1. Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference
  2. DBMS_COMPRESSION

34 DBMS_COMPRESSION

The DBMS_COMPRESSION package provides an interface to facilitate choosing the correct compression level for an application.

This chapter contains the following topics:

See Also:

34.1 DBMS_COMPRESSION Overview

The DBMS_COMPRESSION package gathers compression-related information within a database environment. This includes tools for estimating compressibility of a table for both partitioned and non-partitioned tables, and gathering row-level compression information on previously compressed tables. This gives the user with adequate information to make compression-related decision.

34.2 DBMS_COMPRESSION Security Model

The DBMS_COMPRESSSION package is defined with AUTHID CURRENT USER, so it executes with the privileges of the current user.

34.3 DBMS_COMPRESSION Constants

The DBMS_COMPRESSION package uses constants that can be used for specifying parameter values.

These constants are shown in the following table:

Table 34-1 DBMS_COMPRESSION Constants - Compression Types

Constant Type Value Description

COMP_NOCOMPRESS

NUMBER

1

No compression

COMP_ADVANCED

NUMBER

2

Advanced row compression

COMP_QUERY_HIGH

NUMBER

4

High for query warehouse compression (Hybrid Columnar Compression)

COMP_QUERY_LOW

NUMBER

8

Low for query warehouse compression (Hybrid Columnar Compression)

COMP_ARCHIVE_HIGH

NUMBER

16

High archive compression (Hybrid Columnar Compression)

COMP_ARCHIVE_LOW

NUMBER

32

Low archive compression (Hybrid Columnar Compression)

COMP_BLOCK

NUMBER

64

Compressed block

COMP_LOB_HIGH

NUMBER

128

High compression level for LOB operations

COMP_LOB_MEDIUM

NUMBER

256

Medium compression level for LOB operations

COMP_LOB_LOW

NUMBER

512

Low compression level for LOB operations

COMP_INDEX_ADVANCED_HIGH

NUMBER

1024

High compression level for indexes

COMP_INDEX_ADVANCED_LOW

NUMBER

2048

Low compression level for indexes

COMP_RATIO_LOB_MINROWS

NUMBER

1000

Minimum required number of LOBs in the object for which LOB compression ratio is to be estimated

COMP_BASIC

NUMBER

4096

Basic table compression

COMP_RATIO_LOB_MAXROWS

NUMBER

5000

Maximum number of LOBs used to compute the LOB compression ratio

COMP_INMEMORY_NOCOMPRESS

NUMBER

8192

In-Memory with no compression

COMP_INMEMORY_DML

NUMBER

16384

In-Memory compression level for DML

COMP_INMEMORY_QUERY_LOW

NUMBER

32768

In-Memory compression level optimized for query performance

COMP_INMEMORY_QUERY_HIGH

NUMBER

65536

In-Memory compression level optimized on query performance as well as space saving

COMP_INMEMORY_CAPACITY_LOW

NUMBER

131072

In-Memory low compression level optimizing for capacity

COMP_INMEMORY_CAPACITY_HIGH

NUMBER

262144

In-Memory high compression level optimizing for capacity

COMP_RATIO_MINROWS

NUMBER

1000000

Minimum required number of rows in the object for which HCC ratio is to be estimated

COMP_RATIO_ALLROWS

NUMBER

-1

To indicate the use of all the rows in the object to estimate HCC ratio

OBJTYPE_TABLE

PLS_INTEGER

1

Identifies the object whose compression ratio is estimated as of type table

OBJTYPE_INDEX

PLS_INTEGER

2

Identifies the object whose compression ratio is estimated as of type index

Note:

Hybrid columnar compression is a feature of certain Oracle storage systems. See Oracle Database Concepts for more information.

34.4 DBMS_COMPRESSION Data Structures

The DBMS_COMPRESSION package defines a RECORD type and a TABLE type.

RECORD TYPES

COMPREC Record Type

TABLE TYPES

COMPRECLIST Table Type

34.4.1 COMPREC Record Type

The COMPREC record type is a record for calculating an individual index compression ratio on a table.

Syntax

TYPE COMPREC IS RECORD(
  ownname           varchar2(255),
  objname           varchar2(255),
  blkcnt_cmp        PLS_INTEGER,
  blkcnt_uncmp      PLS_INTEGER,
  row_cmp           PLS_INTEGER,
  row_uncmp         PLS_INTEGER,
  cmp_ratio         NUMBER,
  objtype           PLS_INTEGER);

Fields

Table 34-2 COMPREC Attributes

Field Description

ownname

Schema of the object owner

objname

Name of the object

blkcnt_cmp

Number of blocks used by the compressed sample of the object

blkcnt_uncmp

Number of blocks used by the uncompressed sample of the object

row_cmp

Number of rows in a block in compressed sample of the object

row_uncmp

Number of rows in a block in uncompressed sample of the object

cmp_ratio

Compression ratio, blkcnt_uncmp divided by blkcnt_cmp

objtype

Type of the object

34.4.2 COMPRECLIST Table Type

COMPRECLIST is a table type of the COMPREC Record Type.

Syntax

TYPE compreclist IS TABLE OF comprec;

Related Topics

34.5 Summary of DBMS_COMPRESSION Subprograms

The DBMS_COMPRESSION package uses the GET_COMPRESSION_RATIO Procedure and GET_COMPRESSION_TYPE Function subprograms.

Table 34-3 DBMS_COMPRESSION Package Subprograms

Subprogram Description

GET_COMPRESSION_RATIO Procedure

Analyzes the compression ratio of a table, and gives information about compressibility of a table

GET_COMPRESSION_TYPE Function

Returns the compression type for a specified row

34.5.1 GET_COMPRESSION_RATIO Procedure

This procedure analyzes the compression ratio of a table or an index, and gives information about compressibility of the object. Various parameters can be provided by the user to selectively analyze different compression types.

Syntax

Get compression ratio for an object (table or index, default is table):

DBMS_COMPRESSION.GET_COMPRESSION_RATIO (
   scratchtbsname        IN     VARCHAR2, 
   ownname               IN     VARCHAR2, 
   objname               IN     VARCHAR2,
   subobjname            IN     VARCHAR2,
   comptype              IN     NUMBER,
   blkcnt_cmp            OUT    PLS_INTEGER,
   blkcnt_uncmp          OUT    PLS_INTEGER,
   row_cmp               OUT    PLS_INTEGER,
   row_uncmp             OUT    PLS_INTEGER,
   cmp_ratio             OUT    NUMBER,
   comptype_str          OUT    VARCHAR2,
   subset_numrows        IN     NUMBER  DEFAULT COMP_RATIO_MINROWS,
   objtype               IN     PLS_INTEGER DEFAULT OBJTYPE_TABLE);

Get compression ratio for LOBs:

DBMS_COMPRESSION.GET_COMPRESSION_RATIO (
   scratchtbsname        IN     VARCHAR2,
   tabowner              IN     VARCHAR2,
   tabname               IN     VARCHAR2,
   lobname               IN     VARCHAR2,
   partname              IN     VARCHAR2,
   comptype              IN     NUMBER,
   blkcnt_cmp            OUT    PLS_INTEGER,
   blkcnt_uncmp          OUT    PLS_INTEGER,
   lobcnt                OUT    PLS_INTEGER,
   cmp_ratio             OUT    NUMBER,
   comptype_str          OUT    VARCHAR2,
   subset_numrows        IN     number DEFAULT COMP_RATIO_LOB_MAXROWS);

Get compression ratio for all indexes on a table. The compression ratios are returned as a collection.

DBMS_COMPRESSION.GET_COMPRESSION_RATIO (
  scratchtbsname        IN     VARCHAR2,
  ownname               IN     VARCHAR2,
  tabname               IN     VARCHAR2,
  comptype              IN     NUMBER,
  index_cr              OUT    DBMS_COMPRESSION.COMPRECLIST,
  comptype_str          OUT    VARCHAR2,
  subset_numrows        IN     NUMBER DEFAULT COMP_RATIO_INDEX_MINROWS);

Parameters

Table 34-4 GET_COMPRESSION_RATIO Procedure Parameters

Parameter Description

scratchtbsname

Temporary scratch tablespace that can be used for analysis

ownname / tabowner

Schema of the table to analyze

tabname

Name of the table to analyze

objname

Name of the object

subobjname

Name of the partition or sub-partition of the object

comptype

Compression types for which analysis should be performed

When the object is an index, only the following compression types are valid: COMP_INDEX_ADVANCED_HIGH (value 1024) and COMP_INDEX_ADVANCED_LOW (value 2048).

Note: The following compression types cannot be specified in this parameter for any type of object: COMP_BLOCK (value 64) and COMP_BASIC (value 4096).

blkcnt_cmp

Number of blocks used by compressed sample of the table

blkcnt_uncmp

Number of blocks used by uncompressed sample of the table

row_cmp

Number of rows in a block in compressed sample of the table

row_uncmp

Number of rows in a block in uncompressed sample of the table

cmp_ratio

Compression ratio, blkcnt_uncmp divided by blkcnt_cmp

comptype_str

String describing the compression type

subset_numrows

Number of rows sampled to estimate compression ratio.

objtype

Type of the object, either OBJTYPE_TABLE or OBJTYPE_INDEX

lobname

Name of the LOB column

partname

In case of partitioned tables, the related partition name

lobcnt

Number of lobs actually sampled to estimate compression ratio

index_cr

List of indexes and their estimated compression ratios

Usage Notes

The procedure creates different tables in the scratch tablespace and runs analysis on these objects. It does not modify anything in the user-specified tables.

34.5.2 GET_COMPRESSION_TYPE Function

This function returns the compression type for a specified row. If the row is chained, the function returns the compression type of the head piece only, and does not examine the intermediate or the tail piece since head pieces can be differently compressed.

Syntax 

DBMS_COMPRESSION.GET_COMPRESSION_TYPE (
   ownname      IN    VARCHAR2, 
   tabname      IN    VARCHAR2, 
   row_id       IN    ROWID,
   subobjname   IN    VARCHAR2 DEFAULT NULL))
  RETURN NUMBER;

Parameters

Table 34-5 GET_COMPRESSION_TYPE Function Parameters

Parameter Description

ownname

Schema name of the table

tabname

Name of table

rowid

Rowid of the row

subobjname

Name of the table partition or subpartition

Return Values

Flag to indicate the compression type (see Table 34-1).