What is the 100046 trace event anyway?

The 100046 event is a Process Trace event. These trace certain system operations continuously until the tracing is canceled. The results are written to a trace files.

When do I start running 10046 events, then?

* When a process is having problems that can be identified, and you can control which session (or sessions) need to be traced without impacting other things.
* When users can clearly point to processes that need help, and you cannot clearly see what it is other means (statspack, v$sqlarea, etc)


Source: Burlesson Consulting