Oracle 9i: Synonymed Table Does Not Exist? - oracle

I've created a package that contains a stored procedure that I plan to invoke from a separate application. The stored procedure will return a sorted list of all the views and tables in the schema. To do that, it performs a simple select on the DBA_TABLES and DBA_VIEWS synonyms, as shown below:
CREATE OR REPLACE
PACKAGE BODY TITAN_ENTITY AS
PROCEDURE GETSCHEMAOBJECTS (RESULTS IN OUT T_CURSOR)
IS
V_CURSOR T_CURSOR;
BEGIN
OPEN V_CURSOR FOR
SELECT 'T' OBJECTTYPE, TABLE_NAME OBJECTNAME
FROM DBA_TABLES
WHERE OWNER = 'SONAR5'
UNION ALL
SELECT 'V' OBJECTTYPE, VIEW_NAME OBJECTNAME
FROM DBA_VIEWS
WHERE OWNER = 'SONAR5'
ORDER BY OBJECTNAME;
RESULTS := V_CURSOR;
END GETSCHEMAOBJECTS;
END TITAN_ENTITY;
I have verified that the synonyms in question exist, and are public:
CREATE PUBLIC SYNONYM "DBA_TABLES" FOR "SYS"."DBA_TABLES"
CREATE PUBLIC SYNONYM "DBA_VIEWS" FOR "SYS"."DBA_VIEWS"
My understanding is that, because they are public, I don't need any further permissions to get to them. If that understanding is incorrect, I wish someone would disabuse me of the notion and point me to more accurate data.
Now here's my problem: I can open a worksheet in Oracle SQL Developer and select from these tables just fine. I get meaningful data just fine (567 rows, as a matter of fact). But when I try to execute the stored procedure, Oracle complains with a compilation error, as shown below:
Error(9,8): PL/SQL: SQL Statement ignored
Error(10,16): PL/SQL: ORA-00942: table or view does not exist
When I double-click on that second error message, SQL Developer takes me to the first FROM clause ("FROM DBA_TABLES").
So I'm fairly stumped. I know SQL Server pretty well, and I'm new to Oracle, so please bear with me. If you could provide some clues, or point me in the right direction, I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks in advance!

Use ALL_TABLES and ALL_VIEWS instead of DBA_TABLES and DBA_VIEWS. ALL_% views should be accessible to all users.

If you select from a table or a view in a stored PL/SQL-procedure or a stored PL/SQL-function you need a direct grant. A grant via a database role isn't enough.
You probably need a direct grant on view dba_tables. (public) synonyms are just (public) synonyms. You need directly granted select rights.
See here: http://asktom.oracle.com/pls/asktom/f?p=100:11:0::::P11_QUESTION_ID:48704116042682#48798240264807

Edit: Sorry, I glossed over the part where you seem to say that you can select from DBA_TABLES directly. Most likely the issue is that your privileges are granted through a role as someone else answered. But it's still worth explaining that your understanding of PUBLIC synonyms is incomplete, and that using ALL_TABLES would be better if it accomplishes what you need.
The synonym being PUBLIC only means that all users can reference the synonym; it does not grant them any access to the object that the synonym refers to.
What you would do to most directly solve this error is grant SELECT privilege on the SYS views to the user(s) that will run this procedure. However, I think that is a very bad idea.
As suggested by Raimonds, consider whether you can get what you need from USER_TABLES or ALL_TABLES instead. What user is calling this procedure, and what access does that user have to SONAR5's tables?
Generally, if your application is interested in a table, presumably it has some privileges on it, in which case is should be listed in ALL_TABLES.

Related

Oracle - using synonym as variable

i need to use synonym as variable in a block. I have 2 different schemas with same tables on them and job that switches between schemas making one active. Now I want to write a block checking which schema is active with ALL_SYNONYMS and using result as part of a query.
Here is example:
DECLARE
OWNER VARCHAR2(15);
BEGIN
SELECT TABLE_OWNER
INTO OWNER
FROM ALL_SYNONYMS
WHERE TABLE_NAME = 'MY_TABLE1';
SELECT *
FROM OWNER.MY_TABLE2 ;
END;
But I’m getting ORA-06550 table or view does not exist, and when i run query itself where i put value from ALL_SYNONYMS it returns result.
Any idea how to fix this?
Thanks
You are attempting using symptoms incorrectly. Synonyms are used so you do not need to know which is active. According to the documentation:
Synonyms provide both data independence and location transparency.
Synonyms permit applications to function without modification
regardless of which user owns the table or view and regardless of
which database holds the table or view.
You just use the synonym instead of the object itself.
create table evens( id integer generated always as identity
, val integer
) ;
create table odds( id integer generated always as identity
, val integer
) ;
insert all
when mod(val,2) = 0 then into evens(val)
when mod(val,2) = 1 then into odds(val)
select level val
from dual connect by level <= 10;
-- create the synonym then use it in Select;
create or replace synonym current_even_odd for evens;
select * from current_even_odd;
-- now change the synonym, then run the EXACT same query.
create or replace synonym current_even_odd for odds;
select * from current_even_odd;
In this case it is not quite without modification, you need to change the synonym, But it seems you are trying that already.
Note: You cannot create a synonym for a schema but must point it to a specific object.
I attempted a db<>fiddle for the above, but it appears it is having problems at the moment.
I agree with Belayer that the synonym should provide a layer of abstraction on your tables and your procedure shouldn't need to know what the schema is. But the "table or view does not exist" error is likely an issue related to privileges and definer's rights versus invoker's rights.
To directly reference an object in a procedure, the procedure's schema must have a direct grant to the table. However, an ad hoc query only needs a role with privileges on the object. This is why the SQL will work in your IDE but not in the procedure. Ensure the code that modifies objects and switches synonyms is granting privileges to both roles and directly to schemas.
If direct grants are not possible, you will need to modify the procedure to use AUTHID CURRENT_USER and change the SQL statements to use dynamic SQL - which can be a huge pain. For example:
create or replace procedure test_procedure authid current_user is
v_count number;
begin
execute immediate
q'[
select count(*)
from some_table
]'
into v_count;
end test_procedure;
/
If you really do need to manually switch between schemas, then you may want to consider using something like execute immediate 'alter session set current_schema=schema1'; in the procedure and using dynamic SQL for all of the querying.

How to know if a db-link is used somewhere in a DB

I would like to know if it exists an Oracle command to know if a DB-LINK (name: myBDLink) is used somewhere in a DB and how to display the objects (views,materialized views, procedures, functions, ...) which use it.
Could you please help me with that ?
Thanks for your help
Well, you could try to query various system views and see whether any of them contains a string you're looking for. As you want to check the whole database, you'll probably connect as a privileged user and check dba_ views; otherwise, all_ or user_ would do.
For example, to check procedures, functions, packages, ...:
select owner, name, type, line
from dba_source
where owner not in ('SYS', 'SYSTEM')
and lower(text) like '%mydblink%';
To check views, you'll need a function which will search through its LONG datatype column (as you can't use it directly in SQL):
create or replace function f_long(par_view in varchar2, par_String in varchar2)
return varchar2
is
l_text varchar2(32000);
begin
select text
into l_text
from dba_views
where owner not in ('SYS', 'SYSTEM')
and view_name = par_view;
return case when instr(lower(l_text), lower(par_string)) > 0 then 1
else 0
end;
end;
/
and then
select owner, view_name
from dba_views
where f_long(view_name, 'mydblink') = 1;
I excluded SYS and SYSTEM as they should not contain anything of users' stuff. Perhaps you'd want to exclude some more users.
To see some more (re)sources, query the dictionary, e.g.
select table_name, comments
from dictionary;
TABLE_NAME COMMENTS
------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------
USER_CONS_COLUMNS Information about accessible columns in constraint
definitions
ALL_CONS_COLUMNS Information about accessible columns in constraint
definitions
DBA_CONS_COLUMNS Information about accessible columns in constraint
definitions
<snip>
There is no complete answer. How would the database know of code that is outside of the database? It can't. So if you have a sql script, or some application that does not rely on stored procedures to do everything, the database will not know of them.
That said, for dependencies that are in stored procedures in the database, you can try this:
select *
from dba_dependencies
where referenced_link_name is not null
;
To add to the other (correct) answers that have been posted by #Littlefoot and #EdStevens, a quick-and-dirty analysis can also be made against the Automated Workload Repository (AWR).
The benefit of this approach is it will find usages of remote objects from SQL submitted to the database whether that SQL is in DBA_SOURCE or not (e.g., is embedded in an external application).
-- Find any objects referenced across a database link (sort of)
select object_node, object_name, count(distinct sql_id) sql_id_count
from dba_hist_sql_plan
where object_type = 'REMOTE'
group by object_node, object_name
order by object_node, object_name
;
The problem is that AWR data isn't 100% complete. First of all, it's not kept around forever, so a database link last used more than a month (or two months or however long your DBAs keep AWR data for) wouldn't be seen. Second of all, AWR only takes snapshots periodically, say every hour. So it's theoretically possible for a SQL to use a database link and then get aged out of the library cache before the next AWR snapshot.
I think the chance of missing something due to that last bit is small on the systems I work with. But, if you have poorly written applications (i.e., no bind variables) and limited shared pool space, it's something to worry about.

Is it possible to see a sequence in all_sequences without having the SELECT right on the sequence?

I need to retrieve the list of available sequences of a certain database schema in an Oracle 10g database (10.2.0.3).
With the schema owner, I can simply do something like the following to achieve this:
SELECT sequence_name FROM all_sequences WHERE sequence_owner = 'ABCDEF';
However, If I use a user which has a custom "read-only" role assigned, that user does not get any rows when executing that query.
I've played around a bit and found out that granting the SELECT option on the sequences to the read-only role makes those sequences appear in the all_sequences view when connected with the read-only user.
However this means that the read-only user is able to do
SELECT my_sequence.NEXTVAL FROM DUAL;
which is a no-go for our situation (after all, the read-only user shall not be able to modify anything, not even sequences).
Is there another way for retrieving the sequences which does not allow selecting NEXTVAL?
[Edit:]
If I do
SELECT DISTINCT sequence_owner FROM all_sequences;
I get the following list:
SEQUENCE_OWNER
------------------------------
MDSYS
DMSYS
OLAPSYS
XDB
SYS
5 rows selected
After using the system user to do
GRANT SELECT ANY DICTIONARY TO MY_USER;
the result stays the same (revoke does not change anything either).
Granting the SELECT_CATALOG_ROLE instead does not work either.
Granting SELECT on at least one of the sequences however changes the result to include my own schema owner.
You can try to grant SELECT ANY DICTIONARY privilege, but it's very bad for the security reasons, so, I guess, your DBA will deny it.
Good decision is to create table function publishes required data. By default this function will work with AUTHID DEFINER rights, so you should just grant it to read-only user and it would receive sequences info without any chance to change them.
The best solution I can come up with is to grant the user SELECT ANY DICTIONARY. This will give them access to DBA_SEQUENCES (as well as all of the other DBA_ views) without needing permissions on the objects.

Finding Oracle stored procedures

Since I am new to Oracle, please tell me what different ways to find packages, stored procedures, triggers, functions, indexes, tablespaces
Thanks
The following statement gives you an overview of all database objects in the current user:
SELECT
object_name,
object_type
FROM
user_objects;
If you are searching for documentation, you can look at Morgan's Library
You can download Oracle SQL Developer free. This allows you to explore all the objects in your database via a simple interface.
I shall walk you through the different shades of "all_object":
SQL> show user
USER is "C##SCOTT"
SQL>
Getting all the types of object:
select distinct object_type from all_objects;
EDITION
CONSUMER GROUP
SEQUENCE
SCHEDULE
PROCEDURE
OPERATOR
DESTINATION
WINDOW
SCHEDULER GROUP
PACKAGE
PROGRAM
LOB
XML SCHEMA
JAVA RESOURCE
JOB CLASS
DIRECTORY
TABLE
SYNONYM
INDEX
VIEW
FUNCTION
INDEXTYPE
JAVA CLASS
TYPE
EVALUATION CONTEXT
25 rows selected.
Now, you can zoom down to the "TABLE" type of object:
select object_name||','||object_id||','||owner from all_objects where object_type='TABLE' ;
Or all the objects of an owner:
select object_name||','||object_id||','||OBJECT_TYPE from all_objects where owner = 'SYS';
Trust me, you will learn more this way - anyone can click through any GUI tool, but to issue the SQL command, you will need some knowledge.

Correct way to give users access to additional schemas in Oracle

I have two users Bob and Alice in Oracle, both created by running the following commands as sysdba from sqlplus:
create user $blah identified by $password;
grant resource, connect, create view to $blah;
I want Bob to have complete access to Alice's schema (that is, all tables), but I'm not sure what grant to run, and whether to run it as sysdba or as Alice.
Happy to hear about any good pointers to reference material as well -- don't seem to be able to get a good answer to this from either the Internet or "Oracle Database 10g The Complete Reference", which is sitting on my desk.
AFAIK you need to do the grants object one at a time.
Typically you'd use a script to do this, something along the lines of:
SELECT 'GRANT ALL ON '||table_name||' TO BOB;'
FROM ALL_TABLES
WHERE OWNER = 'ALICE';
And similar for other db objects.
You could put a package in each schema that you need to issue the grant from which will go through all call each GRANT statement via an EXECUTE IMMEDIATE.
e.g.
PROCEDURE GRANT_TABLES
IS
BEGIN
FOR tab IN (SELECT table_name
FROM all_tables
WHERE owner = this_user) LOOP
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON '||tab.table_name||' TO other_user';
END LOOP;
END;
There are many things to consider. When you say access, do you want to prefix the tables with the other users name? You can use public synonyms so that you can hide the original owner, if that is an issue. And then grant privs on the synonym.
You also want to plan ahead as best you can. Later, will you want Frank to be able to access Alice's schema as well? You don't want to have to regrant privileges on N number of tables. Using a database role would be a better solution. Grant the select to role "ALICE_TABLES" for example and when another user needs access, just grant them privilege to the role. This helps to organize the grants you make inside the DB.
Another solution if you have different owner:
BEGIN
FOR x IN (SELECT owner||'.'||table_name ownertab
FROM all_tables
WHERE owner IN ('A', 'B', 'C', 'D'))
LOOP
EXECUTE IMMEDIATE 'GRANT SELECT ON '||x.ownertab||' TO other_user';
END LOOP;
END;

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