Here's the tkprof output for a query that's running extremely slowly (WARNING: it's long :-) ):
SELECT mbr_comment_idn, mbr_crt_dt, mbr_data_source, mbr_dol_bl_rmo_ind, mbr_dxcg_ctl_member, mbr_employment_start_dt, mbr_employment_term_dt, mbr_entity_active, mbr_ethnicity_idn, mbr_general_health_status_code, mbr_hand_dominant_code, mbr_hgt_feet, mbr_hgt_inches, mbr_highest_edu_level, mbr_insd_addr_idn, mbr_insd_alt_id, mbr_insd_name, mbr_insd_ssn_tin, mbr_is_smoker, mbr_is_vip, mbr_lmbr_first_name, mbr_lmbr_last_name, mbr_marital_status_cd, mbr_mbr_birth_dt, mbr_mbr_death_dt, mbr_mbr_expired, mbr_mbr_first_name, mbr_mbr_gender_cd, mbr_mbr_idn, mbr_mbr_ins_type, mbr_mbr_isreadonly, mbr_mbr_last_name, mbr_mbr_middle_name, mbr_mbr_name, mbr_mbr_status_idn, mbr_mpi_id, mbr_preferred_am_pm, mbr_preferred_time, mbr_prv_innetwork, mbr_rep_addr_idn, mbr_rep_name, mbr_rp_mbr_id, mbr_same_mbr_ins, mbr_special_needs_cd, mbr_timezone, mbr_upd_dt, mbr_user_idn, mbr_wgt, mbr_work_status_idn
FROM (SELECT /*+ FIRST_ROWS(1) */ mbr_comment_idn, mbr_crt_dt, mbr_data_source, mbr_dol_bl_rmo_ind, mbr_dxcg_ctl_member, mbr_employment_start_dt, mbr_employment_term_dt, mbr_entity_active, mbr_ethnicity_idn, mbr_general_health_status_code, mbr_hand_dominant_code, mbr_hgt_feet, mbr_hgt_inches, mbr_highest_edu_level, mbr_insd_addr_idn, mbr_insd_alt_id, mbr_insd_name, mbr_insd_ssn_tin, mbr_is_smoker, mbr_is_vip, mbr_lmbr_first_name, mbr_lmbr_last_name, mbr_marital_status_cd, mbr_mbr_birth_dt, mbr_mbr_death_dt, mbr_mbr_expired, mbr_mbr_first_name, mbr_mbr_gender_cd, mbr_mbr_idn, mbr_mbr_ins_type, mbr_mbr_isreadonly, mbr_mbr_last_name, mbr_mbr_middle_name, mbr_mbr_name, mbr_mbr_status_idn, mbr_mpi_id, mbr_preferred_am_pm, mbr_preferred_time, mbr_prv_innetwork, mbr_rep_addr_idn, mbr_rep_name, mbr_rp_mbr_id, mbr_same_mbr_ins, mbr_special_needs_cd, mbr_timezone, mbr_upd_dt, mbr_user_idn, mbr_wgt, mbr_work_status_idn, ROWNUM AS ora_rn
FROM (SELECT mbr.comment_idn AS mbr_comment_idn, mbr.crt_dt AS mbr_crt_dt, mbr.data_source AS mbr_data_source, mbr.dol_bl_rmo_ind AS mbr_dol_bl_rmo_ind, mbr.dxcg_ctl_member AS mbr_dxcg_ctl_member, mbr.employment_start_dt AS mbr_employment_start_dt, mbr.employment_term_dt AS mbr_employment_term_dt, mbr.entity_active AS mbr_entity_active, mbr.ethnicity_idn AS mbr_ethnicity_idn, mbr.general_health_status_code AS mbr_general_health_status_code, mbr.hand_dominant_code AS mbr_hand_dominant_code, mbr.hgt_feet AS mbr_hgt_feet, mbr.hgt_inches AS mbr_hgt_inches, mbr.highest_edu_level AS mbr_highest_edu_level, mbr.insd_addr_idn AS mbr_insd_addr_idn, mbr.insd_alt_id AS mbr_insd_alt_id, mbr.insd_name AS mbr_insd_name, mbr.insd_ssn_tin AS mbr_insd_ssn_tin, mbr.is_smoker AS mbr_is_smoker, mbr.is_vip AS mbr_is_vip, mbr.lmbr_first_name AS mbr_lmbr_first_name, mbr.lmbr_last_name AS mbr_lmbr_last_name, mbr.marital_status_cd AS mbr_marital_status_cd, mbr.mbr_birth_dt AS mbr_mbr_birth_dt, mbr.mbr_death_dt AS mbr_mbr_death_dt, mbr.mbr_expired AS mbr_mbr_expired, mbr.mbr_first_name AS mbr_mbr_first_name, mbr.mbr_gender_cd AS mbr_mbr_gender_cd, mbr.mbr_idn AS mbr_mbr_idn, mbr.mbr_ins_type AS mbr_mbr_ins_type, mbr.mbr_isreadonly AS mbr_mbr_isreadonly, mbr.mbr_last_name AS mbr_mbr_last_name, mbr.mbr_middle_name AS mbr_mbr_middle_name, mbr.mbr_name AS mbr_mbr_name, mbr.mbr_status_idn AS mbr_mbr_status_idn, mbr.mpi_id AS mbr_mpi_id, mbr.preferred_am_pm AS mbr_preferred_am_pm, mbr.preferred_time AS mbr_preferred_time, mbr.prv_innetwork AS mbr_prv_innetwork, mbr.rep_addr_idn AS mbr_rep_addr_idn, mbr.rep_name AS mbr_rep_name, mbr.rp_mbr_id AS mbr_rp_mbr_id, mbr.same_mbr_ins AS mbr_same_mbr_ins, mbr.special_needs_cd AS mbr_special_needs_cd, mbr.timezone AS mbr_timezone, mbr.upd_dt AS mbr_upd_dt, mbr.user_idn AS mbr_user_idn, mbr.wgt AS mbr_wgt, mbr.work_status_idn AS mbr_work_status_idn
FROM mbr JOIN mbr_identfn ON mbr.mbr_idn = mbr_identfn.mbr_idn
WHERE mbr_identfn.mbr_idn = mbr.mbr_idn AND mbr_identfn.identfd_type = :identfd_type_1 AND mbr_identfn.identfd_number = :identfd_number_1 AND mbr_identfn.entity_active = :entity_active_1)
WHERE ROWNUM <= :ROWNUM_1)
WHERE ora_rn > :ora_rn_1
call count cpu elapsed disk query current rows
------- ------ -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
Parse 9936 0.46 0.49 0 0 0 0
Execute 9936 0.60 0.59 0 0 0 0
Fetch 9936 329.87 404.00 0 136966922 0 0
------- ------ -------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------
total 29808 330.94 405.09 0 136966922 0 0
Misses in library cache during parse: 0
Optimizer mode: FIRST_ROWS
Parsing user id: 36 (JIVA_DEV)
Rows Row Source Operation
------- ---------------------------------------------------
0 VIEW (cr=102 pr=0 pw=0 time=2180 us)
0 COUNT STOPKEY (cr=102 pr=0 pw=0 time=2163 us)
0 NESTED LOOPS (cr=102 pr=0 pw=0 time=2152 us)
0 INDEX SKIP SCAN IDX_MBR_IDENTFN (cr=102 pr=0 pw=0 time=2140 us)(object id 341053)
0 TABLE ACCESS BY INDEX ROWID MBR (cr=0 pr=0 pw=0 time=0 us)
0 INDEX UNIQUE SCAN PK_CLAIMANT (cr=0 pr=0 pw=0 time=0 us)(object id 334044)
Rows Execution Plan
------- ---------------------------------------------------
0 SELECT STATEMENT MODE: HINT: FIRST_ROWS
0 VIEW
0 COUNT (STOPKEY)
0 NESTED LOOPS
0 INDEX MODE: ANALYZED (SKIP SCAN) OF 'IDX_MBR_IDENTFN'
(INDEX (UNIQUE))
0 TABLE ACCESS MODE: ANALYZED (BY INDEX ROWID) OF 'MBR'
(TABLE)
0 INDEX MODE: ANALYZED (UNIQUE SCAN) OF 'PK_CLAIMANT'
(INDEX (UNIQUE))
********************************************************************************
Based on my reading of Oracle's documentation of skip scans, a skip scan is most useful when the first column of an index has a low number of unique values. The thing is that the first index of this column is a unique primary key. So am I correct in assuming that a skip scan is the wrong thing to do here? Also, what kind of scan should it be doing? Should I do some more hinting for this query?
EDIT: I should also point out that the query's where clause uses the columns in IDX_MBR_IDENTFN and no columns other than what's in that index. So as far as I can tell, I'm not skipping any columns.
