Spotlight on Oracle
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Spotlight on Oracle

The Fastest Way to Find and Fix Performance Bottlenecks

Spotlight® on Oracle provides visual, real-time diagnostics, so you can quickly eliminate bottlenecks in Oracle and Oracle RAC environments. And because Spotlight helps you save time finding and fixing performance issues, you can reduce downtime and IT costs. Show your boss the improvements you can make and the corresponding ROI you can achieve with Spotlight on Oracle.

With Spotlight, you can:

  • Pinpoint and resolve bottlenecks quickly
  • Prevent or minimize unplanned downtime
  • Improve service levels for users and stakeholders
  • Increase knowledge of Oracle performance
  • Gain visibility into database processes — including RAC (node, cluster, interconnect)

We also offer a Spotlight® on Oracle Exadata component as part of the Toad® DBA Suite for Oracle - Exadata Edition. Learn more and download a trial.


Features

  • Real-Time Diagnostics — See graphical flows that illustrate the rate at which data moves between components. Get audio or visual alerts of potential bottlenecks if any component begins to exceed performance thresholds. Extend the ability to play back past instances.
  • Enhanced Top SQL Drilldown — Get a consolidated view of SQL statements to identify those consuming the most resources.
  • Analyze Trace Files — Gain a graphical view of the contents of Oracle trace files to see how Oracle is processing SQL statements and how resources are being used to execute those statements.
  • Troubleshooting Instance — Leverage a baseline for normal activity from a built-in calibration process. Set up thresholds and get warnings of impending problems from visual or audible alerts.
  • Alert Log Reader — Read a chronological list of messages and errors that have occurred in the Oracle database, offering quick identification of areas to fix.
  • Diagnostics for Unix, Linux and Windows OS — See real-time graphic displays of the flow of data in your Unix, Linux, and Windows operating systems to get diagnostics on the server OS.
  • Predictive Diagnostics — Predict future performance of individual SQL statements. These include increases in contention that might result in database performance degradation if current trends continue and prediction of optimum system resource requirements via performance modeling.
  • Diagnostics for RAC Infrastructure — View an aggregate of performance data across all instances of the cluster. See a consolidated view of cluster-level alarms.
  • Dataguard Diagnostics — Monitor and measure performance of Dataguard, including data latency and all data flows and processes.

Sys Reqs

Before installing Spotlight on Oracle, ensure your system meets the following minimum hardware and software requirements:

Client Requirements

Platform

A Pentium-based or equivalent PC with:

  • A 1.2 GHz Processor (recommended minimum). The required processing power will increase when Spotlight diagnoses Oracle RAC clusters with many instances.
  • A monitor capable of supporting a resolution of 1280x1024 or larger. (You should also set the display to use the 64K color palette [65536 colors].)
  • A CD-ROM drive or Internet connection. Spotlight can be downloaded from the Internet or installed from compact disc. The CD-ROM drive should be attached to the PC on which Spotlight is to be installed. A drive mapped to a network device could be used if a local CD-ROM is not available.
  • A printer (optional). Spotlight reports can be printed on a laser or bubble jet printer. You can print graphs in color if your printer provides this capability.
  • A sound card and speakers (optional). Spotlight can use sound to alert you when a threshold is reached. You must have a sound card and speakers installed on your PC for this feature to work.
Memory512 megabytes of RAM (minimum). 1 gigabyte recommended. Memory consumption will increase for multiple simultaneous connections and as the number of instances in an Oracle RAC cluster increases, and will also depend on the connection options chosen.
Hard Disk Space1 gigabyte of free disk space. This should exist on a local disk drive rather than a network drive. Extra disk space will be required if you choose to log historical snapshots from within Spotlight.
Operating SystemMicrosoft Windows Server 2008 64-bit
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 32-bit and 64-bit
Microsoft Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit
Microsoft Windows Vista Business 32-bit and 64-bit (Service Pack 1 or later)
Microsoft Windows XP Professional 32-bit and 64-bit (Service Pack 1 or later)
Note: Spotlight will run on 64-bit versions of the client operating system with the use of a 32-bit Oracle client.
Additional Software
  • .NET 3.5 service pack 1.
  • SQL*Net 2.3.4 or later. SQL*Net enables a connection to be established to a database. The database may be local or remote. Before you start Spotlight you must have the SQL*Net connection string for the database.
  • Oracle Client. (Oracle 9.2, Oracle 10g [full client or instant client], or Oracle 11g). Spotlight also requires that the version of the Oracle client be the same or later than the version of any Oracle database being diagnosed. For example, to connect to an Oracle 10g cluster, you must use an Oracle 10g client or later.

Server Requirements

Database Server (Oracle)The following Oracle database servers are supported for database queries. (You must have the Database Administrator [DBA] user ID and password for the database you want to diagnose.)
  • Oracle 9.2.0.4 or later
  • Oracle 10g (Release 1 or Release 2)
  • Oracle 11g (Release 1 or Release 2)

Note: The Spotlight User Wizard installs several read-only views into the SYS schema of the target database when you use the wizard to create or modify a Spotlight user. Because of this, the DBA account that you use within the Spotlight User Wizard should have SYSDBA privileges. If the account does not have these privileges, you will be asked to provide a valid SYS account and password.

Database Server (MySQL)The following MySQL database servers are supported for database queries. (You must have the Database Administrator [DBA] user ID and password for the database you want to diagnose.)
  • Version 5.0.3 and later.
Cloud Database ServicesOracle databases running on Amazon EC2.
Operating System ServerThe following server operating systems are supported for Operating System Server queries:

Unix:

  • Sun Solaris 9, 10, 11.
  • HP-UX 11i, 11i v2, 11i v3.
  • IBM AIX 5.2, 5.3, 6.1.
  • Red Hat and SUSE operating systems running Linux 2.4 and 2.6 kernels.

Microsoft Windows:

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 64-bit
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 32-bit and 64-bit
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional 32-bit and 64-bit (Service Pack 1 or later)
  • Microsoft Windows Vista Business 32-bit and 64-bit (Service Pack 1 or later)
  • Microsoft Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit
Oracle RAC ServersSpotlight on Oracle RAC supports up to 16 instances in a cluster, with a theoretical limit of 36 instances.

Virtualization Support

Review the following information about using Spotlight on Oracle in virtual environments:

ApplicationSpotlight has been tested for Citrix support on Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Server (Service Pack 2) using the MetaFrame Presentation Server 5.0 and Citrix Presentation Server Clients 10.2.
Desktop (VDI)Spotlight has been tested on VMware ESX servers and desktop VMware workstations.
ServerSpotlight has been tested on VMware ESX servers.

Note: Spotlight on Oracle may work in virtualization environments other than the ones in which it was tested

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