Oracle Sorting Enhancements (workarea_size_policy)

A serious problem in Oracle8i was the requirement that all dedicated connections use a one-size-fits-all sort_area_size . Oracle 9i and beyond now has the option of running automatic PGA memory management.
Oracle has introduced a new Oracle parameter called pga_aggregate_target . When the pga_aggregate_target parameter is set and you are using dedicated Oracle connections, Oracle9i will ignore all of the PGA parameters in the Oracle file, including sort_area_size, hash_area_size and sort_area_retained_size . Oracle recommends that the value of pga_aggregate_target be set to the amount of remaining memory (less a 10 percent overhead for other UNIX tasks) on the UNIX server after the instance has been started.
Once the pga_aggregate_target has been set, Oracle will automatically manage PGA memory allocation based upon the individual needs of each Oracle connection. Oracle9i allows the pga_aggregate_target parameter to be modified at the instance level with the alter system command, thereby allowing the DBA to dynamically adjust the total RAM region available to Oracle9i.
Oracle9i also introduces a new parameter called workarea_size_policy . When this parameter is set to automatic, all Oracle connections will benefit from the shared PGA memory. When workarea_size_policy is set to manual, connections will allocate memory according to the values for the sort_area_size parameter. Under the automatic mode, Oracle tries to maximize the number of work areas that are using optimal memory and uses one-pass memory for the others.
In addition to increasing the amount of memory devoted to sorting, you should also hunt down inefficient SQL that cause needless sorts. For example, union all does not cause a sort, whereas union does in a SQL query (to eliminate duplicate rows). The distinct keyword is oftentimes coded inappropriately (especially by folks transferring from Microsoft Access, which used to use distinct for nearly every query).