Investigating, Reporting, and Resolving a Problem

Roadmap—Investigating, Reporting, and Resolving a Problem

You can begin investigating a problem by starting from the Support Workbench home page in Enterprise Manager. However, the more typical workflow begins with a critical error alert on the Database Home page. This section provides an overview of that workflow.

Figure 8-2 illustrates the tasks that you complete to investigate, report, and in some cases, resolve a problem.

Figure 8-2 Workflow for Investigating, Reporting, and Resolving a Problem

Description of "Figure 8-2 Workflow for Investigating, Reporting, and Resolving a Problem"

The following are task descriptions. Subsequent sections provide details for each task.

• Task 1 – View Critical Error Alerts in Enterprise Manager

  Start by accessing the Database Home page in Enterprise Manager, and reviewing critical error alerts. Select an alert for which to view details, and then go to the Problem Details page.

• Task 2 –View Problem Details

  Examine the problem details and view a list of all incidents that were recorded for the problem. Display findings from any health checks that were automatically run.

• Task 3 – (Optional) Gather Additional Diagnostic Information

  Optionally run additional health checks or other diagnostics. For SQL-related errors, optionally invoke the SQL Test Case Builder, which gathers all required data related to a SQL problem and packages the information in a way that enables the problem to be reproduced at Oracle Support.

• Task 4 – (Optional) Create a Service Request

  Optionally create a service request with OracleMetaLink and record the service request number with the problem information. If you skip this step, you can create a service request later, or the Support Workbench can create one for you.

• Task 5 – Package and Upload Diagnostic Data to Oracle Support

  Invoke a guided workflow (a wizard) that automatically packages the gathered diagnostic data for a problem and uploads the data to Oracle Support.

• Task 6 – Track the Service Request and Implement Any Repairs

  Optionally maintain an activity log for the service request in the Support Workbench. Run Oracle advisors to help repair SQL failures or corrupted data.

• Task 7 – Close Incidents

  Set status for one, some, or all incidents for the problem to Closed.

Task 1 – View Critical Error Alerts in Enterprise Manager

You begin the process of investigating problems (critical errors) by reviewing critical error alerts on the Database Home page.

To view critical error alerts:

1. Access the Database Home page in Enterprise Manager.

   For Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control, see Oracle Database 2 Day DBA for instructions. For Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control, go to the desired database target.

2. In the Alerts section, examine the table of alerts.

   Critical error alerts are indicated by a red × in the Severity column, and the text "Incident" in the Category column.

   Note:

   You may have to click the hide/show icon next to the Alerts heading to display the alerts table.

   Figure 8-3 Alerts Table on the Database Home Page

   
   Description of "Figure 8-3 Alerts Table on the Database Home Page"
   
   

3. In the Message column, click the message of the critical error alert that you want investigate.

   The Incident page or Data Failure page appears. This page includes:

   • Problem information, including the number of incidents for the problem

   • A Performance and Critical Error graphical timeline for the 24-hour period in which the critical error occurred.

   • Alert details, including severity, timestamp, and message

   • Controls that enable you to clear the alert or record a comment about it.

4. Review the Performance and Critical Error graphical timeline, and note any time correlation between performance issues and the critical error. Optionally clear the alert or leave a comment about it.

5. Do one of the following:

   • If you want to view the details of the problem associated with the critical error alert that you are investigating, proceed with Task 2 –View Problem Details.

   • If the graphical timeline shows a large number of different problems over the past 24 hours and you want to view a summary of all those problems, complete these steps:

     • Click View All Problems.

       The Support Workbench home page appears.

     • View problems and incidents as described in "Viewing Problems with the Enterprise Manager Support Workbench".

     • Select a single problem and view problem details, as described in "Viewing Problems with the Enterprise Manager Support Workbench".

     • Continue with either Task 3 – (Optional) Gather Additional Diagnostic Information or Task 4 – (Optional) Create a Service Request.

Task 2 –View Problem Details

You continue your investigation with the Problem Details page.

To view problem details:

1. On the Incident page or Data Failure page, click View Problem Details.

   The Problem Details page appears, showing the Incidents subpage.

2. (Optional) To view incident details, select an incident, and then click View.

   The incident details page appears.

3. (Optional) On the Incident Details page, click Checker Findings to view the Checker Findings subpage.

   This page displays findings from any health checks that were automatically run when the critical error was detected.

   See Also:

   "Running HealthChecks with Health Monitor"

Task 3 – (Optional) Gather Additional Diagnostic Information

You can perform the following activities to gather additional diagnostic information for a problem. This additional information is then automatically included in the diagnostic data uploaded to Oracle Support. If you are unsure as to whether or not to perform these activities, check with your Oracle Support representative.

• Manually invoke additional health checks

  See "Running HealthChecks with Health Monitor"

• Invoke the SQL Test Case Builder

  See Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide for instructions.

Task 4 – (Optional) Create a Service Request

At this point, you can create an Oracle Support service request and record the service request number with the problem information. If you choose to skip this task, the Support Workbench will automatically create a draft service request for you in Task 5.

To create a service request:

1. On the Problem Details page, in the Investigate and Resolve section, click Go to Metalink.

   The OracleMetaLink Login and Registration page appears in a new browser window.

   Note:

   See "Viewing Problems with the Enterprise Manager Support Workbench" for instructions for returning to the Problem Details page if you are not already there.

2. Log in to OracleMetaLink and create a service request in the usual manner.

   (Optional) Remember the service request number (SR#) for the next step.

3. (Optional) Return to the Problem Details page, and then do the following:

   1. In the Summary section, click the Edit button that is adjacent to the SR# label.

   2. In the window that opens, enter the SR#, and then click OK.

   The SR# is recorded in the Problem Details page. This is for your reference only.

Task 5 – Package and Upload Diagnostic Data to Oracle Support

For this task, you use the quick packaging process of the Support Workbench to package and upload the diagnostic information for the problem to Oracle Support. Quick packaging has a minimum of steps, organized in a guided workflow (a wizard). The wizard assists you with creating an incident package (package) for a single problem, creating a zip file from the package, and uploading the file. With quick packaging, you are not able to edit or otherwise customize the diagnostic information that is uploaded. However, quick packaging is the more direct, straightforward method to package and upload diagnostic data.

If you want to edit or remove sensitive data from the diagnostic information, enclose additional user files (such as application configuration files or scripts), or perform other customizations before uploading, you must use the custom packaging process, which is a more manual process and has more steps. See "Creating, Editing, and Uploading Custom Incident Packages" for instructions. If you choose to follow those instructions instead of the instructions here in Task 5, continue with Task 6 – Track the Service Request and Implement Any Repairs when you are finished.

To package and upload diagnostic data to Oracle Support:

1. On the Problem Details page, in the Investigate and Resolve section, click Quick Package.

   The Create New Package page of the Quick Packaging wizard appears.

   Note:

   See "Viewing Problems with the Enterprise Manager Support Workbench" for instructions for returning to the Problem Details page if you are not already there.
   
   Description of the illustration quick_package_wizard_page1.gif
   
   

2. Optionally enter a package name and description.

3. Fill in the remaining fields on the page. If you already created a service request for this problem, select No next to Create new Service Request (SR).

   If you select Yes, the Quick Packaging wizard creates a draft service request on your behalf. You must later log in to OracleMetaLink and fill in the details of the service request.

4. Click Next, and then proceed with the remaining pages of the Quick Packaging wizard.

   When the Quick Packaging wizard is complete, the package that it creates remains available in the Support Workbench. You can then modify it with custom packaging operations (such as adding new incidents) and reupload at a later time. See "Viewing and Modifying Incident Packages".

Task 6 – Track the Service Request and Implement Any Repairs

After uploading diagnostic information to Oracle Support, you might perform various activities to track the service request, to collect additional diagnostic information, and to implement repairs. Among these activities are the following:

• Adding an Oracle bug number to the problem information.

  To do so, on the Problem Details page, click the Edit button that is adjacent to the Bug# label. This is for your reference only.

• Adding comments to the problem activity log.

  You may want to do this to share problem status or history information with other DBAs in your organization. For example you could record the results of your conversations with Oracle Support. To add comments, complete the following steps:

  1. Access the Problem Details page for the problem, as described in "Viewing Problems with the Enterprise Manager Support Workbench".

  2. Click Activity Log to display the Activity Log subpage.

  3. In the Comment field, enter a comment, and then click Add Comment.

     Your comment is recorded in the activity log.

• As new incidents occur, adding them to the package and reuploading.

  For this activity, you must use the custom packaging method described in "Creating, Editing, and Uploading Custom Incident Packages".

• Running health checks.

  See "Running HealthChecks with Health Monitor".

• Running a suggested Oracle advisor to implement repairs.

  Access the suggested advisor in one of the following ways:

  • Problem Details page—In the Self-Service tab of the Investigate and Resolve section

  • Support Workbench home page—on the Checker Findings subpage

  • Incident Details page—on the Checker Findings subpage

  Table 8-4 lists the advisors that help repair critical errors.

  Table 8-4 Oracle Advisors that Help Repair Critical Errors

  Advisor	Critical Errors Addressed	See
  Data Recovery Advisor	Corrupted blocks, corrupted or missing files, and other data failures	"Repairing Data Corruptions with the Data Recovery Advisor"
  SQL Repair Advisor	SQL statement failures	"Repairing SQL Failures with the SQL Repair Advisor"

  
  

Task 7 – Close Incidents

When a particular incident is no longer of interest, you can close it. By default, closed incidents are not displayed on the Problem Details page.

All incidents, whether closed or not, are purged after 30 days. You can disable purging for an incident on the Incident Details page.

To close incidents:

1. Access the Support Workbench home page.

   See "Viewing Problems with the Enterprise Manager Support Workbench" for instructions.

2. Select the desired problem, and then click View.

   The Problem Details page appears.

3. Select the incidents to close and then click Close.

   A confirmation page appears.

4. Enter an optional comment and click OK.