If you want the index height (or blevel + 1), then you could dump the index root block
alter system dump datafile N block MM Check dba_segments for the address of the segment header block, unless you have multiple freelist groups, the index root block will be the one after the segment header. You will find the blevel of the root block in the symbolic dump in the line labelled kdxcolev. For the 'right size' - I tend to work out roughly how large a typical index entry ought to be, multiple by the number of rows I expect to have non-null entries - add a bit (for rowids) and multiple by 4/3 (to allow for typical wastage). If the result is about right, I stop worrying. (NB There may be special case indexes where you have a finer knowledge of the application and therefore use a value other than 4/3). Regards Jonathan Lewis http://www.jlcomp.demon.co.uk Now available One-day tutorials: Cost Based Optimisation Trouble-shooting and Tuning Indexing Strategies (see http://www.jlcomp.demon.co.uk/tutorial.html ) ____UK_______March 19th ____UK_______April 8th ____UK_______April 22nd ____USA_(FL)_May 2nd Next dates for the 3-day seminar: (see http://www.jlcomp.demon.co.uk/seminar.html ) ____UK_(Manchester)_May ____USA_(CA, TX)_August The Co-operative Oracle Users' FAQ http://www.jlcomp.demon.co.uk/faq/ind_faq.html ----- Original Message ----- To: "Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: 11 March 2003 14:30 > I need to determine whether or not a couple of indexes need to be rebuilt. > The problem is the indexes are quite large and on a 24x7 high volume > database. If I try to run an "analyze validate structure" to gather the data > I need to make that decision, it sets a lock on the table for about an hour > which I can't afford to do. There is no slow time when I can do this and > management has said before they're not going to spring for the partitioning > option to break the indexes up into managable pieces. Is there some other > way I can get the information needed to determine if an index needs to be > rebuilt or not without setting a lock on the table? We are on Oracle 8.1.7. > -- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.net -- Author: Jonathan Lewis INET: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fat City Network Services -- 858-538-5051 http://www.fatcity.com San Diego, California -- Mailing list and web hosting services --------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).