The classic tool that started it all, the Method R Profiler is software that makes simple work of knowing exactly why your application consumes the response time it does. With minimal training, a Method R Profiler user can—in just minutes—identify the root cause of an Oracle-based application performance problem, propose sensible solutions to it, and predict the end-user response time impact of each proposed solution.
The Profiler has enabled me to resolve performance problems that could not have been resolved in any way other than by pure luck.
Why You Need Method R Profiler
Conventional performance management tools look at your performance from your computer’s perspective. But to maximize the impact of performance improvements to your business, you need to view performance from the user’s perspective.
One of the most difficult tasks facing system performance analysts is to answer the seemingly simple question, “What’s taking so long?” The Method R Profiler brings you the answer within two mouse clicks, for any Oracle-related performance problem. No other tool makes you as efficient. Read more about how the Method R Profiler is solving performance problems for our customers.
When You Need Method R Profiler
The first time I used it, the Profiler helped me reduce the run time of one query from 6½ hours to less than 11 minutes.
Method R Profiler is indispensable in situations including:
- Solving performance problems
- The diagnostic power of the Method R Profiler is extraordinary. On countless situations in which root causes have evaded detection for weeks or even months, new Method R Profiler users have resolved problems permanently in less than an hour.
- Server consolidation
- Nearly every system we examine uses more than twice as much hardware capacity as it needs. Imagine the cost savings of eliminating the waste that would enable you to run your applications on half the hardware. The Method R Profiler reveals waste like a microscope reveals bacteria.
- Preventive maintenance
- By comparing Method R Profiler output of critical business processes over time, it becomes easy to recognize gradual performance deterioration before your users do.
How It Works
Method R Profiler automates the most complicated task in the efficient performance diagnostic method: converting the extremely detailed chronological record of a user action’s response time consumption into a format that is easy for you to use.
Step 1: Click the component with the largest contribution to response time.
Step 2: Click the id of the SQL statement with the largest contribution to that component.
Step 3: You’re now looking at the SQL statement that is the root cause of your performance problem.
Within one minute of installation the Method R Profiler exceeded all expectations. We went live with a new warehouse management system this Friday because all of the tuning was done ahead of time. The Method R Profiler pointed out all of the application inefficiencies which we turned over to the vendor. They were able to fix the ones with the largest impact on the online response times. That gave our management the confidence they needed to make the go/no-go decision. Until I got the Method R Profiler we were looking at postponing it until next quarter. I pity the poor souls that have to optimize in mere mortal ways.
How We’re Different
Distinctions of the Method R Profiler include:
- Complete performance information
- Method R Profiler enables you to answer two critical questions that you’ve never before been able to answer reliably. First, “What happened?” Method R Profiler shows you exactly where your end-user’s time has gone—every millisecond of it. Second, “What if?” Since Method R Profiler shows you every millisecond of your end-user’s response time, you’ll know exactly how much of a response time difference a proposed performance improvement tactic is going to make, before you invest into it.
- Methodical two-step solution path to any problem
- Traditional methods and tools require you to have dozens of tools and scripts to diagnose all the kinds of problems that Oracle systems can have. With the Method R Profiler, the two-step sequence of diagnosis steps is always the same, no matter what the problem. Method R Profiler is the first tool for Oracle that doesn’t require you to guess what your problem might be before it can help you fix it.
- Complete, accurate response time profile
- Method R Profiler shows you where all your user’s response time went, even when your time was consumed in application tiers other than the database. Most other tools encourage you to ignore the so-called idle events, which serves only to conceal the root cause of entire categories of important performance problems.
- Proper aggregation of shareable SQL
- Applications that don’t use placeholder variables (i.e., “bind variables”) are particularly troublesome to diagnose with traditional tools, where one variable mistake can show up in your output as twenty thousand distinct problems with individual contributions of 0.005% of your response time. Method R Profiler will show the issue as a single problem with 99% impact.
- Complete accounting of recursive SQL relationships
- Sometimes recursive SQL is the cause of a performance problem. When it is, you need to know the relationship that the recursive statements have to your application code. Oracle’s SQL trace files contain all the information you need to see that relationship, but only the Method R Profiler is able to extract the information from the trace file.
- Unprecedented ease-of-use
- When combined with Method R Trace, our zero-click interface to Oracle SQL Developer, database administrators and application developers can use the Method R Profiler without any of the bother of repeated conversations about trace file permissions or server-to-desktop file transfers. MR Trace allows developers to profile their SQL as they write it, with just a click.
- Additional information display conveniences
- Method R Profiler provides several distinctive information display conveniences that speed the problem diagnosis process, including:
- SQL statement text formatted for easier reading, including the use of color to denote places where programmers have used literal text instead of placeholder variables (bind variables)
- Histograms for all Oracle subroutines (including CPU consuming db calls like parses, executes, and fetches; OS calls like I/O, latch sleeps, enqueue waits, etc.; and even unaccounted-for time) to reveal information about skew in operation durations
- Statistics presentation optimized for prioritization of LIO operations
- Statement-level statistics shown both inclusive and exclusive of recursive SQL (tkprof shows only one; which one varies by release)
- Identification of which PIO blocks are managed through the Oracle buffer cache and which are not
- Statement-level statistics shown in per-execute and per-returned-row form for convenient analysis
- Placeholder variables (“bind variables“) and their bound values shown for best- and worst-performing executions
- Bound values of type Oracle timestamp are shown in easy-to-read form (instead of in hexadecimal “Dump of memory” format)
- Numbers formatted with thousands separators for easier reading
Method R Software Information Library
Check out our library for more information about Method R software:
Method R Profiler runs on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
Product Change Log
Click here to view our Method R Profiler bug fixes and new features.
Prices begin at $1,180 usd per 1-person license, including maintenance and support for one year. Buy Method R Profiler in single- or multi-user packages with other Method R software, or ask us about multi-user discounts. Method R Corporation accepts corporate purchase orders, corporate checks, credit cards (MasterCard, Visa, Discover, and American Express), and PayPal.