Optimizing Storage and Performance with Oracle Database Advanced Compression

 Optimizing Storage and Performance with Oracle Database Advanced Compression

In the world of database management, the challenge of balancing performance with storage efficiency is ever-present. Oracle's Advanced Compression feature offers a robust solution to this by reducing storage footprint, optimizing performance, and saving costs — all without compromising data integrity. In this post, we’ll dive into how you can leverage advanced compression in Oracle, with practical examples and straightforward code snippets.

  Why Use Advanced Compression in Oracle?

Advanced Compression isn't just about saving storage; it enhances data retrieval speed by minimizing the amount of data that needs to be read from disk. This is especially beneficial for larger tables or indices that experience heavy I/O operations. Advanced Compression works across various Oracle database objects and data types, from tables and indexes to LOBs and backups.

  Types of Compression in Oracle Database

Oracle provides several types of compression suited to various workloads:

1. Basic Table Compression: Suitable for read-only or static tables, it compresses data as it's loaded.

2. OLTP Table Compression: Designed for transactional environments, it works dynamically on data inserts and updates.

3. Hybrid Columnar Compression (HCC): Available only on Exadata and a few other Oracle storage solutions, it’s ideal for data warehouses and archival tables.

4. Index Compression: Reduces the storage for indexes by compressing repeated values.

Let’s walk through these options with examples using a hypothetical table and index.

  1. Basic Table Compression

To start, let’s look at Basic Table Compression, commonly used for data warehousing or infrequently updated tables.

Suppose we have a table `Employee_Records` that stores historical data and is rarely modified:

 SQL :

CREATE TABLE Employee_Records (

    employee_id NUMBER,

    first_name VARCHAR2(50),

    last_name VARCHAR2(50),

    department_id NUMBER,

    hire_date DATE

) COMPRESS BASIC;

 

Here, we specify `COMPRESS BASIC`, which instructs Oracle to compress the data during bulk insert operations. Keep in mind that this is ideal for tables where data modifications are infrequent, as Basic Compression doesn’t automatically recompress on updates.

  2. OLTP Table Compression

For transactional tables with frequent updates, OLTP Table Compression is more appropriate. Oracle's advanced algorithm ensures that as rows are inserted or updated, the data remains compressed without additional manual intervention.

Let’s use `Order_Details`, a table holding real-time sales data:

 SQL :

CREATE TABLE Order_Details (

    order_id NUMBER,

    product_id NUMBER,

    quantity NUMBER,

    order_date DATE,

    customer_id NUMBER

) COMPRESS FOR OLTP;

 

With `COMPRESS FOR OLTP`, this table will dynamically compress data during both inserts and updates, keeping storage usage low while maintaining fast performance.

Tip: OLTP compression is a powerful way to balance performance and space in high-transaction environments. However, it requires some CPU overhead, so monitor performance in CPU-bound systems.

  3. Hybrid Columnar Compression (HCC)

HCC is an exclusive feature for Exadata, ZFS, and Oracle Cloud customers. It combines row and column storage, making it highly efficient for queries that scan large datasets. HCC can offer multiple levels, like `COMPRESS FOR QUERY` and `COMPRESS FOR ARCHIVE`, allowing you to optimize for retrieval speed or maximum storage savings.

Using `Sales_Archive` as an example table:

 SQL :

CREATE TABLE Sales_Archive (

    sale_id NUMBER,

    region VARCHAR2(30),

    sale_amount NUMBER,

    sale_date DATE

) COMPRESS FOR QUERY HIGH;

 

In this case, `COMPRESS FOR QUERY HIGH` balances both storage efficiency and query performance, ideal for analytic queries on historical data. For long-term storage where frequent access isn’t necessary, consider `COMPRESS FOR ARCHIVE HIGH`.

  4. Index Compression

Finally, Index Compression can be particularly beneficial for large indexes with repeating values. By compressing the key prefix, Oracle significantly reduces index size, speeding up queries.

Imagine we have a commonly queried index on the `Employee_Records` table:

 SQL :

CREATE INDEX idx_employee_department 

ON Employee_Records (department_id, last_name, first_name) COMPRESS 1;

 

In this example, `COMPRESS 1` compresses the leading column (`department_id`) in the index. If more columns contain duplicate values, you can increase the compression level. Index compression works well in cases where there’s repetition, such as departmental groupings, making it a great fit for HR or CRM databases.

  Monitoring and Verifying Compression Benefits

To see the benefits of compression, you can query Oracle's data dictionary to monitor the space savings:

 SQL :

SELECT segment_name, 

       segment_type, 

       bytes / 1024 / 1024 AS size_MB 

FROM   dba_segments 

WHERE  segment_name = 'EMPLOYEE_RECORDS';

 

By running this query before and after enabling compression, you can quantify the storage savings directly.

  Considerations and Best Practices

1. Testing: Test compression in a non-production environment to assess CPU overhead and performance impact.

2. Monitoring: Regularly monitor space and CPU metrics to ensure that compression is meeting your goals without overtaxing system resources.

3. Reorganizing Tables: Consider periodically reorganizing heavily updated tables with OLTP compression to maintain optimal storage savings.

  Conclusion

Oracle's Advanced Compression provides a flexible toolkit for database administrators looking to optimize both storage and performance. By selecting the right type of compression for each workload, you can achieve substantial space savings while maintaining fast access times. Try implementing compression gradually, starting with non-critical tables, and measure the impact to find the best fit for your database environment.