Performance

Queues are stored in database tables. The performance characteristics of queue operations are very similar to the underlying database operations.

Table and index structures

To understand the performance characteristics of queues it is important to understand the tables and index layout for AQ objects.

Creating a queue table creates a database table with approximately 25 columns. These columns store the AQ meta data and the user defined payload. The payload can be of an object type or RAW. The AQ meta data contains object types and scaler types. A view and two indexes are created on the queue table. The view allows users to query the message data. The indexes are used to accelerate access to message data. Please refer to the create queue table command for a detailed description of the objects created.

Throughput

The code path of an enqueue operation is comparable to an insert into a multi-column table with two indexes. The code path of a dequeue operation is comparable to a select and delete operation on a similar table. These operations are performed using PL/SQL functions.

Availability

Oracle Parallel Server can be used to ensure highly available access to queue data. Queues are implemented using database tables. The tail and the head of a queue can be extreme hot spots. Since OPS does not scale well in the presence of hot spots it is recommended to limit normal access to a queue from one instance only. In case of an instance failure messages managed by the failed instance can be processed immediately by one of the surviving instances.