oracle-databasedatabase-performancesql-tuning

Is there a hint to generate execution plan ignoring the existing one from shared pool?


Is there a hint to generate execution plan ignoring the existing one from the shared pool?


Solution

  • There is not a hint to create an execution plan that ignores plans in the shared pool. A more common way of phrasing this question is: how do I get Oracle to always perform a hard parse?

    There are a few weird situations where this behavior is required. It would be helpful to fully explain your reason for needing this, as the solution varies depending why you need it.

    1. Strange performance problem. Oracle performs some dynamic re-optimization of SQL statements after the first run, like adaptive cursor sharing and cardinality feedback. In the rare case when those features backfire you might want to disable them.
    2. Dynamic query. You have a dynamic query that used Oracle data cartridge to fetch data in the parse step, but Oracle won't execute the parse step because the query looks static to Oracle.
    3. Misunderstanding. Something has gone wrong and this is an XY problem.

    Solutions

    The simplest way to solve this problem are by using Thorsten Kettner's solution of changing the query each time.

    If that's not an option, the second simplest solution is to flush the query from the shared pool, like this:

    --This only works one node at a time.
    begin
        for statements in
        (
            select distinct address, hash_value
            from gv$sql
            where sql_id = '33t9pk44udr4x'
            order by 1,2
        ) loop
            sys.dbms_shared_pool.purge(statements.address||','||statements.hash_value, 'C');
        end loop;
    end;
    /
    

    If you have no control over the SQL, and need to fix the problem using a side-effect style solution, Jonathan Lewis and Randolf Geist have a solution using Virtual Private Database, that adds a unique predicate to each SQL statement on a specific table. You asked for something weird, here's a weird solution. Buckle up.

    -- Create a random predicate for each query on a specific table.
    create table hard_parse_test_rand as
    select * from all_objects
    where rownum <= 1000;
    
    begin
      dbms_stats.gather_table_stats(null, 'hard_parse_test_rand');
    end;
    /
    
    create or replace package pkg_rls_force_hard_parse_rand is
      function force_hard_parse (in_schema varchar2, in_object varchar2) return varchar2;
    end pkg_rls_force_hard_parse_rand;
    /
    
    create or replace package body pkg_rls_force_hard_parse_rand is
      function force_hard_parse (in_schema varchar2, in_object varchar2) return varchar2
      is
        s_predicate varchar2(100);
        n_random pls_integer;
      begin
        n_random := round(dbms_random.value(1, 1000000));
        -- s_predicate := '1 = 1';
        s_predicate := to_char(n_random, 'TM') || ' = ' || to_char(n_random, 'TM');
        -- s_predicate := 'object_type = ''TABLE''';
        return s_predicate;
      end force_hard_parse;
    end pkg_rls_force_hard_parse_rand;
    /
    
    begin
      DBMS_RLS.ADD_POLICY (USER, 'hard_parse_test_rand', 'hard_parse_policy', USER, 'pkg_rls_force_hard_parse_rand.force_hard_parse', 'select');
    end;
    /
    
    alter system flush shared_pool;
    

    You can see the hard-parsing in action by running the same query multiple times:

    select * from hard_parse_test_rand;
    select * from hard_parse_test_rand;
    select * from hard_parse_test_rand;
    select * from hard_parse_test_rand;
    

    Now there are three entries in GV$SQL for each execution. There's some odd behavior in Virtual Private Database that parses the query multiple times, even though the final text looks the same.

    select *
    from gv$sql
    where sql_text like '%hard_parse_test_rand%'
        and sql_text not like '%quine%'
    order by 1;