Oracle® Database 10g Insider Solutions

Avoiding Advisor Pitfalls

You may have noticed that the approach taken by the advisors is very similar to that used by a performance analyst. For example, when the SQL Tuning Advisor is invoked, it checks for the presence of valid and up-to-date object statistics. It then performs access path analysis such as checking for the presence of appropriate indexes. The SQL Access Advisor performs a similar task while looking for opportunities to create materialized views and to utilize the query-rewrite facility. In other words, the advisors automate what a human would do. Hence, when used incorrectly or without a complete understanding of the application and environment, the advisors suffer from the same shortfalls and mistakes that a human would be ...