Does ' /*+parallel(<Specific Table >,4)*/ ' have better impact on query performance in comparison with simple parallel hint '/*+parallel(4)*/'?

Question

I have three tables with below structure:

create table customer_info
(customer_num        number,
 customer_firstName  varchar2(100),
 customer_lastName   varchar2(100),
 branch_code         varchar2(100));
 
 
create table branch_info
(branch_code   varchar2(100),
 branch_name   varchar2(100));
 
 
create table customer_transaction
(transaction_date  date,
 customer_num      number,
 branch_code       varchar2(100),
 transaction_count number
  )

Among these tables the one which has the biggest amount of data is customer_transaction with nearly 10 million records right now. The table has partition on column transaction_date .I want to know:

1)whether there is a difference between these two queries in terms of performance.

2)In what way these two queries are different from each other.

The point is that in the first query I'm using this /*+parallel(4)*/ and in the second query I'm referencing the table which has the biggest amount of data /*+parallel(t2,4)*/.I must say that both queries produce different execution plans.

First Query:

Select /*+parallel(4)*/
       t2.transaction_date,
       t1.customer_num,
       t1.customer_firstname,
       t1.customer_lastname,
       t3.branch_name,
       t2.transaction_count
  from customer_info t1
  left join customer_transaction t2
    on t1.customer_num = t2.customer_num
  left join branch_info t3
    on t2.branch_code = t3.branch_code;

Second Query:

Select /*+parallel(t2,4)*/ -----> t2 is "customer_transaction" 
       t2.transaction_date,
       t1.customer_num,
       t1.customer_firstname,
       t1.customer_lastname,
       t3.branch_name,
       t2.transaction_count
  from customer_info t1
  left join customer_transaction t2
    on t1.customer_num = t2.customer_num
  left join branch_info t3
    on t2.branch_code = t3.branch_code;

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

1. Sure there is, but this may or may not be noticeable. We can not know this just by looking at your table definitions.
2. See below.

The first query does all operations in parallel with degree 4, including table accesses and joins:

Plan hash value: 2107928671
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id  | Operation                         | Name                 |    TQ  |IN-OUT| PQ Distrib |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|   0 | SELECT STATEMENT                  |                      |        |      |            |
|   1 |  PX COORDINATOR                   |                      |        |      |            |
|   2 |   PX SEND QC (RANDOM)             | :TQ10004             |  Q1,04 | P->S | QC (RAND)  |
|   3 |    HASH JOIN OUTER BUFFERED       |                      |  Q1,04 | PCWP |            |
|   4 |     PX RECEIVE                    |                      |  Q1,04 | PCWP |            |
|   5 |      PX SEND HASH (NULL RANDOM)   | :TQ10002             |  Q1,02 | P->P | HASH       |
|   6 |       HASH JOIN OUTER BUFFERED    |                      |  Q1,02 | PCWP |            |
|   7 |        PX RECEIVE                 |                      |  Q1,02 | PCWP |            |
|   8 |         PX SEND HASH (NULL RANDOM)| :TQ10000             |  Q1,00 | P->P | HASH       |
|   9 |          PX BLOCK ITERATOR        |                      |  Q1,00 | PCWC |            |
|  10 |           TABLE ACCESS FULL       | CUSTOMER_INFO        |  Q1,00 | PCWP |            |
|  11 |        PX RECEIVE                 |                      |  Q1,02 | PCWP |            |
|  12 |         PX SEND HASH              | :TQ10001             |  Q1,01 | P->P | HASH       |
|  13 |          PX BLOCK ITERATOR        |                      |  Q1,01 | PCWC |            |
|  14 |           TABLE ACCESS FULL       | CUSTOMER_TRANSACTION |  Q1,01 | PCWP |            |
|  15 |     PX RECEIVE                    |                      |  Q1,04 | PCWP |            |
|  16 |      PX SEND HASH                 | :TQ10003             |  Q1,03 | P->P | HASH       |
|  17 |       PX BLOCK ITERATOR           |                      |  Q1,03 | PCWC |            |
|  18 |        TABLE ACCESS FULL          | BRANCH_INFO          |  Q1,03 | PCWP |            |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Note
-----
   - dynamic statistics used: dynamic sampling (level=2)
   - Degree of Parallelism is 4 because of hint

The second query accesses only CUSTOMER_TRANSACTION in parallel. Other tables are not accessed in parallel. Joins to CUSTOMER_TRANSACTION are however processed in parallel.

Plan hash value: 1958681835
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Id  | Operation                         | Name                 |    TQ  |IN-OUT| PQ Distrib |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|   0 | SELECT STATEMENT                  |                      |        |      |            |
|   1 |  PX COORDINATOR                   |                      |        |      |            |
|   2 |   PX SEND QC (RANDOM)             | :TQ10004             |  Q1,04 | P->S | QC (RAND)  |
|   3 |    HASH JOIN OUTER BUFFERED       |                      |  Q1,04 | PCWP |            |
|   4 |     PX RECEIVE                    |                      |  Q1,04 | PCWP |            |
|   5 |      PX SEND HASH (NULL RANDOM)   | :TQ10002             |  Q1,02 | P->P | HASH       |
|   6 |       HASH JOIN OUTER BUFFERED    |                      |  Q1,02 | PCWP |            |
|   7 |        PX RECEIVE                 |                      |  Q1,02 | PCWP |            |
|   8 |         PX SEND HASH (NULL RANDOM)| :TQ10000             |  Q1,00 | S->P | HASH       |
|   9 |          PX SELECTOR              |                      |  Q1,00 | SCWC |            |
|  10 |           TABLE ACCESS FULL       | CUSTOMER_INFO        |  Q1,00 | SCWP |            |
|  11 |        PX RECEIVE                 |                      |  Q1,02 | PCWP |            |
|  12 |         PX SEND HASH              | :TQ10001             |  Q1,01 | P->P | HASH       |
|  13 |          PX BLOCK ITERATOR        |                      |  Q1,01 | PCWC |            |
|  14 |           TABLE ACCESS FULL       | CUSTOMER_TRANSACTION |  Q1,01 | PCWP |            |
|  15 |     PX RECEIVE                    |                      |  Q1,04 | PCWP |            |
|  16 |      PX SEND HASH                 | :TQ10003             |  Q1,03 | S->P | HASH       |
|  17 |       PX SELECTOR                 |                      |  Q1,03 | SCWC |            |
|  18 |        TABLE ACCESS FULL          | BRANCH_INFO          |  Q1,03 | SCWP |            |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Note
-----
   - dynamic statistics used: dynamic sampling (level=2)
   - Degree of Parallelism is 4 because of table property