Juan, According to following note it FORCE not SIMILAR produce unwanted results: Shared Pool and Library Cache Performance Tuning <Note:62143.1> In Oracle9i, it is possible to set CURSOR_SHARING=SIMILAR. SIMILAR causes statements that may differ in some literals, but are otherwise identical, to share a cursor, unless the literals affect either the meaning of the statement or the degree to which the plan is optimized. This enhancement improves the usability of the parameter for situations where FORCE would normally cause a different, undesired execution plan. With CURSOR_SHARING=SIMILAR, Oracle determines which literals are "safe" for substitution with bind variables. This will result in some SQL not being shared in an attempt to provide a more efficient execution plan. Muqthar Ahmed DBA -----Original Message----- From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Juan Cachito Reyes Pacheco Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2004 6:03 PM To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Configure SDU and TDU parameters to improve Performance Because the values 'SIMILAR' and 'FORCE' are temporary values (even when you set for all the eternity) to fix binding problems immediatly. They are specially where developers forgot to bind variables in c++, jva,visual basic, etc. because oracle developer binds automatically. 'SIMILAR' and 'FORCE' could cause unwanted results. give a check to the documentation. Juan Carlos Reyes Pacheco OCP Database 9.2 Standard Edition ---------------------------------------------------------------- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe send email to: oracle-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put 'unsubscribe' in the subject line. -- Archives are at //www.freelists.org/archives/oracle-l/ FAQ is at //www.freelists.org/help/fom-serve/cache/1.html ----------------------------------------------------------------- * * * * * * * * * The information contained in this E-mail message is privileged, confidential, and may be protected from disclosure; please be aware that any other use, printing,copying, disclosure or dissemination of this communication may be subject to legal restriction or sanction. If you think that you have received this E-mail message in error, please reply to the sender and delete it from your computer. Thank you. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe send email to: oracle-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put 'unsubscribe' in the subject line. -- Archives are at //www.freelists.org/archives/oracle-l/ FAQ is at //www.freelists.org/help/fom-serve/cache/1.html -----------------------------------------------------------------