DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT

I have a PeopleSoft application running on Oracle 7.2 and NT 3.51.

I have a very low hit ratio and have been playing around with increasing the DB_BLOCK_BUFFERS by using the DB_BLOCK_LRU_EXTENDED_STATISTICS method, but the expansion of the DB_BLOCK_BUFFERS seems to have little or no effect on the hit ratio.

I also have determined we have no free blocks by querying the actual blocks and their status and have no free blocks. All appear read and altered.

My next step is to look into the DB_FILE_MULTIBLOCK_READ_COUNT value. We have a 2K blocksize and our multiblock read count is set to 32. I think this may be a hog on my hit ratio as the application is primarily a OLTP application. I want to drop this, but want someone to verify my logic in doing so. Has anyone ever run into this hit ratio problem when running PeopleSoft HRMS? Is this parameter doing what I think it is and does it have an effect on all reads, not just sequential reads?

Thanks for any help or advice you could offer. --

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