Automatic Workload Repository (AWR) in Oracle Database 10g

Oracle have provided many performance gathering and reporting tools over the years. Originally the UTLBSTAT/UTLESTAT scripts were used to monitor performance metrics. Oracle8i introduced the Statspack functionality which Oracle9i extended. In Oracle 10g statspack has evolved into the Automatic Workload Repository (AWR).

AWR Features
The AWR is used to collect performance statistics including:

Wait events used to identify performance problems.
Time model statistics indicating the amount of DB time associated with a process from the V$SESS_TIME_MODEL and V$SYS_TIME_MODEL views.
Active Session History (ASH) statistics from the V$ACTIVE_SESSION_HISTORY view.
Some system and session statistics from the V$SYSSTAT and V$SESSTAT views.
Object usage statistics.
Resource intensive SQL statements.
The repository is a source of information for several other Oracle 10g features including:

Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor
SQL Tuning Advisor
Undo Advisor
Segment Advisor


Workload Repository Views
The following workload repository views are available:

V$ACTIVE_SESSION_HISTORY - Displays the active session history (ASH) sampled every second.
V$METRIC - Displays metric information.
V$METRICNAME - Displays the metrics associated with each metric group.
V$METRIC_HISTORY - Displays historical metrics.
V$METRICGROUP - Displays all metrics groups.
DBA_HIST_ACTIVE_SESS_HISTORY - Displays the history contents of the active session history.
DBA_HIST_BASELINE - Displays baseline information.
DBA_HIST_DATABASE_INSTANCE - Displays database environment information.
DBA_HIST_SNAPSHOT - Displays snapshot information.
DBA_HIST_SQL_PLAN - Displays SQL execution plans.
DBA_HIST_WR_CONTROL - Displays AWR settings.

Workload Repository Reports
Oracle provide two scripts to produce workload repository reports (awrrpt.sql and awrrpti.sql). They are similar in format to the statspack reports and give the option of HTML or plain text formats. The two reports give essential the same output but the awrrpti.sql allows you to select a single instance. The reports can be generated as follows:

@$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/awrrpt.sql
@$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/awrrpti.sql
The scripts prompt you to enter the report format (html or text), the start snapshot id, the end snapshot id and the report filename. The resulting report can be opend in a browser or text editor accordingly.