Is there a way to mandate table/column comments in Oracle 11g.
Some Database parameters or something of that sort.
Probably not, no.
Presumably, when you're creating objects, you do so by giving the DBA a script to run in each environment. Just as the DBA would do things like examine the naming conventions of the tables and columns that you create, the DBA should be enforcing whatever other standards you have such as requiring comments on objects.
You could run a report of objects and/or columns that don't have comments and instruct the developers to correct the problems.
If you really want a technical solution, you may be able to hack something together. For example, you could create a DDL trigger that fired when a new object was created. The trigger could use the DBMS_JOB package to create a job that will run a few minutes later and check whether comments have been added. Assuming that comments were missing, you could take whatever action you deem appropriate-- that could include dropping the object if you really wanted to. I would strongly suggest a process solution instead but you could build a technical solution.
Related
I am trying to get the ddl of a table which is present in other database.
is it possible to get the ddl of table using DB link.
That's kind of a tricky job. I've never had to do it, but - Phil knows how. He shared his code (as he said, tested on 9i and 10g); see if it helps.
Link to his blog: DBMS_METADATA Across Database Links!.
(Yes, I know; some people say that it is better to post code than links, but no - I'm not going to do that because a) code is quite long, b) I don't have Phil's permission to do that. Therefore, link is all you get).
As far as I know this is not possible - or at least not easily. You could make educated guesses based on data in all_tables, or all_tab_cols, but getting storage-level info and other parameters (constraints, indexes, etc.) and reverse-engineering workable DDL commands would be more difficult. get_ddl would be the only way that I know of to be sure. I must also say that I do not find this surprising: being able to generate DDL for remote objects over a database link would be considered a HUGE security vulnerability for most systems.
Where's the best place to store the version of a table in Oracle? Is it possible to store the version in the table itself, e. g. similar to the comment assigned to a table?
I don't think you can store that information in Oracle, except maybe in a comment on the table, but that would be error prone.
But personally I think you shouldn't want to keep track of versions of tables. After all, to get from a version 1 to a version 2, you may need to modify data as well, or other objects like triggers and procedures that use to new version of the table.
So in a way, it's better to version the entire database, so you can 'combine' multiple changes in one atomic version number.
There are different approaches to this, and different tools that can help you with that. I think Oracle even has some built-in feature, but with Oracle, that means that you will be charged gold bars if you use it, so I won't get into that, and just describe the two that I have tried:
Been there, done that: saving schema structure in Git
At some point we wanted to save our database changes in GitHub, where our other source is too.
We've been using Red Gate Source Control for Oracle (and Schema Compare, a similar tool), and have been looking into other similar tools as well. These tools use version control like Git to keep the latest structure of the database, and it can help you get your changes from your development database to scripts folder or VCS, and it can generate migration scripts for you.
Personally I'm not a big fan, because those tools and scripts focus only on the structure of the database (like you would with versioning individual tables). You'd still need to know how to get from version 1 to version 2, and sometimes only adding a column isn't enough; you need to migrate your data too. This isn't covered properly by tools like this.
In addition, I thought they were overall quite expensive for the work that they do, they don't work as easy as promised on the box, and you'd need different tools for different databases.
Working with migrations
A better solution would be to have migration script. You just make a script to get your database from version 1 to version 2, and another script to get it from version 2 to version 3. These migrations can be about table structure, object modifications, or even just data, it doesn't matter. All you need to do is remember which script was executed last, and execute all versions after that.
Executing migrations can be done by hand, or you can simply script it. But there are tools for this as well. One of them is Flyway, a free tool (paid pro support should you need it) that does exactly this. You can feed it SQL scripts from a folder, which are sorted and executed in order. Each script is a 'version'. Meta data about the process is stored in a separate table in your database. The whole process is described in more detail on Flyway's website.
The advantage of this tool is that it's really simple and flexible, because you just write the migration scripts yourself. All the tool does is execute them and keep track of it. And it can do it for all kinds of databases, so you can introduce the same flow for each database you have.
One way is to define a comment on the table:
comment on table your_table is 'some comment';
Then you can read that meta information using all_tab_comments table.
See
How to get table comments via SQL in Oracle?
For further reading, see:
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/B19306_01/server.102/b14200/statements_4009.htm
I apologize if this is too vague, but it is a random issue that occurs with many types of statements. Google and Stack Overflow searches have failed me. Here is what I am experiencing, I hope that someone out there has seen or at least heard of this happening and possibly knows of a solution.
From time to time, with no apparent rhyme or reason, statements that I run through PL/SQL Developer against our Oracle databases do not "stick". Last week I ran an update on table A, a commit for the update statement, then a truncate on table B and an insert to table B followed by another commit. Everything seemed to work fine, as in I received no errors. I was, of course, able to query the changes and see that they were made. However, upon logging out and then back in, the changes had not been committed. Even the truncate command had not worked "stuck" - and truncates do not need a commit performed.
Some details that may be helpful: I am logging into the database server through PL/SQL on a shared account that is used by my team only to gain access to the schema (multiple schemas on each server, each schema has one shared login/PW). Of the 12 people on my team, I am the only one experiencing this issue. I have asked our database administration team to investigate my profile setup and have been told that my profile looks the same as my teammates' profiles. We are forced to go through Citrix to connect to our production database servers. I can only have one instance of PL/SQL open at any time through Citrix, so I typically have PL/SQL connected to several schemas, but I have never been running SQL on more than one schema simultaneously. I'm not even sure if that's possible, but I thought I would mention it. I typically have 3-4 windows open within PL/SQL, each connected to a different schema.
My manager was directly involved in a case where something similar to this happened. I ran four update commands, and committed each one in between; then he ran a select statement only to find that my updates had not actually committed.
I hope that one of my fellow Overflowers' has seen or heard of this issue, or at least may be able to provide me with a direction to follow to attempt to get to the bottom of this.
"it has begun to reflect poorly on me and damage my reputation in the company."
What would really reflect poorly on you would be you believing that an Oracle RDBMS is a magical or random device, or, even worse, sentient and conducting a personal vendetta against you. Computers may seem vindictive but that is always us projecting onto them ;-)
The way to burnish your reputation would be through an informed investigation of the situation. Databases do not randomly lose transactions. So, what is going on?
Possible culprits:
Triggers: does table A have an UPDATE trigger which suppresses some of your SQL?
Synonyms: are tables A and B really the tables you think they are?
Ownership: are these tables in another schema which has row level security enabled (although that should through an error message if you violate a policy)?
PL/SQL Developer configuration: is the IDE hiding error messages or are you not spotting them?
Object types: are tables A and B really tables? Could they be views with INSTEAD OF triggers suppressing some of your SQL?
Object types: or could A and B be materialized views and your session has QUERY_REWRITE_INTEGRITY=stale_tolerated?
If that last one seems a bit of a stretch there other similarly esoteric explanations, involving data flashback, pipelined functions and other malarky. This a category of explanation which indicates a colleague is pranking you.
How to proceed:
Try different tools. SQL*Plus (or the new SQL Command Line) may produce a different outcome. Rule out PL/SQL Developer.
Write some test cases. Strive to establish reproducible test cases: given a certain set-up this SQL statement always leads to a given outcome (SQL always sticks or always does not).
Eliminate bugs or "funnies" in the queries you use to check the results.
Use the data dictionary to understand the characteristics and associated objects of the troublesome tables. You need to understand what causes the different outcomes. What distinguishes a row where the UPDATE holds compared to one where it does not?
I have used PL/SQL Developer for over a decade and I have never known it silently undo successful truncate operations. If it can do that, AA should add it as a menu item. It seems more likely that you ran the commands against the wrong database connection.
I can feel your frustration, sorry you're going through this. I am surprised, however, that at a large company, your change control process is like this. I don't work for a large multi-national company, but any changes done to a production database are first approved by management and run by the DBAs (or in your case, your team). Every script that is run does a few things:
Lists the database instance information its connecting to. For example:
select host_name, instance_name, version, startup_time from v$instance;
Spools the output to a file (the DBAs typically use sqlplus, but I'm sure PL/SQL Developer can do the same)
Shows the current date and time (in the beginning and end of the script)
The output file is saved to a change control server (the directory structure makes it easy to pull any changes for a given instance and/or given timeframe)
Exits on any errors:
WHENEVER SQLERROR EXIT SQL.SQLCODE
Any additional checks that need to be run post script (select counts, etc)
Shows each command that is being run (set echo on), including the commits!
All of this would allow you to not only verify that the script was run successfully, but would allow you to CYOA. Perhaps you can talk with your team about putting some of this in place in your own environment. Hope that helps.
I have no way of knowing if my issue is fixed or not, but here is what I've done:
1. I contacted our company's Citrix team to request that they give my team the ability to have several instances of PL/SQL open. This has been done and so will eliminate the need for one instance with multiple DB connections.
2. I contacted the DBA's and had them remove my old profile, then create a new one with a new username.
So far, all SQL I've run under these new conditions has been just fine. However, I have no way of recreating the issue I'm experiencing so I am just continuing on about my business and hoping for the best.
Should I find a few months from now that I have not experienced this issue again I will update this post in case anyone else experiences it.
Thank you all for the accusations of operator error (screenshots prove that this is not operator error but why should you believe me when my own co-workers have accused me of faking the screenshots) and for the moral support.
My task is to make a trigger which will fire when our programmers create, alter, replace or delete triggers in database. It must log their changes to 2 datatables which I made similar to SYS.trigger$ table and added some extra info about user who made changes to them. I copied the principles of logging from already existing audit capability in ERP-system named Galaktika or Galaxy to be simple. However, I encountered a well-famous problem ORA-04089: no one can create triggers on system tables and stuck with it.
Now I'm looking for a way to gently modify my trigger according to database rules. Here is the original code:
CREATE OR REPLACE TRIGGER MRK_AlTrigger$
BEFORE DELETE OR INSERT OR UPDATE
ON SYS.TRIGGER$
REFERENCING NEW AS New OLD AS Old
FOR EACH ROW
DECLARE
Log_Rec MRK_TRIGGERS_LOG_HEADER.NREC%TYPE;
BEGIN
INSERT INTO MRK_TRIGGERS_LOG_HEADER (DATEOFCHANGE,
USERCODE,
OPERATION,
OBJ#)
VALUES (
SYSDATE,
UID,
CASE
WHEN INSERTING THEN 0
WHEN UPDATING THEN 1
WHEN DELETING THEN 2
END,
CASE
WHEN INSERTING OR UPDATING THEN :new.OBJ#
ELSE :old.OBJ#
END)
RETURNING NRec
INTO Log_Rec;
IF INSERTING OR UPDATING
THEN
INSERT INTO MRK_TRIGGERS_LOG_SPECIF (LOGLINK,
OBJ#,
TYPE#,
UPDATE$,
INSERT$,
DELETE$,
BASEOBJECT,
REFOLDNAME,
REFNEWNAME,
DEFINITION,
WHENCLAUSE,
ACTION#,
ACTIONSIZE,
ENABLED,
PROPERTY,
SYS_EVTS,
NTTRIGCOL,
NTTRIGATT,
REFPRTNAME,
ACTIONLINENO)
VALUES (Log_Rec,
:new.OBJ#,
:new.TYPE#,
:new.UPDATE$,
:new.INSERT$,
:new.DELETE$,
:new.BASEOBJECT,
:new.REFOLDNAME,
:new.REFNEWNAME,
:new.DEFINITION,
:new.WHENCLAUSE,
:new.ACTION#,
:new.ACTIONSIZE,
:new.ENABLED,
:new.PROPERTY,
:new.SYS_EVTS,
:new.NTTRIGCOL,
:new.NTTRIGATT,
:new.REFPRTNAME,
:new.ACTIONLINENO);
END IF;
EXCEPTION
WHEN OTHERS
THEN
-- Consider logging the error and then re-raise
RAISE;
END MRK_AlTrigger$;
/
I can also provide MRK_TRIGGERS_LOG_HEADER and MRK_TRIGGERS_LOG_SPECIF DDL, but think it is not necessary. So to make summary, here are the questions I have:
How do I modify the above source to the syntax CREATE OR REPLACE TRIGGER ON DATABASE?
Am I inventing a wheel doing this? Is there any common way to do such things? (I noticed that some tables have logging option, but consider it is for debugging purposes)
Any help will be appreciated!
UPD: I came to decision (thanks to APC) that it is better to hold different versions of code in source control and record only revision number in DB, but dream about doing this automatically.
"We despaired to appeal to our programmers' neatness so my boss
requires that there must be strong and automatic way to log changes.
And to revert them quickly if we need."
In other words, you want a technical fix for what is a political problem. This does not work. However, if you have your boss's support you can sort it out. But it will get messy.
I have been on both sides of this fence, having worked as developer and development DBA. I know from bitter experience how bad it can be if the development database - schemas, configuration parameters, reference data, etc - are not kept under control. Your developers will feel like they are flying right now, but I guarantee you they are not tracking all the changes they make in script form . So their changes are not reversible or repeatable, and when the project reaches UAT the deployment will most likely be a fiasco (buy me a beer and I'll tell you some stories).
So what to do?
Privileged access
Revoke access to SYSDBA accounts and application schema accounts from developers. Apart from anything else you may find parts of the application start to rely on privileged accesses and/or hard-coded passwords, and those are Bad Things; you don't want to include those breaches in Production.
As your developers have got accustomed to having such access this will be highly unpopular. Which is why you need your boss's support. You also must have a replacement approach in place, so leave this action until last. But make no mistake, this is the endgame.
Source control
Database schemas are software too. They are built out of programs, just like the rest of the application, only the source code is DDL and DML scripts not C# or Java. These scripts can be controlled in SVN as with any other source code.
How to organise it in source control? That can be tricky. So recognise that you have three categories of scripts:
Schema scripts which deploy objects
Configuration scripts which insert reference data, manage system parameters, etc
Build scripts which call the other scripts in the right order
Managing the schema scripts is the hardest thing to get right. I suggest you use separate scripts for each object. Also, have separate scripts for table, indexes and constraints. This means you can build all the tables without needing to arrange them in dependency order.
Handling change
The temptation will be to just control a CREATE TABLE statement (or whatever). This is a mistake. In actuality changes to the schema are just as likely to add, drop or modify columns as to introduce totally new objects. Store a CREATE TABLE statement as a baseline, then manage subsequent changes as ALTER TABLE statements.
One file for CREATE TABLE and subsequent ALTER TABLE commands, or separate ones? I'm comfortable having one script: I don't mind if a CREATE TABLE statement fails when I'm expecting the table to already be there. But this can be confusing if others will be running the scripts in say Production. So have a baseline script then separate scripts for applying changes. One alter script per object per time-box is a good compromise.
Changes from developers consist of
alter table script(s) to apply the change
a mirrored alter table script(s) to reverse the change
other scripts, e.g. DML
change reference number (which they will use in SVN)
Because you're introducing this late in the day, you'll need to be diplomatic. So make the change process light and easy to use. Also make sure you check and run the scripts as soon as possible. If you're responsive and do things quickly enough the developers won't chafe under the restricted access.
Getting to there
First of all you need to establish a baseline. Something like DBMS_METADATA will give you CREATE statements for all current objects. You need to organise them in SVN and write the build scripts. Create a toy database and get this right.
This may take some time, so remember to refresh the DDL scripts so they reflect the latest statement. If you have access to a schema comparison tool that would be very handy right now.
Next, sort out the configuration. Hopefully you already know tables contain reference data, otherwise ask the developers.
In your toy database practice zapping the database and building it from scratch. You can use something like Ant or Hudson to automate this if you're feeling adventurous, but at the very least you need some shell scripts to get a build out of SVN.
Making the transition
This is the big one. Announce the new regime to the developers. Get your boss to attend the meeting. Remind the developers to inform you of any changes they make to the database.
That night:
Take a full export with Data Pump
Drop all the application schemas.
Build the application from SVN
Reload the data - but not the data structures - with Data Pump
Hopefully you won't have any structural issues; but if the developer has made changes without telling you you'll know - and they won't have any data in the table.
Make sure you revoke the SYSDBA access as soon as possible.
The developers will need access to a set of schemas so they can write the ALTER scripts. In the developers don't have local personal databases or private schemas to test things I suggest you let them have access to that toy database to test change scripts. Alternatively you can let them keep the application owner access, because you'll be repeating the Trash'n'Rebuild exercise on a regular basis. Once they get used to the idea that they will lose any changes they don't tell you about they will knuckle down and start Doing The Right Thing.
Last word
Obviously this is a lot of vague windbaggery, lacking in solid detail. But that's politics for you.
Postscript
I was at a UKOUG event yesterday, and attended a session by a couple of smart chaps from Regdate. They have a product Source Control for Oracle which provides an interface between (say) SVN and the database. It takes a rather different approach from what I outlined above. But their approach is a sound one. Their tool automates a lot of things, and I think it might help you a lot in your current situation. I must stress that I haven't actually used this product but I think you should check it out - there's a 28 day free trial. Of course, if you don't have any money to spend then this won't help you.
you can find the desierd infos in the following trigger attributes
dictionary_obj_name
dictionary_obj_owner
ora_sysevent
here is the simple ON DATABASE trigger
CREATE OR REPLACE TRIGGER trigger_name
AFTER CREATE OR DROP ON DATABASE
BEGIN
IF dictionary_obj_type = 'TRIGGER'
THEN
INSERT INTO log_table ( trg_name, trg_owner, trg_action) VALUES (dictionary_obj_name,dictionary_obj_owner, ora_sysevent);
END IF;
END;
/
We are planning a new system for a client in ORACLE 11g. I've been mostly in the Sql Server world for several years, and am not really current on the latest ORACLE updates.
One particular feature I'm wondering if ORACLE has added in by this point is some sort of logical "container" for database objects, akin to Sql Server's SCHEMA.
Trying to use ORACLE's schemas like Sql Server winds up being a disaster for code comparisons when trying to push from dev > test > live.
Packages are sort of similar, except that you can't put tables into a package (so they really only work for logical code grouping).
The only other option I am aware of is the archaic practice of having to prefix object names with a "schema" prefix, i.e. RPT_REPORTS, RPT_PARAMETERS, RPT_LOGS, RPT_USERS, RPT_RUN_REPORT(), with the prefix RPT_ denoting that these are all the objects dealing with our reporting engine say. Writing a system like this feels like we never left the 8.3 file-naming age.
Is there by this point in time any cleaner, more direct way of logically grouping related objects together in ORACLE?
Oracle's logical container for database objects IS the schema. I don't know how much "cleaner" and "more direct" you can get! You are going to have to do a paradigm shift here. Don't try to think in SQL Server terms, and force a solution that looks like SQL Server on Oracle. Get familiar with what Oracle does and approach your problems from that perspective. There should be no problem pushing from dev to test to production in Oracle if you know what you're doing.
It seems you have a bit of a chip on your shoulder about Oracle when you use terms like "archaic practice". I would suggest you make friends with Oracle's very rich and powerful feature set by doing some reading, since you're apparently already committed to Oracle for this project. In particular, pick up a copy of "Effective Oracle By Design" by Tom Kyte. Once you've read that, have a look at "Expert Oracle Database Architecture" by the same author for a more in-depth look at how Oracle works. You owe it to your customer to know how to use the tool you've been handed. Who knows? You might even start to like it. Think of it as another tool in your toolchest. You're not married to SQL Server and you're not being unfaithful by using Oracle ;-)
EDIT:
In response to questions by OP:
I'm not sure why that is a logistical problem. They can be thought of as separate databases, but physically they are not. And no, you do not need a separate data file for each schema. A single datafile is often used for all schemas.
If you want a "nice, self-contained database" ala SQL Server, just create one schema to store all your objects. End of problem. You can create other users/schemas, just don't give them the ability to create objects.
There are tools to compare objects and data, as in the PL/SQL Developer compare. Typically in Oracle you want to compare schemas, not entire databases. I'm not sure why it is you want to have multiple schemas each with their own objects anyway. What does is buy you to do that? Keep your objects (tables, triggers, code, views, etc.) in one schema.