Book excerpt: In an effort to provide foresight as systems grow and resources are stressed, this guidebook explains how one of the major causes of unplanned database outages is the failure to anticipate the effects of growth. The benchmark method detailed enables users to spot areas of pending problems before they cripple the database. This real-world approach ensures the user will be prepared for whatever the future brings to mission-critical databases. Areas explored in this book include knowing the limits of the database, avoiding unplanned outages with capacity planning, and predicting the need for new hardware.