SQL Tuning Advisor - The commands

Using Enterprise Manager or dbconsole is the convenient way for using SQL Advisor, the problem is that these options not always exists, and there are some scenarios that you are not authorized to activate dbconsole.
So we are left with the PL/SQL option which appears to be not so complicated.
In order to access the SQL tuning advisor API, a user must be granted the ADVISOR privilege:

CONN sys/password AS SYSDBA
GRANT ADVISOR TO my_user;
CONN my_user/my_password

Creating tuning task

DECLARE
l_sql VARCHAR2(3200);
l_sql_tune_task_id VARCHAR2(100);
BEGIN
l_sql := 'SELECT COUNT (*) FROM MY_TABLE';

l_sql_tune_task_id := DBMS_SQLTUNE.create_tuning_task (
sql_text => l_sql,
scope => DBMS_SQLTUNE.scope_comprehensive,
time_limit => 360,
task_name => 'Yossi_Nixon_tuning_task1',
description => 'Tuning task for sql');
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line('l_sql_tune_task_id: ' || l_sql_tune_task_id);
END;
/

Running the tuning task

EXEC DBMS_SQLTUNE.execute_tuning_task(task_name => 'Yossi_Nixon_tuning_task1');

Tracking after the tuning task

SELECT * FROM dba_advisor_log
WHERE task_name ='Yossi_Nixon_tuning_task1';

Checking the recommendations of the advisor after the task is completed;

SET LONG 10000;
SET PAGESIZE 1000
SET LINESIZE 200
SELECT DBMS_SQLTUNE.report_tuning_task('Yossi_Nixon_tuning_task1') AS recommendations FROM dual;

When You done, you can delete the task

BEGIN
DBMS_SQLTUNE.drop_tuning_task (task_name => 'Yossi_Nixon_tuning_task1');
END;
/

Other ways to add new tuning task
1. Tuning task created for specific a statement from the AWR.

SET SERVEROUTPUT ON
DECLARE
l_sql_tune_task_id VARCHAR2(100);
BEGIN
l_sql_tune_task_id := DBMS_SQLTUNE.create_tuning_task (
begin_snap => 764,
end_snap => 938,
sql_id => '19v5guvsgcd1v',
scope => DBMS_SQLTUNE.scope_comprehensive,
time_limit => 60,
task_name => '19v5guvsgcd1v_AWR_tuning_task',
description => 'Tuning task for statement 19v5guvsgcd1v in AWR.');
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line('l_sql_tune_task_id: ' || l_sql_tune_task_id);
END;
/

2. Tuning task created for specific a statement from the cursor cache.

DECLARE
l_sql_tune_task_id VARCHAR2(100);
BEGIN
l_sql_tune_task_id := DBMS_SQLTUNE.create_tuning_task (
sql_id => '19v5guvsgcd1v',
scope => DBMS_SQLTUNE.scope_comprehensive,
time_limit => 60,
task_name => '19v5guvsgcd1v_tuning_task',
description => 'Tuning task for statement 19v5guvsgcd1v.');
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line('l_sql_tune_task_id: ' || l_sql_tune_task_id);
END;
/

3. Tuning task created from an SQL tuning set.

DECLARE
l_sql_tune_task_id VARCHAR2(100);
BEGIN
l_sql_tune_task_id := DBMS_SQLTUNE.create_tuning_task (
sqlset_name => 'test_sql_tuning_set',
scope => DBMS_SQLTUNE.scope_comprehensive,
time_limit => 60,
task_name => 'sqlset_tuning_task',
description => 'Tuning task for an SQL tuning set.');
DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line('l_sql_tune_task_id: ' || l_sql_tune_task_id);
END;
/

If the TASK_NAME parameter is specified, its value is returned as the SQL tune task identifier. If omitted, a system generated name such as "TASK_1478" is returned. If the SCOPE parameter is set to scope_limited the SQL profiling analysis is omitted. The TIME_LIMIT parameter simply restricts the time the optimizer can spend compiling the recommendations.
During the execution phase, you may wish to pause and restart the task, cancel it or reset the task to allow it to be re-executed:

Interrupt and resume a tuning task.

EXEC DBMS_SQLTUNE.interrupt_tuning_task (task_name => 'emp_dept_tuning_task');
EXEC DBMS_SQLTUNE.resume_tuning_task (task_name => 'emp_dept_tuning_task');

Cancel a tuning task.

EXEC DBMS_SQLTUNE.cancel_tuning_task (task_name => 'emp_dept_tuning_task');

Reset a tuning task allowing it to be re-executed.

EXEC DBMS_SQLTUNE.reset_tuning_task (task_name => 'emp_dept_tuning_task');

The status of the tuning task can be monitored using the DBA_ADVISOR_LOG view:

SELECT task_name, status FROM dba_advisor_log WHERE owner = 'SCOTT';

TASK_NAME STATUS
------------------------------ -----------
emp_dept_tuning_task COMPLETED

1 row selected.