Performance tuning of Oracle 9i Database

Question

I want to know, what are the different parameters in the tuning of Oracle 9i database.
A few, i can list like
1) Re-building of indexes
2) Making the heavy transaction tables lighter
3) Checking if the indexes are firing
In a similar fashion, i needed what are the other parameters which can be a good indication of the health of the database. I hope, my question is clear.
Please, help in solving the doubt.
regards

Answer 1

Hmm there is parameter coming up called _<your db name>_fast=true in some later future release.Its still not implemented yet but expected to be coming up soon due to excessive demand.
Your list's first element only is the show-stopper.Richard Foote has talked extensively about this.Its almost never that a index is requiriing a rebuild.There should be benchmarks to prove the benefit (if any ) of the operation.Please visit his blog http://richardfoote.wordpress.com to readmore about this.
2) Making the heavy transaction tables lighter
I didnt get this one.
3) Checking if the indexes are firing
You mean by chance that they are in use or not?If yes than again this may not be the indication of the success truly.It may be possible that they are in use but not the right thing for the query.BTW indexes being used or not is not the database health check.Its the query's health check.
There are no certain parameters which needs to be on a cerain value.Every parameter and its value can have variation depending upon the environment,workload and most importantly release of the databse.If you want to benchmark your db's health ,I shall suggest take a STatspack report before the problem and when you see a variation in it and compare.This will give you the lead to find the bottleneck in the db's performance.Instance tuning(changing parameters) is the last resort or near to last one.
Aman....