Features and Benefits

Quest Central Explorer

Quest Central Explorer is a centralized launch pad for Quest database management products. This console allows users to step outside of the more rigid, traditional framework of database management environments and experience a more flexible and cohesive platform of integrated products.

Quest Central Explorer is free and provides you with many valuable features: 

• Allows better integration between Quest products, not just within the Quest Central suite but also between other standalone Quest products
• Offers simplified navigation of your servers through a common database tree
• Provides a common point to manage, view and launch your Quest database applications
• Provides a quick, simple way to download, install and use the latest version of a tool for flexible upgrades
• Automatically notifies you of new Quest releases, products, free offerings and tutorials

Performance Analysis for Oracle

*Performance Analysis for Oracle is also now available as a standalone product

Quest Central for Oracle includes Performance Analysis for Oracle, which incorporates the following new features and improvements:

• Performance dashboard
  • Consolidates key performance metrics
  • Provides at-a-glance understanding of database health
  • Enables root-cause detection
  • Includes Performance Advisories and Best Practices
• IntelliProfile
  • An adaptive profiling technology built into StealthCollect
  • Continually and invisibly monitors and analyzes database performance right from the middleware
  • Learns the database’s signature behavior for the hour of the day, day of the week, etc.
  • Determines the acceptable/normal ranges of activity, which gives comparison information needed to understand true database performance
• Execution plan history
  • Tracks all changes in execution plans and retains a complete history of these changes
• Dimension filtering
  • Easily find the information you need when searching historical performance
• Executive Summary report
  • Provides key decision-makers with the critical information displayed in the Database Performance home page
• Comparison to Baseline reports
  • Compare database activity for a given time range to the baseline
• Integration with Toad for Oracle, Benchmark Factory, and Quest SQL Optimizer for Oracle
• Improved user management
• Improved UI navigation and flow
• Performance Analysis for Oracle v6.0 UI compatibility with StealthCollect v5.0/5.5

Quest SQL Optimizer for Oracle

*Quest SQL Optimizer for Oracle is also now available as a standalone product

Quest Central for Oracle includes Quest SQL Optimizer for Oracle, which offers the following features and benefits:

Batch Optimization
The batch optimizer automatically scans multiple database objects, source code files and SGA collections , identifies problematic SQL and then optimizes it. Users can control the scope of automation, as needed, in each step of the optimization process. The batch optimizer can also automate the entire cycle of SQL performance tuning.

Stored Procedure Optimization

Optimizing stored procedures requires painstaking, statement-by-statement scrutiny and analysis. Through the batch optimization process, these database objects can now be tuned in their entirety, drastically expanding the scope of performance tuning.

Code Replacement
When optimization is complete, stored procedure scripts are generated to implement the changes to the SQL in these objects. If SQL is scanned and optimized from an application code file, replacement files with updated embedded SQL are offered to substitute for the pre-optimized code files.

Indexing Strategy Analysis
Through Index Expert, index options can be automatically generated for individual SQL statements; and, through Global Indexing, index options can be automatically generated for groups of SQL. After these indexes are generated, it is important to see the effect each set has, not only on the SQL for which they were created, but also for all SQL being run on the database.

Impact Prediction

By simulating database environment changing scenarios, Impact Analysis is able to predict performance change of SQL statements during times of planned change. Generating the execution plans for SQL on new instances, with different parameters as well as for simulated indexes lets you see the overall performance impact these changes bring to your applications. Other scenarios that can be simulated include migrations, upgrades and lifecycle progressions.

Space Manager with LiveReorg

*Space Manager with LiveReorg is also now available as a standalone product

Quest Central for Oracle includes Space Manager with LiveReorg®, which incorporates the following new features and improvements:

• Lets you easily divide existing tables and their indexes into smaller units on a LIVE basis for better performance and easier maintenance via the Partitioning Wizard
• Shows the progress of live reorganizations in the LiveReorg detail window, allowing you to estimate when the switch will be made (this window also shows how much time was required for past live reorganizations)
• Shows the progress of all scheduled reorganizations on a statement-by-statement basis in the Scripts/Job Monitor
• Provides statement-level restart capability for canceled or failed reorganization scripts, allowing you to automatically resume script execution from the statement of failure or cancellation
• Automatically alerts when script execution aborts to keep you advised on a timely basis, whether you are onsite or offsite
• Provides proactive capacity planning with reports that help you predict out-of-space conditions and project future space needs based on current growth rates or what-if scenarios
• Provides comprehensive space management with tools that allow you to collect and preserve statistics, visualize space use, detect and resolve space-use problems, and plan capacity
• Reorganizes a variety of objects on a live basis, including very large, heavily accessed tables
• Offers multiple reorganization and data movement methods, including live and offline reorganizations, online redefinition, program-planned tablespace reorganizations, a choice of partition reorganization methods, and a choice of SQL statements
• Automates the use of Oracle's online redefinition package
• Supports multiple objects and datatypes for live and standard reorganizations, including individual partitions, tables with both a LONG and a LOB, LONGs that are up to two gigabytes in size, XMLType, Timestamp and user-defined datatypes
• Lets you adjust storage parameters when you reorganize, allowing you to size objects for more efficient space use
• Lets you relocate when you reorganize, allowing you to restructure your database for better I/O performance
• Lets you pause offline reorganizations of tablespaces in order to perform datafile maintenance
• Includes the Online Switch for performing live reorganizations with zero application downtime
• Designed for Oracle E-Business Suite (uses DBMS_STATS and FND_STATS), PeopleSoft, SAP, Cerner and 24x7 e-commerce applications

Spotlight® on Oracle

*Spotlight on Oracle is also now available as a standalone product

Quest Central for Oracle includes Spotlight on Oracle, which incorporates the following new features and improvements:

• Capability for Oracle9i facilitates the use of the advisories now built into the database through new automation and memory management
• Discovers hard-to-find bottlenecks that comprise up to 80 percent of performance issues, such as wait events, buffer busy and lock switch
• Displays process flows within an Oracle instance
• Displays comprehensive detail for previously recorded activity
• Provides comprehensive, context-sensitive help text covering thousands of topics by integrating with KnowledgeXpert™ for Oracle Administration
• Enables you to set baselines for each individual instance
• Displays the details of problem areas, including top sessions, inefficient SQL, locks, latches, wait events, and disk I/O, helping you identify performance problems quickly
• Provides specific tuning advice for tuning latches

Database Administration

A trial version of Toad for Oracle is provided with Quest Central for Oracle. Toad for Oracle enables you to perform the database administration functions available with previous versions of Quest Central, and provides additional functionality for administering your Oracle databases.

NOTE: The free database administration functionality included in previous versions of Quest Central for Oracle is no longer available for new customers deploying the latest version. This functionality is available in Toad as outlined above. However, existing Quest Central for Oracle customers who would like to retain use of the free database administration functionality can do so by upgrading to the latest version of Quest Central for Oracle. Do not uninstall previous versions to perform the upgrade; this will remove the database administration functionality. In the event that a previous version is uninstalled and database administration functionality is lost, reinstall the earlier version and perform the upgrade to the latest version of Quest Central for Oracle.

Benchmark Factory

Benchmark Factory for Databases^® is a Quest Central add-on that provides automated load testing to determine accurate production database hardware and software configuration, scalability, and application code functionality. Benchmark Factory for Databases identifies production bottlenecks, database migration/upgrade impact, and in an Oracle RAC system, correct node configuration to ensure application performance.