1. Rev. 6.2012 SYBASE ASE: DB FRAGMENTATION Sybase Administration Tools available at: http://andrewmeph.wordpress.com mailto: andrew.me.ph@gmail.com

2.  The tools posted on the blog will require the same setup: 1.Sybase Client installed (for tools connecting to ASE server). 2.Administrative login user (for tools doing ASE administration). 3.A set of two or more.dll files supplied with the installation – performing licensing and environment operability checks.  All the tools have been tested to run bug-free. Nonetheless, the tools are provided “as is.” Responsibility for running a tool lies with the user. Comments and bug reports are welcome. They will be addressed and rectified. Please send the comments either directly by mail or through the blog.  As with any tool, it is recommended to start using it in the development environment before trying it on the Production Server. NOTE AND DISCLAIMER:

3. Every DBA knows that most DB operations are performed in pages. But few really know how their tables are organized. How many pages a “hot” table occupies? How many extents? Allocation Units? Beyond the [data/index] cluster ratio reported by OPTDIAG, how dispersed are the pages within extents, allocation units? Does it matter at all? DB Fragmentation analyzer opens a window into DB internals:  It allows to check each table’s fragmentation beyond the page level – on the level of extents and allocation units.  It allows to walk through table page chains to see how ordered the chain is.  It allows to take a decision on selecting tables for maintenance on a level more sophisticated than data/index clustered ratio.  It allows to inspect what different lock schemes, partitioning options do with data in tables.  It is for those curious to see beyond the limitation of a database page and those who take IO (and optimizer) seriously. DB FRAGMENTATION: QUICK INFO

4. DB Fragmentation Assistant Pre-requisites:  Must be run as sa user.  ODBC and Open Client aliases must be the same (synchronize DSEDIT and DSN SRV names before running the tool).  For large tables, it is recommended to skip page linkage test since this will be too time-consuming and heavy. DB Fragmentation Assistant Features:  [Esc] keyboard key aborts operation at any step.  Information collected by the tool may be verified by DBCC TABLEALLOC and DBCC INDEXALLOC commands. DB FRAGMENTATION: FAQ

5. [Fragmentation Assistant] tab is designed to specify tables one wants to analyze.  Filter tables by name or choose a single table.  Click “Load Tables”.  Double click on the selected table so that its OAM and FIRST pages are listed correctly.  Leave “OAM Only” checked for large tables.  Click on the Walk Selected button. DB FRAGMENTATION: STARTUP

6. When you “walk” through table pages the following data is displayed:  Data Cluster Ratio  Index Cluster Ratio  Large IO Efficiency  Number of Allocation Pages a table occupies (PG/AU Ratio)  Number of Extents a table occupies (PG/EX Ratio)  If Page Chain is checked, fragmentation % is calculated (how many linkage leaps across extents are there). By the end of each check one gets a full picture of how the specified table is materialized in terms of database pages. DB FRAGMENTATION: WALK SINGLE

7. It is possible to walk through a single table or a group of tables:  Write filter for table name.  Load Tables.  Delete unwanted tables from the list [DEL keyboard key].  Click “Walk All” button. When all the tables will be walked through, you will get a report in the Operation Log tab listing all the information collected for all the tables (exportable to.csv). DB FRAGMENTATION: WALK ALL

8. During the walk, you will get a list of pages that has been walked through. Double click on the row for a particular page will display that page details. DB FRAGMENTATION: PAGE DETAILS

9. Operation Log looks like this: DB FRAGMENTATION: LOG

10.  The tool is being reworked from time to time to address changes in the ASE and align it better with ASE administrators needs.  In order to make the software better and more convenient your feedback is encouraged.  Feedback and bug reports may be made either directly to andrew.me.ph@gmail.com or posted as comments to the tool page published on the wordpress.com blog. andrew.me.ph@gmail.com  The blog is available at http://andrewmeph.worpress.com.http://andrewmeph.worpress.com  More tools are available there, as well as general comments on Sybase ASE, RS (and in future IQ) products.  You are welcome to post your own ideas there which may be later transformed into customized tools and posted there for download. DB FRAGMENTATION: FEEDBACKS