Running Health Checks with Health Monitor
This section describes the Health Monitor and includes instructions on how to use it. The following topics are covered:
About Health Monitor
Beginning with Release 11g, Oracle Database includes a framework called Health Monitor for running diagnostic checks on the database.
About Health Monitor Checks
Health Monitor checks (also known as checkers, health checks, or checks) examine various layers and components of the database. Health checks detect file corruptions, physical and logical block corruptions, undo and redo corruptions, data dictionary corruptions, and more. The health checks generate reports of their findings and, in many cases, recommendations for resolving problems. Health checks can be run in two ways:
-
Reactive—The fault diagnosability infrastructure can run health checks automatically in response to a critical error.
-
Manual—As a DBA, you can manually run health checks using either the
DBMS_HM
PL/SQL package or the Enterprise Manager interface. You can run checkers on a regular basis if desired, or Oracle Support may ask you to run a checker while working with you on a service request.
Health Monitor checks store findings, recommendations, and other information in the Automatic Diagnostic Repository (ADR).
Health checks can run in two modes:
-
DB-online mode means the check can be run while the database is open (that is, in
OPEN
mode orMOUNT
mode). -
DB-offline mode means the check can be run when the instance is available but the database itself is closed (that is, in
NOMOUNT
mode).
All the health checks can be run in DB-online mode. Only the Redo Integrity Check and the DB Structure Integrity Check can be used in DB-offline mode.
See Also:
"Automatic Diagnostic Repository (ADR)"Types of Health Checks
Health monitor runs the following checks:
-
DB Structure Integrity Check—This check verifies the integrity of database files and reports failures if these files are inaccessible, corrupt or inconsistent. If the database is in mount or open mode, this check examines the log files and data files listed in the control file. If the database is in
NOMOUNT
mode, only the control file is checked. -
Data Block Integrity Check—This check detects disk image block corruptions such as checksum failures, head/tail mismatch, and logical inconsistencies within the block. Most corruptions can be repaired using Block Media Recovery. Corrupted block information is also captured in the
V$DATABASE_BLOCK_CORRUPTION
view. This check does not detect inter-block or inter-segment corruption. -
Redo Integrity Check—This check scans the contents of the redo log for accessibility and corruption, as well as the archive logs, if available. The Redo Integrity Check reports failures such as archive log or redo corruption.
-
Undo Segment Integrity Check—This check finds logical undo corruptions. After locating an undo corruption, this check uses PMON and SMON to try to recover the corrupted transaction. If this recovery fails, then Health Monitor stores information about the corruption in
V$CORRUPT_XID_LIST
. Most undo corruptions can be resolved by forcing a commit. -
Transaction Integrity Check—This check is identical to the Undo Segment Integrity Check except that it checks only one specific transaction.
-
Dictionary Integrity Check—This check examines the integrity of core dictionary objects, such as
tab$
andcol$
. It performs the following operations:-
Verifies the contents of dictionary entries for each dictionary object.
-
Performs a cross-row level check, which verifies that logical constraints on rows in the dictionary are enforced.
-
Performs an object relationship check, which verifies that parent-child relationships between dictionary objects are enforced.
The Dictionary Integrity Check operates on the following dictionary objects:
tab$
,clu$
,fet$
,uet$
,seg$
,undo$
,ts$
,file$
,obj$
,ind$
,icol$
,col$
,user$
,con$
,cdef$
,ccol$
,bootstrap$
,objauth$
,ugroup$
,tsq$
,syn$
,view$
,typed_view$
,superobj$
,seq$
,lob$
,coltype$
,subcoltype$
,ntab$
,refcon$
,opqtype$
,dependency$
,access$
,viewcon$
,icoldep$
,dual$
,sysauth$
,objpriv$
,defrole$
, andecol$
. -
Running Health Checks Manually
Health Monitor provides two ways to run health checks manually:
-
By using the
DBMS_HM
PL/SQL package -
By using the Enterprise Manager interface, found on the Checkers subpage of the Advisor Central page
Running Health Checks Using the DBMS_HM PL/SQL Package
The DBMS_HM
procedure for running a health check is called RUN_CHECK
. To call RUN_CHECK
, supply the name of the check and a name for the run, as follows:
BEGIN DBMS_HM.RUN_CHECK('Dictionary Integrity Check', 'my_run'); END; /
To obtain a list of health check names, run the following query:
SELECT name FROM v$hm_check WHERE internal_check='N'; NAME ---------------------------------------------------------------- DB Structure Integrity Check Data Block Integrity Check Redo Integrity Check Transaction Integrity Check Undo Segment Integrity Check Dictionary Integrity Check
Most health checks accept input parameters. You can view parameter names and descriptions with the V$HM_CHECK_PARAM
view. Some parameters are mandatory while others are optional. If optional parameters are omitted, defaults are used. The following query displays parameter information for all health checks:
SELECT c.name check_name, p.name parameter_name, p.type, p.default_value, p.description FROM v$hm_check_param p, v$hm_check c WHERE p.check_id = c.id and c.internal_check = 'N' ORDER BY c.name;
Input parameters are passed in the input_params
argument as name/value pairs separated by semicolons (;). The following example illustrates how to pass the transaction ID as a parameter to the Transaction Integrity Check:
BEGIN DBMS_HM.RUN_CHECK ( check_name => 'Transaction Integrity Check', run_name => 'my_run', input_params => 'TXN_ID=7.33.2'); END; /
See Also:
-
Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for more examples of using
DBMS_HM
.
Running Health Checks Using Enterprise Manager
Enterprise Manager provides an interface for running Health Monitor checkers.
To run a Health Monitor Checker using Enterprise Manager:
-
On the Database Home page, in the Related Links section, click Advisor Central.
-
Click Checkers to view the Checkers subpage.
-
In the Checkers section, click the checker you want to run.
-
Enter values for input parameters or, for optional parameters, leave them blank to accept the defaults.
-
Click Run, confirm your parameters, and click Run again.
Viewing Checker Reports
After a checker has run, you can view a report of its execution. The report contains findings, recommendations, and other information. You can view reports using Enterprise Manager, the ADRCI utility, or the DBMS_HM
PL/SQL package. The following table indicates the report formats available with each viewing method.
Report Viewing Method | Report Formats Available |
---|---|
Enterprise Manager | HTML |
DBMS_HM PL/SQL package | HTML, XML, and text |
ADRCI utility | XML |
Results of checker runs (findings, recommendations, and other information) are stored in the ADR, but reports are not generated immediately. When you request a report with the DBMS_HM
PL/SQL package or with Enterprise Manager, if the report does not yet exist, it is first generated from the checker run data in the ADR, stored as a report file in XML format in the HM subdirectory of the ADR home for the current instance, and then displayed. If the report file already exists, it is just displayed. When using the ADRCI utility, you must first run a command to generate the report file if it does not exist, and then run another command to display its contents.
The preferred method to view checker reports is with Enterprise Manager. The following sections provide instructions for all methods:
See Also:
"Automatic Diagnostic Repository (ADR)"Viewing Reports Using Enterprise Manager
You can also view Health Monitor reports and findings for a given checker run using Enterprise Manager.
To view run findings using Enterprise Manager
-
Access the Database Home page.
For Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control, see Oracle Database 2 Day DBA for instructions. For Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control, go to the desired database target.
-
In the Related Links section, click Advisor Central.
-
Click Checkers to view the Checkers subpage.
-
Click the run name for the checker run that you want to view.
The Run Detail page appears, showing the findings for that checker run.
-
Click Runs to display the Runs subpage.
Enterprise Manager displays more information about the checker run.
-
Click View Report to view the report for the checker run.
The report is displayed in a new browser window.
Viewing Reports Using DBMS_HM
You can view Health Monitor checker reports with the DBMS_HM
package function GET_RUN_REPORT
. This function enables you to request HTML, XML, or text formatting. The default format is text, as shown in the following SQL*Plus example:
SET LONG 100000 SET LONGCHUNKSIZE 1000 SET PAGESIZE 1000 SET LINESIZE 512 SELECT DBMS_HM.GET_RUN_REPORT('HM_RUN_1061') FROM DUAL; DBMS_HM.GET_RUN_REPORT('HM_RUN_1061') ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Run Name : HM_RUN_1061 Run Id : 1061 Check Name : Data Block Integrity Check Mode : REACTIVE Status : COMPLETED Start Time : 2007-05-12 22:11:02.032292 -07:00 End Time : 2007-05-12 22:11:20.835135 -07:00 Error Encountered : 0 Source Incident Id : 7418 Number of Incidents Created : 0 Input Paramters for the Run BLC_DF_NUM=1 BLC_BL_NUM=64349 Run Findings And Recommendations Finding Finding Name : Media Block Corruption Finding ID : 1065 Type : FAILURE Status : OPEN Priority : HIGH Message : Block 64349 in datafile 1: '/u01/app/oracle/dbs/t_db1.f' is media corrupt Message : Object BMRTEST1 owned by SYS might be unavailable Finding Finding Name : Media Block Corruption Finding ID : 1071 Type : FAILURE Status : OPEN Priority : HIGH Message : Block 64351 in datafile 1: '/u01/app/oracle/dbs/t_db1.f' is media corrupt Message : Object BMRTEST2 owned by SYS might be unavailable
Viewing Reports Using the ADRCI Utility
You can create and view Health Monitor checker reports using the ADRCI utility.
To create and view a checker report using ADRCI:
-
Ensure that operating system environment variables (such as
ORACLE_HOME
) are set properly, and then enter the following command at the operating system command prompt:ADRCI
The utility starts and displays the following prompt:
adrci>>
Optionally, you can change the current ADR home. Use the
SHOW HOMES
command to list all ADR homes, and theSET HOMEPATH
command to change the current ADR home. See Oracle Database Utilities for more information. -
Enter the following command:
show hm_run
This command lists all the checker runs (stored in
V$HM_RUN
) registered in the ADR repository. -
Locate the checker run for which you want to create a report and note the checker run name. The
REPORT_FILE
field contains a filename if a report already exists for this checker run. Otherwise, generate the report with the following command:create report hm_run run_name
-
To view the report, enter the following command:
show report hm_run run_name
See Also:
"Automatic Diagnostic Repository (ADR)"Health Monitor Views
Instead of requesting a checker report, you can view the results of a specific checker run by directly querying the ADR data from which reports are created. This data is available through the views V$HM_RUN
, V$HM_FINDING
, and V$HM_RECOMMENDATION
.
The following example queries the V$HM_RUN
view to determine a history of checker runs:
SELECT run_id, name, check_name, run_mode, src_incident FROM v$hm_run; RUN_ID NAME CHECK_NAME RUN_MODE SRC_INCIDENT ---------- ------------ ---------------------------------- -------- ------------ 1 HM_RUN_1 DB Structure Integrity Check REACTIVE 0 101 HM_RUN_101 Transaction Integrity Check REACTIVE 6073 121 TXNCHK Transaction Integrity Check MANUAL 0 181 HMR_tab$ Dictionary Integrity Check MANUAL 0 . . . 981 Proct_ts$ Dictionary Integrity Check MANUAL 0 1041 HM_RUN_1041 DB Structure Integrity Check REACTIVE 0 1061 HM_RUN_1061 Data Block Integrity Check REACTIVE 7418
The next example queries the V$HM_FINDING
view to obtain finding details for the reactive data block check with RUN_ID
1061:
SELECT type, description FROM v$hm_finding WHERE run_id = 1061; TYPE DESCRIPTION ------------- ----------------------------------------- FAILURE Block 64349 in datafile 1: '/u01/app/orac le/dbs/t_db1.f' is media corrupt FAILURE Block 64351 in datafile 1: '/u01/app/orac le/dbs/t_db1.f' is media corrupt
See Also:
-
Oracle Database Reference for more information on the
V$HM_*
views
Health Check Parameters Reference
The following tables describe the parameters for those health checks that require them. Parameters with a default value of (none)
are mandatory.
Table 9-6 Parameters for Data Block Integrity Check
Parameter Name | Type | Default Value | Description |
---|---|---|---|
| Number | (none) | Block data file number |
| Number | (none) | Data block number |
Table 9-7 Parameters for Redo Integrity Check
Parameter Name | Type | Default Value | Description |
---|---|---|---|
| Text | 0 | SCN of the latest good redo (if known) |
Table 9-8 Parameters for Undo Segment Integrity Check
Parameter Name | Type | Default Value | Description |
---|---|---|---|
| Text | (none) | Undo segment number |
Table 9-9 Parameters for Transaction Integrity Check
Parameter Name | Type | Default Value | Description |
---|---|---|---|
| Text | (none) | Transaction ID |
Table 9-10 Parameters for Dictionary Integrity Check
Parameter Name | Type | Default Value | Description |
---|---|---|---|
| Text |
| Possible values are:
|
| Text |
| Name of a single core table to check. If omitted, all core tables are checked. |