How to Collect Diagnostics for Database Hanging Issues (Doc ID 452358.1)

APPLIES TO: Oracle Database - Enterprise Edition - Version 9.0.1.0 and later Oracle Database - Personal Edition - Version 9.0.1.0 and later Oracle Database - Standard Edition - Version 9.0.1.0 and later Information in this document applies to any platform. GOAL When a database appears to be hung, it is useful to collect information from the database in order to determine the root cause of the hang. The root cause of  the hang can often be isolated and solved using the diagnostic information gathered. Alternatively, if this is not possible, we can use the information obtained in order to help eliminate future occurences Performance Service Request Diagnostic Collection (SRDC) documents Service Request Data Collection (SRDC) documents have been specially designed to provide the reader with the necessary instructions to provide a step by step guide to collecting information for a various common Database Performance Issues. Document 1938786.1 List of Available Database Performance Related SRDC Documents SOLUTION WHAT IS NEEDED TO DIAGNOSE "DATABASE HANG" ISSUES? Database hangs are characterised by a number of processes waiting for some other activities to complete. Typically there is one or more blockers that are stuck or perhaps working hard and not freeing resources quickly enough. In order to diagnose this the following diagnostics are needed: A. Hanganalyze and Systemstate Dumps B. AWR/Statspack snapshots of General database performance C. Up to date RDA Please refer to the relevant sections below for more details on how to collect these. Note: Hangs within Multitenant Databases If you are running a Multitenant Database then you should determine whether the hang situation that you are encountering is at the container level or with one specific pluggable databases (PDBs). Once this is established then connect to and collect the diagnostics only within the PDB that is experiencing the issue. If it is unclear where the hang is, then from the diagnostic point of view it is better to collect diagnostics connected to the Root container, so that ALL processes for all PDBs are covered rather than omit useful information. However, if you have a large number of PDBs and only one of them is 'hanging' this could result in the collection of a large amount of unrelated data. With this in mind, please make every effort to identify what is hanging and collect only within that database. A. Dumps and Traces Hanganalyze and Systemstate Dumps Hanganalyze and Systemstate dumps provide information on the processes in the database at a specific point in time. Hanganalyze provides information on all processes involved in the hang chain, whereas systemstate provides information on all processes in the database. When looking at a potential hang situation, you need to determine whether a process is stuck or moving slowly. By collecting these dumps at 2 consecutive intervals  this can be established. If a process is stuck, these traces also provide the information to start further diagnosis and possibly help to provide the solution. Hanganalyze is a summary and will confirm if the db is really hung or just slow and provides a consistent snapshot. Systemstate dump shows what each process on the database is doing Collecting Hanganalyze and Systemstate Dumps Logging in to the system Using SQL*Plus connect as SYSDBA using the following command: sqlplus '/ as sysdba' If there are problems making this connection then in 10gR2 and above, the sqlplus "preliminary connection" can be used : sqlplus -prelim '/ as sysdba' Note: From 11.2.0.2 onwards, hanganalyze will not produce output under a sqlplus "preliminary connection" since it requires a process state object and a session state object. If a hanganalyze is attempted, although the hanganalyze will appear to be successful: SQL>  oradebug hanganalyze 3 Statement processed. the tracefile will contain the following output: HANG ANALYSIS: ERROR: Can not perform hang analysis dump without a process state object and a session state object. ( process=(nil), sess=(nil) ) For more about connecting with a preliminary connection, see: Document 986640.1 How To Connect Using A Sqlplus Preliminary Connection Collection commands for Hanganalyze and Systemstate: Non-RAC: Sometimes, database may actually just be very slow and not actually hanging. It is therefore recommended,  where possible to get 2 hanganalyze and 2 systemstate dumps in order to determine whether processes are moving at all or whether they are "frozen". Hanganalyze sqlplus '/ as sysdba' oradebug setmypid oradebug unlimit oradebug hanganalyze 3 -- Wait one minute before getting the second hanganalyze oradebug hanganalyze 3 oradebug tracefile_name exit Systemstate sqlplus '/ as sysdba' oradebug setmypid oradebug unlimit oradebug dump systemstate 266 oradebug dump systemstate 266 oradebug tracefile_name exit Collection commands for Hanganalyze and Systemstate: RAC There are 2 bugs affecting RAC that without the relevant patches being applied on your system, make using level 266 or 267 very costly. Therefore without these fixes in place it highly unadvisable to use these level For information on these patches see: Document 11800959.8 Bug 11800959 - A SYSTEMSTATE dump with level >= 10 in RAC dumps huge BUSY GLOBAL CACHE ELEMENTS - can hang/crash instances Document 11827088.8 Bug 11827088 - Latch 'gc element' contention, LMHB terminates the instance      Note:  both bugs are fixed in 11.2.0.3.   Collection commands for Hanganalyze and Systemstate: RAC with fixes for bug 11800959 and bug 11827088  For 11g: sqlplus '/ as sysdba' oradebug setorapname reco oradebug  unlimit oradebug -g all hanganalyze 3 oradebug -g all hanganalyze 3 oradebug -g all dump systemstate 266 oradebug -g all dump systemstate 266 exit Collection commands for Hanganalyze and Systemstate: RAC without fixes for Bug 11800959 and Bug 11827088 sqlplus '/ as sysdba' oradebug setorapname reco oradebug unlimit oradebug -g all hanganalyze 3 oradebug -g all hanganalyze 3 oradebug -g all dump systemstate 258 oradebug -g all dump systemstate 258 exit For 10g, run oradebug setmypid instead of oradebug setorapname reco: sqlplus '/ as sysdba' oradebug setmypid oradebug unlimit oradebug -g all hanganalyze 3 oradebug -g all hanganalyze 3 oradebug -g all dump systemstate 258 oradebug -g all dump systemstate 258 exit In RAC environment, a dump will be created for all RAC instances in the DIAG trace file for each instance. Explanation of Hanganalyze and Systemstate Levels Hanganalyze levels: Level 3: In 11g onwards, level 3 also collects a short stack for relevant processes in hang chain Systemstate levels: Level 258 is a fast alternative but we'd lose some lock element data Level 267 can be used if additional buffer cache / lock element data is needed with an understanding of the cost Other Methods If connection to the system is not possible in any form, then please refer to the following article which describes how to collect systemstates in that situation: Document 121779.1 Taking a SYSTEMSTATE dump when you cannot CONNECT to Oracle. On RAC Systems, hanganalyze, systemstates and some other RAC information can be collected using the 'racdiag.sql' script, see: Document 135714.1 Script to Collect RAC Diagnostic Information (racdiag.sql) Capturing systemstates based upon an error Sometimes you may wish to collect systemstate information at the time that a particular error occurs. This can be done by setting an event in the session or system wide to trigger based upon the detection of an error. For example, if a hang was being encountered that was related to an ORA-00054 error, then you could capture a systemstate when the ORA-00054 occurs using the following command: sqlplus '/ as sysdba' ALTER SYSTEM SET events '54 trace name systemstate level 258'; The next time an ORA-00054 is encountered, a systemstate will be dumped. The tracing can be disabled with : ALTER SYSTEM SET events '54 trace name context off'; You can also set such events in the spfile. See: Document 160178.1 How To Set EVENTS In The SPFILE  Note: be aware that this will produce a trace for every occurrence of the error. V$wait_chains Starting from 11g release 1, the dia0 background processes starts collecting hanganalyze information and stores this in memory in the "hang analysis cache". It does this every 3 seconds for local hanganalyze information and every 10 seconds for global (RAC) hanganalyze information. This information can provide a quick view of hang chains occurring at the time of a hang being experienced. For more information see: Document 1428210.1 Troubleshooting Database Contention With V$Wait_Chains B. Provide AWR/Statspack snapshots of General database performance Hangs are a visible effect of a number of potential causes, this can range from a single process issue to something brought on by a global problem. Collecting information about the general performance of the database in the build up to, during and after the problem is of primary importance since these snapshots can help to determine the nature of the load on the database at these times and can provide vital diagnostic information. This may prove invaluable in identifying the area of the problem and ultimately resolving the issue. To do this, please take and upload snapshot reports of database performance (AWR (or statspack) reports) immediately before, during and after the hang.. Please refer to the following article for details of what to collect: Document 781198.1 Diagnostics for Database Performance Issues C. Gather an up to date RDA An up to date current RDA provides a lot of additional information about the configuration of the database and performance metrics and can be examined to spot background issues that may impact performance. See the following note on My Oracle Support: Document 314422.1 Remote Diagnostic Agent (RDA) 4 - Getting Started PROACTIVE METHODS TO GATHER INFORMATION ON A HANGING SYSTEM On some systems a hang can occur when the DBA is not available to run diagnostics or at times it may be too late to collect the relevant diagnostics. In these cases, the following methods may be used to gather diagnostics: As an alternative to the manual collection method notes above, it is also possible to use the HANGFG script as described in the following note to collect the information: Document 362094.1 HANGFG User Guide Additionally, this script can collect information with lower impact on the target database. LTOM The Lite Onboard Monitor (LTOM) is a java program designed as a real-time diagnostic platform for deployment to a customer site.LTOM proactively provides real-time automatic problem detection and data collection. For more information see: Document 352363.1 LTOM - The On-Board Monitor User Guide Procwatcher Procwatcher is a tool that examines and monitors Oracle database and/or clusterware processes at a specific interval The following notes explain how to use Procwatcher: Document 459694.1 Procwatcher: Script to Monitor and Examine Oracle DB and Clusterware Processes Document 1352623.1 How To Troubleshoot Database Contention With Procwatcher OSWatcher contains a built in analyzer that allows the data that has been collected to be automatically analyzed, pro-actively looking for cpu, memory, io and network issues. It is recommended that all users install and run OSW since it is invaluable for looking at issues on the OS and has very little overhead. It can also be extremely useful for looking at OS performance degradation that may be seen when a hang situation occurs. Refer to the following for download, user guide and usage videos on OSWatcher: Document 301137.1 OSWatcher User Guide (Includes: [Video]) ORACLE ENTERPRISE MANAGER 12C REAL-TIME ADDM Real-Time ADDM is a feature of Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control 12c that allows you to analyze database performance automatically when you cannot logon to the database because it is hung or performing very slowly due to a performance issue. It analyzes current performance when database is hanging or running slow and reports sources of severe contention. For more information see the following video: Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c Real-Time ADDM RETROACTIVE INFORMATION COLLECTION Sometimes we may only notice a hang after it has occurred. In this case the following information may help with Root Cause Analysis: A series of AWR/Statspack reports leading up to and during the hang ASH reports - one can obtain more granular reports during the time of the hang - even up to one minute in time. Raw ASH information. This can be obtained by issuing an  ashdump trac. See: Document 243132.1 10g and above Active Session History (Ash) And Analysis Of Ash Online And Offline Document 555303.1 ashdump* scripts and post-load processing of MMNL traces Alert log and any traces created at time of hang On a RAC specifically check the following traces files as well: dia0, lmhb, diag and lmd0 traces RDA as above

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