In Oracle Database, theV$SESSION_LONGOPSview provides insights into various operations within the database that are expected to take more than six seconds to complete. These include operations related to RMAN (Recovery Manager), such as database duplication tasks. This view displays information about the progress of these long-running operations, including the start time, elapsed time, and estimated time to completion.
When an RMAN session is performing a database duplication and is observed to be slower than usual, checking theV$SESSION_LONGOPSview can give an approximation ofwhen the RMAN operation might complete. This view includes fields likeTIME_REMAININGandELAPSED_SECONDSthat help in estimating the completion time of the operation based on its current progress.
References:
* Oracle Database Reference:V$SESSION_LONGOPS
* Oracle Database Backup and Recovery User's Guide:Monitoring RMAN Jobs

The V$PGA_TARGET_ADVICE view provides advice on potential performance improvements by adjusting the PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET parameter. The column ESTD_OVERALLOC_COUNT indicates the estimated number of work areas that would perform multiple passes if the PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET were set to the size in the TARGET_MB column.
A: According to the output, at the target of 700 MB, the ESTD_OVERALLOC_COUNT is 30. This suggests that if PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET is set to 700 MB, 30 multipass execution work areas would be required. If we look further down, at the target of 800 MB, the ESTD_OVERALLOC_COUNT is 0, indicating that increasing PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET to 800 MB or more would eliminate the need for multipass executions, not at 700 MB as initially suggested by the option. Hence, the verified answer derived from the data is slightly nuanced; it should be 800 MB to eliminate all multipass executions.
References:
* Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide, 19c
* Oracle Database Reference, 19c

The cursor: pin S wait on X wait event suggests contention for a cursor pin, which is associated with mutexes (a type of locking mechanism) that protect the library cache to prevent concurrent modifications.
This issue can often be alleviated by deferring the invalidation of cursors until the end of the call to reduce contention. The correct command to use would be:
* C (Correct): ALTER SYSTEM SET CURSOR_INVALIDATION=DEFERRED; This setting defers the invalidation of dependent cursors until the end of the PL/SQL call, which can reduce the cursor: pin S wait on X wait events.
The other options are incorrect in addressing this issue:
* A (Incorrect): Setting CURSOR_SHARING to FORCE makes the optimizer replace literal values with bind variables. It doesn't address the contention for cursor pins directly.
* B (Incorrect): CURSOR_SPACE_FOR_TIME=TRUE aims to reduce the parsing effort by keeping cursors for prepared statements open. It may increase memory usage but does not directly resolve cursor: pin S wait on X waits.
* D (Incorrect): Increasing SESSION_CACHED_CURSORS caches more session cursors but doesn't necessarily prevent the contention indicated by the cursor: pin S wait on X wait events.
References:
* Oracle Database Reference: CURSOR_INVALIDATION
* Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide: Reducing Cursor Invalidation

The AWR excerpt points to excessive physical reads on the SALES table and index, suggesting the need for optimizing table storage and access.
Partitioning the SALES table (A) can reduce 'db file sequential read' waits by breaking down the large SALES table into smaller, more manageable pieces. This can localize the data and reduce the I/O necessary for query operations.
Compressing the SALES table (D) can also help reduce I/O by minimizing the amount of data that needs to be read from disk. This can also improve cache utilization and reduce the 'db file sequential read' waits.
References:
* Oracle Database VLDB and Partitioning Guide, 19c
* Oracle Database Administrator's Guide, 19c
These changes are recommended based on Oracle's best practices for managing large tables and reducing I/O waits, ensuring better performance and efficiency.

A high buffer cache hit ratio typically indicates that the database is effectively using the buffer cache and does not often need to read data from disk. However, this metric alone is not a reliable indicator of the I/O performance of the database for several reasons:
* Full table scans and fast full index scans (A) can bypass the buffer cache by design if the blocks are not
* deemed reusable shortly, which can impact the cache hit ratio.
* A high cache hit ratio (B) can be misleading if the database performance is poor due to other factors, such as inefficient queries or contention issues.
* The buffer cache advisory (C) is a more valuable tool for understanding the potential impact of different cache sizes on the database's I/O performance. It simulates scenarios with different cache sizes and provides a more targeted recommendation.
* The RECYCLE and KEEP buffer caches (D) are specialized caches designed for certain scenarios.
While high hit ratios can be beneficial, they are not universally required; some workloads might not be significantly impacted by lower hit ratios in these caches.
* A lower cache hit ratio (E) does not necessarily mean poor I/O performance. In some cases, a system with a well-designed storage subsystem and efficient queries might perform well even with a lower cache hit ratio.
References
* Oracle Database 19c Performance Tuning Guide - Buffer Cache Hit Ratio
* Oracle Database 19c Performance Tuning Guide - v$db_cache_advice