CreateROUserLike.sql - Create read only user like

With this PL/SQL script I created, you can now create a read only version of a database user. This script will create the user with the extension "_RO" on the read/write user name. After it creates the user, it will grant EXECUTE on FUNCTION, PROCEDURE, PACKAGE and PACKAGE BODY object types and SELECT on others. Because a DATABASE LINK can't have a synonym or special grants, it recreates these in the read only user's schema.

Project idea: Open source performance tuning software

My idea has these features:

• Use STATSPACK queries to gather and review statisitcs.


• Store results locally for quicker review.


• Realtime performance stats gathering.


• More to come...

This project would be done in .NET with possible porting to MONO later on. This would mean that it would need to be limited in what it uses in the way of Microsoft based assemblies. This should be exciting plus free! Just gotta check with Oracle about the STATSPACK queries. But in thinking, this tool would rely on STATSPACK to be installed. So using the queries form the report shouldn't be a problem. Plus, being OSS there shouldn't be a licensing issue.

Next question, what should I use for a local data store? DB4O is an OSS non-relational database used by numerous companies, but will it work for this application? Are there other options similar to Access or DB4O?

Tuning Log Switches

Another good Redo Log article:
Tuning Log Switches

Oracle's Redo Log

An interesting article regarding Redo Logs:

Oracle's Redo Log

The redo log makes it possible to replay SQL statements. Before Oracle changes data in a datafile it writes these changes to the redo log. If something happens to one of the datafiles, a backed up datafile can be restored and the redo, that was written since, replied, which brings the datafile to the state it had before it became unavailable. The same technique is also used in a data guard environment (standby databases): One database (the primary database) records all changes and sends them to the standby databases. These standby databases in turn apply (reply) the arrived redo which keeps the synchronized with the primary database.

Automated alert log archive

Here's a set of scripts (package, PL/SQL and Korn) that when set in place and activated with a Unix cron job, will archive the alert log in a gzipped file. (Note: formatting is messed up in Blogger. Notice that missing pipe characters are missing.)

First, put this in place as a package:

CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE alert_log AS
    PROCEDURE bdump_dir_setup;
    PROCEDURE build_possible_alert_log_names;
    PROCEDURE build_alertlog_name;
    PROCEDURE check_alertlog_name;
    PROCEDURE read(in_date_offset IN NUMBER);
    PROCEDURE archive;
    PROCEDURE remove(in_date_offset IN NUMBER, number_of_days IN NUMBER);
    PROCEDURE list(in_date_offset IN NUMBER);
    PROCEDURE INIT_ALERT_LOG;
END alert_log;
/

CREATE OR REPLACE PACKAGE BODY alert_log AS
    bdump_dir      VARCHAR2(500);
    alertlist      VARCHAR2(4000);
    SID            VARCHAR2(100);
    comma          VARCHAR2(1);
    alertfile      VARCHAR2(255);
    itexists       NUMBER;
    fileat         BFILE;
    pointa         INTEGER;
    pointb         INTEGER;
    v_length       INTEGER;
    r_char10       RAW(4);
    char10         VARCHAR2(1)    := CHR(10);
    startdate      VARCHAR2(100);
    r_startdate    RAW(100);
    buffer         VARCHAR2(800);
    buffer2        VARCHAR2(800);
    vexists        BOOLEAN;
    vfile_length   NUMBER;
    vblocksize     NUMBER;
    date_offset    NUMBER;
    date_file      VARCHAR2(255);
    cursor_id      INTEGER;
    return_val     INTEGER;
    file_type      UTL_FILE.FILE_TYPE;
    sql_statement  VARCHAR2(500);

    PROCEDURE bdump_dir_setup IS
    BEGIN
        EXECUTE IMMEDIATE    'SELECT value '
             ' FROM v$parameter '
             ' WHERE name = ''background_dump_dest'''
        INTO              bdump_dir;

        EXECUTE IMMEDIATE    'CREATE DIRECTORY BDUMP_DIR '
             ' AS '''
             bdump_dir
             '''';
    END bdump_dir_setup;

    PROCEDURE build_alertlog_name IS
    BEGIN
        alertlist := NULL;
        comma := NULL;

        EXECUTE IMMEDIATE    'SELECT value '
             ' FROM v$parameter '
             ' WHERE name = ''db_name'''
        INTO SID;

        build_possible_alert_log_names;

        EXECUTE IMMEDIATE    'SELECT value '
             ' FROM v$parameter '
             ' WHERE name = ''instance_name'''
        INTO SID;

        build_possible_alert_log_names;

        EXECUTE IMMEDIATE    'SELECT substr(global_name,1,'
             ' instr(global_name,''.'',-1)-1) '
             ' FROM global_name'
        INTO SID;

        build_possible_alert_log_names;
        r_char10 := UTL_RAW.cast_to_raw(char10);
    END build_alertlog_name;

    PROCEDURE check_alertlog_name IS
    BEGIN
        pointa := 1;

        LOOP
            pointb := INSTR(alertlist, ',', pointa, 1);
            v_length := pointb - pointa;
            alertfile := SUBSTR(alertlist, pointa, v_length);
            pointa := pointb + 1;
            itexists :=
                DBMS_LOB.fileexists(BFILENAME('BDUMP_DIR', alertfile));

            IF itexists = 1 THEN
                pointb := 0;
                EXIT;
            END IF;
        END LOOP;
    END check_alertlog_name;

    PROCEDURE build_possible_alert_log_names IS
    BEGIN
        alertlist := alertlist  comma  'alert_'
                      LOWER(SID)  '.log';
        comma := ',';
        alertlist := alertlist  comma  UPPER(SID)
                      'ALRT.LOG';
    END build_possible_alert_log_names;

    PROCEDURE READ(in_date_offset IN NUMBER) IS
    BEGIN
        DBMS_OUTPUT.ENABLE(1000000);
        build_alertlog_name;
        check_alertlog_name;
        date_offset := in_date_offset;

        IF date_offset = 0 THEN
            date_file := alertfile;
        ELSE
            date_file :=
                TO_CHAR(SYSDATE - date_offset, 'YYYYMMDD')
                 '_'
                 alertfile;
        END IF;

        UTL_FILE.fgetattr('BDUMP_DIR',
                          date_file,
                          vexists,
                          vfile_length,
                          vblocksize);

        IF vexists THEN
            fileat := BFILENAME('BDUMP_DIR', date_file);
            DBMS_LOB.fileopen(fileat, DBMS_LOB.file_readonly);
            startdate := TO_CHAR(TRUNC(SYSDATE), 'Dy Mon DD');
            r_startdate := UTL_RAW.cast_to_raw(startdate);
            pointa := DBMS_LOB.INSTR(fileat, r_startdate, 1, 1);

            IF pointa = 0 THEN
                EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'SELECT TO_CHAR(TRUNC(SYSDATE),''Dy Mon '' '
                    ' DECODE(SUBSTR(TO_CHAR(TRUNC(SYSDATE),''DD''),1,1),0,'' '')'
                    ' SUBSTR(TO_CHAR(TRUNC(SYSDATE),''DD''),2,1)'
                    '  FROM dual'
                INTO startdate;

                r_startdate := UTL_RAW.cast_to_raw(startdate);
                pointa := DBMS_LOB.INSTR(fileat, r_startdate, 1, 1);
            END IF;

            IF pointa != 0 THEN
                LOOP
                    pointb := DBMS_LOB.INSTR(fileat, r_char10, pointa, 1);
                    EXIT WHEN pointb = 0;
                    v_length := pointb - pointa;
                    buffer := DBMS_LOB.SUBSTR(fileat, v_length, pointa);
                    buffer2 := UTL_RAW.cast_to_varchar2(buffer);
                    DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line(buffer2);
                    pointa := pointb + 1;
                END LOOP;
            END IF;

            DBMS_LOB.fileclose(fileat);
        END IF;
    END READ;

    PROCEDURE ARCHIVE IS
    BEGIN
        DBMS_OUTPUT.ENABLE(1000000);
        build_alertlog_name;
        check_alertlog_name;
        UTL_FILE.frename('BDUMP_DIR',
                         alertfile,
                         'BDUMP_DIR',
                         TO_CHAR(SYSDATE, 'YYYYMMDD')
                                  '_'  alertfile);
        SELECT directory_path
        INTO bdump_dir
        FROM all_directories
        WHERE directory_name = 'BDUMP_DIR';                   
          
        init_alert_log;
  
        DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line('Archived to: '
                              ' bdump_dir  '/'
                              ' TO_CHAR(SYSDATE, 'YYYYMMDD')
                              ' '_'  alertfile);
    END ARCHIVE;

    PROCEDURE remove(in_date_offset IN NUMBER,
                     number_of_days IN NUMBER) IS
    BEGIN
        build_alertlog_name;
        check_alertlog_name;

        FOR date_offset IN(in_date_offset - number_of_days)
            .. in_date_offset LOOP
            date_file :=
                TO_CHAR(SYSDATE - date_offset, 'YYYYMMDD')  '_'
                 alertfile;
            UTL_FILE.fgetattr('BDUMP_DIR',
                              date_file,
                              vexists,
                              vfile_length,
                              vblocksize);

            IF vexists THEN
                UTL_FILE.fremove('BDUMP_DIR', date_file);
                DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line(date_file  ' - REMOVED');
            END IF;
        END LOOP;
    END remove;

    PROCEDURE LIST(in_date_offset IN NUMBER) IS
    BEGIN
        build_alertlog_name;
        check_alertlog_name;

        FOR date_offset IN 0 .. in_date_offset LOOP
            IF date_offset = 0 THEN
                date_file := alertfile;
                UTL_FILE.fgetattr('BDUMP_DIR',
                                  date_file,
                                  vexists,
                                  vfile_length,
                                  vblocksize);

                IF vexists THEN
                    DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line(   'OffSet : '
                                           date_offset
                                           ', '
                                           date_file
                                          '    '
                                           vfile_length);
                END IF;
            END IF;

            date_file :=
                 TO_CHAR(SYSDATE - date_offset, 'YYYYMMDD')  '_'
                  alertfile;
            UTL_FILE.fgetattr('BDUMP_DIR',
                              date_file,
                              vexists,
                              vfile_length,
                              vblocksize);

            IF vexists THEN
                DBMS_OUTPUT.put_line( 'OffSet : '
                                       date_offset
                                       ', '
                                       date_file
                                       '    '
                                       vfile_length);
            END IF;
     END LOOP;
 END LIST;

 PROCEDURE INIT_ALERT_LOG IS
 BEGIN

   build_alertlog_name;
         --check_alertlog_name;

    -- ******************************************************
    --  Open the alert log file for write access
    -- ******************************************************
    file_type := utl_file.fopen('BDUMP_DIR',alertfile,'W');

    -- ******************************************************
    --  Write the custom message to the alert log file
    -- ******************************************************
    utl_file.put_line(file_type,
                      'Alert log initialized by '
                       'HP_ALERT_LOG.INIT_ALERT_LOG on '
                       SYSDATE);

    -- ******************************************************
    --  Close the alert log file
    -- ******************************************************
    utl_file.fclose(file_type);

 END INIT_ALERT_LOG;
BEGIN
    DBMS_OUTPUT.ENABLE(1000000);
END alert_log;
/

Now, save the following as a PL/SQL script:

set serveroutput on;
exec alert_log.archive;
exit;

Finally, save this to a Korn shell script file executable by oracle Unix user only:

#!/bin/ksh
USER=psgPASS=psg4admin
ORATAB=/etc/oratab
# Set path if path not set (if called from /etc/rc)
case $PATH in 
    "") PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/etc
        export PATH
        ;;
esac
SAVE_PATH=$PATH
# Save LD_LIBRARY_PATHSAVE_LLP=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
## Loop for every entry in oratab file and and try to shut down# that ORACLE#
cat $ORATAB  while read LINE
    do
        case $LINE in
            \#*) ;; #comment-line in oratab
            *)
                # Proceed only if third field is 'Y'.
                if [ "$(echo $LINE  awk -F: '{print $3}' -)" = "Y" ] ; then
                    ORACLE_SID=$(echo $LINE  awk -F: '{print $1}' -)
                    if [ "$ORACLE_SID" = '*' ] ; then
                        ORACLE_SID=""
                    fi
                    # Called programs use same database ID
                    export ORACLE_SID
                    ORACLE_HOME=$(echo $LINE  awk -F: '{print $2}' -)
                    # Called scripts use same home directory
                    export ORACLE_HOME
                    # Put $ORACLE_HOME/bin into PATH and export.
                    PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/etc:$SAVE_PATH
                    export PATH
                    # add for bug 652997
                    LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${SAVE_LLP}:${ORACLE_HOME}/lib
                    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH
                    PFILE=${ORACLE_HOME}/dbs/init${ORACLE_SID}.ora
                    BDUMP_DIR=$(sqlplus $USER/$PASS @runAlertLogRead                          grep Archive  cut -f3 -d' ')
                    gzip $BDUMP_DIR
                    PATH=$SAVE_PATH
                fi
                ;;
        esac
    done

As the final step, add the Korn shell script to a cron job. This can then be run at regular intervals.