STATISTIC "cache hit ratio" - Reference Note

转自metalink 33883.1
需要提醒的是：Database tuning never must be driven by hit ratios. They only provide additional information to understand how the instance is operating.


Definition:
~~~~~~~~~~~
  The "cache hit ratio" is a derived statistic referred to in a number of
  manuals and articles. There is more than one definition of the cache hit
  ratio in existence.
  The hit ratio is intended to give an indication of how often the various
  processes accessing the data buffers find the blocks in the Oracle buffer
  cache. The exact value of the hit ratio is of less importance than the
  ability to monitor it over time to notice any significant changes in the
  profile of activity on the database.
 
*** Important: A very high hit ratio (close to 100%) is not necessarily good
               The reasons for this are explained later.


Calculation:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
  The most common formula in circulation for the hit ratio for the buffer cache
  for Oracle7/8 is:

    hit ratio =   1 -           ( physical reads )
                          -----------------------------------
                           ( consistent gets + db block gets )

  This is often expressed as a percentage (by multiplying the result by 100).
  However, in 7.3.4 and Oracle8 onwards the definition of the "physical reads"
  statistic changed to include direct block reads as well as reads to get data
  into the buffer cache. Hence the above formula only gives an lower bound for
  the hit ratio on these releases.


  A better formula in Oracle8i/9i is:

    hit ratio =  

      1 -  ( physical reads - (physical reads direct + physical reads direct (lob)) )
           --------------------------------------------------------------------------
     ( db block gets + consistent gets - (physical reads direct + physical reads direct (lob)) )


  In Oracle8.0 onwards it is possible to use multiple buffer pools (by setting
  the BUFFER_POOL_KEEP or BUFFER_POOL_RECYCLE init.ora parameters). Multiple
  buffer pools are not discussed here but the hit ratios for each pool can be
  seen using the V$BUFFER_POOL_STATISTICS view (which is created by the
  CATPERF.SQL script in Oracle8 and is a standard view in Oracle8i onwards)
  thus:

    SELECT name, 1-(physical_reads / (consistent_gets + db_block_gets ) )  "HIT_RATIO"
      FROM V$BUFFER_POOL_STATISTICS
     WHERE ( consistent_gets + db_block_gets ) !=0
    ;

  (Note that this view shows 0 for CONSISTENT_GETS and DB_BLOCK_GETS in 8.1.7 and so
   the above select is useless in this release - See Bug 1491213 )


The "Miss Ratio"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  Occasionally you may see reference to the "miss ratio". This is just

Miss ratio =  100% - Hit Ratio (expressed as a percentage)



Notes about the Hit Ratio
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  A good hit ratio is expected for OLTP type systems but decision support type
  systems may have much lower hit ratios.  Use of parallel query will make the
  hit ratio less meaningful if using the first form of calculation based on
  "physical reads" only.

  A  hit ratio close to 100% does not mean the application is good. It is quite
  possible to get an excellent hit ratio by using a very unselective index in a
  heavily used SQL statement.
  Eg: Consider a statement like:

        SELECT * FROM employee WHERE empid=1023 AND gender='MALE';

  If EMPLOYEE is a large table and this statement always uses the GENDER index
  rather than the EMPID index then you scan LOTS of blocks (from the GENDER
  index) and find nearly all of them in the cache as everyone is scanning this
  same index over and over again. The hit ratio is very HIGH but performance
  is very BAD.  A common 'variation' on an "unselective" index is a heavily
  skewed index where there are a large number of entries with one particular
  value (eg: a workflow status code of CLOSED) - the index may perform well for
  some queries and very poorly for the most common value.


A few comments:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  - The "good" hit ratio is generally considered to be one >80%
    There is probably still scope for tuning if it is <90% *BUT*
    note that the hit ratio is not the best measure of performance.

  - The ratio can be artificially high in applications making
    poor use of an UNSELECTIVE index.

  - In Oracle8.1 onwards "physical reads direct" are recorded

  - Some documentation incorrectly reports hit ratio to be:

Hit Ratio = Logical Reads / ( Logical Reads + Physical Reads )
  
    this is incorrect for any version of Oracle.