It's impossible to tune an Oracle database without understanding SQL tuning. Oracle is a SQL processing engine and the execution speed of any SQL query is influenced by many factors, both internal and external. As a declarative data access method, SQL relies on the Oracle cost-based optimizer to always choose the "best" execution plan for every SQL query. However, Oracle's SQL is among the most flexible and robust in the world, and along with this great power comes complexity. Tuning Oracle SQL is the single most important skill of any Oracle professional, and Oracle professionals are...

Oracle has become the world's most flexible and robust database and along with great power comes great complexity. This complexity requires that the DBA have expert knowledge of Oracle internals. This book provides a thorough step-by-step approach for holistic Oracle tuning in this challenging information technology era. It represents the knowledge accumulated from tuning thousands of Oracle databases. Oracle tuning has always been a complex task; however, it has become even more complex as Oracle evolves and yields new techniques for achieving optimal performance in the stressed production...