July 2015 - Courtney Llamas

Getting to Know EMDIAG: repvfy execute optimize

In my group, we work with a lot of customers with very large EM environments. On the range of 2000+ agents. So as you can imagine there’s a little bit of optimizing that needs to get done to account for these numbers.

A few of these standard tweaks have been put into the repvfy execute optimize command. You can make all these changes individually, but if you want to get them all done at once, optimize is your tool.

There’s 3 categories of optimization that is handled at this point: Internal Tasks, Repository Settings and Target system. The script will first evaluate the size of your repository based on the number of agents, and from there determine what optimizations need to be done or recommended for future implementation.

Internal Task Tuning

Enterprise Manager uses short and long workers, depending on the task activity. We typically recommend 2 workers for each for most larger systems, so in repvfy execute optimize this is what gets set. Smaller systems are usually sufficient with the default settings of 1 each. You can view the configuration in EM on Manage Cloud Control -> Repository page. Here you can also configure the short workers, but not the long. If you see a high collection backlog, this is an indication that your in need of additional task workers.

The next step is to evaluate the current settings of the job system and ensure that there are enough connections available for the job system. This change is not implemented automatically, but is printed out for you to change with emctl, as it will require a restart to take effect. Recommendations for Large Job System Load can be found in the Sizing chapter of Advanced Installation Guide. Increasing the number of connections may require an increase in database processes value.

Repository Settings Tuning

EM tracks system errors in one of it’s tables. In larger systems, the MGMT_SYSTEM_ERROR_LOG table can become quite large over the 31 day default retention. The optimize script reduces log retention to 7 days for normal operating.

There are also various levels of tracing enabled by default, this can generate a lot of extra activity during normal operations if you’re not utilizing the traces. Tracing is turned off by the optimize command. It can be enabled at any time by using the repvfy send start_trace -name <name> and repvfy send start_repotrace commands.

Finally this step looks for any invalid SYSMAN objects and validates them, then checks for stale optimizer statistics and makes a recommendation as needed.

System Tuning

After an EM outage or downtime, all the agents will attempt to upload and update their status (or heartbeat) with the OMS. There’s a grace period in which no alerts are sent. In larger systems, this grace period may not be long enough to get all agents updated before alerts start going out. This can be adjusted by increasing that grace period.

In 12.1.0.3 and higher, you can also increase the number of threads that perform the ping heartbeat tasks. This should be done if you have more than 2000 agents per OMS. The optimize command will make this calculation for you and recommend the appropriate emctl command to set the heartbeatPingRecorderThreads property. Recommendations for Large Number of Agents can be found in the Sizing chapter of Advanced Installation Guide.

The optimize command will only output those items that require attention, so not every item will appear in the output on every site.
The recommended values reported in the output are specific for THAT environment and should not be copied over to another environment just like that. To tune another EM environment, run the optimize script on that environment.

Sample output from a small EM system:

bash-4.1$ ./repvfy execute optimize

Please enter the SYSMAN password:
SQL*Plus: Release 11.1.0.7.0 – Production on Thu Jul 9 07:59:35 2015

SQL> Connected.

Session altered.
Session altered.

========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========
== Internal task system tuning ==
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========

– Setting the number of short workers to 2 (1->2)
– Setting the number of long workers to 2 (1->2)
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========
== Job system tuning ==
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========

– On each OMS, run this command:
$ emctl set property -name oracle.sysman.core.conn.maxConnForJobWorkers -value 72 -module emoms
This change will require a bounce of the OMS

========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========
== Repository tuning ==
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========
– Setting retention for MGMT_SYSTEM_ERROR_LOG table to 7 days (31->7)

– Disabling PL/SQL tracing for module (EM.GDS)
– Disabling PL/SQL tracing for module (EM_DBM)

– Disabling repository metric tracing for ID (1234)

– Recompiling invalid object (foo,TRIGGER)
– Recompiling invalid object (bar,CONSTRAINT)

– Stale CBO statistics in the repository. Gather statistics for the SYSMAN schema
Command to use:
$ repvfy send gather_stats
Or:
SQL> exec emd_maintenance.gather_sysman_stats_job(p_gather_all=>’YES’);

========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========
== Target system tuning ==
========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========

– Setting the PING grace period to (90) (60->90)

– Set the parameter oracle.sysman.core.omsAgentComm.ping.heartbeatPingRecorderThreads to 3
$ emctl set property -module emoms -name oracle.sysman.core.omsAgentComm.ping.heartbeatPingRecorderThreads -value 3

========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ========== ==========
not spooling currently

Changing OMS or Agent Properties in OEM Console

There was a thread going on earlier this week about how to change a value for an OMS property setting. This is typically done when working with support to adjust a timing or enable debug or tracing.

The most common way is using emctl set property at command level.

$ emctl set property -name oracle.sysman.eml.maxInactiveTime -value 60

To get the current setting there’s a emctl get property command:

$ emctl get property -name oracle.sysman.eml.maxInactiveTime

That usually works great if support has just given you the exact command to run, or you’re using a MOS note to reference the exact syntax. However, if you’re getting older like me, and syntax is just one of those things that you tend to put in the way back corners of your brain… you tend to forget was it oracle.sysman.eml.maxInactiveTime or was it oracle.em.sysman.maxTimeout or… There’s just too many to remember. Lucky for us, there is now a place to view and set these properties in the EM console. You can find it under Setup / Manage Cloud Control / Management Services.

Then under the Management Servers menu select Configuration properties.

From here you’ll get a window that lists the non-default properties. Understand, that some properties will not show up, that doesn’t mean they are not set, but that they just have the system default value.

By switching the Show view to All, you’ll see a larger list of properties. Not all of them are modifiable, as indicated by the lock icon. If you want to view more information about a property, or modify it, click on the Name. This will bring up a new window, with the ability to modify the value and save. This view will also tell you whether the property is Dynamic (can be changed without OMS restart). If you expand the Change History, you can also view the previous changes for this parameter.

Of course, not all properties are OMS based, so there’s an equivalent option on the Agent side. From the Agent home page, click on Agent menu then select Properties.

You will get a list of properties, some which you can edit, some you can’t. By default the basic properties are shown.

properties_10

Select Advanced Properties to see additional agent properties such as dynamicPropsComputeTimeout which is often adjusted on very large servers.

This is great right? But what if you want to change the same property on 1000 agents? Well, that’s in here too! Click on Setup / Manage Cloud Control / Agents.

properties_5

From there, click on the agents (or just one for now) and click Properties. properties_6

This will start a job wizard in which you can add additional agents by clicking Add in the Targets section. Then click on the Parameters tab.

properties_7

Now you can set the parameter value that you wish to push out to all selected agents.

The caveat — use with caution and common sense. There’s a lot of parameters in here, and very little are documented, some should not be changed unless directed by Oracle Support. So don’t go cowboy on us and start tweaking them all just to see what they do!

Get the Most from OpenWorld… Or any conference.

Before working for Oracle on the EM team, I was a DBA. I got the chance to go to OpenWorld twice in that role. My first time I was a newbie. I spent a lot of time going to sessions and trying to learn. I walked the demo grounds and came home with lots of junk, but didn’t really get involved or talk to the technical people there, or anybody really!

Having worked OOW for the last 4 years, I have a different perspective. I still enjoy going to sessions (when I can) and learning about new features or products that I don’t have much experience in. There’s so many sessions you could stay busy all day long! While some folks complain about sessions not being technical enough or deep enough, I disagree. I find the quality of sessions to be pretty equivalent to other conferences I’ve been to. I think you have to take a look at the abstract and speaker, and make a decision based on that, not all Oracle people are sales. You also have to realize it’s about 40 min +/- with time for questions. The idea is to introduce a new concept or idea, and give you the background to research further and implement. There’s very few sessions that are going to be an step-by-step guide to implement a feature in 40 minutes.

If you feel the sessions are too general, and you haven’t signed up for one of the Hands-On-Labs, you’re missing out. The HOL are designed to showcase common use cases and allow you to walk through a feature, such as DBaaS or Middleware Diagnostics. The rooms are usually limited to 40 or 50 participants, and again, there really bright people there ready and willing to help you out and answer questions.

One thing I feel most people don’t take advantage of is the tremendous number of technical resources that are standing around on the demo grounds! Yea, Oracle booths are boring because we don’t give away blinkie martini glasses, or iPads or anything. We expect you to just want to talk tech. I know first-hand that some of the brightest, technical minds are standing at those Oracle booths waiting to talk to customers. Maybe you want to see the demo on the feature they’re talking about, or maybe you want to talk about what your company is doing or needs to do. The product managers and developers are there, all day long… for you – the customer. Now don’t come up with your list of SRs that you’re stuck on, but think about the use cases that you’re stuck on, or that one thing that the product is missing to make it complete in your world. Reach out, meet the people who create and code the products you’re using. Get involved, introduce yourself. If you follow Oracle people on Twitter or LinkedIn, or follow their blogs, say hi and thanks. Then you can move on and find the free FitBit.

Also, get involved with a Users Group or SIG while you’re there. Most SIGs will have a meeting or event. This is a great way to network with fellow technologists and users, share your ideas and just be in the presence of smart people. Attend the IOUG sessions on SIG Sunday for more great speakers and sessions.

Visit the Oracle Support Stars bar! You know there’s actual people on the other end of that SR you’re working? You’ve probably dealt with the same people over and over again, go say hi. Talk about how you can help your issues move faster, what tools do they recommend, how to use My Oracle Support better…

Oracle University also offers full day events on Sunday, maybe you want to prepare for your DB 12c Certification, or you want to learn about EM High Availability, these options are additional cost, but you can register for a class while registering for Oracle OpenWorld.

Oracle OpenWorld is more than just presentations and marketing and giveaways and parties. Take advantage of being in the same spot as some of the brightest technical minds in the industry, and get as much as you can from it! Oh, and wear really comfortable shoes. You’ll be walking a lot!

Getting to Know EMDIAG – repvfy show score_card

Continuing on with a series of EMDIAG commands that I find useful, today we’re going to look at the repvfy show score_card. You may also want to review the previous post on repvfy diag all.

One of the main functions of repvfy is the verify function (i.e. repvfy verify -details -level 9). This goes through a long list of checks to identify areas you might need to investigate. This could be anything from Agents with Clock Skew to Expired User accounts.

Now there’s a scorecard (show score_card) that reads the output of the verify log and will summarize the category of errors that were found, and a generate a score based on the weight, number of tests and number of violations. This can help you in tracking improvements as you work through any cleanup and issues.

repvfy show score_card (also try score_card_details)

Category Score #Tests #Viol
————————- —— —— ——
Best Practice 81.59 6 780
Configuration 21.64 20 2298
Data Integrity 25.09 29 2793
Monitoring/Operations 60.71 23 886
————————- —— —— ——

The output of show score_card_details will give the breakdown by category (Best Practice, Configuration, Data Integrity, Monitoring/Operations) and Module (Targets, Agents, etc) along with the test to run (i.e. repvfy verify targets -test 6002).

Note: The sample output below has been modified and shortened to fit the blog.

$ repvfy show score_card_details

Category Rank Module ID Test Score #Viol
BP 1 TARGETS 6002 OMS mediated targets without backup Agent 10.0 639
BP 2 AGENTS 6006 Deployed Agent plugins lower than OMS plugin 6.6 106
BP  3 REPO 6039 Newer version avail for deployed OMS plugin 1.1 9
BP  4 REPO 6005 Tables with locked statistics 0.3 23
BP  5 JOBS 6006 Job steps running more than two hours 0.3 2

Using the repvfy verify -details will help you identify targets to investigate. Some tests have automated fixes that can be run with repvfy verify <module> -test <test#> -fix. Other issues may have manual steps or suggestions, some may require opening an SR with Oracle Support. After fixing issues, rerun the full repvfy verify -level 9 and regenerate the score card to track your progress!

Getting to Know EMDIAG – repvfy diag all

If you’ve worked with me, or called me about a problem with your Enterprise Manager, or even attended any of my sessions, you’ve probably heard me talk about EMDIAG. One of the most popular components of EMDIAG is the Repvfy tool. This is basically a series of scripts and queries that will provide data from the repository to help diagnose configuration and data issues. You can get more details on downloading and installing in EMDIAG Troubleshooting Kits Master Index (Doc ID 421053.1).

There are 3 components that make up EMDIAG: repvfy, omsvfy and agtvfy. Today, one of the features I am introducing you to is in repvfy. This is the component that pulls data from the EM repository.

repvfy diag all

This is my go to these days. Instead of tell the customer I need X, Y, Z and A, B, C, I get this. The diag all runs through various EMDIAG reports that are frequently used in troubleshooting issues with support and development. It runs the different reports and zips them into a file that can then be uploaded easily. There’s also a shorter version repvfy diag core.

adding: advisor_day_2015_07_06_084304.log (deflated 81%)
adding: advisors_2015_07_06_084304.log (deflated 83%)
adding: agent_health_2015_07_02_120925.log (deflated 83%)
adding: analyze.log (deflated 83%)
adding: backlog_2015_07_06_084304.log (deflated 84%)
adding: body1.log (stored 0%)
adding: body2.log (stored 0%)
adding: body3.log (stored 0%)
adding: cursor_2015_07_06_084304.log (deflated 84%)
adding: custom_2015_07_06_084304.log (deflated 86%)
adding: deinstall.log (deflated 79%)
adding: details_2015_07_02_082451.log (deflated 82%)
adding: details_2015_07_02_082451.sql (deflated 68%)
adding: details_2015_07_06_084304.log (deflated 87%)
adding: details_2015_07_06_084304.sql (deflated 74%)
adding: errors_2015_07_06_084304.log (deflated 83%)
adding: install.log (deflated 80%)
adding: job_health_2015_07_06_084304.log (deflated 83%)
adding: loader_health_2015_07_06_084304.log (deflated 91%)
adding: metric_stats_2015_07_06_084304.log (deflated 92%)
adding: mtm_2015_07_06_084304.log (deflated 89%)
adding: notif_health_2015_07_06_084304.log (deflated 85%)
adding: performance_2015_07_06_084304.log (deflated 88%)
adding: ping_health_2015_07_06_084304.log (deflated 76%)
adding: pkg.log (deflated 62%)
adding: space_2015_07_06_084304.log (deflated 91%)
adding: system_2015_07_06_084304.log (deflated 86%)
adding: task_health_2015_07_06_084304.log (deflated 83%)
adding: upgrade2.log (stored 0%)
adding: verify.log (deflated 89%)
adding: verify_2015_07_02_082451.log (deflated 49%)
adding: verify_2015_07_06_084304.log (deflated 45%)
adding: views.log (deflated 82%)

File created: /u01/oracle/em12r5/oms/emdiag/tmp/repvfy_2015_07_06_084304.zip

So just what does it gather information about? Here’s a one line summary of each report:

advisors – ADDM, ASH and AWR reports from the repository database
agent_health – summary of deployed agents, plugins and targets as well as availability and ping statistics
backlog – statistics from dbms_scheduler, loader subsystem, job subsystem, notification subsystem and the task/worker subsystem
cursor – cursor parameters and statistics for EM SQL
custom – summary of EM customizations done
errors – targets, agents, plugins, metrics, collections, jobs in error
job_health – summary of job subsystem configuration, statistics and performance
loader_health – summary of loader subsystem configuration, statistics and performance
metric_stats – performance summary of repository, loader subsystem, purge policies and metrics including top targets and metrics
mtm – summary of Repository and OMS configuration, housekeeping jobs, agent and plugin deployments
notif_health – summary of notification subsystem configuration, statistics and performance
performance – performance summary of repository, OMS, agents and internal subsystems.
ping_health – summary of agent ping jobs and communication
space – summary of schema statistics collections, table/index sizes and fragmentation
system – full configuration summary
task_health – summary of task subsystem configuration, statistics and performance
verify/details – the standard verification checks with detailed output

So depending on the issue you’re seeing, I will typically look at various reports. If you have problems with notifications, I’m obviously going to go through the notif_health and probably the backlog and job_health reports. If I’m just trying to get a good understanding of how your system is built, what targets you manage and what you’re doing with them, I’d start with the system and custom reports.

In future posts, we’ll break down some of these reports in detail, but that’s it for today!

Internal Task Tuning

Repository Settings Tuning

System Tuning

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