Tablespace: PSAPTEMP # Tablespace files autoextend can cause file system overflow

Question

Hi All,
We are seeing the above message after updating the kernel from 701 SP 125 to 720 SP 600.
I have checked the data files that make up PSAPTEMP and none are set to auto extend so I am confused as to what it is complaining about.
Tablespace name
Size(MB)
Free(MB)
Used(%)
Autoextend
Total size(MB)
Total free space(MB)
Total used (%)
#Files
#Segments
#Extents
Status
Contents
Compression
PSAPTEMP
11,264.00
11,262.00
0
NO
11,264.00
11,262.00
0
6
0
0
ONLINE
TEMPORARY
DISABLED
File name
File Id
Tablespace name
Size(MB)
#Blocks
Status
Rel. file number
Autoextensible
Maxsize(MB)
Maxblocks
Increment by
User size(MB)
User blocks
/oracle/SID/sapdata1/temp_1/temp.data1
1
PSAPTEMP
2,048.00
262,144
AVAILABLE
1
NO
0
0
0
2,047.00
262,016
/oracle/SID/sapdata1/temp_2/temp.data2
2
PSAPTEMP
2,048.00
262,144
AVAILABLE
2
NO
0
0
0
2,047.00
262,016
/oracle/SID/sapdata1/temp_3/temp.data3
3
PSAPTEMP
2,048.00
262,144
AVAILABLE
3
NO
0
0
0
2,047.00
262,016
/oracle/SID/sapdata3/temp_4/temp.data4
4
PSAPTEMP
3,072.00
393,216
AVAILABLE
4
NO
0
0
0
3,071.00
393,088
/oracle/SID/sapdata2/temp_5/temp.data5
5
PSAPTEMP
1,024.00
131,072
AVAILABLE
5
NO
0
0
0
1,023.00
130,944
/oracle/SID/sapdata2/temp_6/temp.data6
6
PSAPTEMP
1,024.00
131,072
AVAILABLE
6
NO
0
0
0
1,023.00
130,944
Any ideas how to resolve this or is it a bug?
Thanks
Craig

Answer 1

Hi Craig,
Deactivating the alert could be the latest solution, but you should first check how the tempfiles are setup. If they are set as sparse files they might not use all the allocated space at FS level, but might grow up to it and cause an overflow...
To deactivate that behavior you should copy temp files with a specific cp option (--sparse=never) to deactivate the sparse attribute as explained in the here under notes (the 2nd one is for 11g only thus not valid for you).
Regards
548221 - Temporary Files are created as sparse files
Oracle creates files of temporary tablespaces as sparse files.
'Sparse' is a special property a file in Unix operating systems can have. Sparse files are files that can dynamically grow and shrink depending on their content. So many sparse files can use a common pool of free disk space. Also the creation of a sparse file is much faster than creation of a normal file.
Problems can occur if sparse files on the same disk grow in parallel and there is not sufficient free disk space for all to extend.
Usage of sparse files is not a bug. Therefore there is no possibility to tell Oracle not to use sparse files for the temporary tablespace if the operating system offers sparse file functionality.
1864212 - Forcing complete space allocation for temp files
By default, temp files are not initialized when the file is created and therefore the disk space is not pre-allocated in the file system.