Oracle Related Interview questions

By Ahmad

Difference between awr,ash and addm report?

Main things required to configure RAC?
Difference Between public, private,vip and scanip?
What is active dataguard?
Table to find the gap in applying archivelog.
12c features?
Database tuning?
What are the things have to look in AWR?
How to derive the size of logical, physical n memory to create a database for oltp and
datawarehouse environment and things to consider while creating it?
Where the statistics are stored in database?
How to monitor RAC?
What is the usage of CRS?
How to check the availability of the nodes in RAC?
What is DB time and CPU time?
What are the elements present in the output of TOP command?
What is netstat command do?
How will you monitor the OS?
What is Hugepage?
How to configure three node RAC?

Your Day by day activities?

New process parameter in 12c?
Diff between 11g and 12c listener different?
How to take consistent backup in datapump ?
How to improve datapump speed?
Diffe bW traditional and datapump ?
How to do upgrade ? Steps
Rolling patches steps
RAC startup sequence?
RAC components?
Standalone to RAC migration ?
DC Dr dril activity ?
DataGuard performance modes ?
RAC swithchover steps,
Active DataGuard?
Standby redolog files is mandatory? Or not required on standby
I/o error ? In standby alert longs what would be reason ?
Required files and parameters to configure standby env?
Which algorithm will use for TDE configuration ?
How tde will work ?
Real time scenarios?
Like redolog file curruption ?
After resetlogs with open db ? If we required earlier stage what steps to be taken

Ok I’m ?
ASM types disks ? And
How to check asm after added by os team ? Where you will check
What is maximum size of asm disk, asm disk group?
Datafile size depends upon ?
Performance tuning ?
Exadata components ?
Basics of golden date architecture
Oracle 12c features and snapshot standby concepts
Ora 1555 error ? Solution
Rman backup types ?
Q1) Why do you think using Data Guard by Oracle is helpful to our work?

The benefits of using the software are many in any environment dealing with data. It ensures that the

data stays protected and easily available. You get to take the load off from backups to standby

operations database. The problems like gaps in the standby database are automatically detected

and resolved. The guard broker allows automated role transition.

Q2) Name the three top services offered by the Data Guard software?

The three top services offered by the software are:

1. Redoing the transport service

2. Applying of log service

3. Role transitional services

Q3) Name the three protection modes available in the software.

The three protection modes that are available include maximum availability, protection and

performance.

Q4) What is the default protection mode of the software?

The default mode in the software Data Guard is Maximum performance.

Q5) What are advantages offered by Maximum Performance protection mode?

● The main advantage of this default mode is that the performance of the primary data is not

affected while the highest possible level of protection for the data is ensured. The

transactions begin to commit as soon as the redone data produced by the transactions get

written on to the online log.

Q6) What are the benefits of maximum protection mode?

This protection mode comes to the rescue when the primary database fails. The primary database

shuts down and stops processing the transaction when this protection mode is enabled. So with this

protection mode, you can be assured that there will be no data loss.

Q7) How is the maximum protection mode enabled?

The redone data must get written in two places before committing the transaction- the online log and

a standby database. This way the primary database can shut down but the data remains intact.

Q8) What are the advantages of maximum availability protection mode?

The biggest advantage with one is that the availability of the primary database is uncompromised but

the maximum possible level of protection is offered to the data. The transactions with this protection

mode only commits when all the redone data needed to recover the transactions get written to a

standby database and the online log.

Q9) How is the protection mode changed?

The steps for changing the protection mode are as follows:

1. Go to the alter database option.

2. Set the standby database.

3. Select from the three available options of performance, availability and protection

Q10) What is the number of standby databases that can be created?

It depends on what version of the software that is at your disposal. The general number ranges from

nine to thirty standby databases.

Q11) How would you create a physical Standby in this software?

The following easy steps can create a physical standby in the software:

● Enabling of the forced logging

 ● Creating of a password file

● Configuration of a standby redone log

● The archiving is enabled

● Setting up of the parameters for initialization of the primary database

● Configure the needful settings that support database of both the nodes.

Q12) Mention the chief advantages of using Physical database standby in the software.

There is fourfold advantage to using the physical database standby.

1. The higher availability quotient

2. The high capability of balancing the load including both reporting as well as backup.

3. Protecting the data

4. Recovery of data is case of disasters

Q13) What services are needed on the primary database?

Four basic services are required on the primary database. They are as follows:

1. The Log Writer: Updates the online redone logs by collecting the information. It creates

localized archived logs and causes the transmission of the redo ones to the standby bases.

2. The Archive Process: Copying of the online redone logs for the standby bases in a remote

or localized manner.

3. The Fetch Archive Log: Servicing of the request for archived logs from the Fetch Archive

Log customers that run on more than one standby bases. More than one server can run on

the primary database where for each Fetch Archive Log request, there is one server.

4. Log Network: It gets used on the primary database to establish a connection with that of

standby.

Q14) Outline the services needed on the standby database.

There are four services required on the standby:

1. Fetch Archive Log: The archived redo files get pulled from primary sites. The transfer of

the archived redo files is initiated on the detection of a sequence gap.

2. Remote File: The Primary database is used to receive the archived or standby redone

logs. You can get both the archived and the standby logs together as well.

3. Archive Process: The standby redone logs that get applied by managed recovery are

archived by this service.

4. Managed Recovery: The archived redo log details are applied to the standby databank.

Q15) How would you delay an application of the logs to the physical standby mode?

The standby gets naturally applied to the redo logs at the time of their arrival from primary database.

There are times when a time lag is needed to be created between archiving a redo log at the primary

point and applying the log at standby.

You need to modify the parameter for initialization on the primary site to lead to a delay on the

standby site. For instance, if you want a delay of one hour, you can set log for delay at sixty minutes.

It is worth mentioning in this regard that the delay is always given in minutes in the format of, for

instance, 60′.

With this action, the redo logs are still copied from the primary to standby site but it does not

immediately applied. They get applied after the expiry of the specific time interval that has been set.

Q16) What is the utility of the Redo Transport Service?

It is used for controlling the automatic transmission of redo data of the production database in one or

multiple archives. The following tasks are successfully performed by it:

1. Transmission of redo data from primary to standby in the configuring.

2. The management of the process of handling gaps in archive log files initiated as a result of the

failure of network.
3. Automatic detection of missing or corrupted archived log files in a standby database. It also

automatically retrieves the replacement archived redone log from either the primary or standby

system.

Q17) Differentiate between standby database and physical database.

The biggest difference between the two databases is the way of application of services to the

archived redo files.

For the physical database, the software has a technology called Redo Apply. This one applies the

redo on the standby system by the use of the basic recovery technique of the software.For the

standard database, the software uses a technology called SQL. This one first transforms the redo it

receives into statements and afterwards the execution of the statements on the standby system is

initiated.

Q18) What do you understand by Broker in this software?

The Broker helps in the management of standby and primary bases by the utilization of

command-line, broker or graphical interfaces. These are integrated in the Enterprise Manager

software by Oracle.

Q19) What are the tasks that you can perform using Broker?

It can be used to provide five benefits which have been listed below:

● Creating and enabling configurations for the software. This includes factors like
the apply and the transport redo services.

● Management of the complete configuration from any kind of system in

configuration.

● Monitoring and managing of the configurations that have the standby or the
primary data.
 ● Simplification of failover and switchover by letting their invocation by using either
one key click or by the use of a single command in the interface available in the
software.

● On the unavailability of the primary data, the fast and start failover is enabled to
failover naturally. When this failover gets enabled, the broker of the software
determines the necessity of a failover. If it is deemed necessary, then it is
initiated to the standby system naturally. There is no need of intervention from
database application.

Q20) What do you understand by Logical standby base in the software?

The logical database is created similar to the physical and standby database. The structure of the

logical database can get altered at a later point in time. The sync with standby and the primary is

made easy by the utilization of SQL. The received logs of redo are made into statements and they

are continuously applied into logical database. This way the standby system is made consistent with

the primary. The report of purpose is made easier with logical standby as compared to the physical

one. The logical database is available in both read-write modes. The tables that are in sync with

primary data are made available in read-only operations only. So you get the availability on some

queries, index adding and reporting.

Q21) What are the disadvantages that are associated with the Logical Standby systems?

The only major disadvantage that this one has is in the matters of types of tables and a few of the

data functions. On the overall aspects, it is held as having an advantage on the physical database.

Q22) Can this software get used with the standard edition released by the makers?

There are certain automated features that are not available in the standard edition. You can ship logs

and write the scripts manually to get the steps done. On certain platforms, you get to write the scripts

and then use the commands to ship it to standby system. The recovery is then carried out manually

and it is removed after the application is done.

Q23) What made you go for the training in this software?

The software is a huge advantage in the firms that require handling of large amounts of data. The

certification in this software helps to smoothen out the large data processes. You can save the

corruption of data and provide the ease of data recovery. The trained professional becomes an

inevitable asset to the company whenever it goes through any kind of data emergency. The basic yet

complicated job of data backup and processing is made easy by the use of the software. The trained

professional in this software is an important troubleshooter for the company which is what gives a

person a professional advantage in the current scenario.

Q24) What do you understand by apply services in this software?

The apply services refer to the application of the redo data on the standby system to keep the

transactional sync with the primary system. This redo data can get applied from either archived redo

files or from the standby redo files directly as they get filled. The application from the from the

standby redo files is only possible if the real-time facility gets enabled. It does not require the redo

log to get archived at the standby system first. One of the main features of this service is that it also

permits read-only accessibility to the data.

How do you find cluster active version ?
What is HAIP? how to check whether its configured or not ?
What is cluster interconnects ? What protocol they use ?
what is RDP & UDP & TCP ?
What is cache fusion ?
Participating nodes in a cluster?
How to find subnet mask, Virtual IP & Private IP & public ip at cluster level ?
Waht is GIMR ?
What is the use of MGMTDB database in 12c? explain its background process ? functions ?
Does it run on all nodes ? what happens when u remove MGMGTDB from cluster ?
Flex ASM ?
what is semaphore ? parameters related to it ? semmns, semmsl, semmni, semmnu
multi-threading concept usage in Oracle ? and what parameter changes are required to enable
it ?
what is shared memory structure ?
Functions of CSSD ? CRSD ? EVMD ? which background proess runs on root and Oracle ?
END of REDO ?
what is RBA ?
What is RBA ? you can see in alert log ? what does RBA denotes ?
Diff between instance recovery & crash recovery ?
what is Block change tracking ? in RMAN?
which process writes data from database files to database buffer cache ? not DBWR !!! DBWR
writes dirty block from Buffer cache to datafiles.
what is dirty block ?
what is checkpoint ?
When an user issues SELECT * FROM EMP ? explain how oracle fetches data to the user ?
What is Hard parse & soft parse ?
what is ROWID ?
what is Average row length in dba_indexes view ?
what is Latch & Lock ?
what is OPATCH Auto -check all options ?
What is Opatch apply & Opatch Napply
what is OPLAN ?
how to check opatch will get succeed before applying it on Oracle HOME ?
what is node eviction ?
How to check whether a table required to be analyzed or not ?
what is stored outline, sql profile , SQL baseline plans ?
what is Automatic memory management ?
how to check database names registered in the cluster ?
standby_file_management parameter ?
CLuster startup sequence ?
What is OCR ? voting disk ? how many voting disks are required in an cluster ?
what is scan listener ?
What is local listener and how it differs from SCAN ?
what is DNS ? and how its used in SCAN? other than DNS configuration what alternate method
can scan use to function ?
ASM redundancy levels ?
ASM AU ?
What is Quorum disks ?
ASMLIB ?
ASM Multipath ?
ASM Stripping ?
what is partner disk ?
Rebalance phases in ASM & ASM Background process ?
basic init parameter for ASM ?
what is ACFS ? hoe to create an ACFS mount point ? hoe to mount it in server ? what are the
things can be stored in ACFS ? BLOB/CLAB can be stored ? adding ACFS file system to Oracle
restart ?
What is Oracle re-start ?
what id DFBS File system ?
What is flashback database ? what are the things can be flashbacked ? can we flashback a
DML transaction ?
what is restore point ?
sysadm & sysdba difference
what is DCLI & CELLCLI difference ?
What is ZFS file system ?
diskgroup creation pre-requsite and create commands ? how to add a new disk to a disk group
?
what is disk repair time ?
can we modify rebalance power limit while the re-balance is in progress ?
how to check a disk status in a disk group ?
exadata patching steps ? compute node update ? Opatch on GRID & RDBMS home , Infiband
network patching ?
what is patchmanager ? option used in patch manager ?
what cell server patching is initiated in compute node?
upgrading the database to higher version ? steps? methodology used ?
DBUA ?
what is timezone upgrade ?in DBUA ?
how to check Database component status post upgrade ?
CLUfy command and its usage?
what are the functions of cluvfy ? cluvfy - help
which process transfers logfiles from primary to standby server ?
what is MRP ?
use of standby redolog file ?
Datagaurd modes and parameters to be set to activate it?
What is online redolog file and what happens when an current redolog file or active/inactive
redolog file gets corrupted. ?
how to upgrade a single DB component in an database ?
what is GPNP profile in rac ? location ? and its contain ?who updates GPNP profile ?
how is gpnp profile used by clusterware ?
how to identify the clustername ?
what is thread in gv$logfile/ gv$log ?
how to read/analyze top command output ?
how to identify Node eviction RCA ?
exawatcher/OS Watcher logs retention time ? can we modify it ? It can monitor IB switches and
databases.Diskinfo, IBCardInfo IBprocs Iostat LGWR Lsof MegaRaidFW Meminfo There is
difference between original OSW and Exadata versions (OSW and EW). Original OSW store
historical files in the *.dat, but the Exadata's version store files in bzip2 : How long store the
history: looking the code /opt/oracle.ExaWatcher/ExaWatcherCleanup.sh

Where to find the exadata ILOM Ip's information ? /opt/oracle.Support/onecommand/dbm.dat file

What is OLR ? use of it ?
How does Oracle database instance and ASM instance gets started after reboot ? or node
eviction if the ASM spfile is present inside it ?
Any issues faced in Pathcing ? if so actions taken ? how to avoid errors/issues before applying
patch on GRID/RDBMS Home?
Any issues while upgrading a database ?
can we have same name for two databases in a cluster?
applying patch with minimal downtime strategy ? rolling and non-rolling methods ?
What is datapatch ? With Oracle 12c the SQL commands belonging to one patch are not
installed by catbundle.sqlbut by the 揹atapatch? tool, which is located in the OPatch directory.
The result of the 揝QL Apply? can queried in the view dba_registry_sqlpatch, i.e. like this:

SQL> SELECT patch_id, version, status, bundle_id, bundle_series

FROM dba_registry_sqlpatch;

diference between crsctl stop crs and crsctl stop cluster -all ?
what is IPMI ?
what is ADVM ?
how to copy files between asm instances ?
if node is down, what will happen to acfs on that node ?
i have 50gb of table to be selected, 30g of db buffer cache and 40gb of sga ? what will happen
to my query ?
what is global inventory and local inventory ?
what is OCSSD ? what is the primary operation for it ?
what is client side load balancing and server side load balancing ?
what is scan vip and scan listener ?
what is TAF ? different types of TAF ?
in which diskgroup we can place voting disk ?
what is variable extent space management in ASM ?
what are the phases of rebalance how will you analyse it ?
what is snapshot controlfile ?
what is options available in dbnodeupdate.sh ? -u,-l,-p,-c
what is sundiag, tfactl and exacheck ? Sundiag is used to diagnose the problems in the disks in
Exadata. /opt/oracle.SupportTools/sundiag.sh.tfactl diagcollect command to perform on-demand
diagnostic collection. You can specify a specific time of an incident or a time range for data to be
collected, and determine if whole files that have relevant data should be collected or just a time
interval of data from those files. Exacheck tool checks your Oracle Exadata Database Machine
configuration, software, critical issue and provides a Maximum Availability Architecture score. It
is required to run before and after Exadata patching and is good practice to run on a frequent
basis and review the recommendations.

how many compute nodes in a full rack exadata ? 8

what is locally managed tablespace and dictionary managed tablespaces ?
how to identify subnet mask, private ip, vip and public ip in cluseter ?
what is nested loop , hash join ?
what is ora-1555, ora-4031?
what is log file sync ?
what is free buffer wait and how will you troubleshoot on it ?
which process is used for incoming remote requests in RAC ?
why we should turn on archive log for flashback ?
how will you recover when table is corrupted ?
user A started a transaction on 9 AM and it is still running, in between around 9:20 user B
queried select query on that transaction running table, will he see the old data or new data ?
what will happen when we give commit ?
why commit is faster ?
what will happen when we give rollback ?
if one of my voting disk is corrupted, what will happen to my cluster ? and how will you recover
voting disk ?
if crs is not coming up, what will be your action plan to check ?
why we need standby redologs ?
what is FSFO ? fast start failover
how will you change protection mode in dataguard ? which parameter will you change ?
what is active dataguard ?
what is snapshot standby and when we convert from physical to snapshot standby what will
happen in background ?
primary db and standby db running in 12.1 version, i am upgrading standby to 12.2 ? will it be
possible ?
what will happen when we give tablespase begin backup mode ?
ways to find master node in cluster ?
what is difference between resetlogs and noresetlogs ?
what is database incarnation ?
what is difference between SYNC to ASYNC and AFFIRM to NOAFFIRM ?
what is hugepages ?
why we prefer ASMM over AMM ?
what are the prerequisites to perform switchover ?
what will happen when we set standby_file_management to manual ?
what is materialised view ?
how do you implement flex ASM ?
what is timezone version in 11g and 12c ? 11g - 14 and 12c - 18
how you add vip to a cluster ?
which process is used to push the targets from oms to OEM ?
what is force logging ?
explain some wait events ?
what is cursor sharing ?
what is large pool and why we need it ?
what is sort_area_size parameter ?
difference between keep pool and in memory ?
how do you add node to a cluster ?
non-asm to asm ?
12c new features ?
12.2 new features ?
what is shmmax and shmall ?
how to check smart scan enabled in db ?
what is cell offload processing ?
i have 1tb of data and want to export it. i dont want to use parallel option . how will you export in
faster way ?
how do you take consistent export ? which parameter you use ?
non-asm to asm in 12c ?
how many ip we need when we configure HAIP ?
When to use SET DBID in RMAN?
My query was fine last week and now it is slow. Why?
What to Look for in AWR Report and STATSPACK Report?
what is Dynamic Sampling OPtimiser(optimizer_dynamic_sampling) ?
what is DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT ?
what is index skip scan, index fast scan and index scan ?
What is SCN?
what is pga and uga ?
what is split brain ?
what is diskmon and evmd process ?
checking smart flash cache mode ?
how will convert writeback to writethrough or writethrough to writeback ? rolling and non-rolling
method\
how will you find when the disk is fault in storage node ?
what are the modes in disk in storage node ? NORMAL , SYNCING and FAULT modes
How does OCSSD starts if voting disk & OCR resides in ASM Diskgroups?
RAC WaitEvent ?
what is miscount ?
Can we start the 10g database from 11g binaries?
How will you convert single instance to RAC
How will you find out execution plan for a query in shared pool?
How many threads & redo log groups does standby have if i have 8 node RAC?
Why we shud not use bitmap index?
Steps for RMAN active duplicate ?
what is exclusive lock & how it get acquired ?
Whats the use of max availability mode in DG?
what is row chaining and row migration ?
difference between celladmin, cellmonitor and root ?
How primary is getting converted to standby in failover scenarios?
Archive is corrupted before shipping to standby , how will u recover?
if user is connectiing to a db in RAC, how scan listener work for it ?
if we have 2 node rac, we have 3 scan ips usual. but all application connecting to node2 not to
node1 .. how will you troubleshoot it ?
RAC to nonRAC steps ?
migration of OCR from RAC to nonASM ?
if rootcrs.pl is failed in RAC, what will be your action plan ?
how to change network ip for a node in RAC ?
what is observer in FSFO ?
can we add multiple size of disk in diskgroup ?
on jan1 standby is out if sync, jan 4th added a new datafile, jan 7th manager is complaining that
database is out of sync . what will you do ?
we have 1.5g of redo log in primary and after 6 months we created standby db which consists of
1g of standby redo log . will the db in sync ?
if we have ocr and voting disk in ASM. can we shutdown the asm instance ?
ocr and voting disk must be accessible but the asm should be down . what will you do ?

How do you check and repair acfs filesystem ?

rootcrs.pl -lock and rootcrs.pl -unlock ?
what is far sync ?
what is gds ?
where do you specify block size in dbca ? if we select custom database template.
can you create tablespace with diferrent block size ?
what might be the reason if your awr snapshots are missing !?
if you are updating a table data the undo information is stored for read consistency ? where the
information is stored in oracle blocks for read and write consistency ? Check ITL !! Interested
transaction lists !
Tuning PGA memory management ,check work area size types like optimal ,one pass ,multi
pass concepts
soft parse and hard parse
clustering factor in indexes !?
how to change private IP for the whole cluster ?
how to stop whole cluster from one node ?
OCR. location
how to add voting disk ?
OLR location
dropping current redolog is lost or corrupted how to start the database ?
recover database until cancel option ?
database upgrade and loss of database component ?or need to upgrade a single database
component in database ?
real time apply in standby database ?
how to delete gaurateed restore point in read only database ?
if you flashback your primary database what steps you take to make your standby sync with
primary
how to move or steps to move your database from max performance to max protection mode ?

find the location of ASM spfile if the ASM is down ? gpnptool getpval -asm_spf
find GPnP Deamons are running on the local node ? gpnptool lfind
archive log corrupted in standby and out of sync with primary. MEanwhile datafile has been
added in primary, .. how will you make standby in sync with primary.?
in tts how will you check if tablespace has dependent with other tablespaces ?
how do you replace ocr ?
what is the use of calibrate commmand ?
if primary is failed over to standby. Existing primary db came up, do the db will be in sync with
new primary (standby) ? how do you do that ?
shall we create a restore point in standby ?
What are wait events in RAC ?
What are GC buffer busy waits ? and other RAC related wait events.?
Do a wait event cause node eviction ? if so can you share your experiences on it !
what is LNS LMOd GCS GES GRD ? in RAC ?
if multiple instances require same set of data blocks how the RAC process it ? and how can be
contention handled in such scenarios?
what is main advantage of using exadata than normal RAC system ? share some insights !
There are 30 to 40 indexes on a table how to find which indexes are used for retrieving data and
used widely in explain plan and others are dead weight to the database!?
how to run an update statement for a table which updates nearly 500 million rows without
impacting the database or locking the database? or how to improve performance of the update
what are the checks you do for a normal production database ? daily checks ?
how to overcome I/O for a table ? disk I/O where wil you check disk I/O in awr reports ?
ways to make rman backups faster ?
Control file can't be recovered from the backup how to start the database in such scenarios ?
what does happen when u kigive shutdown immediate and shut abort ? explain what happens at
background
An user complains that he was facing issue a while ago and the transactions were hanging. and
it's fine after few minutes? what steps you take to analyze the issue ?
Is one voting disk enough for RAC how to add voting disk to new diskgroup with normal or high
redundancy ?
RAC: Frequently asked questions RAC FAQ DOC I'd - 220970.1

- How do you check which data file is corrupted ?

1) v$database_block_corruption
- System data file is corrupted and there is only RMAN recent incremental backup
available.
- 10 "users" data files are there. 1 is corrupted. Strictly no down time.
- Client says suddenly performance gone down. First what you'll check ?
- What is your backup strategy when the database size is 30+ TB.
- How to check gaps, long running queries, datapump status, rman struck status.
- Database is down and not starting up.
- You are on a call, a person from different team asked for SYSDBA privileges to his user.
How will you manage ? What is your action ?
- What happens if you set a) Cursor_sharing = exact b) cursor_sharing = force c) what is
default
- Application is not responding when a button is clicked, but application is fine. What will
you check in database end.
- Dump file is 1gb but when imported it is going up to more than 150gb. What might be the
reasons ?
- Can you create indexes on temporary tables ?
- You don't have direct access to the DB server, but you need dump for schema difference
on high priority. What and all options you have to get only the skeliton of the schema ?
- You have recovered database, but DB prompts " Alter database open resetlogs" Is this
safe ? Is it recommend ?