6.3.2.4 What to Look For When Monitoring XRMEM Cache
Database Working Set
Performance is maximized if the entire database working set fits into XRMEM cache. However, the XRMEM cache is smaller than Exadata Smart Flash Cache and it is likely that the database working set, or even the most frequently accessed portion of it, might not reside in XRMEM cache.
If the size of the working set increases you may observe more reads
being satisfied by Exadata Smart Flash Cache or
hard disk instead of XRMEM cache. This is magnified
when access patterns on the data are more random. Consequently, you may observe
increased read latencies, specifically in the cell single block physical
read
wait event.
Non-RDMA Reads
XRMEM cache is most effective when it is
used in conjunction with RDMA. However, in various situations requests to
cellsrv
might still be satisfied using XRMEM cache. In such cases, you will see the associated reads as
cell xrmem cache read hits
rather than cell RDMA
reads
.
A non-RDMA read may occur for the following reasons:
- Based on the type of data being read, Oracle Database may not be able to perform
an RDMA read. Direct reads and reads from the Oracle Database control file are
examples of this. To identify the cause you may be need to correlate with other
statistics or wait events. For example, significant activity against the control
files is usually accompanied by the
control file sequential read
wait event, or visible in the IOStat by Filetype section of the AWR report. - In the Oracle Database client, buffers may not be registered for RDMA. This normally occurs shortly after a client process starts or while XRMEM cache is populating.
- Inside XRMEM cache, the RDMA hash table may not contain the required metadata (or it may be marked as invalid). This normally occurs while XRMEM cache is populating.
- An RDMA read times out after exceeding the default lease time (20 ms).
- Memory limitations prevent the creation of memory structures that are required for RDMA.
- An RDMA read error occurs.
Parent topic: Monitoring XRMEM Cache