Release Notes

Space Manager with LiveReorg^® 8.4.1

Release Notes

Thursday, December 14, 2017

About Space Manager with LiveReorg

Space Manager with LiveReorg® is Quest Software’s solution for optimizing space use and performance in Oracle® databases. It provides DBAs with a comprehensive set of tools for making the most of storage resources. These tools allow you to collect statistics, visualize space use, detect space-use problems, reorganize and resize objects to reclaim wasted space, create tablespaces, partition objects, and resize datafiles. Space Manager's powerful reorganization functionality makes it possible to reorganize and restructure large, volatile databases while tables are online.

As you manage capacity with Space Manager, you can monitor it with Capacity Manager for Oracle. Capacity Manager is Quest Software's solution for tracking and planning capacity across multiple Oracle databases. Designed to report on collective space use in databases, Capacity Manager lets you evaluate current allocation, forecast future growth, and identify emerging issues. To resolve these issues, you can run Space Manager from Capacity Manager. Launch points are provided throughout the Capacity Manager interface.

Together, Space Manager and Capacity Manager provide the information and control you need to efficiently maintain and plan your database resources. Capacity Manager uses the Space Manager license and can be installed when you install Space Manager.

Note: Capacity Manager is not available in a 64-bit version at this time and is not included in the 64-bit installer.

New Features

Space Manager 8.4.1

Space Manager 8.4.1 includes the following new features.

Reorg Manager

Additional DataPump options (Oracle 12c)

When connected to Oracle 12c, the first page of the Reorg Manager allows you to specify the following options for the DataPump data movement method:

• Use DataPump only for tables with LONG columns—(Recommended) Select this option to allow to automatically select the most efficient data movement method, either SQL or DataPump, to use for each object to be reorganized.

• Use DataPump for all tables—Select this option to use DataPump for all tables that are supported for this method. Tables that are not supported are excluded from reorganization.

  Caution: Care should be taken when selecting this method. DataPump is not always the most efficient data movement method and should be used only for large tables where table copy might cause Oracle errors.

• Max File Size—Use this field if you want to specify a maximum file size. When the file reaches the size specified, a new file is created. Leave this field blank to specify unlimited.
• Parallel Degree—Specify the number of parallel processes to use if you want to request parallel processing.

DataPump uses OVERFLOW_DIR_nn directories (Oracle 12c)

The DataPump data movement method (available for Oracle 12c) now uses the overflow directory/directories specified in the OVERFLOW_DIR_nn parameter/parameters. See "QSA Server Agent Parameters" in the online Help or Space Manager User Guide for more information.

General

Support for Oracle Database 9 and 10 to be discontinued

Space Manager 8.4.1 has been tested with Oracle Database 9 and 10. However, support for Oracle 9 and 10 will be discontinued after the Space Manager 8.4.1 release.

Space Manager 8.3

Space Manager 8.3 includes the following new features.

General

New 64-bit version of Space Manager

Beginning with release 8.3, Space Manager is now available in a 64-bit version, as well as a 32-bit version.

• Benefits of 64-bit Space Manager. Use the 64-bit version of Space Manager to take advantage of performance benefits in a 64-bit environment.
• Installation. Select the 64-bit set up program (installer) to install 64-bit Space Manager.
• Oracle client. The bitness/architecture of the Oracle client used by Space Manager must match the bitness/architecture of the Space Manager application. Ensure a 64-bit Oracle client is installed if you intend to use the 64-bit version of Space Manager.
• Side-by-side installation. Space Manager 8.3 (or later) supports side-by-side installation of versions with different bitness/architecture as long as they are also different releases (e.g., 8.2 and 8.3).

Window tabs identify the associated connection

• Window tabs now display the connection profile name for the database connection associated with the window. In addition, an informative tool tip displays additional connection information.

Reorg Manager

Instruct Space Manager to use FsCopy/DataPump

For special situations, you can now instruct Space Manager to use only FsCopy or only DataPump as the data movement method. If the database is Oracle 9, 10, or 11, the Reorg Manager allows you to specify FsCopy. If the database is Oracle 12, the Reorg Manager allows you to specify DataPump.

When to use the FsCopy/DataPump option

Selecting the Use FsCopy or Use DataPump option is recommended only for tables that would otherwise get a "snapshot too old" error during table copy. FsCopy and DataPump are not the most efficient data movement methods and should be selected only for large tables where table copy may cause a "snapshot too old" Oracle error.

Important: Because FsCopy and DataPump use the file system to store a copy of the table, make sure that the file system is prepared and the QSA parameter WORKDIR is set correctly. If using FsCopy, make sure the QSA parameter OVERFLOW_DIR_## is also set correctly.

What is Space Manager FsCopy? FsCopy uses an import and export process to move data. It is one of the actions included in the Space Manager FastCopy data movement method.

How to use this feature:

• To use only FsCopy/DataPump, on the Select Reorganization Method page of the Reorg Manager select either Use FsCopy or Use DataPump, depending on the Oracle version.
• If this option is selected. If selected, FsCopy/DataPump is used for all tables that are supported for this method. Tables that are not supported are excluded from reorganization.
• If this option is cleared. (Recommended) If the option check box is cleared, Space Manager automatically selects the most efficient data movement method, either SQL or FastCopy/DataPump, to use for each object to be reorganized.
• To allow Space Manager to automatically script the most appropriate data movement method, clear this option check box. This would be the most inclusive strategy.
• To reorganize objects that are not supported for FsCopy or DataPump, clear this option check box and allow the Reorg Manager to select the most appropriate data movement method.

Oracle 12c Support

This release of Space Manager now supports the following Oracle database 12c features.

• Attribute clustering (attribute-clustered tables)
• Tables with in-memory column store
• Temporal validity for tables

Reorg scripts. New options supporting 12c features in Reorg scripts.

• Attribute clustering. In the Reorg wizards, you can now apply attribute clustering or modify existing clustering options for reorganized tables.
• In-Memory Column Store. In the Reorg wizards, you can now enable or modify In-Memory Column Store options for reorganized objects/segments.

Note: Space Manager does not support Oracle database releases later than 12.1.0.2.0.

Explorer

Reorder databases in Explorer tree-list

• You can now reorder databases within the Explorer tree-list. Drag and drop a database name to move it up or down the list.

Oracle 12c PDB. Oracle 12c pluggable (PDB) databases are now nested under the 12c container (CDB) database in the Explorer tree-list.

Advanced Search

This release includes a new Advanced Search feature in the Explorer. The advanced search allows you to use multiple search criteria to find objects or filter the list. This is useful when you want to find a diverse set of objects to include in one reorganization script group.

1. In the Explorer tree-list, select the database in which you want to search. To limit your search to one tablespace, select the tablespace.
2. Click the Advanced button beside the Search box in the Explorer window to open the Advanced Search window.
3. Use the fields provided to create one or more conditions to use as your search criteria. Select an operator and then select or enter a value for each applicable field.
4. After specifying search criteria, click Start New Search. Result are displayed in the lower pane.
5. Click the Show search text button to display the text of your search conditions.
6. Add additional criteria and click Start New Search to refine your search.
7. You can add to your current search results by adding new criteria and then selecting Add to results from the Search drop-down list. Or select Remove from results to remove results matching the new criteria.

Scripts/Job Monitor

Display latest execution logs for a script group

• You can now display the execution logs for all scripts in a group in one window. The latest log for each script in the group is displayed.
• To display the latest script group logs, select a script group from the list in the Job Monitor. Right-click the group and select Retrieve Script Group Logs.

Cancel and Clean Up command

• In the Scripts/Job Monitor, the right-click menu includes a new command, Cancel and Clean Up. This new command cancels the script and then performs a Clean Up action. Use this command only in cases where you would normally initiate the Cancel and the Clean Up commands in sequence.

Resolved Issues

Space Manager 8.4.1

The following is a list of issues addressed in Space Manager 8.4.1

Space Manager 8.3

The following is a list of issues addressed in Space Manager 8.3

Known Issues

Known Issues and Considerations

The following is a list of issues known to exist at the time of this release.