[TriLUG] Oracle on Linux

[Don Jerman]

I used to run Oracle servers, but I'm rusty. Here's my $0.02 worth.



Generally you don't want Oracle servers using swap at all, or as little as
you can get them to, because Oracle (using temp segments) is smarter about
what to swap out.  You might try reducing the size of the block buffers to
buy you some time, and see if you can identify what's causing the swapping
to happen in the first place, or whether it tops out.

Oracle client sessions (sort buffers, cursors, etc) aren't included in the
server buffers (the SGA) that you allocate on start-up, so if Oracle is
eating memory, it's likely driven by client connection behaviors.  Maybe you
didn't allow enough extra RAM for clients, or maybe the clients aren't
ending sessions or closing cursors.  I had a problem years ago that made me
switch over from dedicated servers to MTS, so that dispatchers could use the
idled servers when sessions get abandoned.  (We couldn't get the program
fixed, so we had to fix the server - the be



Or it might be some other process you're running that's filling up RAM - you
don't have any ramdisks, do you? Ok, maybe not that obvious but there might
be something besides Oracle chewing on your memory.