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Performance Tuning for PHP

with Oracle Databases
Christopher Jones, Product Development, Oracle
October 2007
 Overview
• What OCI8 does
• Connection Management
• Connection types
• Performance tips
• Statement Tuning
• Binding
• Caching
• Transactions
• Bulk operations
• SQL and PL/SQL Tips
• Tuning and Development Tools
OCI8 Extension
 What is OCI8?

• Main Oracle Database extension for PHP

<?p hp
  $c  = o ci _co nn ect ('u n' , ' pw ',  '/ /l oca lh ost /X E') ;
  $s  = o ci _pa rs e($ c,  's ele ct  *  fr om  em pl oye es ');
  oci _ex ec ute ($ s);
  whi le  ($ row  =  oc i_f et ch_ ar ray ($ s) )
     fore ac h ( $r ow  as  $i tem )
        pr in t $ it em;
?>
 Three Tier Web Model

Apache

PHP
OCI8 Extension
Oracle Client
Libraries

Web User Mid Tier Oracle Database

9i, 10g, 11g 8i, 9i, 10g, 11g
Any platform Any platform
 OCI8 or PDO_OCI?

• OCI8
• Stable and fast
• Has support for Oracle 11g DB Resident Connection
Pooling*
• PDO
• Time is coming rapidly, but perhaps not just yet
• Bugs for PDO and PDO_xxx (for various database
drivers) are outstanding
• PDO_OCI doesn't support all features of OCI8

* Beta OCI8 extension available now

 OCI8 Features

• Execute SQL and PL/SQL

• Long Objects (LOB), including Temporary LOBs
• Collections
• REFCURSORS
• Binds and Array Binds
• Persistent Connections
• Prefetching
• Statement Caching
• Meta Data
• Password Changing
 OCI8 Extension

• Refactored by Oracle and Zend in 2005

• Stable and fast
• Contributed back to PHP community
• Same API as original OCI8 in PHP 3 and PHP 4
• New php.ini parameters for
• Persistent connection management
• Row prefetching
• Client side statement cache
 Get the Refactored OCI8

• php.net
• Source code, Windows Binaries
• PECL - PHP Extension Community Library
• Useful for updating PHP4 with new OCI8
• oss.oracle.com/projects/php
• RPMs for Linux
• Zend Core for Oracle
• Linux, Solaris, Windows, AIX
 Top DB Performance Mistakes

• Bad connection management

• Bad use of cursors and Shared Pool
• Bad SQL
• Use of non-standard initialization parameters
• Getting DB I/O wrong
• Redo Log Setup Problems
• Serialization of data blocks
• Long full table scans

Same is true for PHP applications too

Connection Management
 OCI8 Connections

oc i_ con ne ct ()
oc i_ new _c on nec t()
oc i_ pco nn ec t()
 Standard Connections

$c  =  oci _c on nec t($ use rn am e,  $p ass wo rd,  $ db nam e);

• Second oci_connect() in script returns same

DB connection
• Connection exists for script life
• Can explicitly close
 Multiple Unique Connections

$c  =  oci _new _co nn ect ($ un,  $ pw,  $d b) ;

• Each oci_new_connect() returns a new DB

connection
• Use for independent operations
• Connection exists for script life
• Can explicitly close
Persistent Connections are
Cached
oci_pconnect()

user:db:charset:privilege
hr:XE:ALU32UTF8:normal
system:XE:ALU32UTF8:sysdba

Second request fast

 Persistent Connections

$c  =  oci _pco nne ct ($u n,  $p w,  $d b);

• Not automatically closed at script completion

• Fast for subsequent connections
• But holds resources when application idle
• Configurable in php.ini
oci 8.max _pers isten t
oci 8.per siste nt_ti meout
oci 8.pin g_int erval
 Maximum Number of Persistent
Connections
• php.ini:
oc i8 .ma x_ pe rsi ste nt  =  ­1
• Number of connections cached by each
Apache process
• Using -1 means no limit
• If limit is reached, connections will succeed
but will be treated like oci_connect() calls.
• Becomes obsolete with new Beta OCI8
extension
• Can use 11g DB connection pool settings instead
 Timeout for Unused Persistent
Connections
• php.ini:
oc i8 .pe rs is ten t_t ime ou t  = ­ 1
• Seconds an idle connection will be retained
• Using -1 means no timeout
Round Trips Between PHP and
Oracle

Round Trip

Tuning goal: minimize round trips

 Pinging for Closed Persistent
Connections
• php.ini:
oc i8 .pi ng _i nte rva l =  6 0
• Seconds that pass before oci_pconnect()
connection is checked before being used
• New connection created if old one unavailable
• Generates “round trip” to DB
• For scalability, disable by setting to -1
• Applications need to recover from errors anyway
• With new Beta OCI8 use FAN events instead
 Closing Connections

• An oci _c los e( ) now closes connections from

oc i_c on nec t( ) and oci _n ew _co nn ect ()
• Unset related resources first
$st id  =  nu ll;  o ci_ clo se ($ c);
• Was no-op, so check performance after
upgrading
• Or revert with php.ini
   oc i8. ol d_o ci _c lose _s em ant ic s =  1
• Closing is good in many circumstances, e.g.
• Long running scripts with little DB interaction
• For using connection pooling
Connection Performance
 Use the Right Function

 $c  =  oc i_ pconn ec t($ un , $ pw,  $ db) ;

• Use oci_pconnect()
• Doesn't need to create new physical DB connection
 Pass the Character Set

$c  =  oci _p co nne ct( $un ,  $p w,  $d b,  'j a16 eu c' );

• Removes need for environment lookup

• Improves even persistent connection
performance
 Optimize Environment Setting

fun ct ion  m y_ con nec t($ un ,  $pw ,  $db )

{
  $c  = o ci _p con ne ct($ un ,  $pw ,  $db );
  $s  = o ci _p ars e( $c,  "a lt er  se ssi on  se t 
            nls _da te _fo rm at= 'YY YY ­MM ­D D H H2 4: MI: SS '") ;
  oci _ex ec ut e($ s) ;
  ret urn  $ c;
}

Could be improved
 Environment Setting: Process
Environment
• Set NLS_DATE_FORMAT in environment
• All users get same format
• Application deployment now has dependency
on environment
• In Shell:
nl s_d at e_f or mat ='Y YY Y­M M­ DD  HH 24 :MI :S S'
• PHP code:
  fun cti on  my _c onn ect ($ un,  $ pw,  $ db )
  {
     $c =  o ci_ pc onn ect ($ un,  $ pw,  $ db );
     retu rn  $c ;
  }
 Environment Setting: Trigger

• Use a PL/SQL LOGON trigger

  cre ate  o r r ep lac e t ri gge r  my_ se t_ dat e

af te r l og on  on  da tab as e
  beg in
     if ( us er  =  'HR ')  th en
        ex ec ute  i mme di ate  
            'alt er  se ss ion  se t  nls _d at e_f or mat  =
            ''YY YY ­MM ­D D H H24 :M I:S S' '  ';
     end  if ;
  end  my _s et_ da te;
 Environment Setting: Trigger

• PHP Code is
  fun cti on  my _c onn ect ($ un,  $ pw,  $ db )
  {
     $c =  o ci_ pc onn ect ($ un,  $ pw,  $ db );
     retu rn  $c ;
  }
 LOGON Trigger

• Fires only first time oci_pconnect() is called

after Apache process starts
• This is when the DB connection is created
• Subsequent oci_pconnect() calls get established
connection from PHP cache
• Multiple SQL statements can be executed in
the procedure
• Reduces number of calls between PHP and DB
 Connections with Oracle RAC

• Tune auditing sequence generator

SQL> a lter  seque nce 
sy s.aud ses$  cache  1000 0;
• Reduces data transfers between nodes
• Also useful for non-RAC connection peaks

(RAC is “Real Application Clusters”)

Statement Tuning
 SQL Statement Execution

• Parse - oc i_par se()

Prepares a statement for execution
• Bind - oc i_bin d_by_ name( )
Optionally binds variables in WHERE clause or to PL/SQL
arguments
• Execute - oc i_exe cute( )
The Database executes the statement and buffers the
results
• Fetch - oc i_fet ch_ar ray()
Optionally retrieves results from the database
Row Prefetching
Set oci8.default_prefetch

PHP Database
OCI8 Extension Oracle Client
Libraries

Beijing Beijing
Bern
Bombay
...

Reduces round trips

 OCI8 Prefetch Rows

• php.ini
oci 8. de fau lt _pr efe tc h =  1 0
• Maximum number of rows in each DB "round trip"
• Memory limit also set: 1024 * oci8.default_prefetch
• Value can also be set inline
oc i_s et _p ref et ch( $s,  1 00) ;
• Improves query performance by reducing
“round trips”
• Rows are cached internally by Oracle
• no need to change application
 OCI8 Prefetch Rows

• PHP code still returns user one row at a time

$s  =  oci _p ars e( $c,  's el ect  *  fr om  e mpl oy ees ') ;
oci _e xec ut e($ s) ;
oci _s et_ pr efe tc h($ s,  10 0);
  whi le  ($row  =  oc i_ fet ch_ ar ray ($ s) )
     fore ac h ( $r ow  as  $i tem )
        pr in t $ it em;
 Statement Caching: No Bind
Variables
select col
from tab
where v = 1

select col
from tab
select col where v = 2
from tab
where v = 1

1: select col from

tab where v = 1
Poor use 2: select col from
select col of cache tab where v = 2
from tab
where v = 2 Database cache
 Bind Variables

• Like "%s" print format specifiers

• Application can re-execute statements with
different values
• Database feature, always available
• Improves overall database throughput
• Helps prevent SQL Injection attacks
 Statement Caching: Binding
select col
from tab
where v = :bv

select col
from tab
select col where v = :bv
from tab
where v = :bv

Increases 1: select col from

performance tab where v = :bv
select col
from tab and security
where v = :bv
Database cache
 OCI8 Bind Example

$s  = oc i_par se($c ,"sel ect l ast_n ame

   from  emplo yees  where  empl oyee_ id =  :eidb v"); 
$e id =  101; 
oc i_bin d_by_ name( $s, " :eidb v", $ eid);  
oc i_exe cute( $s); 
oc i_fet ch_al l($s,  $r);  
ec ho "N ame:  ".$r[ 'LAST _NAME '][0] ."\n" ; 
$e id =  102; 
oc i_exe cute( $s);     //  No ne ed to  re­p arse  
oc i_fet ch_al l($s,  $r);  
ec ho "N ame:  ".$r[ 'LAST _NAME '][0] ."\n" ;
 Statement Caching: Client
Set oci8.statement_cache_size
select col
from tab

select col “Use statement 1”

from tab

1: select col 1: select col

from tab from tab
select col
from tab
Client cache Database cache

Less traffic and CPU

 OCI8 Statement Cache

• php.ini
  oc i8. st ate me nt_ cac he _si ze  =  20
• Unit is number of statements
• Client side cache of statements
• Moves cache management load from DB to PHP
side
• Reduces net traffic and context switches
• Uses memory on PHP side for cached statement
handles
• Uses memory on DB for per-session cursors
 Oracle Database 11g Also Has . . .

• Oracle Database 11g introduces:

• Server Result Cache
• OCI Consistent Client Cache
• PL/SQL Function Result Cache
• OCI8 extension can use them automatically
 Limiting Rows

• Don't fetch more data than necessary

• Use SQL to process data e.g. inline views
• Row limiting query is:

SE LECT  last_ name  FROM 

   (SELEC T las t_nam e, 
   ROW_NU MBER( ) OVE R 
 (O RDER  BY la st_na me) A S MYR
   FROM e mploy ees) 
WHE RE MY R BET WEEN  11 an d 20  
 Transaction Management

• By default oci _ex ec ute () auto-commits

• Unnecessarily committing
• Can cause extra “round trips” to the DB
• Use oci_ ex ec ute ($ s,  OCI _D EFA UL T)
• OC I_DEF AULT  is not the default in PHP!
 Commits can be Piggybacked

oci _e xec ut e( $s1 , O CI_ DE FA ULT );

...
oci _e xec ut e( $s2 , O CI_ DE FA ULT );
...
oci _e xec ut e( $s3 );
...
//  no  ex pl ic it  oci _co mm it ()  ne ede d

• Saves a round-trip
• But can make code correctness harder
• oci_execute() for queries will commit
• Any DDL will commit
Non Transactional

fo reach  ($a  as $v ) {

 $s  = oc i_par se($c , 
"i nsert  into  myta b val ues ( '".$v ."')" );
 $r  = oc i_exe cute( $s);
}

Parse and commit per insert is slow

(and insecure)
Transactional

$s  = oc i_par se($c , 

            'in sert  into  mytab  valu es (: bv)') ;
oc i_bin d_by_ name( $s,': bv',$ v,20, SQLT_ CHR);
fo reach  ($a  as $v )
   $r =  oci_e xecut e($s,  OCI_ DEFAU LT);
oc i_com mit($ c);

This is better: one parse, one commit

Bulk Inserts (PHP Code)

$s  = oc i_par se($c ,

      'be gin m ypkg. mypro c(:c1 ); en d;');
oc i_bin d_arr ay_by _name ($s,  ":c1" , $a,
      cou nt($a ), ­1 , SQL T_CHR );
oc i_exe cute( $s);

Could be fastest: just three calls

Bulk Inserts (PL/SQL Side)
cre at e o r  re pla ce  pac ka ge  my pk g a s
  typ e a rr ty pe  is  tab le  o f v ar cha r2 (20 )
     inde x  by  pl s_ inte ge r;
  pro ced ur e  myp ro c(p1  i n  arr ty pe) ;
end  m ypk g;
cre at e o r  re pla ce  pac ka ge  bo dy  my pk g a s
  pro ced ur e  myp ro c(p1  i n  arr ty pe)  i s
  beg in
     fora ll  i  in  i ndi ce s o f p 1
        in se rt  in to  my tab  v alu es  (p 1( i)) ;
  end  my pr oc ;
end  m ypk g;
Demonstration of OCI8
SQL and PL/SQL Tips
 SQL Optimizer

• Make sure table statistics are up to date

• Use the PL/SQL DB MS_ST ATS package
• Can override optimizer with “hints” in
statements:
select  /*+  FULL( j) */
from j ob_hi story  j;
 PL/SQL Tips #1

These are suggestions for evaluation.

They are in no particular order.
• Wrap multiple SQL statements in a PL/SQL
block to minimize number of oci_parse() and
oci_execute() calls
• Use SQL constructs to fetch minimal amount of
data required
• Optimize SQL in PL/SQL and calls to PL/SQL
from SQL
• If you call a PL/SQL function in a query, use a function
based index
 PL/SQL Tips #2

• Use PL/SQL bulk operations FORALL and BULK

COLLECT instead of loops
• Use built in functions for string operations and
use REGEXP_* functions for pattern matching
• Take advantage of short circuit evaluation in
tests
• Minimize type conversions
• Use built in types like PLS_INTEGER,
SIMPLE_INTEGER and BINARY_FLOAT
• Declare VARCHAR2's > 4000 bytes to trigger
delayed space allocation of actual data size
 PL/SQL Tips #3

• Group related procedures in same package so

all are loaded
• Pin packages in shared memory
• Use 11g DBMS_HPROF profiler
• Use Native compilation
• Use global application context or package state
to cache values
• Use DBMS_SCHEDULER for delayed jobs
• Use Change Notification for event handling
• No prefetching with REF CURSORS
Old Skool Tuning
SQL Tuning – SQL*Plus
AUTOTRACE
 Application Tuning

• SQL_TRACE
• Log SQL statement execution
• TIMED_STATISTICS
• Gather timing information
• TKPROF
• Trace file formatter produces text report
 Looking at TKPROF Output

• Identify “hard” parsing

• Statements should be executed more times than
parsed
• Statements executed only once may need to
use bind variables
• Look for slow queries
• High disk reads
• DB Shared cache might be too small
• Low CPU time but high user time
• Waiting for some resource
 Database Tuning

• STATSPACK
• SQL scripts taking snapshot of DB performance
• Reports parsing, caching, IO, latches, . . .
New Skool Tuning
 New Skool Tools

• GUI Tuning Tools

• Application Express (aka HTML DB)
• SQL Developer
• Oracle Enterprise Manager
• Automatic Performance Tools ( >= 10g)
• Automatic Workload Repository (AWR)
• Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor (ADDM)
• SQL Tuning Advisor
• SQL Access Advisor
 Oracle Database XE

• Small footprint starter database

• Up to 4GB user data, 1 core/processor, 1GB RAM
• 1 database instance per machine
• Free to download, develop, deploy, distribute
• 32-bit Linux and Windows
• Free OTN online community forum for support
• Uses native install on Windows and Linux
• Application Express GUI
Application Express SQL
Worksheet
APEX Database Tuning
APEX Top SQL Report
SQL Developer
• Browse, create and
update schema
objects
• Create, edit and
debug PL/SQL
• SQL Worksheet
(commands, scripts)
• Run predefined
reports or create new
reports
• Add functionality
using the extensible
platform
SQL Developer

• Great user experience

• Just unzip the
download to install
• Supports Windows,
Mac OS, and Linux
• Supports Oracle DB
9.2.0.1 or later
• Free and supported
SQL Developer
 Database Tuning: AWR

• Create pair of snapshots before and after load

$ s qlplu s / a s sys dba
SQL >  exe c 
db ms_wo rkloa d_rep osito ry.cr eate_ snaps hot() ;
[Run application and then take second snapshot]
SQL >  exe c 
db ms_wo rkloa d_rep osito ry.cr eate_ snaps hot() ;

• Create AWR Report

SQL > @$O RACLE _HOME /rdbm s/adm in/aw rrpt. sql

• Prompts for start and end snapshots

• Creates HTML or text report
AWR
Database Tuning: ADDM

● ADDM analyzes pairs of AWR snapshots

● Provides recommendations
● Has internal goal to reduce a “throughput”
metric of cumulative DB request time
● View in Oracle Enterprise Manager
● View text report
   SQ L> @$ ORACL E_HOM E/rdb ms/ad min/a ddmrp t.sql
● Prompts for start and end AWR snapshots

● Creates a text file report

ADDM

…
FINDING 1: 100% impact (494 seconds)
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
Significant virtual memory paging was detected on the host operating system.

   RECOMMENDATION 1: Host Configuration, 100% benefit (494 seconds)
      ACTION: Host operating system was experiencing significant paging but
      no particular root cause could be detected. Investigate processes that
      do not belong to this instance running on the host that are consuming
      significant amount of virtual memory. Also consider adding more
      physical memory to the host.

FINDING 2: 75% impact (369 seconds)
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
SQL statements consuming significant database time were found.

   RECOMMENDATION 1: SQL Tuning, 21% benefit (101 seconds)
      ACTION: Investigate the SQL statement with SQL_ID "cfz686a6qp0kg" for
         possible performance improvements.
         RELEVANT OBJECT: SQL statement with SQL_ID cfz686a6qp0kg and
         PLAN_HASH 3679656590
         select o.obj#, u.name, o.name, t.spare1,
 Benchmark During Development

• Benchmark from the start

• Set metrics
• Test as you create the application
• Instrument code
• Use efficient architecture and algorithms
• Scale up and test
• This will show weaknesses
 Oracle Technology Network
PHP Developer Center
• Articles
• Install guides
• Underground
PHP and Oracle
Manual
• Online forum
• PHP RPMs
• Oracle
JDeveloper 10g
PHP extension
oracle.com/technology/php
Oracle Resources

• Oracle Techology Network (OTN) is free

PHP Developer Center
www.oracle.com/technology/php
• Underground PHP and Oracle Manual
• Articles, FAQs, links to blogs, JDeveloper PHP
Extension, PHP RPMs
• SQL and PL/SQL Questions
asktom.oracle.com
• Information
[email protected]
blogs.oracle.com/opal
• ISVs and hardware vendors
oraclepartnernetwork.oracle.com
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