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In part 1 of this series we explored ways to extract undocumented packages, hints,

Oracle Training utilities and executables from Oracle. Now we are ready to explore some ways
Oracle Tips that the undocumented Oracle parameters are used to aid the Oracle professional
Oracle Forum in managing and tuning their systems.
Class Catalog
Oracle makes a huge disclaimer that the undocumented initialization parameters
are usually only used in emergencies. However, those who want to manipulate the
internal mechanisms of Oracle to customize the behavior to their systems find the
Remote DBA
undocumented parameters very useful.
Oracle Tuning
Emergency 911 WARNING! Using undocumented parameters without the consent of
RAC Support Oracle can make your system un-supported and you may be on your own if
Apps Support you experience data corruption. Don't say I didn't warn you!
Analysis
Design
With over 100 undocumented parameters (see listing 1) it impossible to cover
them all in this short article. Let's look at performance-related parameters first.
Implementation
Oracle Support
For specialized tasks such as database tuning, it's possible to set the Oracle
undocumented ("hidden" parameters). You should carefully test all
undocumented parameters and get permission from Oracle technical support
SQL Tuning before using undocumented parameters in production. Here is a common list of
Security
some of the undocumented parameters:
Oracle UNIX _allow_resetlogs_corruption Also, see these undocumented parameters from this
_column_tracking_level Oracle IBM terabyte RAM benchmark:
Oracle Linux
_db_aging_cool_count
Monitoring _db_aging_freeze_cr _NUMA_pool_size = 536870912
_db_aging_hot_criteria _collect_undo_stats=false
Remote support _db_aging_stay_count _awr_restrict_mode=true
_db_aging_touch_time _db_writer_flush_imu=false
Remote plans _db_percent_hot_default _db_cache_pre_warm=FALSE
Remote services _db_percent_hot_keep _undo_autotune = false
_db_percent_hot_recycle _imu_pools = 358
Application Server _init_sql_file _optimizer_cache_stats = false
_kghdsidx_count _optimizer_cost_model = io
Applications _log_io_size _cursor_cache_frame_bind_memory = true
_realfree_heap_pagesize_hint _db_writer_coalesce_area_size = 16777216
Oracle Forms
_recyclebin _kghdsidx_count = 1
Oracle Portal _small_table_threshold _ksmg_granule_size=268435456
_system_trig_enabled _two_pass=false
App Upgrades _trace_files_public _session_idle_bit_latches=3000
_use_ism
SQL Server _use_ism_for_pga
Oracle Concepts _wait_for_sync

Software Support
Remote Support Many savvy Oracle professionals commonly adjust the hidden parameters to
Development improve the overall performance of their systems. However, because these are
Implementation "undocumented" parameters, most Oracle professionals rely on publications such
as "Oracle Internals" to get insights into the proper setting for the hidden
parameters.
Consulting Staff Oracle latch parameters: Whenever index contention is experienced (as
Consulting Prices evidenced by process waits), adjusting the following parameters may be helpful.
Help Wanted!
• _db_block_hash_buckets - Defaults to 2 x db_block_buffers but should be
the nearest prime number to the value of 2x db_block_buffers.

• _db_block_hash_latches - Defaults to 1024 but 32768 is a sometimes a

better value.
Oracle Posters
Oracle Books • _kgl_latch_count - Defaults to zero which is means 1+number of CPUs.
Oracle Scripts Lock contention can often be reduced by re-setting this value to 2*CPUs

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Oracle undocumented hidden parameters tips Página 2 de 6

Ion +1.
Excel-DB
• _latch_spin_count - This parameter shows how often a latch request will
Don Burleson Blog be taken.

• _db_block_write_batch - Formerly documented, now undocumented. It is

the number of blocks that the db writers will write in each batch. It defaults
to 512 or db_files*db_file_simultaneous_writes/2 up to a limit of one-
fourth the value of db_cache_size.

Oracle parallel query parameters: OPQ is an amazing facility for improving

the speed of large-table full-table scans, and some DBAs are not aware that there
are a dozen hidden parameters that can be changed to affect the behavior of
parallel queries. Earl Shaffer provides this query to display the parameters. Note
that this script must be run from the SYS user as only the SYS user can access the
X$ internal tables.

Note: To see then an undocumented parameter has changed you cheek to see if it
has moved into the v$parameter table:

-- changed undocumented parameters list

select
*
from
v$parameter
where
substr(name, 0,1) ='_';

Connect sys/xxx as sysdba

REM File: underscoreparms.sql

REM Desc: see underscore '_' AKA hidden DB parameters
set echo off lines 149 pages 9999 feed off
clear col
clear break
clear compute
ttitle off
btitle off
COLUMN Param FORMAT a42 wrap head 'Underscore Parameter'
COLUMN Descr FORMAT a75 wrap head 'Description'
COLUMN SessionVal FORMAT a7 head 'Value|Session'
COLUMN InstanceVal FORMAT a7 head 'Value|Instnc'
ttitle skip 1 center 'All Underscore Parameters' skip 2

spool underscoreparms.lis

SELECT
a.ksppinm Param ,
b.ksppstvl SessionVal ,
c.ksppstvl InstanceVal,
a.ksppdesc Descr
FROM
x$ksppi a ,
x$ksppcv b ,
x$ksppsv c
WHERE
a.indx = b.indx AND
a.indx = c.indx AND
a.ksppinm LIKE '/_%' escape '/'
ORDER BY
1
/
PROMPT

clear col
clear break
clear compute
ttitle off
btitle off

spool off

NAME VALUE
----------------------------------- ------------------------------
_parallel_adaptive_max_users 1
_parallel_default_max_instances 1
_parallel_execution_message_align FALSE
_parallel_fake_class_pct 0
_parallel_load_bal_unit 0
_parallel_load_balancing TRUE
_parallel_min_message_pool 64560
_parallel_recovery_stopat 32767
_parallel_server_idle_time 5
_parallel_server_sleep_time 10
_parallel_txn_global FALSE
_parallelism_cost_fudge_factor 350

The most important of these hidden parallel parameters is the

_parallelism_cost_fudge_factor. This parameter governs the invocation of OPQ
by the cost-based SQL optimizer when parallel_automatic_tuning=true. By

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adjusting this parameters you can control the threshold for invoking parallel
queries.

Now let's look at some common DBA undocumented parameters. The following
undocumented parameters are the most commonly-used in Oracle administration.

Corruption undocumented parameters

These parameters allow you to ignore corrupt data blocks when your database is
corrupted. These should only be used in emergencies.

• _allow_resetlogs_corruption - This parameter may be the only way to

start a db backed-up open without setting backup on tablespaces, it will
result in an unsupported system.

• _corrupted_rollback_segments - The only way to start up with corrupted

public rollback segments. This undocumented parameter can be used
without fear of invalidating support.

• _allow_read_only_corruption - This parameter allows the database to be

opened even if it has corruption. This should only be used to export as
much data from a corrupted database as is possible before re-creating a
database. A database that has been opened in this manner should not be
used in a normal manner, as it will not be supported.

• _corrupt_blocks_on_stuck_recovery ? This parameter can sometimes be

useful for getting a corrupted database started. However, it probably won't
be supported if done without Oracle's blessing. Immediately export the
tables needed and rebuild the database if used.

SQL Optimizer undocumented parameters:

These parameters control the internal behavior of the cost-based SQL optimizer
(CBO).

• _fast_full_scan_enabled - This enables (or disables) fast full index scans,

if only indexes are required to resolve the queries.

• _always_star_transformation - This parameter helps to tune data

warehouse queries, provided that the warehouse is designed properly.

• _small_table_threshold - This sets the size definition of a small table. A

small table is automatically pinned into the buffers when queried. Defaults
to 2 percent in Oracle9i.

Data Buffer behavior parameters:

For the very brave DBA, you can change the caching and aging rules within the
Oracle db_cache_size and change the way that Oracle keeps data blocks in RAM
memory. While these parameters are somewhat dangerous, some savvy DBAs
have been able to get more efficient data caching by adjusting these values:

• _db_aging_cool_count - Touch count set when buffer cooled

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• _db_aging_freeze_cr - Make CR buffers always be FALSE too cold to keep

in cache
• _db_aging_hot_criteria - Touch count which sends a buffer to head of
replacement list
• _db_aging_stay_count - Touch count set when buffer moved to head of
replacement list
• _db_aging_touch_time - Touch count which sends a buffer to head of
replacement list
• _db_block_cache_clone - Always clone data blocks on get (for debugging)
• _db_block_cache_map - Map / unmap and track reference counts on blocks
(for debugging)
• _db_block_cache_protect - Protect database blocks (true only when
debugging)
• _db_block_hash_buckets - Number of database block hash buckets
• _db_block_hi_priority_batch_size - Fraction of writes for high priority
reasons
• _db_block_max_cr_dba - Maximum Allowed Number of CR buffers per
dba
• _db_block_max_scan_cnt - Maximum number of buffers to inspect when
looking for free
• _db_block_med_priority_batch_size - Fraction of writes for medium
priority reasons

A Case study in undocumented parameters

If you have a limited number of active sessions you may wish to override the
PGA governor that only allows any single task to consume 5% of the total PGA.
Laurent Schneider notes in Oracle MOSC that overriding the PGA defaults made
a large batch processes run more than 8x faster:

"I set appropriate values for pga_aggregate_target and

_pga_max_size...
alter system set pga_aggregate_target=6G;
alter system set "_pga_max_size"=2000000000;

...and I gave the query some hints "NOREWRITE FULL USE_HASH

ORDERED".

As a result, it boosted my query performance from 12 hours to 1.5

hour."

Ah, if only it were that easy, just change an undocumented setting and batch jobs
magically run times faster. Laurent Schneider notes some perils and reliability
issues relating to this parameter and says "this parameter often leads to an ORA-
4030, even when plenty of memory available, for some obscure reasons".

While Laurent abandoned the undocumented approach in favor of parallelizing

the batch job, the promise of eight times faster execution speeds are very
tempting. Once you get permission from Oracle Technical Support to set an
undocumented parameter, they can work with to resolve errors. While they may
not address bugs, they may be able to provide alternatives and workarounds.

Also see these hidden parameter tips:

Tuning Oracle hidden parameters x$ksppi, x$ksppcv

Oracle hidden utilities undocumented parameters
Oracle Hidden Parameters
Oracle Buffer Hidden Parameters
Oracle hidden optimizer parameters
Oracle SQL Hidden Optimizer Parameters
Oracle hidden parameter _like_with_bind_as_equality

Conclusion

These Oracle undocumented parameters are especially useful to the senior Oracle
DBA who needs to go beyond the recommended level of detail and wants to
change the internal behavior of their SGA. The undocumented parameters are also
a lifesaver for performing re-starts of corrupted databases, but we must always
remember that these parameters are hidden for a reason. They are very powerful

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Oracle undocumented hidden parameters tips Página 5 de 6

and undocumented, so you should only play with them if you have a clear
understanding about how they change the internal behavior of Oracle.

Get Complete Oracle Tuning Details

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Note: This Oracle documentation was created as a support and Oracle training
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free to ask questions on our Oracle forum.

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