Alex > If let's say it takes 10 seconds does Oracle guarantee the values I > am seeing are from 10 seconds ago? I am pretty sure undo is not used > for memory structures or wrong? For the fine manual http://download-uk.oracle.com/docs/cd/B19306_01/server.102/b14237/dynvie ws_1001.htm#sthref3418... <quote> Because the information in the V$ views is dynamic, read consistency is not guaranteed for SELECT operations on these views. </quote> HTH Chris -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l