S

schedule

An Oracle scheduler object that specifies a start date, optional end date, and repeat interval that can be used to generate dates and times for job execution.

Segment Advisor

A tool available either via a PL/SQL package or within EM Database Control that analyzes a segment or all segments within a tablespace and recommends remedial action to optimize the space within the segments.

Segment Resource Estimation

A tool available only within EM Database Control that can estimate space usage for a new table segment given the column datatypes, sizes, and the estimated row count.

segment shrink

The functionality using either ALTER TABLE or the EM Database Control interface to reclaim wasted space within a segment and optionally move the high watermark (HWM) down.

server-generated alerts

Oracle functionality that allows the database to detect problematic situations and issue alerts accordingly. Server-generated alerts are created by establishing threshold settings on specific metrics.

server-managed recovery

Recovery Manager (RMAN) recovery that is initiated by a server process that interacts with the target database, the repository, and the media manager.

session attributes

A group of session characteristics that can be used to identify types of sessions for the purpose of assigning consumer resource groups.

SET_THRESHOLD

A procedure within the DBMS_SERVER_ALERT package to set the threshold levels for a tablespace or other database resource.

SGA

See System Global Area.

SGA_TARGET

An initialization parameter used to define the total amount of memory available to ASMM. See also Automatic Shared Memory Management.

shared library

A collection of precompiled procedures and functions stored in a single file. Shared library routines can be called externally from other programs.

SHOW RECYCLEBIN

A special command that displays the contents of the Recycle Bin. See also Recycle Bin.

simple resource plan

A resource plan in which all the plan directives are self-contained. In other words, the plan has no externally stored resource plan directives. Simple resource plans are created by using the DBMS_RESOURCE_MANAGER.CREATE_SIMPLE_PLAN procedure. See also complex resource plan.

single-level resource plan

Any resource plan that does not allocate resources to a sub-plan.

snapshot Interval

The frequency with which the AWR produces snapshots for proactive monitoring. By default, the snapshot interval is set to 60 minutes. See also Automatic Workload Repository.

sorted hash clusters

A hash cluster—either single-table or multiple-table—that maintains rows ordered by one or more sort keys for each value of the cluster key to minimize memory usage and sort operations when the rows are retrieved from the cluster. Sorted hash clusters support applications that process data in a first in, first out (FIFO) manner.

space pressure

A low disk space condition in a tablespace that may cause objects in the Recycle Bin to be removed before additional space is allocated to the tablespace if AUTOALLOCATE is in effect. Oracle removes these objects if necessary on a first in, first out (FIFO) basis to maintain enough space for existing objects in the tablespace. See also Recycle Bin.

SQL Profile

Data dictionary objects that store auxiliary statistics relating to a specific query that is utilized by the query optimizer when generating an execution plan. Unlike a Stored Outline, which instructs the optimizer to always use a specific execution plan, a SQL Profile is treated as a source of statistics that will be considered by the optimizer when generating an execution plan.

SQL trace

Oracle functionality that produces verbose trace files detailing SQL execution. SQL trace files can be used to diagnose poorly running SQL statements.

SQL Tuning Advisor

The interface to the Automatic Tuning Optimizer (ATO), the SQL Tuning Advisor offers functionality to submit SQL statements to the ATO and to display and process results. See also Automatic Tuning Optimizer; SQL Tuning Set.

SQL Tuning Set (STS)

A collection of SQL statements, along with their associated execution statistics and execution context. SQL Tuning Sets can be used to pass a group of SQL statements into the SQL Tuning Advisor, rather than submitting them individually. See also SQL Tuning Advisor.

STS

See SQL Tuning Set.

sub-plan

A resource plan that is allocated resources from a top-level plan.

superset

A grouping of elements that contains all of the elements contained in another group (the subset). A character set that contains all characters defined in another character set and assigns identical encoded values to those characters is considered a superset of the other character set.

switch privilege

The privilege granted to a user or role enabling them to switch their consumer group.

synchronous

Synchronous execution means that a process is dependent on another process and the two must remain in sync. For example, when executing a query from SQL*Plus, the query runs synchronously with the SQL*Plus program. Therefore, control does not return to SQL*Plus until the query has completed.

SYSDBA

A connection privilege that has full database administration privileges.

SYSOPER

A connection privilege that has partial database administration privileges. This account is good for operators who need to support a database application.

System Global Area (SGA)

A shared memory area used by Oracle for the majority of its memory needs. The SGA contains a number of memory subcomponents, including the database buffer cache, the shared pool, the large pool, the Java pool, and several other memory caches.