OWB 9.2.0,Oracle 9.2.0?

Hi:
I create a target module,design star schema .But fact table's foreign key display "ORA-01741:unlawful zero length identifier" in the creating deployment every time,but I setting it is NUMBER ,and precision is 6. It also can't upgrade the fact tables and dimension tabls with the Deployment Manager !
I don't know how to do! I need help!
Thanks!
Qiu

Qiu,
Can't figure out the info provided what the problem with ORA-01741 could be. Can you please work with Oracle Support on this (log a TAR)?
As far upgrade deployment you can be hitting one of these known issues.
Bug 2944626: ERROR PROCESSING DEPENDENCIES MAY CAUSE DEPLOYMENT TO FAIL. The workaround is decribed in the Release Notes http://download.oracle.com/docs/html/B10999_01/toc.htm#770271
Bug 3106692: UPGRADE DEPLOY ACTION - NO CODE GENERATED - RTC-5351. Fixed in OWB 9.2.0.4 patchset, applied on top of OWB 9.2.0.2.8, or just install OWB 10g that contains all the previous patches.
Nikolai Rochnik

Similar Messages

OWB - Flat file to oracle table

Second message, please read.
OS- Microsoft windows 2000 5.00.2195 Service Pack 2
OWB client---9.0.3.33.0
OWB Repository--9.0.3.0.1
Database--oracle 9i Enterprise Edition 9.0.1.3.1 with the partioning option Jserver Release9.0.1.3.0
OEM--9.0.1.0.0
I have created mapping between the source(flat file)and target(oracle)using Oracle Warehouse Builder. Mapping was validated, configured and it successfully generated without errors. The ‘Deploy’ button and the ‘Run’ button are disabled. How can I run/deploy this mapping ?
The above OWB copy was downloaded from the Oracle corp website. Is this version an evaluation copy? Alternatively Is this a beta copy ?
Please help.

Dear All,
I have a problem with loading flat files to oracle tables using OWB 9.2
i created a map with my flat file as a source and my oracle table as a target,and i created a connector between the target location and the flat file location.And i deployed the connector and registered the flat file location using my PC information and the path of the files on my pc.
I generated the map and saved the .ctl file and deployed the map,and hence trying to load the ctl file using the sql loader as the following:
C:\Documents and Settings\CORAL 2000>sqlldr owb_rt_rep/owb_rt_rep@ofsa
control = D:\oracle2\ofsa\owb\codegen\BM_DEBIT_CARDS_DAT_MAP.ctl
---where owb_rt_rep is my runtime repository user.
I got the following error:
SQL*Loader-350: Syntax error at line 18.
Expecting "(", found ".".
INTO TABLE "{{TRG_LOC1.Schema}}"."BM_DEBIT_CARDS_DAT"
--where trg_loc1 is my target location and bm_debit_cards_dat is my target table.
I tried to grant from the target schema the privelages to the runtime user incase its the problem,but still it didn't work.
Any ideas??
Dina Nagia
Message was edited by:
Dina Nagia

Updated OWB module available in "Oracle By Example" series on OTN

All,
The Oracle By Example series on OTN has been updated to Oracle9i Release 2. This includes a Warehouse Builder module updated from 3i to 9i. The module is a simple set of hands-on activities using the order entry tables that come with the database. (The module is a high-level overview, not a substitute for the 4-day instructor led course, "Oracle9i Warehouse Builder: Implementation", course code D12157GC20.)
The URL for the Oracle By Example OWB module is:
http://otn.oracle.com/obe/
Click "Oracle by Example Series Release 2".
Then click #8, "Build a Data Warehouse for Business Intelligence".
Then click #8, "Creating a Data Warehouse Using Oracle Warehouse Builder".
Regards,
Rick

Hi Paul,
As far as my understanding.
You dont want to create "REL_EXPENSE.REL_EXPENSE.REL_TIME_DAY_CODE" in the times dimension since the "code" attribute is already present in the time dimension(once you created using time wizard).
Soon after you created the cube by mapping the two dimension "category" and "times" to it, all the attributes in both the dimension will be present in the cube automatically. Other than this you will create a measure column named "Expense" in the cube.
Regards,
Saro
Mark Answers Promptly

OWB 9i with Personal Oracle DB ?

Hello,
Does somebody know wether it is possible to run OWB based on a Personal Oracle DB (8.1.7) - for training purpose !
Thank you in advance.

Dear Friend,
First of all delete all refistry values related to ORACLE 9i from regedit .
then select minimun option for installation , but donot use database creation
(Software only) . after successfull installation , reboot u r machine .
Using dbassist Create database . If it will work or not inform me , then i will give u another option to solve u r problem
Regards ,
Piyush Patel
e-Mail :- [email protected]

Problems trying to use built-in OWB 11.2 on Oracle RDBMS 11.2 (64 bit)

I recently installed Oracle Enterprise RDBMS 11.2.0.1.0 (64 bit) on my 64-bit Windows 7 machine. I'm now trying to get the built-in OWB 11.2 installation working as well. I managed to create a repository on my database using the Repository Assistant. But I can't seem to get OWB Design Center to run at all: it crashes out with a Windows message "application cannot be started" as soon as it tries to run owbclient.bat.
I've tried starting the Control Center Service via the options on the Warehousebuilder/Admin menu, and this seems to work - at least the status comes back as "available" when I click the "Check status" button - but the Repository Browser doesn't work either: the URL looks OK but there's nothing there.
As far as I can tell I've followed the installation/configuration steps OK, but I can't work out what else I need to install/do to get an OWB client talking to a local OWB installation on a local Oracle 11.2 database. It really shouldn't be this hard.
Has anybody else encountered/resolved the same problems?
Or should I just scrap my installation and start again from scratch?

Thanks, Richard.
I downloaded Oracle 11gR2 for 64-bit Windows only a couple of weeks ago, so I would have expected the built-in OWB client installation to be compatible with 64-bit Windows as well. Maybe that's just a crazy dream.
In the end, I gave up on the built-in OWB. Instead, I trashed the existing OWB installation in the database completely, then installed the OWB stand-alone client in a separate home on the same machine instead, re-installing the OWB schemas etc and creating a fresh repository on the DB in the process. This seems to work so far - at least I can log in to the OWB Design Center client as my repository user, which is a major step forward.
I dunno - I've been working with Oracle for 20 years, but their installation processes always seems to trip me up somewhere with missing components, incompatible elements, screwed up network addresses, and so on. Guess I'm just a slow learner.

OWB R2 compartibility with Oracle 9i R2 RDBMS

We are using a 9i R2 database and want to run OWB 10g, we have heard that OWB R2 has compartibility issues (reduced functionality) having a 9i R2 repository. Is this the case if so What OWB functionality is unavailable in the above scenario. What is your recommendation.

It depends on what you plan to do. If you are just reading data from 9 as a source and building a data warehouse in a 10.2 database, then that might be okay. If you plan to use 9 completely then you will be limited to the database functionality available in 9. OWB writes PL/SQL code and is limited to the functionality available in the databse when writing the code.
I use 10.2 R2 database and OWB and still have arguements with Oracle support about not being on the latest patch set. It wont be easy getting support on OWB in that scenario.

Problem - OWB to export to Oracle Discoverer saw Bridge

Expensive, I am trying to export my collection of the OWB to Oracle Discoverer and am making in agreement the Oracle I describe in its articles, I specify the name of the package, proprietor EUL, the proprietor of the Schema, the archive where he will be stored and when I go to export it generates an imperfection, however I do not say which I am the imperfection in itself. What I must make? Debtor
Brazil

Not sure what happened here - can you please specify the OWB version and the error (and possibly the error message) you get?
Regards:
Igor

Oracle DB prerequisites for installing OWB?

Hi,
I am planning to install OWB for a prototype project for a client.
But I wanted to make sure that whatever I do now can be repeated at the time of the actual project too. For other things, I see no problem, but installation remains one.
I need to install Oracle 10g first and then OWB in case of the prototype. But later I will find Oracle DB already in place and just OWB has to be installed.
Is someone aware of the steps required to set up Oracle DB if it has to support OWB later on. Can someone please suggest me the proper way to set up Oracle DB first and then OWB?
I am concerned because in the I have seen OWB installations failing when they were done at an existing Oracle DB setup. (may be some Init parameters were required to be set before OWB is installed)
Also, is anyone aware of some typical problems that we face while working on Red Hat linux?
thanks
Goga

Hi Ron,
Good questions..You have a number of options here and it depends how you want to manage your repository in terms of different environments (dev, test, training etc). In terms of users I would recommend creating a repository owner (in effect the DBA of the repository) and then create additional users for each person in your team. These other users can then connect to the repository and create new projects, design objects and deploy objects as required. By creating new users you can create a security layer within the system to prevent certain team members from deploying objects to specific database instances.
There are a number of options for managing versioning within OWB. There is a demo viewlet on the OWB website that explains the basic concepts, although it relates to OWB 10gR1.
http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/warehouse/htdocs/OTN_viewlet.html
Version management in OWB
With OWB 10gR2 a few things have changed. However, the simplest configuration is to have one design repository and multiple target instances, each with their own OWB repository installation. For the Target schemas, the installation of the OWB repository is used simply to run the control centre as this is required to manage and record the deployment of objects into the various target schemas. You can then create different configurations in your design repository to control the different characteristics of each target instance (use of tablespaces, enabling/disabling parallel features etc).
The flaw with this simple approach is that you have no version control within the design repository. If you make changes to the design repository objects after you have deployed them to a specific schema there is no ability to recreate the target schema if something happens because the design repository has been updated. Therefore, depending on how you want to manage you target schemas in relation to the design repository you may want to create multiple design repositories to support each target schema (dev, test, qa, training, prod etc). Then to update a schema you would export your project from the design repository and import it into the target repository and then deploy the new design to the required schema. This type of approach does provide additional levels security allowing you greater control over access to each target schema.
I thought there was some documentation being developed by the product management team but I have not seen it yet. I hope this helps, if not ping me again.
Keith

Oracle 10G Database Control and Scheduling OWB Process Flow

Does anyone know how to go about scheduling an OWB Process Flow from
Oracle 10G Data Base Control. I knew how to do this with Oracle Enterprise Manager 9.2 but we recently upgraded to Oracle Db 10G and the interface has changed significantly.
Now the interface seems to require a PL/SQL stored procedure to be executed.
Is there a template procedure that is installed with 10G Data Base Control as there was for 9.2 i.e. oem_exec_template.sql?
Thanks! Deadline approaching fast...
Marion

I've used the oem_exec_template.sql successfully with OWB 10.1 and Oracle 10G Database Control, with a little trial and error at first.
I'm assuming that your job execution environment is set up correctly, ie. that you can properly execute jobs via the host agent.
1. Log on to Database Control as SYSTEM, select Jobs from the links at the bottom of the page
2. In the Results section, Create Job, select "SQL Script" and press Go
3. In the General section, enter Job Name, and as SQL Script enter e.g.:
@/u01/app/oracle/owb_oracle_home/owb/rtp/sql/oem_exec_template.sql owb_runtime WF_LOC PROCESS MY_PROCESS , ,
4. In the Databases section, add your target database
5. In the Credentials section, I select "Override Preferred Credentials" and use the agent account (oracle on my Linux system) and db user owb_access (OWB Runtime Access user)
6. Review Schedule tab and submit
Comments on step 3:
- the oem_exec_template.sql script must be installed according to the path specified in step 3, on the database host where the OWB Runtime Repository is located
- owb_runtime is the owner of my OWB Runtime Repository
- WF_LOC is the name of my Workflow Location as seen in OWB Deployment Manager
- MY_PROCESS is the name of a deployed Workflow Process
- the commas indicate that I don't supply any system or custom parameters.
- step 3 is actually a shell command line that is interpreted by eg. /bin/sh on Unix or cmd on Windows, and must obey proper quoting rules. On windows, I had to specify the empty commas as "\," (including dblquotes)
Regards, Hans Henrik

Oracle OWB integrator for Flat Files 3.0

Hi,
I have installed owb 11g r2 in my machine, but while creating flat files module for file import it is showing that
it does not find *"Oracle OWB integrator for Flat Files 3.0"*. so i cannot use "import metadata using flat file wizard".
do i need to install the owb again or the Oracle OWB integrator for Flat Files 3.0 alone..or how do i integrate it with owb....... please help if anyone can,,
Thanks..

Here is the certification matrix
https://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CFEQFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oracle.com%2Ftechnetwork%2Fmiddleware%2Fdata-integration%2Fodi-11gr1certmatrix-ps6-1928216.xls&ei=mtmUUcX7DoiJrQek04DwAg&usg=AFQjCNGoOUFQHdK7Ti2DLb6vz_3s-miP3A&sig2=q3rf2foe9bl4_WbsLPwWng&bvm=bv.46471029,d.bmk

Need help regarding training on OWB from Oracle corp

Hi All,
I have 5years of exp in Oracle admin/Dev platform. Now I wanted to move on to warehouse, something new and different . So could you guys help me out how I would get a training on this. I inquired regarding Owb training program from Oracle corp, according to them its all elearing .So I am not interested on that . I am searching for classroom based training .
Now I am based on Pune,India. I am open to Mumbai,Hyderabad,Bangalore in india. I am ready to move and attend classroom training on this . So could someone help me on that ?

I took the OWB 5-day live virtual class and found it as good or better than being in a classroom. It basically entailed installing a vpn connection to the Oracle training system and launching the virtual desktop to do lab activities; the course materials were provided electronically before the class began (pdf), and the instructor presented the materials and demo'ed the topics via a webex-style presentation. The only drawback was the audio portion was via telephone; from my location (US) it was a toll free call, but use of a headset or speakerphone was mandatory to avoid permanent neck injury; hopefully they will get the audio online with the LVC or at least provide it as an option for those who have audio capability (mic & speakers) on the computer.

Oracle Spatial column in OWB

Does OWB 10g (10.1) supports Oracle Spatial Columns?
eg: SDO_GEOMETRY column
As far as i know timestamp datatype is not supported by OWB. Can anybody list out the unsupported datatypes by OWB?
Thanks in advance.
Sathish K

I am not sure if OWB 10g R1 supports Oracle Spatial Data Type. This spatial data type is a problem in many ETL tools.
I had come across a situation where it was needed to migrate spatial data from legacy databases. If OWB does not support then what can be done is to call a stored procedure in the mapping and pass the input parameters and let the procedure handle the inserts/updates/deletes, whatever you feel like.
This way you give all the control of data loading to the database, but this is the only way that I can think of.
Do let me know if you could find a smarter way of doing this.
Regards
-Arnab

OWB with oracle express?

hello,
is it possible to install OWB with the underlying Oracle Database 10g Express Edition?
is this supported?
thanks in advance
-sven.

Hi,
with 10g XE you have no support from oracle:
Requirements OWB 10gR2:
The database can be any of the following versions:
- Oracle9i Release 2 (9.2.x) Enterprise Edition
- Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition R1 (10.1.x)
- Oracle Database 10g Standard Edition R2 (10.2.x)
- Oracle Database 10g Enterprise Edition R2 (10.2.x)
But I think it would work with the owb. But not good, because of some missing functions like parallel DML, bitmapped index, ....
See all of the restrictions in this document:
http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/oracle10g/pdf/twp_general_10gdb_product_family.pdf
Regards,
Detlef

OWB 11g Listener fails to start

Hi,
I am running OWB11g on Windows XP 2002 SP2.
I get the following error when attempting to start the listener. This is preventing me from running the Repository Browser.
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
C:\Documents and Settings\sys_MBurke>cd C:\oracle\product\11.1.0\owb\bin\win32
C:\oracle\product\11.1.0\owb\bin\win32>C:\oracle\product\11.1.0\owb\bin\win32\st
artOwbbInst.bat
C:\oracle\product\11.1.0\owb\bin\win32>call setowbenv.bat
08/08/05 10:37:44 WARNING: Application.setConfig Application: owbb is in failed
state as initialization failedjava.lang.InstantiationException: Error loading we
b-app 'owbb' at C:\oracle\product\11.1.0\owb\j2ee\owbb: Unable to find/read file
WEB-INF/web.xml in C:\oracle\product\11.1.0\owb\j2ee\owbb (WEB-INF/web.xml)
05-Aug-2008 10:37:44 com.evermind.server.Application setConfig
WARNING: Application: owbb is in failed state as initialization failedjava.lang.
InstantiationException: Error loading web-app 'owbb' at C:\oracle\product\11.1.0
\owb\j2ee\owbb: Unable to find/read file WEB-INF/web.xml in C:\oracle\product\11
.1.0\owb\j2ee\owbb (WEB-INF/web.xml)
08/08/05 10:37:44 Error initializing server: Error loading web-app 'owbb' at C:\
oracle\product\11.1.0\owb\j2ee\owbb: Unable to find/read file WEB-INF/web.xml in
C:\oracle\product\11.1.0\owb\j2ee\owbb (WEB-INF/web.xml)
2008-08-05 10:37:46.273 WARNING J2EE JTA RecoveryManager is null during shut
down
08/08/05 10:37:46 Fatal error: server exiting
C:\oracle\product\11.1.0\owb\bin\win32>C:\oracle\product\11.1.0\owb\bin\win32\st
artOwbbInst.bat
C:\oracle\product\11.1.0\owb\bin\win32>call setowbenv.bat
08/08/05 10:44:36 WARNING: Application.setConfig Application: owbb is in failed
state as initialization failedjava.lang.InstantiationException: Error loading we
b-app 'owbb' at C:\oracle\product\11.1.0\owb\j2ee\owbb: Unable to find/read file
WEB-INF/web.xml in C:\oracle\product\11.1.0\owb\j2ee\owbb (WEB-INF/web.xml)
05-Aug-2008 10:44:36 com.evermind.server.Application setConfig
WARNING: Application: owbb is in failed state as initialization failedjava.lang.
InstantiationException: Error loading web-app 'owbb' at C:\oracle\product\11.1.0
\owb\j2ee\owbb: Unable to find/read file WEB-INF/web.xml in C:\oracle\product\11
.1.0\owb\j2ee\owbb (WEB-INF/web.xml)
08/08/05 10:44:36 Error initializing server: Error loading web-app 'owbb' at C:\
oracle\product\11.1.0\owb\j2ee\owbb: Unable to find/read file WEB-INF/web.xml in
C:\oracle\product\11.1.0\owb\j2ee\owbb (WEB-INF/web.xml)
2008-08-05 10:44:38.026 WARNING J2EE JTA RecoveryManager is null during shut
down
08/08/05 10:44:38 Fatal error: server exiting
C:\oracle\product\11.1.0\owb\bin\win32>
Any help much appreciated,
Marlise

OWB 11.gR2 client does not run on Windows 64 bit :-)
There is a long thread about here: OWB 11gr2 on Windows 7 64
Good and clever people have hacked their way into making it work, but to my knowledge there is not yet a supported solution, other than running the client on a 32 bit os l.
A new patch have just been released for OWB11gR2. Search for patch: 13365457 on support.oracle.com
/Henrik
Edited by: HenrikVerup on Nov 22, 2011 3:22 PM
Edited by: HenrikVerup on Nov 22, 2011 3:24 PM

Some Thoughts On An OWB Performance/Testing Framework

Hi all,
I've been giving some thought recently to how we could build a performance tuning and testing framework around Oracle Warehouse Builder. Specifically, I'm looking at was in which we can use some of the performance tuning techniques described in Cary Millsap/Jeff Holt's book "Optimizing Oracle Performance" to profile and performance tune mappings and process flows, and to use some of the ideas put forward in Kent Graziano's Agile Methods in Data Warehousing paper http://www.rmoug.org/td2005pres/graziano.zip and Steven Feuernstein's utPLSQL project http://utplsql.sourceforge.net/ to provide an agile/test-driven way of developing mappings, process flows and modules. The aim of this is to ensure that the mappings we put together are as efficient as possible, work individually and together as expected, and are quick to develop and test.
At the moment, most people's experience of performance tuning OWB mappings is firstly to see if it runs set-based rather than row-based, then perhaps to extract the main SQL statement and run an explain plan on it, then check to make sure indexes etc are being used ok. This involves a lot of manual work, doesn't factor in the data available from the wait interface, doesn't store the execution plans anywhere, and doesn't really scale out to encompass entire batches of mapping (process flows).
For some background reading on Cary Millsap/Jeff Holt's approach to profiling and performance tuning, take a look at http://www.rittman.net/archives/000961.html and http://www.rittman.net/work_stuff/extended_sql_trace_and_tkprof.htm. Basically, this approach traces the SQL that is generated by a batch file (read: mapping) and generates a file that can be later used to replay the SQL commands used, the explain plans that relate to the SQL, details on what wait events occurred during execution, and provides at the end a profile listing that tells you where the majority of your time went during the batch. It's currently the "preferred" way of tuning applications as it focuses all the tuning effort on precisely the issues that are slowing your mappings down, rather than database-wide issues that might not be relevant to your mapping.
For some background information on agile methods, take a look at Kent Graziano's paper, this one on test-driven development http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?TestDrivenDevelopment , this one http://martinfowler.com/articles/evodb.html on agile database development, and the sourceforge project for utPLSQL http://utplsql.sourceforge.net/. What this is all about is having a development methodology that builds in quality but is flexible and responsive to changes in customer requirements. The benefit of using utPLSQL (or any unit testing framework) is that you can automatically check your altered mappings to see that they still return logically correct data, meaning that you can make changes to your data model and mappings whilst still being sure that it'll still compile and run.
Observations On The Current State of OWB Performance Tuning & Testing
At present, when you build OWB mappings, there is no way (within the OWB GUI) to determine how "efficient" the mapping is. Often, when building the mapping against development data, the mapping executes quickly and yet when run against the full dataset, problems then occur. The mapping is built "in isolation" from its effect on the database and there is no handy tool for determining how efficient the SQL is.
OWB doesn't come with any methodology or testing framework, and so apart from checking that the mapping has run, and that the number of rows inserted/updated/deleted looks correct, there is nothing really to tell you whether there are any "logical" errors. Also, there is no OWB methodology for integration testing, unit testing, or any other sort of testing, and we need to put one in place. Note - OWB does come with auditing, error reporting and so on, but there's no framework for guiding the user through a regime of unit testing, integration testing, system testing and so on, which I would imagine more complete developer GUIs come with. Certainly there's no built in ability to use testing frameworks such as utPLSQL, or a part of the application that let's you record whether a mapping has been tested, and changes the test status of mappings when you make changes to ones that they are dependent on.
OWB is effectively a code generator, and this code runs against the Oracle database just like any other SQL or PL/SQL code. There is a whole world of information and techniques out there for tuning SQL and PL/SQL, and one particular methodology that we quite like is the Cary Millsap/Jeff Holt "Extended SQL Trace" approach that uses Oracle diagnostic events to find out exactly what went on during the running of a batch of SQL commands. We've been pretty successful using this approach to tune customer applications and batch jobs, and we'd like to use this, together with the "Method R" performance profiling methodology detailed in the book "Optimising Oracle Performance", as a way of tuning our generated mapping code.
Whilst we want to build performance and quality into our code, we also don't want to overburden developers with an unwieldy development approach, because what we'll know will happen is that after a short amount of time, it won't get used. Given that we want this framework to be used for all mappings, it's got to be easy to use, cause minimal overhead, and have results that are easy to interpret. If at all possible, we'd like to use some of the ideas from agile methodologies such as eXtreme Programming, SCRUM and so on to build in quality but minimise paperwork.
We also recognise that there are quite a few settings that can be changed at a session and instance level, that can have an effect on the performance of a mapping. Some of these include initialisation parameters that can change the amount of memory assigned to the instance and the amount of memory subsequently assigned to caches, sort areas and the like, preferences that can be set so that indexes are preferred over table scans, and other such "tweaks" to the Oracle instance we're working with. For reference, the version of Oracle we're going to use to both run our code and store our data is Oracle 10g 10.1.0.3 Enterprise Edition, running on Sun Solaris 64-bit.
Some initial thoughts on how this could be accomplished
- Put in place some method for automatically / easily generating explain plans for OWB mappings (issue - this is only relevant for mappings that are set based, and what about pre- and post- mapping triggers)
- Put in place a method for starting and stopping an event 10046 extended SQL trace for a mapping
- Put in place a way of detecting whether the explain plan / cost / timing for a mapping changes significantly
- Put in place a way of tracing a collection of mappings, i.e. a process flow
- The way of enabling tracing should either be built in by default, or easily added by the OWB developer. Ideally it should be simple to switch it on or off (perhaps levels of event 10046 tracing?)
- Perhaps store trace results in a repository? reporting? exception reporting?
at an instance level, come up with some stock recommendations for instance settings
- identify the set of instance and session settings that are relevant for ETL jobs, and determine what effect changing them has on the ETL job
- put in place a regime that records key instance indicators (STATSPACK / ASH) and allows reports to be run / exceptions to be reported
- Incorporate any existing "performance best practices" for OWB development
- define a lightweight regime for unit testing (as per agile methodologies) and a way of automating it (utPLSQL?) and of recording the results so we can check the status of dependent mappings easily
other ideas around testing?
Suggested Approach
- For mapping tracing and generation of explain plans, a pre- and post-mapping trigger that turns extended SQL trace on and off, places the trace file in a predetermined spot, formats the trace file and dumps the output to repository tables.
- For process flows, something that does the same at the start and end of the process. Issue - how might this conflict with mapping level tracing controls?
- Within the mapping/process flow tracing repository, store the values of historic executions, have an exception report that tells you when a mapping execution time varies by a certain amount
- get the standard set of preferred initialisation parameters for a DW, use these as the start point for the stock recommendations. Identify which ones have an effect on an ETL job.
- identify the standard steps Oracle recommends for getting the best performance out of OWB (workstation RAM etc) - see OWB Performance Tips http://www.rittman.net/archives/001031.html and Optimizing Oracle Warehouse Builder Performance http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/warehouse/pdf/OWBPerformanceWP.pdf
- Investigate what additional tuning options and advisers are available with 10g
- Investigate the effect of system statistics & come up with recommendations.
Further reading / resources:
- Diagnosing Performance Problems Using Extended Trace" Cary Millsap
http://otn.oracle.com/oramag/oracle/04-jan/o14tech_perf.html
- "Performance Tuning With STATSPACK" Connie Dialeris and Graham Wood
http://www.oracle.com/oramag/oracle/00-sep/index.html?o50tun.html
- "Performance Tuning with Statspack, Part II" Connie Dialeris and Graham Wood
http://otn.oracle.com/deploy/performance/pdf/statspack_tuning_otn_new.pdf
- "Analyzing a Statspack Report: A Guide to the Detail Pages" Connie Dialeris and Graham Wood
http://www.oracle.com/oramag/oracle/00-nov/index.html?o60tun_ol.html
- "Why Isn't Oracle Using My Index?!" Jonathan Lewis
http://www.dbazine.com/jlewis12.shtml
- "Performance Tuning Enhancements in Oracle Database 10g" Oracle-Base.com
http://www.oracle-base.com/articles/10g/PerformanceTuningEnhancements10g.php
- Introduction to Method R and Hotsos Profiler (Cary Millsap, free reg. required)
http://www.hotsos.com/downloads/registered/00000029.pdf
- Exploring the Oracle Database 10g Wait Interface (Robin Schumacher)
http://otn.oracle.com/pub/articles/schumacher_10gwait.html
- Article referencing an OWB forum posting
http://www.rittman.net/archives/001031.html
- How do I inspect error logs in Warehouse Builder? - OWB Exchange tip
http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/warehouse/pdf/Cases/case10.pdf
- What is the fastest way to load data from files? - OWB exchange tip
http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/warehouse/pdf/Cases/case1.pdf
- Optimizing Oracle Warehouse Builder Performance - Oracle White Paper
http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/warehouse/pdf/OWBPerformanceWP.pdf
- OWB Advanced ETL topics - including sections on operating modes, partition exchange loading
http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/warehouse/selfserv_edu/advanced_ETL.html
- Niall Litchfield's Simple Profiler (a creative commons-licensed trace file profiler, based on Oracle Trace Analyzer, that displays the response time profile through HTMLDB. Perhaps could be used as the basis for the repository/reporting part of the project)
http://www.niall.litchfield.dial.pipex.com/SimpleProfiler/SimpleProfiler.html
- Welcome to the utPLSQL Project - a PL/SQL unit testing framework by Steven Feuernstein. Could be useful for automating the process of unit testing mappings.
http://utplsql.sourceforge.net/
Relevant postings from the OTN OWB Forum
- Bulk Insert - Configuration Settings in OWB
http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jsp?forum=57&thread=291269&tstart=30&trange=15
- Default Performance Parameters
http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jsp?forum=57&thread=213265&message=588419&q=706572666f726d616e6365#588419
- Performance Improvements
http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jsp?forum=57&thread=270350&message=820365&q=706572666f726d616e6365#820365
- Map Operator performance
http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jsp?forum=57&thread=238184&message=681817&q=706572666f726d616e6365#681817
- Performance of mapping with FILTER
http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jsp?forum=57&thread=273221&message=830732&q=706572666f726d616e6365#830732
- Poor mapping performance
http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jsp?forum=57&thread=275059&message=838812&q=706572666f726d616e6365#838812
- Optimizing Mapping Performance With OWB
http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jsp?forum=57&thread=269552&message=815295&q=706572666f726d616e6365#815295
- Performance of mapping with FILTER
http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jsp?forum=57&thread=273221&message=830732&q=706572666f726d616e6365#830732
- Performance of the OWB-Repository
http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jsp?forum=57&thread=66271&message=66271&q=706572666f726d616e6365#66271
- One large JOIN or many small ones?
http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jsp?forum=57&thread=202784&message=553503&q=706572666f726d616e6365#553503
- NATIVE PL SQL with OWB9i
http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jsp?forum=57&thread=270273&message=818390&q=706572666f726d616e6365#818390
Next Steps
Although this is something that I'll be progressing with anyway, I'd appreciate any comment from existing OWB users as to how they currently perform performance tuning and testing. Whilst these are perhaps two distinct subject areas, they can be thought of as the core of an "OWB Best Practices" framework and I'd be prepared to write the results up as a freely downloadable whitepaper. With this in mind, does anyone have an existing best practices for tuning or testing, have they tried using SQL trace and TKPROF to profile mappings and process flows, or have you used a unit testing framework such as utPLSQL to automatically test the set of mappings that make up your project?
Any feedback, add it to this forum posting or send directly through to me at [email protected]. I'll report back on a proposed approach in due course.

Hi Mark,
interesting post, but I think you may be focusing on the trees, and losing sight of the forest.
Coincidentally, I've been giving quite a lot of thought lately to some aspects of your post. They relate to some new stuff I'm doing. Maybe I'll be able to answer in more detail later, but I do have a few preliminary thoughts.
1. 'How efficient is the generated code' is a perennial topic. There are still some people who believe that a code generator like OWB cannot be in the same league as hand-crafted SQL. I answered that question quite definitely: "We carefully timed execution of full-size runs of both the original code and the OWB versions. Take it from me, the code that OWB generates is every bit as fast as the very best hand-crafted and fully tuned code that an expert programmer can produce."
The link is http://www.donnapkelly.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/generated_code.htm
That said, it still behooves the developer to have a solid understanding of what the generated code will actually do, such as how it will take advantage of indexes, and so on. If not, the developer can create such monstrosities as lookups into an un-indexed field (I've seen that).
2. The real issue is not how fast any particular generated mapping runs, but whether or not the system as a whole is fit for purpose. Most often, that means: does it fit within its batch update window? My technique is to dump the process flow into Microsoft Project, and then to add the timings for each process. That creates a Critical Path, and then I can visually inspect it for any bottleneck processes. I usually find that there are not more than one or two dogs. I'll concentrate on those, fix them, and re-do the flow timings. I would add this: the dogs I have seen, I have invariably replaced. They were just garbage, They did not need tuning at all - just scrapping.
Gee, but this whole thing is minimum effort and real fast! I generally figure that it takes maybe a day or two (max) to soup up system performance to the point where it whizzes.
Fact is, I don't really care whether there are a lot of sub-optimal processes. All I really care about is performance of the system as a whole. This technique seems to work for me. 'Course, it depends on architecting the thing properly in the first place. Otherwise, no amount of tuning of going to help worth a darn.
Conversely (re. my note about replacing dogs) I do not think I have ever tuned a piece of OWB-generated code. Never found a need to. Not once. Not ever.
That's not to say I do not recognise the value of playing with deployment configuration parameters. Obviously, I set auditing=none, and operating mode=set based, and sometimes, I play with a couple of different target environments to fool around with partitioning, for example. Nonetheless, if it is not a switch or a knob inside OWB, I do not touch it. This is in line with my dictat that you shall use no other tool than OWB to develop data warehouses. (And that includes all documentation!). (OK, I'll accept MS Project)
Finally, you raise the concept of a 'testing framework'. This is a major part of what I am working on at the moment. This is a tough one. Clearly, the developer must unit test each mapping in a design-model-deploy-execute cycle, paying attention to both functionality and performance. When the developer is satisifed, that mapping will be marked as 'done' in the project workbook. Mappings will form part of a stream, executed as a process flow. Each process flow will usually terminate in a dimension, a fact, or an aggregate. Each process flow will be tested as an integrated whole. There will be test strategies devised, and test cases constructed. There will finally be system tests, to verify the validity of the system as a production-grade whole. (stuff like recovery/restart, late-arriving data, and so on)
For me, I use EDM (TM). That's the methodology I created (and trademarked) twenty years ago: Evolutionary Development Methodology (TM). This is a spiral methodology based around prototyping cycles within Stage cycles within Release cycles. For OWB, a Stage would consist (say) of a Dimensional update. What I am trying to now is to graft this within a traditional waterfall methodology, and I am having the same difficulties I had when I tried to do it then.
All suggestions on how to do that grafting gratefully received!
To sum up, I 'm kinda at a loss as to why you want to go deep into OWB-generated code performance stuff. Jeepers, architect the thing right, and the code runs fast enough for anyone. I've worked on ultra-large OWB systems, including validating the largest data warehouse in the UK. I've never found any value in 'tuning' the code. What I'd like you to comment on is this: what will it buy you?
Cheers,
Donna
http://www.donnapkelly.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

OWB 9.2.0,Oracle 9.2.0?

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