Data Dictionary & Dynamic Performance Views

The central set of read-only reference tables and views of each Oracle database is
known collectively as the data dictionary. The dynamic performance views are special
views that are continuously updated while a database is open and in use

Overview of the Data Dictionary

An important part of an Oracle database is its data dictionary, which is a read-only set of
tables that provides administrative metadata about the database. A data dictionary
contains information such as the following:

 The definitions of every schema object in the database, including default values
for columns and integrity constraint information
 The amount of space allocated for and currently used by the schema objects
 The names of Oracle Database users, privileges and roles granted to users, and
auditing information related to users.

The data dictionary is a central part of data management for every Oracle database. For
example, the database performs the following actions

 :Accesses the data dictionary to find information about users, schema objects, and
storage structures
 Modifies the data dictionary every time that a DDL statement is issued Because
Oracle Database stores data dictionary data in tables, just like other data, users can
query the data with SQL. For example, users can run SELECT statements to
determine their privileges, which tables exist in their schema, which columns are
in these tables, whether indexes are built on these columns, and so on.

Contents of the Data Dictionary:

The data dictionary consists of base tables and views. These objects are defined as
follows:

• Base tables: These store information about the database. Only Oracle Database should
write to and read these tables. Users rarely access the base tables directly because they are
normalized and most data is stored in a cryptic format.

• Views:: These decode the base table data into useful information, such as user or table
names, using joins and WHERE clauses to simplify the information. The views contain
the names and description of all objects in the data dictionary. Some views are accessible
to all database users, whereas others are intended for administrators only.

Typically, data dictionary views are grouped in sets. In many cases, a set consists of three
views containing similar information and distinguished from each other by their prefixes,
as shown in the following table. By querying the appropriate views, you can access only
the information relevant for you

Not all views sets have three members. For example, the data dictionary contains a
DBA_LOCK view but no ALL_LOCK view. The system-supplied DICTIONARY view
contains the names and abbreviated descriptions of all data dictionary views. The
following query of this view includes partial sample output:

SQL> SELECT * FROM DICTIONARY 2 ORDER BY TABLE_NAME;

TABLE_NAME COMMENTS
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALL_ALL_TABLES Description of all object and
Relational tables accessible to the
user

ALL_APPLY Details about each apply process that dequeues from

the queue visible to the current user

Views with the Prefix

_
DBA Views with the prefix DBA_ show all relevant information in the entire database.
DBA_views are intended only for administrators. The following sample query shows
information about all objects in the database:
SQL>SELECT OWNER, OBJECT_NAME, OBJECT_TYPEFROM DBA_OBJECTSORDER
BY OWNER, OBJECT_NAME;
Views with the Prefix ALL_

Views with the prefix ALL_ refer to the user's overall perspective of the database.
These views return information about schema objects to which the user has
access through public or explicit grants of privileges and roles, in addition to
schema objects that the user owns. For example, the following query returns
information about all the objects to which you have access:

SELECT OWNER, OBJECT_NAME, OBJECT_TYPE FROM ALL_OBJECTSORDER BY

OWNER, OBJECT_NAME;

Because the ALL_ views obey the current set of enabled roles, query results
depend on which roles are enabled, as shown in the following
example:

SQL> SET ROLE ALL; ## Role set.

SQL> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM ALL_OBJECTS;
COUNT(*)
68295

SQL> SET ROLE NONE; ## Role set.

SQL> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM ALL_OBJECTS;

COUNT(*) ----------53771

Views with the Prefix USER_

The views most likely to be of interest to typical database users are those with the prefix
USER_ .These views:

• Refer to the user's private environment in the database, including metadata about
schema objects created by the user, grants made by the user, and so on

• Display only rows pertinent to the user, returning a subset of the information in the
ALL_ views

• Has columns identical to the other views, except that the column OWNER is implied•
Can have abbreviated PUBLIC synonyms for convenience For example, the following
query returns all the objects contained in your schema:
SELECT OBJECT_NAME, OBJECT_TYPE FROM USER_OBJECTSORDER BY
OBJECT_NAME;
The DUAL Table
DUAL is a small table in the data dictionary that Oracle Database and user-written
programs can reference to guarantee a known result. The dual table is useful when a value
must be returned only once, for example, the current date and time. All database users
have access to DUAL. The DUAL table has one column called DUMMY and one row
containing the value X. The following example queries DUAL to perform an arithmetical
operation:

SQL> SELECT ((3*4)+5)/3 FROM DUAL;((3*4)+5)/3-----------

5.66666667

Storage of the Data Dictionary

The data dictionary base tables are the first objects created in any Oracle
database. All data dictionary tables and views for a database are stored in the
SYSTEM tablespace.Because the SYSTEM tablespace is always online when the
database is open, the data dictionary is always available when the database is
open.

How Oracle Database Uses the Data Dictionary

The Oracle Database user account SYS owns all base tables and user-accessible
views of the data dictionary. During database operation, Oracle Database reads
the data dictionary to ascertain that schema objects exist and that users have
proper access to them. Oracle Database updates the data dictionary continuously
to reflect changes in database structures, auditing, grants, and data. For
example, if user hr creates a table named interns, then the database adds new
rows to the data dictionary that reflect the new table, columns, segment, extents,
and the privileges that hr has on the table. This new information is visible the
next time the dictionary views are queried. Data in the base tables of the data
dictionary is necessary for Oracle Database to function. Only Oracle Database
should write or change data dictionary information. No Oracle Database user
should ever alter rows or schema objects contained in the SYS schema because
such activity can compromise data integrity. The security administrator must keep
strict control of this central account.

Data Dictionary Cache

Much of the data dictionary information is in the data dictionary cache because the
database constantly requires the information to validate user access and verify the state of
schema objects. .The caches typically contain the parsing information. The COMMENTS
columns describing the tables and their columns are not cached in the dictionary cache,
but may be cached in the database buffer cache
Overview of the Dynamic Performance Views

Throughout its the database operation, Oracle Database maintains a set of virtual
tables that record current database activity that is called as Dynamic performance
views. These views are dynamic because they are continuously updated while a
database is open and in use. The views are sometimes called V$ views because
their names begin with V$ Dynamic performance views contain information such
as the following

:• System and session parameters

• Memory usage and allocation
• File states (including RMAN backup files)
• Progress of jobs and tasks
• SQL execution
• Statistics and metrics
The dynamic performance views have the following primary uses::
:• Oracle Enterprise Manager uses the views to obtain information about the
database.
• Administrators can use the views for performance monitoring and debugging.

Contents of the Dynamic Performance Views

Dynamic performance views are called fixed views because they cannot be altered
or removed by a database administrator. However, database administrators can query and
create views on the tables and grant access to these views to other users.SYS owns the
dynamic performance tables, whose names begin with V_$. Views are created on these
tables, and then public synonyms prefixed with V$. For example, the V$DATAFILE view
contains information about data files. The V$FIXED_TABLE view contains information
about all of the dynamic performance tables and views. For almost every V$ view, a
corresponding GV$ view exists. In Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC),
querying a GV$ view retrieves the V$ view information from all qualified database
instances. When you use the Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) to create a
database, Oracle automatically creates the data dictionary. Oracle Database automatically
runs the catalog.sql script, which contains definitions of the views and public synonyms
for the dynamic performance views. You must run catalog.sql to create these views and
synonyms.
Storage of the Dynamic Performance Views
Dynamic performance views are based on virtual tables built from
database memory structures. The views are not conventional tables stored in the
database. Read consistency is not guaranteed for the views because the data is
updated dynamically .Because the dynamic performance views are not true
tables, the data depends on the state of the database and database instance. For
example, you can query V$INSTANCE and V$BGPROCESS when the database is
started but not mounted. However, you cannot query V$DATAFILE until the
database has been mounted.

============== Happy learning =====================