Search Results stop_profiling

Overview

SYS.DBMS_HPROF is a standard Oracle-supplied PL/SQL package that provides a hierarchical profiler for PL/SQL applications. It is not part of the Oracle E-Business Suite application schema layer itself, but is a database kernel utility shipped with the Oracle RDBMS on which EBS 12.1.1 and 12.2.2 run. In the ETRM metadata the object is recorded with owner SYS, status VALID, and an API classification of OTHER, reflecting its status as an infrastructure or diagnostic package rather than a business-facing EBS API.

Within an E-Business Suite environment, DBMS_HPROF serves as a performance-diagnostic facility. It permits developers and DBAs to capture a hierarchical profile of PL/SQL execution, showing where time is spent across nested program units. This is valuable in EBS because a single user action — a form save, an OAF page render, or a concurrent program submission — can trigger deep chains of PL/SQL calls across many packages. DBMS_HPROF allows that call hierarchy to be traced and quantified. Its dependency list confirms its isolation from application logic: it references only SYS and STANDARD, and is referenced by PUBLIC and SYS. No EBS product schema depends on it.

Key Procedures and Functions

The ETRM documentation records three procedures for this package:

• START_PROFILING — Initiates a profiling session. Invoked before the code to be measured, it begins the collection of hierarchical execution data for the desired run.
• STOP_PROFILING — Terminates the active profiling session. It closes collection and typically flushes the accumulated profile data to the output destination configured for the session.
• ANALYZE — Processes the raw profile output produced by the profiling run and generates a structured, human-readable analysis of the collected trace data.

The metadata documents no further subprograms. Additional parameter-level detail is available in Oracle's standard PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference; parameter lists are not reproduced here.

Tables Accessed

The ETRM metadata lists no tables referenced via APPS synonyms, and no database tables are documented as accessed by this package. DBMS_HPROF is a file-based profiler: profile data is written to and read from operating-system files whose locations are supplied at invocation time, rather than from database tables. Consequently, there is no permanent repository table in the EBS schema associated with its operation, and no EBS data integrity or sizing concerns arise from its use.

Usage Notes

DBMS_HPROF is a diagnostic tool rather than a runtime component of E-Business Suite. It is not invoked automatically by standard EBS forms, concurrent programs, or business flows. Instead, it is used deliberately by DBAs and developers during performance tuning or troubleshooting engagements. Typical usage patterns include:

• Wrapping a specific PL/SQL routine or a controlled reproduction of an EBS transaction with START_PROFILING and STOP_PROFILING, then running ANALYZE to review the resulting hierarchy.
• Diagnosing slow-running customizations, such as custom PL/SQL packages or concurrent program logic that sits on top of standard EBS APIs.
• Confirming which nested program units dominate elapsed time during a complex multi-package call chain.

Because it depends only on SYS and STANDARD and is exposed through PUBLIC, the package is directly callable from any schema with the appropriate privileges. It should be regarded as an investigative instrument: practical only in controlled diagnostic sessions, since profiling introduces overhead and is not intended for continuous production monitoring. Its presence in the EBS 12.1.1 and 12.2.2 environments is inherited from the underlying Oracle Database releases that support those application versions.