Regarding operating systems, unless otherwise stated, references are based on Linux. However, among the various operating systems, when it comes to determining the operating system bottleneck (not tuning) and relating that to Oracle activity, the concepts, words we use, and our objective are similar. The data collection tool may be different, but the specific pieces of information that we want to gather are the same. Most people are surprised that the concepts can be applied to any operating system. The key is knowing what to look for and then finding the tool to get that information.

All tools related to Oracle data collection used in this book are from the OraPub System Monitor, or OSM for short. I created this tool kit and use it on-site during my consulting engagements. You can download the complete tool kit (for free) from http://www.orapub.com. There are also a number of other spreadsheets and Perl scripts I reference. Unless otherwise specifically mentioned, all the tools are available for free from OraPub's web site.

All the operating system tools used in this book are standard Unix/Linux tools, such as vmstat, sar, iostat, and top. If you understand how these tools work, you'll know what to look for when using your platform-specific tool.