Top Oracle Initialization Parameters

MEMORY_TARGET This is the initialization parameter setting for all of the memory allocated to
both the PGA and SGA combined (new in 11g). Setting MEMORY_TARGET enables Automatic
Memory Management, so Oracle allocates memory for you based on system needs, but you can
also set minimum values for key parameters. MEMORY_TARGET is used for everything that
SGA_TARGET was used for but now additionally includes the PGA (especially important as
MEMORY_TARGET now includes the important area PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET). Important
parameters such as DB_CACHE_SIZE, SHARED_POOL_SIZE, PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET,
LARGE_POOL_SIZE, and JAVA_POOL_SIZE are all set automatically when you set
MEMORY_TARGET. Setting minimum values for important initialization parameters in your system
is also a very good idea.
MEMORY_MAX_TARGET This is the maximum memory allocated for Oracle and the maximum
value to which MEMORY_TARGET can be set.
DB_CACHE_SIZE Initial memory allocated to data cache or memory used for data itself. This
parameter doesnt need to be set if you set MEMORY_TARGET or SGA_TARGET, but setting a
value for this as a minimum setting is a good idea. Your goal should always be toward a memory
resident database or at least toward getting all data that will be queried in memory.
SHARED_POOL_SIZE Memory allocated for data dictionary and for SQL and PL/SQL statements.
The query itself is put in memory here. This parameter doesnt need to be set if you set
MEMORY_TARGET, but setting a value for this as a minimum is a good idea. Note that SAP
recommends setting this to 400M. Also note that the Result Cache gets its memory from the shared
pool and is set with the RESULT_CACHE_SIZE and RESULT_CACHE_MODE
(FORCE/AUTO/MANUAL) initialization parameters. Lastly, an important note for 11g is that this
parameter now includes some SGA overhead (12M worth) that it previously did not (in 10g). In 11g,
set this 12M higher than you did in 10g!
SGA_TARGET If you use Oracles Automatic Shared Memory Management, this parameter is used
to determine the size of your data cache, shared pool, large pool, and Java pool automatically.
Setting this to 0 disables it. This parameter doesnt need to be set if you set MEMORY_TARGET,
but you may want to set a value for this as a minimum setting for the SGA if youve calibrated it in
previous versions. The SHARED_POOL_SIZE, LARGE_POOL_SIZE, JAVA_POOL_SIZE, and
DB_CACHE_SIZE are all set automatically based on this parameter (or MEMORY_TARGET if
used).
PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET Soft memory cap for total of all users PGAs. This parameter
doesnt need to be set if you set MEMORY_TARGET, but setting a value as a minimum setting is a
good idea. Note that SAP specifies to set this to 20 percent of available memory for OLTP and 40
percent for OLAP.
SGA_MAX_SIZE Maximum memory that SGA_TARGET can be set to. This parameter doesnt
need to be set if you set MEMORY_TARGET, but you may want to set a value if you use
SGA_TARGET.
OPTIMIZER_MODE FIRST_ROWS, FIRST_ROWS_n, or ALL_ROWS. Although RULE/CHOOSE
are definitely desupported and obsolete and people are often scolded for even talking about it, I

was able to set the mode to RULE in 11gR2. Consider the following error I received when I set
OPTIMIZER_MODE to a mode that doesnt exist (SUPER_FAST):

SEC_CASE_SENSITIVE_LOGON The default is TRUE, which makes passwords case sensitive

(new in 11g). Set this to FALSE to disable this feature.
SEC_MAX_FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS This locks an account if the user fails to enter the correct
password after this many tries (new in 11g). The default is 10 (consider lowering this value for very
secure systems). The DBA must issue an ALTER USER username ACCOUNT UNLOCK; to
unlock the account.
CURSOR_SHARING Converts literal SQL to SQL with bind variables, reducing parse overhead.
The default is EXACT. Consider setting it to FORCE after research.
OPTIMIZER_USE_INVISIBLE_INDEXES The default is FALSE to ensure invisible indexes are not
used by default (new in 11g). Set this parameter to TRUE to use all of the indexes and to check
which ones might have been set incorrectly to be invisible; this could be a helpful tuning exercise,
or it could also bring the system to halt so only use in development.
OPTIMIZER_USE_PENDING_STATISTICS The default is FALSE to ensure pending statistics are
not used, whereas setting this to TRUE enables all pending statistics to be used (new in 11g).
OPTIMIZER_INDEX_COST_ADJ Coarse adjustment between the cost of an index scan and the
cost of a full table scan. Set between 1 and 10 to force index use more frequently. Setting this
parameter to a value between 1 and 10 pretty much guarantees index use, however, even when
not appropriate, so be careful because it is highly dependent on the index design and
implementation being correct. Please note that if you are using Applications 11i, setting
OPTIMIZER_INDEX_COST_ADJ to any value other than the default (100) is not supported (see
Metalink note 169935.1). Ive seen a benchmark where this was set to 200. Also, see bug 4483286.
SAP suggests that you not set it for OLAP, but set it to 20 for OLTP.
DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT For full table scans to perform I/O more efficiently, this
parameter reads the given number of blocks in a single I/O. The default value is 128 in 11gR2, but
it is usually noted not to change this from the default.
LOG_BUFFER Buffer for uncommitted transactions in memory; it must be set in the PFILE if you
want to change it. SAP says to use the default, whereas Oracle Applications sets it to 10M. Ive
seen benchmarks with it set over 100M.
DB_KEEP_CACHE_SIZE Memory allocated to keep pool or an additional data cache that you can
set up outside the buffer cache for very important data that you dont want pushed out of the cache.
DB_RECYCLE_CACHE_SIZE Memory allocated to a recycle pool or an additional data cache that
you can set up outside the buffer cache and in addition to the keep cache described in item 17.
Usually, DBAs set this up for ad hoc user query data with poorly written queries.
OPTIMIZER_USE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES The default is TRUE, which means Oracle uses
these baselines if they exist (new in 11g). Note that Stored Outlines are deprecated (discouraged
but they still work) in 11g, as they are replaced with SQL Plan Baselines.
OPTIMIZER_CAPTURE_SQL_PLAN_BASELINES The default is FALSE, which means that
Oracle does not capture them by default, but if you create some, it will use them as stated in the
previous parameter (new in 11g).
LARGE_POOL_SIZE Total blocks in the large pool allocation for large PL/SQL and a few other
Oracle options less frequently used.

STATISTICS_LEVEL Used to enable advisory information and optionally keep additional OS

statistics to refine optimizer decisions. TYPICAL is the default.
JAVA_POOL_SIZE Memory allocated to the JVM for JAVA stored procedures.
JAVA_MAX_SESSIONSPACE_SIZE Upper limit on memory that is used to keep track of the user
session state of JAVA classes.
OPEN_CURSORS Specifies the size of the private area used to hold (open) user statements. If
you get an ORA-01000: maximum open cursors exceeded, you may need to increase this
parameter, but make sure you are closing cursors that you no longer need. Prior to 9.2.0.5, these
open cursors were also cached and, at times, caused issues (ORA-4031) if OPEN_CURSORS was
set too high. As of 9.2.05, SESSION_CACHED_CURSORS now controls the setting of the PL/SQL
cursor cache. Do not set the parameter SESSION_CACHED_CURSORS as high as you set
OPEN_CURSORS, or you may experience ORA-4031 or ORA-7445 errors. SAP recommends
setting this to 2000; Oracle Applications has OPEN_CURSORS at 600 and
SESSION_CACHED_CURSORS at 500.