avoid unnecessary checkpoints as a
    result of frequent log switches.
    The lag between the incremental checkpoint target and the log tail is
    also limited by 90% of the smallest online log file size. This makes sure
    that in most cases log switch would not need to wait for checkpoint.
    Because of this, log file sizes should be configured large enough.
    A good rule of thumb is to switch logs at most every twenty minutes.
    Having your log files too small can increase checkpoint activity and reduce performance.
    Oracle recommends the user to set all online log files to be the same size,
    and have at least two log groups per thread.   The alert log is a valuabletool for
    monitoring the rate that log switches occur, and subsequently, checkpoints
    occur.
     
    The following is an example of quick log switches
    from the alert log:
         Fri May 16 17:15:43 1997
    Thread 1 advanced to log sequence 1272
      Current log# 3 seq# 1272 mem# 0: /prod1/oradata/logs/redologs03.log
    Thread 1 advanced to log sequence 1273
      Current log# 1 seq# 1273 mem# 0: /prod1/oradata/logs/redologs01.log
    Fri May 16 17:17:25 1997
    Thread 1 advanced to log sequence 1274
      Current log# 2 seq# 1274 mem# 0: /prod1/oradata/logs/redologs02.log
    Thread 1 advanced to log sequence 1275
      Current log# 3 seq# 1275 mem# 0: /prod1/oradata/logs/redologs03.log
    Fri May 16 17:20:51 1997
    Thread 1 advanced to log sequence 1276
      Current log# 1 seq# 1276 mem# 0: /prod1/oradata/logs/redologs01.log
    
    If redo logs switch every 3 minutes, you will see performance degradation.
    This indicates the redo logs are not sized large enough to efficiently handle
    the transaction load.

    See Note:1038851.6 for further detail on how to estimate an adequate size of the redolog files. See Note:1035935.6 Example of How To Resize the Online Redo Logfiles

5. Understanding Checkpoint Error messages  (??????Cannot allocate new log?????? and ??????Checkpoint not complete??????)

    Sometimes, you can see in your alert.log file, the following corresponding
    messages:
      Thread 1 advanced to log sequence 248
        Current log# 2 seq# 248 mem# 0: /prod1/oradata/logs/redologs02.log
      Thread 1 cannot allocate new log, sequence 249
      Checkpoint not complete
     
    This message indicates that Oracle wants to reuse a redo log file, but
    the current checkpoint position is still in that log. In this case, Oracle must
    wait until the checkpoint position passes that log. Because the
    incremental checkpoint target never lags the current log tail by more than 90%
    of the smallest log file size, this situation may be encountered if DBWR writes
    too slowly, or if a log switch happens before the log is completely full,
    or if log file sizes are too small.
    When the database waits on checkpoints,redo generation is stopped until the
    log switch is done.

6. Oracle Release Information
    In Oracle8i initialization parameter FAST_START_IO_TARGET causes incremental
    checkpoint to automatically adjusting its target so that the number of data
    blocks needed by recovery would be no more than FAST_START_IO_TARGET.
    This parameter has been deprecated since Oracle 9i in favor of parameter FAST_START_MTTR_TARGET.


7. Using Statspack to determine Checkpointing problems
    Statspack snapshots can be taken every 15 minutes or so, these reports gather useful
    information about number of checkpoints started and checkpoints completed and number
    of database buffers written during checkpointing for that window of time . It also contains
    statistics about redo activity. Gathering and comparing these snapshot reports gives you
    a complete idea about checkpointing performance at different periods of time.

    Another important thing to watch in statspack report is the following wait events,
    they could be a good indication about problems with the redo log throughput and checkpointing:

    log file switch (checkpoint incomplete)
    log file switch (archiving needed)
    log file switch/archive
    log file switch (clearing log file)
    log file switch completion
    log switch/archive
    log file sync

    In the case when one or more of the above wait events is repeated frequently
    with considerable values then you need to take an action like adding More
    online redo log files or increasing their sizes and/or modifying checkpointing parameters.

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