Category: 18c

Categories
18c linux

free Oracle cloud forever

I could not miss this ! After offering free apex for non-productive usage (apex.oracle.com), free sql environment for playing (livesql.oracle.com), Oracle now offers free for ever infrastructure and database.

With a few clicks, a credit card (that won’t be charged) and a few minutes of patience, you will be able to have your own Linux 7.7 build and your own autonomous database (including backups, patches) and apex, sql developer web edition and more. All on the cloud.

I gave it a try. It looks awesome. You have a server with an UNIX account. You have a database running, I could even set the region to Zurich, so the data stays in Switzerland. You can run webservices via ORDS and access them with your phones. Unlimited possibilities.

It just made my day.

Of course, it is possible to upgrade to a paid version. If you use the free version and provided your private credit card, don’t be fool to try something you cannot afford /!\

SQL Developer WEB is by no mean as rich as SQL developer. You could see a list of tables and have a worksheet, but there is so much missing, like REST-enabling a procedure.

Still, you can do it with one line of code 

create or replace  procedure u.getemp(empno in number, ename out varchar2) 
as
begin 
  select ename into ename from emp where empno=getemp.empno;
end;
/
exec ORDS.ENABLE_OBJECT(p_enabled => TRUE, p_schema => 'U', p_object => 'GETEMP', p_object_type => 'PROCEDURE', p_object_alias => 'getemp', p_auto_rest_auth => FALSE);
commit;

Now you’ve got your web service.

Doh!

Wait? That’s it?

try it

curl --request POST --url https***.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloudapps.com/ords/u/getemp/ --header 'content-type: application/json' --data '{"empno": "7788"}'
{"ename":"SCOTT"}

(as I have only one OCPU, I masked the url, but just post a comment if you want to see it)

Okay, you want a nice looking app with a few more clicks, just install apex
https***.eu-zurich-1.oraclecloudapps.com/ords/f?p=100:1:109634901295466:::::

There a huge difference between apex.oracle.com or livesql.oracle.com and your own database/apex/linux. You got admin rights (PDB_DBA) and productive usage is allowed/encouraged. This means a lot to me.

The versions I received are Oracle Linux Server 7.7 and Oracle Database Enterprise Edition 18.4

Categories
12c 12cR2 18c 19c dba

Select from cdb_* views

There is no privileges strong enough for you to view all objects in all databases

Let’s try

as sys:

SQL> select con_id, count(*) from cdb_objects group by con_id;

    CON_ID   COUNT(*)
---------- ----------
         1      22749
         3      22721

as non-sys

SQL> create user c##u identified by ***;
User created.
SQL> grant create session, select any dictionary to c##u;
Grant succeeded.
SQL> conn c##u/x
Connected.
SQL> select con_id, count(*) from cdb_objects group by con_id;
    CON_ID   COUNT(*)
---------- ----------
         1      22749

You can try to grant and grant and grant, it won’t help

SQL> conn / as sysdba
Connected.
SQL> grant dba, cdb_dba, pdb_dba, all privileges, sysdba to c##u with admin option container=all;
Grant succeeded.
SQL> conn c##u/x
Connected.
SQL> select con_id, count(*) from cdb_objects group by con_id;
    CON_ID   COUNT(*)
---------- ----------
         1      22749

This is not what you are missing… 

SQL> revoke dba, cdb_dba, pdb_dba, all privileges, sysdba from c##u container=all;
Revoke succeeded.
SQL> grant create session, select any dictionary to c##u;
Grant succeeded.

you need container data

SQL> alter user c##u set container_data=all container=current;
User altered.
SQL> conn c##u/x
Connected.
SQL> select con_id, count(*) from cdb_objects group by con_id;
    CON_ID   COUNT(*)
---------- ----------
         1      22749
         3      22721

Here you go …

Categories
12c 12cR2 18c 19c

changing container in plsql

One of the today’s challenge, since Oracle 12c deprecated non-cdb, is to make the dba scripts CDB-aware.

If you are lucky enough to have no 11g around, you can mostly replace DBA_* by CDB_*

OLD:

SQL> select count(*) from dba_users;
  COUNT(*)
----------
       121

NEW: non-cdb

SQL> select con_id, count(*) from cdb_users group by con_id;

CON_ID   COUNT(*)
------ ----------
     0        121

NEW: single-tenant

SQL> select con_id, count(*) from cdb_users group by con_id;
    CON_ID   COUNT(*)
---------- ----------
         1         23
         3         39

As mentioned in a white paper :
The set container privilege has certain restrictions in PL/SQL
multitenant-security-concepts-12c-2402462.pdf

Sometimes the certain restrictions will puzzle you

SQL> set feed off serverout on
SQL> exec dbms_output.put_line('root')
root
SQL> alter session set container=dora1;
SQL> sho serverout
serveroutput ON SIZE UNLIMITED FORMAT WORD_WRAPPED
SQL> exec dbms_output.put_line('dora1');
SQL> -- NO OUTPUT WTF !!!!
SQL> set serveroutput ON 
SQL> exec dbms_output.put_line('dora1');
dora1
SQL>

The security model prevents you from using alter session (with execute immediate or like in the previous example) to execute plsql.

Now you know…

Categories
12c 12cR2 18c 19c dba security

Audit pluggable database

In the old now-deprecated maybe-soon-desupported non-cdb infrastructure, AUDIT’ing was done right after connect / as sysdba.

In single-tenant (or multi-tenant), things get complicated.

Once again, the doc must be read at least twice 😉

If you issue an audit statement in the root, then the database performs auditing across the entire CDB, that is, in the root and all PDBs […] all common users are audited

This is very tricky, because you don’t want to audit common users only

Let’s try

SQL> conn / as sysdba
Connected.
SQL> create user c##u identified by ***;
User created.
SQL> grant create session to c##u container=all;
Grant succeeded.
SQL> alter session set container=pdb01;
Session altered.
SQL> create user u identified by ***;
User created.
SQL> grant create session to u;
Grant succeeded.
SQL> alter session set container=cdb$root;
Session altered.
SQL> audit connect container=all;
Audit succeeded.
SQL> select AUDIT_OPTION, CON_ID from cdb_STMT_AUDIT_OPTS;
AUDIT_OPTION   CON_ID
-------------- ------
CREATE SESSION      1
SQL> sho parameter audit_trail
NAME         VALUE
------------ -------------
audit_trail  DB, EXTENDED
SQL>

Audit is now logging all connections of all common users on all databases…

SQL> conn c##u/***
Connected.
SQL> sho user
USER is "C##U"
SQL> sho con_name
CON_NAME
------------------------------
CDB$ROOT
SQL> conn c##u/***@pdb01
Connected.
SQL> sho user
USER is "C##U"
SQL> sho con_name
CON_NAME
------------------------------
pdb01

Let’s verify :

SQL> conn / as sysdba
Connected.
SQL> select * from cdb_audit_trail order by timestamp;

CON_ID USERNAME ACTION TIMESTAM
------ -------- ------ --------
     1 C##U     LOGON  18:01:05
     1 C##U     LOGOFF 18:01:06
     3 C##U     LOGON  18:01:07
     3 C##U     LOGOFF 18:01:08

So far so good. What about local users?

SQL> conn u/***@pdb01
Connected.
SQL> sho user
USER is "U"
SQL> sho con_name
CON_NAME
------------------------------
pdb01

And???

SQL> conn / as sysdba
Connected.
SQL> select * from cdb_audit_trail where USERNAME='U';
no rows selected

Nope! DBA like me and you don’t care about those C## users, we want ALL users, not all common users.

For this purpose, we need to activate audit on every pluggable.

SQL> conn / as sysdba
Connected.
SQL> alter session set container=pdb01;
Session altered.
SQL> audit connect;
Audit succeeded.
SQL> alter session set container=cdb$root;
Session altered.
SQL> select AUDIT_OPTION, CON_ID from cdb_STMT_AUDIT_OPTS;
AUDIT_OPTION   CON_ID
-------------- ------
CREATE SESSION      1
CREATE SESSION      3

Now it should work

SQL> conn u/***@pdb01
Connected.
SQL> sho user
USER is "U"
SQL> sho con_name
CON_NAME
------------------------------
pdb01
SQL> host sleep 1

… and …

SQL> select * from cdb_audit_trail where username='U';
CON_ID USERNAME ACTION TIMESTAM
------ -------- ------ --------
     3 U        LOGON  18:01:12
     3 U        LOGOFF 18:01:13

If you already switched from non-cdb to single-tenant, please check your audit strategy NOW !!!

Categories
18c dba

How to migrate non-cdb to pdb

In case you are desesperately looking for an upgrade from non-cdb to pdb with two clicks, here is the answer from Mike : you can’t

If your database is huge and you don’t want to move anything nor change SID nor change path, this is my own receipt.

  1. Backup your database
  2. Create a XML description of your CDB

    shutdown immediate
    startup read only
    exec dbms_pdb.describe('/save/DB01/DB01.xml')
    shutdown immediate
  3. Setup init.ora parameter for PDB

    startup force nomount restrict
    alter system set enable_pluggable_database=true scope=spfile;
    alter system set db_name=CDBDB01 scope=spfile;
    alter system set instance_name=DB01 scope=spfile;
    startup force nomount
  4. Create a CDB database
    Yes, you have read it correctly. You are required to create a database. There is -so far I’ve googled- no way to avoid this step. You can use dbca or sqlplus.
    Don’t overwrite the datafile. Use for instance /data/DB01/cdb/system.dbf instead of /data/DB01/system.dbf

    create database CDBDB01
    user sys identified by ***
    user system identified by ***
    character set al32utf8
    national character set al16utf16
    logfile
    ('/onlinelog/DB01/redo01a.dbf','/onlinelog/DB01/redo01b.dbf') size 32M REUSE,
    ('/onlinelog/DB01/redo02a.dbf','/onlinelog/DB01/redo02b.dbf') size 32M REUSE
    extent management local
    datafile '/data/DB01/cdb/system01.dbf' size 10M autoextend on
    sysaux datafile '/data/DB01/cdb/sysaux01.dbf' size 10M autoextend on
    default tablespace admin datafile '/data/DB01/cdb/admin01.dbf' size 10m autoextend on
    extent management local autoallocate
    default temporary tablespace temp
    tempfile '/data/DB01/cdb/temp01.dbf' size 10M autoextend on
    undo tablespace undotbs1 datafile '/data/DB01/cdb/undotbs1_01.dbf' size 10M autoextend on
    set time_zone='Europe/Zurich'
    ENABLE PLUGGABLE DATABASE
    SEED FILE_NAME_CONVERT = ('/data/DB01/cdb/', '/data/DB01/seed/')
    LOCAL UNDO ON
    USER_DATA TABLESPACE users datafile '/data/DB01/cdb/users01.dbf' size 10m autoextend on;
    perl catcon.pl -u sys/*** -d oh/rdbms/admin -b catalog_DB01 -e -l log catalog.sql
    perl catcon.pl -u sys/*** -d oh/rdbms/admin -b catproc_DB01 -e -l log catproc.sql

    It’s a pretty cumbersome step. Maybe you need Oracle Text or maybe you have DEC character set… all those details must be engineered by the DBA. This is pretty insane Oracle doesn’t offer a tool to migrate to a non-deprecated architecture.
  5. Plug-in the database

    CREATE PLUGGABLE DATABASE DB01 USING '/save/DB01/DB01.xml' nocopy tempfile reuse;

    If you miss this step, Ô râge, Ô désespoir, you probably must restart from the beginning.
  6. run noncdb_to_pdb

    alter session set container=DB01;
    alter pluggable database DB01 open;
    alter session set container=DB01;
    @?/rdbms/admin/noncdb_to_pdb.sql

Once you are so far, you’ll have all advantages of Multi-Tenant. PDB-Clone. PDB-Flashback. Lockdown profiles. And you’ll be able to consolidate if you buy the multitenant option. You’ll save money on hardware (SGA/CPU) to spent on software (Multitenant option).

Most importantly, you’ll have moved to a non-deprecated architecture

Conclusion: there is more than one way to move to pluggable. But there is no way to migrate to pluggable without creating a new database

Categories
18c sqlplus

dynamic linesize in 18.1

Whenever you select and describe in sqlplus it looks ugly

default: pagesize 14 linesize 80

change the default: it is often too large or too narrow

Let’s try WINDOW in sqlplus 18.1, which is available for download on Solaris / Linux / Windows

SQL> set lin window
SQL> sho lin
linesize 95 WINDOW
SQL> sho pages
pagesize 86

And look the result :

Almost perfect 🙂

I think it would nicer if DESC didn’t have this empty line

The cool thing with SET LINESIZE WINDOW is that it is dynamic (as I tested with CMD.EXE/windows and XTERM/Linux). Your window is too narrow, you make it bigger, re-run your select, it looks nicer

but… pagesize cannot be set to NON-WINDOW

SQL> set lin window
SQL> set pages 50000
SQL> sho pages
pagesize 21
SQL>

Categories
18c

Dynamic number of columns revisited


The ingenious solution of Anton Scheffer using Data Cartridge is now beaten in 18c using polymorphic table function

Anthologic post of Anton : forums.oracle.com
Chris magic with Oracle 18c :
livesql.oracle.com