INSERT in PLSQL loop in Oracle 9i scheduled job has poor performance

Question

Hi,
I have a scheduled job running in Oracle 9i. But everytime it executes the following piece of code, the INSERT process slows down drastically.
-------------------------------typical piece of code having problem-----------------------------------
LOOP
FOR increbkgs IN bookings_cur (in_chr_fiscal_period_id,
allrec.cust_name_string
LOOP
l_num_rec_count := l_num_rec_count + 1;
INSERT INTO SA_PORTAL_CDW_BOOKINGS_INCTEMP
(product_id, territory_code,
global_target_id, service_type,
equipment_deployment, created_date, updated_date,
fiscal_period_id, customer_id,
ship_to_country,
bookings_amount, sams_alliance_id
VALUES (increbkgs.product_id, increbkgs.territory_code,
increbkgs.global_target_id, increbkgs.service_type,
increbkgs.equipment_deployment, SYSDATE, SYSDATE,
increbkgs.fiscal_period_id, increbkgs.customer_id,
increbkgs.ship_to_country,
increbkgs.bookings_amount, allrec.sams_alliance_id
IF (l_num_rec_count = 500)
THEN
l_num_rec_count := 0;
COMMIT;
END IF;
END LOOP;
END LOOP;
All the tablespaces are auto-extend. But we have still tried to increase the tablespace manually from 2% to 30% by adding datafiles. Still the INSERT is slowing down for some reason.
(The same process in Oracle 8i is much faster)
Any hint or guidance is greatly appreciated.
Thanks and regards,
Ambili

Answer 1

commits in loops are great for slowing down things. Actually commits in loops are just about the best way of stalling any 'process' in Oracle.
A much better way is to resize your undo tablespace to permit one single commit at the end of the whole thing. Yes it could be big, but that's the way Oracle works.
If you want more info about this, buy Thomas Kyte's book found at http://apress.com/book/bookDisplay.html?bID=10008