A Support for DBMS_JOB

This appendix contains the following topics:

Oracle Scheduler Replaces DBMS_JOB

In Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2), Oracle Scheduler replaces DBMS_JOB. Oracle Scheduler is more powerful and flexible than DBMS_JOB, which is a package used to schedule jobs. Although Oracle recommends that you switch from DBMS_JOB to Oracle Scheduler, DBMS_JOB is still supported for backward compatibility.

Configuring DBMS_JOB

The JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES initialization parameter specifies the maximum number of processes that can be created for the execution of jobs. Beginning with Oracle Database 11g, JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES defaults to 1000. The job coordinator process starts only as many job queue processes as are required, based on the number of jobs to run and available resources. You can set JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES to a lower number to limit the number of job queue processes.

Setting JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES to 0 disables DBMS_JOB jobs and DBMS_SCHEDULER jobs.

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference for more information about the JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES initialization parameter

Using Both DBMS_JOB and Oracle Scheduler

DBMS_JOB and Oracle Scheduler (the Scheduler) use the same job coordinator to start job slaves. You can use the JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES initialization parameter to limit the number job slaves for both DBMS_JOB and the Scheduler.

If JOB_QUEUE_PROCESSES is 0, both DBMS_JOB and Oracle Scheduler jobs are disabled.

See Also:

Moving from DBMS_JOB to Oracle Scheduler

This section illustrates some examples of how you can take jobs created with the DBMS_JOB package and rewrite them using Oracle Scheduler, which you configure and control with the DBMS_SCHEDULER package.

Creating a Job

The following example creates a job using DBMS_JOB:

VARIABLE jobno NUMBER;
BEGIN
 DBMS_JOB.SUBMIT(:jobno, 'INSERT INTO employees VALUES (7935, ''SALLY'',
   ''DOGAN'', ''sally.dogan@examplecorp.com'', NULL, SYSDATE, ''AD_PRES'', NULL, 
    NULL, NULL, NULL);', SYSDATE, 'SYSDATE+1');
 COMMIT;
END;
/

The following is an equivalent statement using DBMS_SCHEDULER:

BEGIN
 DBMS_SCHEDULER.CREATE_JOB(
   job_name          =>  'job1',
   job_type          =>  'PLSQL_BLOCK',
   job_action        =>  'INSERT INTO employees VALUES (7935, ''SALLY'',
     ''DOGAN'', ''sally.dogan@examplecorp.com'', NULL, SYSDATE,''AD_PRES'', NULL,
      NULL, NULL, NULL);',
   start_date        =>  SYSDATE,
   repeat_interval   =>  'FREQ = DAILY; INTERVAL = 1');
END;
/

Altering a Job

The following example alters a job using DBMS_JOB:

BEGIN
 DBMS_JOB.WHAT(31, 'INSERT INTO employees VALUES (7935, ''TOM'', ''DOGAN'', 
   ''tom.dogan@examplecorp.com'', NULL, SYSDATE,''AD_PRES'', NULL,
   NULL, NULL, NULL);',
 COMMIT;
END;
/

This changes the action for JOB1 to insert a different value.

The following is an equivalent statement using DBMS_SCHEDULER:

BEGIN
 DBMS_SCHEDULER.SET_ATTRIBUTE(
   name          => 'JOB1',
   attribute     => 'job_action',
   value         => 'INSERT INTO employees VALUES (7935, ''TOM'', ''DOGAN'', 
      ''tom.dogan@examplecorp.com'', NULL, SYSDATE, ''AD_PRES'', NULL,
      NULL, NULL, NULL);',
END;
/

Removing a Job from the Job Queue

The following example removes a job using DBMS_JOB, where 14144 is the number of the job being run:

BEGIN
   DBMS_JOB.REMOVE(14144);
COMMIT;
END;
/

Using DBMS_SCHEDULER, you would issue the following statement instead:

BEGIN
   DBMS_SCHEDULER.DROP_JOB('myjob1');
END;
/