SPACEMON - Segment Space Monitoring For Oracle Databases

Do you track your database segment growth? If not then you should be. SPACEMON will historically track database segment growth, including changes in storage parameters and extent allocation. It is meant to be run at specific intervals, we recommend at least a weekly interval, and includes a space report that will summarize overall database space, will identify any segments that can't extend due to tablespace limitations or that are reaching MAXEXTENTS, and will list all segments that extended over the last collection period and their "space history".  This information can be used for long term trend analysis and can become part of a "Proactive Space Management" policy, more details on this are coming.

SPACEMON can also proactively correct segment extension with the SPACEFIX utility. SPACEFIX will automatically increase the NEXT_EXTENT size of qualifying segments. The formula for increasing the NEXT_EXTENT size is similar to the new "AUTOALLOCATE" option of Locally Managed Tablespaces and can help enforce a uniform extent allocation policy.  Of course, if you have already put these controls in place then the SPACEMON config file can be easily modified to turn this feature off.

Installation instructions and all scripts are provided.  SPACEMON now supports a config file so using it with CVS across multiple nodes is much easier and fully supports Oracle database releases from 7.1 through 9i, including being Locally Managed Tablespace aware.

A new index rebuilding utility has been added to SPACEMON.  This utility, if enabled, will analyze any indexes that have extended in the last interval and will recommend a rebuild if the height has changed or the leaf block density has fallen below 60%.  This new utility allows the specific targeting of indexes that may be experiencing leaf block fragmentation (e.g. those that are experiencing growth), and avoids the shotgun approach of analyzing all indexes. By implementing a sound methodology for index fragmentation management, SPACEMON continues to provide a comprehensive approach to database space management.

New! SPACEMON is now part of the Open Source orautil project and is available at SourceForge.net.

Utility Source: spacemon.zip

Example Reports:

(Viewed best with a small fixed font like: New Courier, size: 8)

SPACEMON Summary Report

SPACEFIX Extent Correction Report