More Tips and

Techniques for
DBAs and
Developers
Ari Kaplan
www.arikaplan.com
Independent Consultant

Paper 78
EOUG Madrid 2000
 Introduction
✸ Most books and documentation are set up
like reference materials
✸ Training courses focus on the fundamental
aspects of products in a limited time
✸ Hands-on experience is one of the best ways
to learn tricks to maximize your use of
Oracle
 The Topics
✔ “Gotchas” of Dropping and Recreating Tables

✔ See Hidden INIT.ORA Parameters

✔ Change the SQL Prompt

✔ Resize the Redo Logs

✔ Using DECODE for Multiple Values

✔ Use DECODE for < or > comparisons

✔ Identify and Delete Duplicate Records

✔ OS Commands and Utilities

✔ Files that are Created or Grow by Default

 “Gotchas” of Dropping and
Recreating Tables
Dropping a table will cause the following actions to occur:

✴ All indexes on the table are dropped from the database

✴ All triggers on the table are dropped from the database
✴ All triggers that reference the table are invalidated
✴ All constraints on the table are dropped (PK, UK, Check,
Not Null)
✴ All foreign keys pointing to the table are disabled
✴ All packages, procedures, and views that reference the
table are invalidated
✴ All grants on the table are dropped from the database.
 “Gotchas” of Dropping and
Recreating Tables
DBA_DEPENDENCIES
Name Null? Type
----------------------- ------------- -----------------------
OWNER NOT NULL VARCHAR2(30)
NAME NOT NULL VARCHAR2(30)
TYPE VARCHAR2(12)
REFERENCED_OWNER VARCHAR2(30)
REFERENCED_NAME VARCHAR2(64)
REFERENCED_TYPE VARCHAR2(12)
REFERENCED_LINK_NAME VARCHAR2(128)
DEPENDENCY_TYPE VARCHAR2(4)
 “Gotchas” of Dropping and
Recreating Tables
SELECT OWNER, NAME, TYPE, REFERENCED_OWNER,
   REFERENCED_NAME, REFERENCED_TYPE
FROM ALL_DEPENDENCIES
WHERE REFERENCED_NAME = ‘EMP_TABLE’;
OWNER NAME TYPE
REFERENCED_OWNER REFERENCED_NAME REFERENCED_T
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
­­­­ ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
PROD PROD_BATCH_UTILITY_P PACKAGE
PROD EMP_TABLE NON­EXISTENT
PROD PROCESS215 FUNCTION
PUBLIC EMP_TABLE SYNONYM
PROD POST205 FUNCTION
PUBLIC EMP_TABLE SYNONYM
Set heading off
“Gotchas” of Dropping and Recreating
spool recompile.sql
Tables
SELECT ‘alter ‘||decode(object_type,’PACKAGE 
BODY’,’PACKAGE’,object_type)||
‘ ‘||owner||’.’||object_name||’ compile;’
FROM dba_objects
WHERE status= ‘INVALID’;
spool off

alter PROCEDURE PROD.CM1279 compile;
alter FUNCTION PROD.DELETE_TRADE_DATE 
compile;
alter FUNCTION PROD.POP_TEMP_MATCH compile;
alter VIEW TEST_ACCT.POST215_V compile;
alter FUNCTION TEST_ACCT.PROCESS215 compile;
alter FUNCTION TEST_ACCT.PROCESS216 compile;
alter PACKAGE TEST_ACCT.TEST_UTILITY_P 
compile;
 See Hidden INIT.ORA
Parameters
Regular INIT.ORA: V$PARAMETER
Name Null? Type
------------------------------------------------- ------------------------ ----------------------------------------

NUM NUMBER
NAME
VARCHAR2(64)
TYPE NUMBER
VALUE VARCHAR2(512)
ISDEFAULT VARCHAR2(9)
ISSES_MODIFIABLE VARCHAR2(5)
ISSYS_MODIFIABLE VARCHAR2(9)
ISMODIFIED VARCHAR2(10)
ISADJUSTED VARCHAR2(5)
 See Hidden INIT.ORA Parameters
✸ To view the “regular” init.ora parameters, issue:
SQL> SELECT NAME, VALUE, ISDEFAULT
■ FROM V$PARAMETER
■ ORDER BY NAME;

NAME VALUE ISDEFAULT

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ ­­­­­­­­­
partition_view_enabled FALSE TRUE
plsql_v2_compatibility FALSE TRUE
pre_page_sga TRUE FALSE
processes 150 FALSE
push_join_predicate FALSE TRUE
read_only_open_delayed FALSE TRUE
recovery_parallelism 0 TRUE
 See Hidden INIT.ORA
Parameters
“Hidden” INIT.ORA: X$KSPPI and
X$KSPPSV
X$KSPPI X$KSPPSV
Name Type Name Type
----------------------------- ---------------------------------------- ----------------------- ---------------------------------

ADDR RAW(4) ADDR

RAW(4)
INDX NUMBER INDX NUMBER
INST_ID NUMBER INST_ID NUMBER
KSPPINM VARCHAR2(64) KSPPSTVL
VARCHAR2(512)
KSPPITY NUMBER KSPPSTDF VARCHAR2(9)
KSPPDESC VARCHAR2(64) KSPPSTVF NUMBER
KSPPIFLG NUMBER
 See Hidden INIT.ORA Parameters
✸ To see all init.ora parameters, “regular” and “hidden”, that have
been modified directly or indirectly, issue:
SQL> SELECT nam.ksppinm || '=' || 
val.ksppstvl
2 FROM x$ksppi nam, x$ksppsv val
3 WHERE nam.indx = val.indx AND 
4 val.ksppstdf ='FALSE’ ORDER BY 1;
val.ksppstdf ='FALSE’ 
NAM.KSPPINM||’=’||VAL.KSPPSTVL
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ 
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ ­­­­­­­­­
partition_view_enabled=FALSE
_affinity_on=FALSE
_wait_for_sync=TRUE
 Changing the SQL Prompt
✼ Global Login Script:

$ORACLE_HOME/sqlplus/admin/glogin.sql
✼ Local Login Script:

$ORACLE_PATH/login.sql

set heading off
select 'Logged in as ' 
|| username from 
user_users;
set heading on
 Changing the SQL Prompt
In glogin.sql or login.sql:
set heading off
set prompt off
spool make_prompt.sql
SELECT ‘set sqlprompt ‘‘‘|| d.name ||‘@‘ 
||
substr(s.machine,1,decode 
(instr(s.machine,‘.‘), 0, 
length(s.machine),
instr(s.machine,‘.‘) ­ 1)) || 
‘­SQL> ‘‘‘
FROM V$SESSION s, V$DATABASE D
The prompt will look 
WHERE s.SID=1; like:
spool off
@make_prompt.sql PHIS@survlpd-
set heading on SQL>
 Resize the Redo Logs
SQL> SELECT * FROM V$LOG;
GROUP# THREAD#  SEQUENCE#   BYTES   MEMBERS  ARC  STATUS  CHANGE# 
FIRST_TIM
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
­­­ ­­­­­­­­­ ­­­­­­­­­ ­­­­­­­­­ ­­­­­­­­­ ­­­­­­­­­
1                1                    422                 52,428,800      
1           NO      INACTIVE   680764231    05­APR­00
2                1                    423               262,144,000      
1           NO      INACTIVE   680764271    05­APR­00
3                1                    424               262,144,000      
1           NO      CURRENT   680764463    05­APR­00

SQL> SELECT * FROM V$LOGFILE;
GROUP# STATUS MEMBER
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
/emc08/ORACLE/DHIS/redoQHIS01a.log 1
 Resize the Redo Logs
1) Drop the redo log (or group of redo logs):
SQL> ALTER DATABASE DROP LOGFILE GROUP 1;
(If the active log group is 1, you will get the following error:)
ORA-01623: log 1 is current log for thread 1 – cannot drop
(If this occurs, switch the logfile group: “ALTER SYSTEM SWITCH
LOGFILE;” and reissue.)
Database altered.
2) Now there are two log groups remaining (#2, 3). Next, we will
physically remove the file:
SQL> !rm /emc08/ORACLE/DHIS/redoQHIS01a.log
3) Add the redo log back to group 1, with a 16M size:
SQL> ALTER DATABASE ADD LOGFILE GROUP 1
'/emc08/ORACLE/DHIS/redoQHIS01a.log' SIZE 16M
Database altered.
4) Switch the logfile until it points to the recently changed group (in
this example group 1).
SQL> ALTER SYSTEM SWITCH LOGFILE;
System altered.
The new redo log (from group 1) is now 16M in size.
Repeat #1-4 above until all three redo logs have been resized.
 Using DECODE for Multiple Values in One
Decode Example:
Clause
SQL> SELECT DECODE(SEX, ’M’, ’Male’, ’F’, ’Female’,
’Unknown’)
2 FROM TABLE_NAME;
Table Example:
SQL> SELECT * FROM ACCOUNT_PHONES_T;
PHONE If the length of
555­1212
5553333
phone > 7
SQL> SELECT PHONE, SUBSTR(PHONE,1,3)||
2 DECODE(SIGN(7­LENGTH(PHONE)),­1,
3 SUBSTR(PHONE,4,99),        '­'||SUBSTR(PHONE,4,99))
4 “PHONE_FORMATTED”
If the length of
5 FROM ACCOUNT_PHONES_T; phone not > 7
PHONE PHONE_FORMATTED
555­1212 555­1212
5553333 555­3333
 Using DECODE for < or >
Table Example: Comparisons
SQL> SELECT * FROM SALARIES;
HUSBAND_SALARY WIFE_SALARY
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
         45000        60000
         90000        39700
SQL Using DECODE and LEAST:
SQL> SELECT husband_salary, wife_salary,
DECODE (LEAST (husband_salary,wife_salary),
              husband_salary,'The Husband has the 
lower salary',
              'The Wife has the lower salary') 
"WHO_IS_LOWER"
FROM SALARIES
WHERE husband_salary <> wife_salary;
HUSBAND_SALARY WIFE_SALARY WHO_IS_LOWER
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­  ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­
         45000        60000  The 
Husband has the lower salary
 Using DECODE for < or >
Table Example, withComparisons
<, >, and = values:
SQL> SELECT * FROM SALARIES;
HUSBAND_SALARY WIFE_SALARY
45000       60000
90000       39700
55000   55000
SQL Using DECODE and LEAST:

SQL> SELECT husband_salary, wife_salary,
decode(husband_salary ­ wife_salary, 0, 'The 
salaries are the same', 
decode(least(husband_salary,wife_salary),
husband_salary,'The Husband has the lower 
salary',
‘The Wife has the lower salary')) 
"WHO_IS_LOWER”
FROM SALARIES;
HUSBAND_SALARY WIFE_SALARY WHO_IS_LOWER
 Identify and Delete Duplicate Records
Table Example, with duplicate values:
SQL> SELECT * FROM EMP;
EMP_ID OFFICE_ID EMPNAME
305 12 ELLISON, GEORGE
305 12 MERCURIO, JASON
128 17 SIMPSON, LINDA
305 22 JACKSON, DREW
To see duplicates, use the following SQL:
SQL> SELECT COUNT(*), EMP_ID, OFFICE_ID
FROM EMP
GROUP BY EMP_ID, OFFICE_ID
HAVING COUNT(*) > 1;
The result will be:
COUNT(*) EMP_ID OFFICE_ID
2 305 12
 Identify and Delete Duplicate Records
Table Example, with duplicate values:
SQL> SELECT * FROM EMP;
EMP_ID OFFICE_ID EMPNAME
305 12 ELLISON, GEORGE
305 12 MERCURIO, JASON
128 17 SIMPSON, LINDA
305 22 JACKSON, DREW
To delete ALL duplicates (not leaving any of the set):
SQL> DELETE FROM EMP A WHERE
(EMP_ID, OFFICE_ID, 2) IN
(SELECT EMP_ID, OFFICE_ID, 
decode(count(*),1,1,2)
FROM EMP B
WHERE A.EMP_ID=B.EMP_ID AND
A.OFFICE_ID = B.OFFICE_ID
 Identify and Delete Duplicate Records
Table Example, with duplicate values:
SQL> SELECT * FROM EMP;
EMP_ID OFFICE_ID EMPNAME
305 12 ELLISON, GEORGE
305 12 MERCURIO, JASON
128 17 SIMPSON, LINDA
305 22 JACKSON, DREW
To delete all of the duplicates (leaving just one of the set):

SQL> DELETE FROM EMP A
WHERE ROWID > (
SELECT min(rowid) FROM EMP B
WHERE A.EMP_ID = B.EMP_ID AND
A.OFFICE_ID = B.OFFICE_ID);
 OS Commands and Utilities
✷ oerr
> oerr ora 3200
03200, 00000, "the segment type specification is invalid"
// *Cause: segment type is not TABLE, INDEX, or CLUSTER
// *Action: use a correct segment type

✷ dbv (db verify)

> dbv file=system_01.dbf feedback=100 
DBVERIFY: Release 8.1.6.0.0 ­ Wed Jul  4 09:15:04 1999 
Copyright (c) Oracle Corporation 1979, 1994.  All rights reserved. 
DBVERIFY ­ Verification starting : FILE = system_01.dbf 
.........................................................................
.......
DBVERIFY ­ Verification complete 
Total Pages Examined         : 9216 
Total Pages Processed (Data) : 2044 
Total Pages Failing   (Data) : 0 
Total Pages Processed (Index): 733 
Total Pages Failing   (Index): 0 
Total Pages Empty            : 5686 
Total Pages Marked Corrupt   : 0 
Total Pages Influx           : 0
 OS Commands and Utilities
✷ unixenv
✷ oraenv
> oraenv
ORACLE_SID = [QHIS] ? THIS
ORACLE_HOME = [/home/oracle] ?
✷ ipcs -a
T      ID     KEY        MODE        OWNER     GROUP   CREATOR    CGROUP CBYTES  
QNUM QBYTES LSPID LRPID   STIME    RTIME    CTIME
Message Queues:
q       0 0x3c180330 ­Rrw­­w­­w­      root      root      root      root   
   0     0  32768     0     0 no­entry no­entry 13:48:08
PID  LPID   ATIME    DTIME    CTIME
Shared Memory:
m       0 0x2f140002 ­­rw­­­­­­­      root       sys      root       sys   
   2 1286144 894  2:16:36 no­entry  2:16:36
m      10 0x83e2a3c0 ­­rw­r­­­­­    oracle       dba    oracle       dba   
  19 82288640 22369 24272 16:45:30 16:56:48  9:00:59
T      ID     KEY        MODE        OWNER     GROUP   CREATOR    CGROUP 
NSEMS OTIME CTIME
Semaphores:
s       0 0x2f140002 ­­ra­ra­ra­      root       sys      root       sys   
 Files that Grow by Default
✷ the listener.log file
☛ $ORACLE_HOME/network/log

✷ the alert_{SID}.log file

☛ $ORACLE_BASE/admin/{ORACLE_SID}/bdump

✷ default audit files

☛ $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/audit

✷ background dump files

☛ $ORACLE_BASE/admin/{SID}/bdump
☛ $ORACLE_BASE/admin/{SID}/cdump
☛ $ORACLE_BASE/admin/{SID}/udump
 Where to Now?
✸ There are many discussion Newsgroups on the internet for you to give

questions and get answers:

comp.databases.oracle.server

comp.databases.oracle.tools

comp.databases.oracle.misc

✸ These can be accessed through a newsgroup program or “www.deja.com”

✸ Ari’s free Oracle Tips web page at:

There are over 370 tips and answers to questions that have been posed to
me over the years. This paper will be downloadable from the web page as
well.

✸ Other good sites with links: www.orafaq.org, www.orafans.com,

www.ioug.org, www.orasearch.com, www.revealnet.com,
www.lazydba.com, www.dbdomain.com