Re: InitTrans parameter

arpege wrote:
>
> What is the inittrans parameter used for ? From what I've read, it books
> some space in the block header of an extent of a table ... But what is
> it exactly used for ??

It's used to mark which rows in a block are locked by a given transaction. The default setting of 1 is way too low for a table that may have more than one transaction trying to update rows in the same block. What happens then is that ORACLE will dynamically (read: with impact on performance) change the INITRANS to whatever is needed. Better to set it slightly higher, no need to go for broke. In any case, never set it higher than the number of rows in the block - it would be just wasted space.

What I'm not sure about is if dynamically expanding the INITRANS like ORACLE does can cause block chaining by "pushing" the last row into another block. Anybody knows this for sure?

-- 
Nuno Souto
nsouto_at_FOSPAMacay.com.au