This chapter contains the following topics:
The types of users and their roles and responsibilities depend on the database site. A small site can have one database administrator who administers the database for application developers and users. A very large site can find it necessary to divide the duties of a database administrator among several people and among several areas of specialization.
Each database requires at least one database administrator (DBA). An Oracle Database system can be large and can have many users. Therefore, database administration is sometimes not a one-person job, but a job for a group of DBAs who share responsibility.
A database administrator's responsibilities can include the following tasks:
Installing and upgrading the Oracle Database server and application tools
Allocating system storage and planning future storage requirements for the database system
Creating primary database storage structures (tablespaces) after application developers have designed an application
Creating primary objects (tables, views, indexes) once application developers have designed an application
Modifying the database structure, as necessary, from information given by application developers
Enrolling users and maintaining system security
Ensuring compliance with Oracle license agreements
Controlling and monitoring user access to the database
Monitoring and optimizing the performance of the database
Planning for backup and recovery of database information
Maintaining archived data on tape
Backing up and restoring the database
Contacting Oracle for technical support
In some cases, a site assigns one or more security officers to a database. A security officer enrolls users, controls and monitors user access to the database, and maintains system security. As a DBA, you might not be responsible for these duties if your site has a separate security officer. See Oracle Database Security Guide for information about the duties of security officers.
Some sites have one or more network administrators. A network administrator, for example, administers Oracle networking products, such as Oracle Net Services. See Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide for information about the duties of network administrators.
See Also:
Part V, "Distributed Database Management", for information on network administration in a distributed environmentApplication developers design and implement database applications. Their responsibilities include the following tasks:
Designing and developing the database application
Designing the database structure for an application
Estimating storage requirements for an application
Specifying modifications of the database structure for an application
Relaying this information to a database administrator
Tuning the application during development
Establishing security measures for an application during development
Application developers can perform some of these tasks in collaboration with DBAs. See Oracle Database Development Guide for information about application development tasks.
An Oracle Database site can assign one or more application administrators to administer a particular application. Each application can have its own administrator.
Database users interact with the database through applications or utilities. A typical user's responsibilities include the following tasks:
Entering, modifying, and deleting data, where permitted
Generating reports from the data
The following tasks present a prioritized approach for designing, implementing, and maintaining an Oracle Database:
Task 1: Evaluate the Database Server Hardware
Task 2: Install the Oracle Database Software
Task 4: Create and Open the Database
Task 7: Implement the Database Design
Task 8: Back Up the Fully Functional Database
Task 9: Tune Database Performance
Task 10: Download and Install Patches
Task 11: Roll Out to Additional Hosts
These tasks are discussed in the sections that follow.
Note:
When upgrading to a new release, back up your existing production environment, both software and database, before installation. For information on preserving your existing production database, see Oracle Database Upgrade Guide.Evaluate how Oracle Database and its applications can best use the available computer resources. This evaluation should reveal the following information:
How many disk drives are available to the Oracle products
How many, if any, dedicated tape drives are available to Oracle products
How much memory is available to the instances of Oracle Database you will run (see your system configuration documentation)
As the database administrator, you install the Oracle Database server software and any front-end tools and database applications that access the database. In some distributed processing installations, the database is controlled by a central computer (database server) and the database tools and applications are executed on remote computers (clients). In this case, you must also install the Oracle Net components necessary to connect the remote systems to the computer that executes Oracle Database.
For more information on what software to install, see "Identifying Your Oracle Database Software Release".
See Also:
For specific requirements and instructions for installation, see the following documentation:The Oracle documentation specific to your operating system
The installation guides for your front-end tools and Oracle Net drivers
As the database administrator, you must plan:
The logical storage structure of the database
The overall database design
A backup strategy for the database
It is important to plan how the logical storage structure of the database will affect system performance and various database management operations. For example, before creating any tablespaces for your database, you should know how many data files will comprise the tablespace, what type of information will be stored in each tablespace, and on which disk drives the data files will be physically stored. When planning the overall logical storage of the database structure, take into account the effects that this structure will have when the database is actually created and running. Consider how the logical storage structure of the database will affect:
The performance of the computer running Oracle Database
The performance of the database during data access operations
The efficiency of backup and recovery procedures for the database
Plan the relational design of the database objects and the storage characteristics for each of these objects. By planning the relationship between each object and its physical storage before creating it, you can directly affect the performance of the database as a unit. Be sure to plan for the growth of the database.
In distributed database environments, this planning stage is extremely important. The physical location of frequently accessed data dramatically affects application performance.
During the planning stage, develop a backup strategy for the database. You can alter the logical storage structure or design of the database to improve backup efficiency.
It is beyond the scope of this book to discuss relational and distributed database design. If you are not familiar with such design issues, see accepted industry-standard documentation.
Part II, "Oracle Database Structure and Storage", and Part III, "Schema Objects", provide specific information on creating logical storage structures, objects, and integrity constraints for your database.
After you complete the database design, you can create the database and open it for normal use. You can create a database at installation time, using the Database Configuration Assistant, or you can supply your own scripts for creating a database.
See Chapter 2, "Creating and Configuring an Oracle Database", for information on creating a database and Chapter 3, "Starting Up and Shutting Down" for guidance in starting up the database.
After you create the database structure, perform the backup strategy you planned for the database. Create any additional redo log files, take the first full database backup (online or offline), and schedule future database backups at regular intervals.
After you back up the database structure, you can enroll the users of the database in accordance with your Oracle license agreement, and grant appropriate privileges and roles to these users. See Chapter 7, "Managing Users and Securing the Database" for guidance in this task.
After you create and start the database, and enroll the system users, you can implement the planned logical structure database by creating all necessary tablespaces. When you have finished creating tablespaces, you can create the database objects.
Part II, "Oracle Database Structure and Storage" and Part III, "Schema Objects" provide information on creating logical storage structures and objects for your database.
When the database is fully implemented, again back up the database. In addition to regularly scheduled backups, you should always back up your database immediately after implementing changes to the database structure.
Optimizing the performance of the database is one of your ongoing responsibilities as a DBA. Oracle Database provides a database resource management feature that helps you to control the allocation of resources among various user groups. The database resource manager is described in Chapter 27, "Managing Resources with Oracle Database Resource Manager".
See Also:
Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide for information about tuning your database and applicationsAfter installation and on a regular basis, download and install patches. Patches are available as single interim patches and as patchsets (or patch releases). Interim patches address individual software bugs and may or may not be needed at your installation. Patch releases are collections of bug fixes that are applicable for all customers. Patch releases have release numbers. For example, if you installed Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1.0.1), then the first patch release will have a release number of 12.1.0.2.
See Also:
Oracle Database Installation Guide for your platform for instructions on downloading and installing patches.After you have an Oracle Database installation properly configured, tuned, patched, and tested, you may want to roll that exact installation out to other hosts. Reasons to do this include the following:
You have multiple production database systems.
You want to create development and test systems that are identical to your production system.
Instead of installing, tuning, and patching on each additional host, you can clone your tested Oracle Database installation to other hosts, saving time and avoiding inconsistencies. There are two types of cloning available to you:
Cloning an Oracle home—Just the configured and patched binaries from the Oracle home directory and subdirectories are copied to the destination host and "fixed" to match the new environment. You can then start an instance with this cloned home and create a database.
You can use Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control to clone an Oracle home to one or more destination hosts. You can manually clone an Oracle home using a set of provided scripts and Oracle Universal Installer.
Cloning a database—The tuned database, including database files, initialization parameters, and so on, are cloned to an existing Oracle home (possibly a cloned home).
You can use Cloud Control to clone an Oracle database instance to an existing Oracle home.
See Also:
Oracle Universal Installer and OPatch User's Guide for Windows and UNIX for information about cloning Oracle software
The Cloud Control online help for instructions for cloning a database
The primary means of communicating with Oracle Database is by submitting SQL statements. Oracle Database also supports a superset of SQL, which includes commands for starting up and shutting down the database, modifying database configuration, and so on. There are three ways to submit these SQL statements and commands to Oracle Database:
Directly, using the command-line interface of SQL*Plus
Indirectly, using a graphical user interface, such as Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Express (EM Express) or Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control (Cloud Control)
With these tools, you use an intuitive graphical interface to administer the database, and the tool submits SQL statements and commands behind the scenes.
See Oracle Database 2 Day DBA and the online help for the tool for more information.
Directly, using SQL Developer
Developers use SQL Developer to create and test database schemas and applications, although you can also use it for database administration tasks.
See Oracle Database 2 Day Developer's Guide for more information.
This section focuses on using SQL*Plus to submit SQL statements and commands to the database. It includes the following topics:
SQL*Plus is the primary command-line interface to your Oracle database. You use SQL*Plus to start up and shut down the database, set database initialization parameters, create and manage users, create and alter database objects (such as tables and indexes), insert and update data, run SQL queries, and more.
Before you can submit SQL statements and commands, you must connect to the database. With SQL*Plus, you can connect locally or remotely. Connecting locally means connecting to an Oracle database running on the same computer on which you are running SQL*Plus. Connecting remotely means connecting over a network to an Oracle database that is running on a remote computer. Such a database is referred to as a remote database. The SQL*Plus executable on the local computer is provided by a full Oracle Database installation, an Oracle Client installation, or an Instant Client installation.
See Also:
SQL*Plus User's Guide and ReferenceOracle Database includes the following components:
The Oracle Database instance, which is a collection of processes and memory
A set of disk files that contain user data and system data
When you connect with SQL*Plus, you are connecting to the Oracle instance. Each instance has an instance ID, also known as a system ID (SID). Because there can be multiple Oracle instances on a host computer, each with its own set of data files, you must identify the instance to which you want to connect. For a local connection, you identify the instance by setting operating system environment variables. For a remote connection, you identify the instance by specifying a network address and a database service name. For both local and remote connections, you must set environment variables to help the operating system find the SQL*Plus executable and to provide the executable with a path to its support files and scripts. To connect to an Oracle instance with SQL*Plus, therefore, you must complete the following steps:
See Also:
Oracle Database Concepts for background information about the Oracle instanceTake the necessary action on your platform to open a window into which you can enter operating system commands.
Depending on your platform, you may have to set environment variables before starting SQL*Plus, or at least verify that they are set properly.
For example, on most platforms, ORACLE_SID
and ORACLE_HOME
must be set. In addition, it is advisable to set the PATH
environment variable to include the ORACLE_HOME/bin directory. Some platforms may require additional environment variables:
On the UNIX and Linux platforms, you must set environment variables by entering operating system commands.
On the Windows platform, Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) automatically assigns values to ORACLE_HOME
and ORACLE_SID
in the Windows registry.
If you did not create a database upon installation, OUI does not set ORACLE_SID
in the registry; after you create your database at a later time, you must set the ORACLE_SID
environment variable from a command window.
UNIX and Linux installations come with two scripts, oraenv
and coraenv
, that you can use to easily set environment variables. For more information, see Administrator's Reference for UNIX Systems.
For all platforms, when switching between instances with different Oracle homes, you must change the ORACLE_HOME
environment variable. If multiple instances share the same Oracle home, you must change only ORACLE_SID
when switching instances.
See the Oracle Database Installation Guide or administration guide for your operating system for details on environment variables and for information on switching instances.
Example 1-1 Setting Environment Variables in UNIX (C Shell)
setenv ORACLE_SID orcl setenv ORACLE_HOME /u01/app/oracle/product/12.1.0/db_1 setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH $ORACLE_HOME/lib:/usr/lib:/usr/dt/lib:/usr/openwin/lib:/usr/ccs/lib
Example 1-2 assumes that ORACLE_HOME
and ORACLE_SID
are set in the registry but that you want to override the registry value of ORACLE_SID
to connect to a different instance.
On Windows, environment variable values that you set in a command prompt window override the values in the registry.
To start SQL*Plus:
Do one of the following:
Ensure that the PATH
environment variable contains ORACLE_HOME/bin.
Change directory to ORACLE_HOME/bin.
Enter the following command (case-sensitive on UNIX and Linux):
sqlplus /nolog
You submit the SQL*Plus CONNECT
command to initially connect to the Oracle instance or at any time to reconnect as a different user. The syntax of the CONNECT
command is as follows:
CONN[ECT] [logon] [AS {SYSOPER | SYSDBA | SYSBACKUP | SYSDG | SYSKM}]
The syntax of logon
is as follows:
{username | /}[@connect_identifier] [edition={edition_name | DATABASE_DEFAULT}]
When you provide username
, SQL*Plus prompts for a password. The password is not echoed as you type it.
The following table describes the syntax components of the CONNECT
command.
Syntax Component | Description |
---|---|
/ |
Calls for external authentication of the connection request. A database password is not used in this type of authentication. The most common form of external authentication is operating system authentication, where the database user is authenticated by having logged in to the host operating system with a certain host user account. External authentication can also be performed with an Oracle wallet or by a network service. See Oracle Database Security Guide for more information. See also "Using Operating System Authentication". |
AS {SYSOPER | SYSDBA | SYSBACKUP | SYSDG | SYSKM} |
Indicates that the database user is connecting with an administrative privilege. Only certain predefined administrative users or users who have been added to the password file may connect with these privileges. See "Administrative Privileges" for more information. |
username |
A valid database user name. The database authenticates the connection request by matching username against the data dictionary and prompting for a user password. |
connect_identifier (1) |
An Oracle Net connect identifier, for a remote connection. The exact syntax depends on the Oracle Net configuration. If omitted, SQL*Plus attempts connection to a local instance.
A common connect identifier is a net service name. This is an alias for an Oracle Net connect descriptor (network address and database service name). The alias is typically resolved in the See Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide for more information on connect identifiers. |
connect_identifier (2) |
As an alternative, a connect identifier can use easy connect syntax. Easy connect provides out-of-the-box TCP/IP connectivity for remote databases without having to configure Oracle Net Services on the client (local) computer.
Easy connect syntax for the connect identifier is as follows (the enclosing double-quotes must be included): "host[:port][/service_name][:server][/instance_name]" where:
See Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide for more information on easy connect. |
edition ={edition_name | DATABASE_DEFAULT } |
Specifies the edition in which the new database session starts. If you specify an edition, it must exist and you must have the USE privilege on it. If this clause is not specified, the database default edition is used for the session.
See Oracle Database Development Guide for information on editions and edition-based redefinition. |
This simple example connects to a local database as user SYSTEM
. SQL*Plus prompts for the SYSTEM
user password.
connect system
This example connects to a local database as user SYS
with the SYSDBA
privilege. SQL*Plus prompts for the SYS
user password.
connect sys as sysdba
When connecting as user SYS
, you must connect AS SYSDBA
.
This example connects to a local database as user SYSBACKUP
with the SYSBACKUP
privilege. SQL*Plus prompts for the SYSBACKUP
user password.
connect sysbackup as sysbackup
When connecting as user SYSBACKUP
, you must connect AS SYSBACKUP
.
This example connects locally with the SYSDBA
privilege with operating system authentication.
connect / as sysdba
This example uses easy connect syntax to connect as user salesadmin
to a remote database running on the host dbhost.example.com
. The Oracle Net listener (the listener) is listening on the default port (1521). The database service is sales.example.com
. SQL*Plus prompts for the salesadmin
user password.
connect salesadmin@"dbhost.example.com/sales.example.com"
This example is identical to Example 1-7, except that the service handler type is indicated.
connect salesadmin@"dbhost.example.com/sales.example.com:dedicated"
This example is identical to Example 1-7, except that the listener is listening on the nondefault port number 1522.
connect salesadmin@"dbhost.example.com:1522/sales.example.com"
This example is identical to Example 1-7, except that the host IP address is substituted for the host name.
connect salesadmin@"192.0.2.5/sales.example.com"
This example connects using an IPv6 address. Note the enclosing square brackets.
connect salesadmin@"[2001:0DB8:0:0::200C:417A]/sales.example.com"
This example specifies the instance to which to connect and omits the database service name. A default database service must have been specified, otherwise an error is generated. Note that when you specify the instance only, you cannot specify the service handler type.
connect salesadmin@"dbhost.example.com//orcl"
This example connects remotely as user salesadmin
to the database service designated by the net service name sales1
. SQL*Plus prompts for the salesadmin
user password.
connect salesadmin@sales1
This example connects remotely with external authentication to the database service designated by the net service name sales1
.
connect /@sales1
This example connects remotely with the SYSDBA
privilege and with external authentication to the database service designated by the net service name sales1
.
connect /@sales1 as sysdba
This example connects remotely as user salesadmin
to the database service designated by the net service name sales1
. The database session starts in the rev21
edition. SQL*Plus prompts for the salesadmin
user password.
connect salesadmin@sales1 edition=rev21
See Also:
"Managing Application Workloads with Database Services" for information about database services
SQL*Plus User's Guide and Reference for more information on the CONNECT
command
Oracle Database Net Services Administrator's Guide for more information on net service names
Oracle Database Net Services Reference for information on how to define the default service in listener.ora
Because Oracle Database continues to evolve and can require maintenance, Oracle periodically produces new releases. Not all customers initially subscribe to a new release or require specific maintenance for their existing release. As a result, multiple releases of the product exist simultaneously.
As many as five numbers may be required to fully identify a release. The significance of these numbers is discussed in the sections that follow.
To understand the release nomenclature used by Oracle, examine the following example of an Oracle Database release labeled "12.1.0.1.0".
Figure 1-1 Example of an Oracle Database Release Number
The first numeral is the most general identifier. It represents a major new version of the software that contains significant new functionality.
The second numeral represents a maintenance release level. Some new features may also be included.
The third numeral reflects the release level of Oracle Fusion Middleware.
To identify the release of Oracle Database that is currently installed and to see the release levels of other database components you are using, query the data dictionary view PRODUCT_COMPONENT_VERSION
. A sample query follows. (You can also query the V$VERSION
view to see component-level information.) Other product release levels may increment independent of the database server.
COL PRODUCT FORMAT A40 COL VERSION FORMAT A15 COL STATUS FORMAT A15 SELECT * FROM PRODUCT_COMPONENT_VERSION; PRODUCT VERSION STATUS ---------------------------------------- ----------- ----------- NLSRTL 12.1.0.0.1 Production Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition 12.1.0.0.1 Production PL/SQL 12.1.0.0.1 Production ...
It is important to convey to Oracle the results of this query when you report problems with the software.
To perform the administrative tasks of an Oracle Database DBA, you need specific privileges within the database and possibly in the operating system of the server on which the database runs. Ensure that access to a database administrator's account is tightly controlled.
This section contains the following topics:
To perform many of the administrative duties for a database, you must be able to execute operating system commands. Depending on the operating system on which Oracle Database is running, you might need an operating system account or ID to gain access to the operating system. If so, your operating system account might require operating system privileges or access rights that other database users do not require (for example, to perform Oracle Database software installation). Although you do not need the Oracle Database files to be stored in your account, you should have access to them.
See Also:
Your operating system-specific Oracle documentation. The method of creating the account of the database administrator is specific to the operating system.The following administrative user accounts are automatically created when Oracle Database is installed:
SYS
SYSTEM
SYSBACKUP
SYSDG
SYSKM
Note:
Both Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) and Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) now prompt forSYS
and SYSTEM
passwords and do not accept the default passwords "change_on_install" or "manager", respectively.
If you create the database manually, Oracle strongly recommends that you specify passwords for SYS
and SYSTEM
at database creation time, rather than using these default passwords. See "Protecting Your Database: Specifying Passwords for Users SYS and SYSTEM" for more information.
Create at least one additional administrative user and grant to that user an appropriate administrative role to use when performing daily administrative tasks. Do not use SYS
and SYSTEM
for these purposes.
Note Regarding Security Enhancements:
In this release of Oracle Database and in subsequent releases, several enhancements are being made to ensure the security of default database user accounts. You can find a security checklist for this release in Oracle Database Security Guide. Oracle recommends that you read this checklist and configure your database accordingly.When you create an Oracle database, the user SYS
is automatically created and granted the DBA
role.
All of the base tables and views for the database data dictionary are stored in the schema SYS
. These base tables and views are critical for the operation of Oracle Database. To maintain the integrity of the data dictionary, tables in the SYS
schema are manipulated only by the database. They should never be modified by any user or database administrator, and no one should create any tables in the schema of user SYS
. (However, you can change the storage parameters of the data dictionary settings if necessary.)
Ensure that most database users are never able to connect to Oracle Database using the SYS
account.
When you create an Oracle database, the user SYSTEM
is also automatically created and granted the DBA
role.
The SYSTEM
user name is used to create additional tables and views that display administrative information, and internal tables and views used by various Oracle Database options and tools. Never use the SYSTEM
schema to store tables of interest to non-administrative users.
When you create an Oracle database, the following users are automatically created to facilitate separation of duties for database administrators:
SYSBACKUP
facilitates Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) backup and recovery operations either from RMAN or SQL*Plus.
SYSDG
facilitates Data Guard operations. The user can perform operations either with Data Guard Broker or with the DGMGRL
command-line interface.
SYSKM
facilitates Transparent Data Encryption keystore operations.
Each of these accounts provides a designated user for the new administrative privilege with the same name. Specifically, the SYSBACKUP
account provides a designated user for the SYSBACKUP
administrative privilege. The SYSDG
account provides a designated user for the SYSDG
administrative privilege. The SYSKM
account provides a designated user for the SYSKM
administrative privilege.
Create a user and grant to that user an appropriate administrative privilege to use when performing daily administrative tasks. Doing so enables you to manage each user account separately, and each user account can have a distinct password. Do not use the SYSBACKUP
, SYSDG
, or SYSKM
user account for these purposes. These accounts are locked by default and should remain locked.
To use one of these administrative privileges, a user must exercise the privilege when connecting by specifying AS
SYSBACKUP
, AS
SYSDG
, or AS
SYSKM
. If the authentication succeeds, the user is connected with a session in which the administrative privilege is enabled. In this case, the session user is the corresponding administrative user account. For example, if user bradmin
connects with the AS
SYSBACKUP
administrative privilege, then the session user is SYSBACKUP
.
Note:
TheSYSBACKUP
, SYSDG
, or SYSKM
user accounts cannot be dropped.A predefined DBA
role is automatically created with every Oracle Database installation. This role contains most database system privileges. Therefore, the DBA role should be granted only to actual database administrators.
Note:
The DBA role does not include theSYSDBA
, SYSOPER
, SYSBACKUP
, SYSDG
, or SYSKM
system privileges. These are special administrative privileges that allow an administrator to perform basic database administration tasks, such as creating the database and instance startup and shutdown. These administrative privileges are discussed in "Administrative Privileges".See Also:
Oracle Database Security Guide for more information about administrative user accounts
As a DBA, you often perform special operations such as shutting down or starting up a database. Because only a DBA should perform these operations, the database administrator user names require a secure authentication scheme.
This section contains the following topics:
Administrative privileges that are required for an administrator to perform basic database operations are granted through the following special system privileges:
SYSDBA
SYSOPER
SYSBACKUP
SYSDG
SYSKM
You must have one of these privileges granted to you, depending upon the level of authorization you require.
Starting with Oracle Database 12c, the SYSBACKUP
, SYSDG
, and SYSKM
administrative privileges are available. Each new administrative privilege grants the minimum required privileges to complete tasks in each area of administration. The new administrative privileges enable you to avoid granting SYSDBA
administrative privilege for many common tasks.
Note:
These administrative privileges allow access to a database instance even when the database is not open. Control of these privileges is totally outside of the database itself. Methods for authenticating database administrators with these privileges include operating system (OS) authentication, password files, and strong authentication with a directory-based authentication service.These privileges can also be thought of as types of connections that enable you to perform certain database operations for which privileges cannot be granted in any other fashion. For example, if you have the SYSDBA
privilege, then you can connect to the database by specifying CONNECT AS SYSDBA
and perform STARTUP
and SHUTDOWN
operations. See "Selecting an Authentication Method for Database Administrators".
The following table lists the operations that are authorized by each administrative privilege:
Administrative Privilege | Operations Authorized |
---|---|
SYSDBA |
This administrative privilege allows most operations, including the ability to view user data. It is the most powerful administrative privilege. |
SYSOPER |
This privilege allows a user to perform basic operational tasks, but without the ability to view user data. |
SYSBACKUP |
This privilege allows a user to perform backup and recovery operations either from Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) or SQL*Plus.
See Oracle Database Security Guide for the full list of operations allowed by this administrative privilege. |
SYSDG |
This privilege allows a user to perform Data Guard operations. You can use this privilege with either Data Guard Broker or the DGMGRL command-line interface.
See Oracle Database Security Guide for the full list of operations allowed by this administrative privilege. |
SYSKM |
This privilege allows a user to perform Transparent Data Encryption keystore operations.
See Oracle Database Security Guide for the full list of operations allowed by this administrative privilege. |
The manner in which you are authorized to use these privileges depends upon the method of authentication that you use.
When you connect with an administrative privilege, you connect with a current schema that is not generally associated with your username. For SYSDBA
, the current schema is SYS
. For SYSOPER
, the current schema is PUBLIC
. For SYSBACKUP
, SYSDG
, and SYSKM
, the current schema is SYS
for name resolution purposes.
Also, when you connect with an administrative privilege, you connect with a specific session user. When you connect as SYSDBA
, the session user is SYS
. For SYSOPER
, the session user is PUBLIC
. For SYSBACKUP
, SYSDG
, and SYSKM
, the session user is SYSBACKUP
, SYSDG
, and SYSKM
, respectively.
Example 1-17 Current Schema When Connecting AS SYSDBA
This example illustrates that a user is assigned another schema (SYS
) when connecting with the SYSDBA
administrative privilege. Assume that the sample user mydba
has been granted the SYSDBA
administrative privilege and has issued the following command and statement:
CONNECT mydba CREATE TABLE admin_test(name VARCHAR2(20));
Later, user mydba
issues this command and statement:
CONNECT mydba AS SYSDBA SELECT * FROM admin_test;
User mydba
now receives the following error:
ORA-00942: table or view does not exist
Having connected as SYSDBA
, user mydba
now references the SYS
schema, but the table was created in the mydba
schema.
Example 1-18 Current Schema and Session User When Connecting AS SYSBACKUP
This example illustrates that a user is assigned another schema (SYS
) and another session user (SYSBACKUP
) when connecting with the SYSBACKUP
administrative privilege. Assume that the sample user mydba
has been granted the SYSBACKUP
administrative privilege and has issued the following command and statements:
CONNECT mydba AS SYSBACKUP SELECT SYS_CONTEXT('USERENV', 'CURRENT_SCHEMA') FROM DUAL; SYS_CONTEXT('USERENV','CURRENT_SCHEMA') -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SYS SELECT SYS_CONTEXT('USERENV', 'SESSION_USER') FROM DUAL; SYS_CONTEXT('USERENV','SESSION_USER') -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SYSBACKUP
See Also:
Oracle Database SQL Language Reference for more information about the current schema and the session user
Database Administrators can authenticate database administrators through the data dictionary, (using an account password) like other users. Keep in mind that database passwords are case-sensitive. See Oracle Database Security Guide for more information about case-sensitive database passwords.
In addition to normal data dictionary authentication, the following methods are available for authenticating database administrators with the SYSDBA
, SYSOPER
, SYSBACKUP
, SYSDG
, or SYSKM
privilege:
Operating system (OS) authentication
Password files
Strong authentication with a directory-based authentication service, such as Oracle Internet Directory
These methods are required to authenticate a database administrator when the database is not started or otherwise unavailable. (They can also be used when the database is available.)
The remainder of this section focuses on operating system authentication and password file authentication. See Oracle Database Security Guide for information about authenticating database administrators with directory-based authentication services.
Notes:
Operating system authentication takes precedence over password file authentication. If you meet the requirements for operating system authentication, then even if you use a password file, you will be authenticated by operating system authentication.Your choice is influenced by whether you intend to administer your database locally on the same system where the database resides, or whether you intend to administer many different databases from a single remote client. Figure 1-2 illustrates the choices you have for database administrator authentication schemes.
Figure 1-2 Database Administrator Authentication Methods
If you are performing remote database administration, consult your Oracle Net documentation to determine whether you are using a secure connection. Most popular connection protocols, such as TCP/IP and DECnet, are not secure.
See Also:
Oracle Database Security Guide for information about authenticating database administrators with directory-based authentication services.
To connect to Oracle Database as a privileged user over a nonsecure connection, you must be authenticated by a password file. When using password file authentication, the database uses a password file to keep track of database user names that have been granted the SYSDBA
, SYSOPER
, SYSBACKUP
, SYSDG
, or SYSKM
administrative privilege. This form of authentication is discussed in "Using Password File Authentication".
You can connect to Oracle Database as a privileged user over a local connection or a secure remote connection in two ways:
If the database has a password file and you have been granted a system privilege, then you can connect and be authenticated by a password file.
If the server is not using a password file, or if you have not been granted a system privilege and are therefore not in the password file, then you can use operating system authentication. On most operating systems, authentication for database administrators involves placing the operating system username of the database administrator in a special group.
For example, users in the OSDBA group are granted the SYSDBA
administrative privilege. Similarly, the OSOPER group is used to grant SYSOPER
administrative privilege to users, the OSBACKUPDBA group is used to grant SYSBACKUP
administrative privilege to users, the OSDGDBA group is used to grant SYSDG
administrative privilege to users, and the OSKMDBA group is used to grant SYSKM
administrative privilege to users.
This section describes how to authenticate an administrator using the operating system.
Membership in special operating system groups enables a DBA to authenticate to the database through the operating system rather than with a database user name and password. This is known as operating system authentication. The groups are created and assigned specific names as part of the database installation process. The default names vary depending upon your operating system, and are listed in the following table:
Operating System Group | UNIX or Linux User Group | Windows User Group |
---|---|---|
OSDBA | dba |
ORA_DBA (for all Oracle homes)
|
OSOPER | oper |
ORA_OPER (for all Oracle homes)
|
OSBACKUPDBA | backupdba |
ORA_ HOMENAME _SYSBACKUP |
OSDGDBA | dgdba |
ORA_ HOMENAME _SYSDG |
OSKMDBA | kmdba |
ORA_ HOMENAME _SYSKM |
For the Windows user group names, replace HOMENAME with the Oracle home name.
Oracle Universal Installer uses these default names, but, on UNIX or Linux, you can override them. On UNIX or Linux, one reason to override them is if you have multiple instances running on the same host computer in different Oracle homes. If each instance has a different person as the principal DBA, then you can improve the security of each instance by creating different groups for each instance.
For example, for two instances on the same UNIX or Linux host in different Oracle homes, the OSDBA group for the first instance might be named dba1
, and OSDBA for the second instance might be named dba2
. The first DBA would be a member of dba1
only, and the second DBA would be a member of dba2
only. Thus, when using operating system authentication, each DBA would be able to connect only to his assigned instance.
On Windows, default user group names cannot be changed. The HOMENAME placeholder enables you to have different user group names when you have multiple instances running on the same host Windows computer.
Membership in a group affects your connection to the database in the following ways:
If you are a member of the OSDBA group, and you specify AS SYSDBA
when you connect to the database, then you connect to the database with the SYSDBA
administrative privilege.
If you are a member of the OSOPER group, and you specify AS SYSOPER
when you connect to the database, then you connect to the database with the SYSOPER
administrative privilege.
If you are a member of the OSBACKUPDBA group, and you specify AS SYSBACKUP
when you connect to the database, then you connect to the database with the SYSBACKUP
administrative privilege.
If you are a member of the OSDGDBA group, and you specify AS SYSDG
when you connect to the database, then you connect to the database with the SYSDG
administrative privilege.
If you are a member of the OSKMDBA group, and you specify AS SYSKM
when you connect to the database, then you connect to the database with the SYSKM
administrative privilege.
If you are not a member of one of these operating system groups, and you attempt to connect as SYSDBA
, SYSOPER
, SYSBACKUP
, SYSDG
, or SYSKM
, then the CONNECT
command fails.
See Also:
Your operating system specific Oracle documentation for information about creating the OSDBA and OSOPER groupsTo enable operating system authentication of an administrative user:
Create an operating system account for the user.
Add the account to the appropriate operating-system defined groups.
A user can be authenticated, enabled as an administrative user, and connected to a local database by typing one of the following SQL*Plus commands:
CONNECT / AS SYSDBA CONNECT / AS SYSOPER CONNECT / AS SYSBACKUP CONNECT / AS SYSDG CONNECT / AS SYSKM
For the Windows platform only, remote operating system authentication over a secure connection is supported. You must specify the net service name for the remote database:
CONNECT /@net_service_name AS SYSDBA CONNECT /@net_service_name AS SYSOPER CONNECT /@net_service_name AS SYSBACKUP CONNECT /@net_service_name AS SYSDG CONNECT /@net_service_name AS SYSKM
Both the client computer and database host computer must be on a Windows domain.
See Also:
SQL*Plus User's Guide and Reference for syntax of the CONNECT
command
This section describes how to authenticate an administrative user using password file authentication. You can use password file authentication for an Oracle database instance and for an Oracle Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) instance. The password file for an Oracle database is called a database password file, and the password file for Oracle ASM is called an Oracle ASM password file.
This section describes creating a database password file. For information about creating an Oracle ASM password file, see Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator's Guide.
To enable authentication of an administrative user using password file authentication you must do the following:
If it is not already created, then create the password file using the ORAPWD
utility:
orapwd FILE=filename ENTRIES=max_users FORMAT=12
See "Creating and Maintaining a Database Password File" for details.
Notes:
When you invoke Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) as part of the Oracle Database installation process, DBCA creates a password file.
The administrative privileges SYSBACKUP
, SYSDG
, and SYSKM
are supported in the password file only when the file is created created with the FORMAT=12
argument. 12
is the default for the FORMAT
command-line argument.
By default, passwords in the password file are case-sensitive.
When you create a database password file that is stored in an Oracle ASM disk group, it can be shared among the multiple Oracle RAC database instances. The password file is not duplicated on each Oracle RAC database instance.
Set the REMOTE_LOGIN_PASSWORDFILE
initialization parameter to exclusive
. (This is the default).
Note:
REMOTE_LOGIN_PASSWORDFILE
is a static initialization parameter and therefore cannot be changed without restarting the database.Connect to the database as user SYS
(or as another user with the administrative privileges).
If the user does not already exist in the database, then create the user and assign a password.
Keep in mind that database passwords are case-sensitive. See Oracle Database Security Guide for more information about case-sensitive database passwords.
Grant the SYSDBA
, SYSOPER
, SYSBACKUP
, SYSDG
, or SYSKM
administrative privilege to the user. For example:
GRANT SYSDBA to mydba;
This statement adds the user to the password file, thereby enabling connection AS
SYSDBA
, AS
SYSOPER
, AS
SYSBACKUP
, AS
SYSDG
, or AS
SYSKM
.
See Also:
"Creating and Maintaining a Database Password File" for instructions for creating and maintaining a password fileAdministrative users can be connected and authenticated to a local or remote database by using the SQL*Plus CONNECT
command. They must connect using their username and password and the AS
SYSDBA
, AS
SYSOPER
, AS
SYSBACKUP
, AS
SYSDG
, or AS
SYSKM
clause. By default, passwords are case-sensitive.
For example, if user mydba
has been granted the SYSDBA
privilege, then mydba
can connect as follows:
CONNECT mydba AS SYSDBA
However, if user mydba
has not been granted the SYSOPER
privilege, then the following command fails:
CONNECT mydba AS SYSOPER
Note:
Operating system authentication takes precedence over password file authentication. Specifically, if you are a member of the appropriate operating system group, such as OSDBA or OSOPER, and you connect with the appropriate clause (for example,AS
SYSDBA
), then you will be connected with associated administrative privileges regardless of the username/password that you specify.
If you are not in the one of the operating system groups, and you are not in the password file, then attempting to connect with the clause fails.
See Also:
SQL*Plus User's Guide and Reference for syntax of the CONNECT
command
You can create a database password file using the password file creation utility, ORAPWD
. For some operating systems, you can create this file as part of your standard installation.
This section contains the following topics:
See Also:
"Selecting an Authentication Method for Database Administrators"
Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator's Guide for information about creating and maintaining an Oracle ASM password file
The syntax of the ORAPWD
command is as follows:
orapwd FILE=filename [ENTRIES=numusers] [FORCE={y|n}] [ASM={y|n}] [DBUNIQUENAME=dbname] [FORMAT={12|legacy}] [SYSBACKUP={y|n}] [SYSDG={y|n}] [SYSKM={y|n}] [DELETE={y|n}] [INPUT_FILE=input-fname]
orapwd DESCRIBE FILE=filename
Command arguments are summarized in the following table.
Argument | Description |
---|---|
FILE |
If the DESCRIBE argument is not included, then specify the name to assign to the new password file. You must supply a complete path. If you supply only a file name, the file is written to the current directory.
If the |
PASSWORD |
Password for SYS . You are prompted for the password if it is not specified. The password is stored in the created password file. |
ENTRIES |
(Optional) Maximum number of entries (user accounts) to permit in the file. |
FORCE |
(Optional) If y , permits overwriting an existing password file. |
ASM |
(Optional) If y , create an Oracle ASM password file in an Oracle ASM disk group.
If |
DBUNIQUENAME |
Unique database name used to identify database password files residing in an ASM disk group only. This argument is required when the database password file is stored on an Oracle ASM disk group. This argument is ignored when an Oracle ASM password file is created by setting the ASM argument to y . |
FORMAT |
(Optional) If 12 , the default, the password file is created in Oracle Database 12c format. This format supports the SYSBACKUP , SYSDG , and SYSKM administrative privileges.
If |
SYSBACKUP |
(Optional) If y , creates a SYSBACKUP entry in the password file. You are prompted for the password. The password is stored in the created password file. |
SYSDG |
(Optional) If y , creates a SYSDG entry in the password file. You are prompted for the password. The password is stored in the created password file. |
SYSKM |
(Optional) If y , creates a SYSKM entry in the password file. You are prompted for the password. The password is stored in the created password file. |
DELETE |
(Optional) If y , delete the specified password file.
If |
INPUT_FILE |
(Optional) Name of the input password file. ORAPWD migrates the entries in the input file to a new password file. This argument can convert a password file from legacy format to Oracle Database 12c format. ORAPWD cannot migrate an input password that is stored in an Oracle ASM disk group. |
DESCRIBE |
Describes the properties of the specified password file, including the FORMAT value (12 or legacy ) and the IGNORECASE value (y or n ) |
There are no spaces permitted around the equal-to (=) character.
Note:
TheIGNORECASE
argument is deprecated in this release. Oracle strongly recommends that you set IGNORECASE
to n
or omit the IGNORECASE
setting entirely. See Oracle Database Security Guide and Oracle Database Upgrade Guide for more information.Example 1-19 Creating a Database Password File Located in an Oracle ASM Disk Group
The following command creates a database password file in Oracle Database 12c format named orapworcl
that is located in an Oracle ASM disk group. The DBUNIQUENAME
argument is required because the database password file is located in an Oracle ASM disk group. The password file allows up to 10 privileged users with different passwords.
orapwd FILE='+DATA/orcl/orapworcl' ENTRIES=10 DBUNIQUENAME='orcl' FORMAT=12
Example 1-20 Creating a Database Password File with a SYSBACKUP Entry
The following example is the similar to Example 1-19 except that it creates a SYSBACKUP
entry in the database password file. The password file is in Oracle Database 12c format by default.
orapwd FILE='+DATA/orcl/orapworcl' ENTRIES=10 DBUNIQUENAME='orcl' SYSBACKUP=y
Example 1-21 Creating a Database Password File Located in a File System
The following command creates a database password file in Oracle Database 12c format named orapworcl
that is located in the default location in an operating system file system. The password file allows up to 30 privileged users with different passwords.
orapwd FILE='/u01/oracle/dbs/orapworcl' ENTRIES=30 FORMAT=12
Example 1-22 Migrating a Legacy Database Password File to Oracle Database 12c Format
The following command migrates a database password file in legacy format to Oracle Database 12c format. The password file is named orapworcl
, and it is located in an operating system file system. The new database password file replaces the existing database password file. Therefore, FORCE
must be set to y
.
orapwd FILE='/u01/oracle/dbs/orapworcl' FORMAT=12 INPUT_FILE='/u01/oracle/dbs/orapworcl' FORCE=y
Example 1-23 Describing a Password File
The following command describes the orapworcl
password file.
orapwd DESCRIBE FILE='orapworcl' Password file Description : format=12 ignorecase=N
The following sections provide more information about some of the ORAPWD
command line arguments.
This argument sets the name of the password file being created. This argument is mandatory.
If you specify a location on an Oracle ASM disk group, then the database password file is shared automatically among the nodes in the cluster. When you use an Oracle ASM disk group to store the password file, and you are not using Oracle Managed Files, you must specify the full path name for the file. The full path is not required if you are using Oracle Managed Files.
If you do not specify a location on an Oracle ASM disk group, then the file name required for the password file is operating system specific. Some operating systems require the password file to adhere to a specific format and be located in a specific directory. Other operating systems allow the use of environment variables to specify the name and location of the password file.
Table 1-1 lists the required name and location for the password file on the UNIX, Linux, and Windows platforms. For other platforms, consult your platform-specific documentation.
Table 1-1 Required Password File Name and Location on UNIX, Linux, and Windows
Platform | Required Name | Required Location |
---|---|---|
UNIX and Linux |
|
ORACLE_HOME |
Windows |
|
ORACLE_HOME |
For example, for a database instance with the SID orcldw
, the password file must be named orapworcldw
on Linux and PWDorcldw.ora
on Windows.
In an Oracle Real Application Clusters environment on a platform that requires an environment variable to be set to the path of the password file, the environment variable for each instance must point to the same password file.
For a policy-managed Oracle RAC database or an Oracle RAC One Node database with ORACLE_SID
of the form db_unique_name_n
, where n
is a number, the password file is searched for first using ORACLE_HOME/dbs/orapw
sid_prefix
or ORACLE_HOME\database\PWD
sid_prefix
.ora
. The sid_prefix
(the first 8 characters of the database name) is used to locate the password file.
Caution:
It is critically important to the security of your system that you protect your password file and the environment variables that identify the location of the password file. Any user with access to these could potentially compromise the security of the connection.See Also:
Chapter 17, "Using Oracle Managed Files"This argument specifies the number of entries that you require the password file to accept. This number corresponds to the number of distinct users allowed to connect to the database as SYSDBA
or SYSOPER
. The actual number of allowable entries can be higher than the number of users, because the ORAPWD
utility continues to assign password entries until an operating system block is filled. For example, if your operating system block size is 512 bytes, it holds four password entries. The number of password entries allocated is always a multiple of four.
Entries can be reused as users are added to and removed from the password file. If you intend to add users to a password file by granting SYSDBA
and SYSOPER
privileges to them, then this argument is required.
Caution:
When you exceed the allocated number of password entries, you must create a new password file. To avoid this necessity, allocate more entries than you think you will ever need.This argument, if set to y
, enables you to overwrite an existing password file. An error is returned if a password file of the same name already exists and this argument is omitted or set to n
.
If this argument is set to y
, then ORAPWD
creates an Oracle ASM password file. The FILE
argument must specify a location in the Oracle ASM disk group.
If this argument is set to n
, the default, then ORAPWD
creates a password file. The FILE
argument can specify a location in the Oracle ASM disk group or in the operating system file system. When the DBUNIQUENAME
argument is specified, the password file is a database password file. When the DBUNIQUENAME
argument is not specified, the password file can be a database password file or an Oracle ASM password file.
See Also:
Oracle Automatic Storage Management Administrator's Guide for information about creating and maintaining an Oracle ASM password fileThis argument sets the unique database name for a database password file being created on an Oracle ASM disk group. It identifies which database resource to update with the database password file location.
This argument is not required when a database password file is created on an operating system file system.
This argument is ignored when an Oracle ASM password file is created by setting the ASM
argument to y
.
If this argument is set to 12
, the default, then ORAPWD
creates a database password file in Oracle Database 12c format. Oracle Database 12c format is required for the password file to support SYSBACKUP
, SYSDG
, and SYSKM
administrative privileges.
If this argument is set to legacy
, then ORAPWD
creates a database password file that is in the format before Oracle Database 12c. The password file supports SYSDBA
and SYSOPER
administrative privileges, but it does not support SYSBACKUP
, SYSDG
, and SYSKM
administrative privileges.
If this argument is set to y
, then ORAPWD
creates a SYSBACKUP
entry in the password file. You are prompted for the password. The password is stored in the created password file.
If this argument is set to n
, then ORAPWD
does not create a SYSBACKUP
entry in the password file. If a password file was created in Oracle Database 12c format, then you can add a SYSBACKUP
entry to the password file.
If this argument is set to y
, then ORAPWD
creates a SYSDG
entry in the password file. You are prompted for the password. The password is stored in the created password file.
If this argument is set to n
, then ORAPWD
does not create a SYSDG
entry in the password file. If a password file was created in Oracle Database 12c format, then you can add a SYSDG
entry to the password file.
If this argument is set to y
, then ORAPWD
creates a SYSKM
entry in the password file. You are prompted for the password. The password is stored in the created password file.
If this argument is set to n
, then ORAPWD
does not create a SYSKM
entry in the password file. If a password file was created in Oracle Database 12c format, then you can add a SYSKM
entry to the password file.
If this argument is set to y
, then ORAPWD
deletes the specified password file. When y
is specified, FILE
, ASM
, or DBUNIQUENAME
must be specified. When FILE
is specified, the file must be located on an ASM disk group.
If this argument is set to n
, the default, then ORAPWD
creates the password file.
This argument specifies the name of the input password file. ORAPWD
migrates the entries in the input file to a new password file. This argument can convert a password file from legacy format to Oracle Database 12c format.
When an input file is specified, ORAPWD
does not create any new entries. Therefore, ORAPWD
ignores the following arguments:
PASSWORD
SYSBACKUP
SYSDG
SYSKM
When an input file is specified and the new password file replaces the input file, FORCE
must be set to y
.
You use the initialization parameter REMOTE_LOGIN_PASSWORDFILE
to control whether a database password file is shared among multiple Oracle Database instances. You can also use this parameter to disable password file authentication.
This section contains the following topics:
Set the REMOTE_LOGIN_PASSWORDFILE
initialization parameter to one of the following values:
none
: Setting this parameter to none
causes Oracle Database to behave as if the password file does not exist. That is, no privileged connections are allowed over nonsecure connections.
exclusive
: (The default) An exclusive
password file can be used with only one database. Only an exclusive
file can be modified. Using an exclusive
password file enables you to add, modify, and delete users. It also enables you to change the password for SYS
, SYSBACKUP
, SYSDG
, or SYSKM
with the ALTER USER
command.
When an exclusive
password file is stored on an Oracle ASM disk group, it can be used by a single-instance database or multiple instances of an Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) database.
When an exclusive
password file is stored on an operating system, it can be used with only one instance of one database.
shared
: A shared
password file can be used by multiple databases running on the same server, or multiple instances of an Oracle RAC database, even when it is stored on an operating system. A shared
password file is read-only and cannot be modified. Therefore, you cannot add users to a shared
password file. Any attempt to do so or to change the password of SYS
or other users with the administrative privileges generates an error. All users needing administrative privileges must be added to the password file when REMOTE_LOGIN_PASSWORDFILE
is set to exclusive
. After all users are added, you can change REMOTE_LOGIN_PASSWORDFILE
to shared
, and then share the file.
This option is useful if you are administering multiple databases with a single password file.
You cannot specify shared
for an Oracle ASM password file.
If REMOTE_LOGIN_PASSWORDFILE
is set to exclusive
or shared
and the password file is missing, this is equivalent to setting REMOTE_LOGIN_PASSWORDFILE
to none
.
If you change the REMOTE_LOGIN_PASSWORDFILE
initialization parameter from none
to exclusive
or shared
, or if you re-create the password file with a different SYS
password, then you must ensure that the passwords in the data dictionary and password file for the SYS
user are the same.
To synchronize the SYS
passwords, use the ALTER USER
statement to change the SYS
password. The ALTER USER
statement updates and synchronizes both the dictionary and password file passwords.
To synchronize the passwords for non-SYS
users who log in using the SYSDBA
, SYSOPER
, SYSBACKUP
, SYSDG
, or SYSKM
administrative privilege, you must revoke and then regrant the privilege to the user, as follows:
Find all users who have been granted the SYSDBA
privilege.
SELECT USERNAME FROM V$PWFILE_USERS WHERE USERNAME != 'SYS' AND SYSDBA='TRUE';
Revoke and then re-grant the SYSDBA
privilege to these users.
REVOKE SYSDBA FROM non-SYS-user; GRANT SYSDBA TO non-SYS-user;
Find all users who have been granted the SYSOPER
privilege.
SELECT USERNAME FROM V$PWFILE_USERS WHERE USERNAME != 'SYS' AND SYSOPER='TRUE';
Revoke and regrant the SYSOPER
privilege to these users.
REVOKE SYSOPER FROM non-SYS-user; GRANT SYSOPER TO non-SYS-user;
Find all users who have been granted the SYSBACKUP
privilege.
SELECT USERNAME FROM V$PWFILE_USERS WHERE USERNAME != 'SYS' AND SYSBACKUP ='TRUE';
Revoke and regrant the SYSBACKUP
privilege to these users.
REVOKE SYSBACKUP FROM non-SYS-user; GRANT SYSBACKUP TO non-SYS-user;
Find all users who have been granted the SYSDG
privilege.
SELECT USERNAME FROM V$PWFILE_USERS WHERE USERNAME != 'SYS' AND SYSDG='TRUE';
Revoke and regrant the SYSDG
privilege to these users.
REVOKE SYSDG FROM non-SYS-user; GRANT SYSDG TO non-SYS-user;
Find all users who have been granted the SYSKM
privilege.
SELECT USERNAME FROM V$PWFILE_USERS WHERE USERNAME != 'SYS' AND SYSKM='TRUE';
Revoke and regrant the SYSKM
privilege to these users.
REVOKE SYSKM FROM non-SYS-user; GRANT SYSKM TO non-SYS-user;
When you grant SYSDBA
, SYSOPER
, SYSBACKUP
, SYSDG
, or SYSKM
administrative privilege to a user, that user's name and privilege information are added to the database password file. A user's name remains in the password file only as long as that user has at least one of these privileges. If you revoke all of these privileges, Oracle Database removes the user from the password file.
Note:
The password file must be created with theFORMAT=12
argument to support SYSBACKUP
, SYSDG
, or SYSKM
administrative privilege.Creating a Password File and Adding New Users to It
Use the following procedure to create a password and add new users to it:
Follow the instructions for creating a password file as explained in "Creating a Database Password File with ORAPWD".
Set the REMOTE_LOGIN_PASSWORDFILE
initialization parameter to exclusive
. (This is the default.)
Oracle Database issues an error if you attempt to grant these privileges and the initialization parameter REMOTE_LOGIN_PASSWORDFILE
is not set correctly.
Note:
REMOTE_LOGIN_PASSWORDFILE
is a static initialization parameter and therefore cannot be changed without restarting the database.Connect with SYSDBA
privileges as shown in the following example, and enter the SYS
password when prompted:
CONNECT SYS AS SYSDBA
Start up the instance and create the database if necessary, or mount and open an existing database.
Create users as necessary. Grant SYSDBA
, SYSOPER
, SYSBACKUP
, SYSDG
, or SYSKM
administrative privilege to yourself and other users as appropriate. See "Granting and Revoking Administrative Privileges".
Use the GRANT
statement to grant the SYSDBA
, SYSOPER
, SYSBACKUP
, SYSDG
, or SYSKM
administrative privilege to a user, as shown in the following example:
GRANT SYSDBA TO mydba;
Use the REVOKE
statement to revoke the administrative privilege from a user, as shown in the following example:
REVOKE SYSDBA FROM mydba;
The WITH ADMIN OPTION
is ignored if it is specified in the GRANT
statement that grants an administrative privilege, and the following rules apply:
A user currently connected as SYSDBA
can grant any administrative privilege to another user and revoke any administrative privilege from another user.
A user currently connected as SYSOPER
cannot grant any administrative privilege to another user and cannot revoke any administrative privilege from another user.
A user currently connected as SYSBACKUP
can grant or revoke another user's SYSBACKUP
administrative privilege.
A user currently connected as SYSDG
can grant or revoke another user's SYSDG
administrative privilege.
A user currently connected as SYSKM
can grant or revoke another user's SYSKM
administrative privilege.
Administrative privileges cannot be granted to roles, because roles are available only after database startup. Do not confuse the database administrative privileges with operating system roles.
See Also:
Oracle Database Security Guide for more information on administrative privilegesUse the V$PWFILE_USERS
view to see the users who have been granted administrative privileges. The columns displayed by this view are as follows:
Column | Description |
---|---|
USERNAME |
This column contains the name of the user that is recognized by the password file. |
SYSDBA |
If the value of this column is TRUE , then the user can log on with the SYSDBA administrative privileges. |
SYSOPER |
If the value of this column is TRUE , then the user can log on with the SYSOPER administrative privileges. |
SYSASM |
If the value of this column is TRUE , then the user can log on with the SYSASM administrative privileges. |
SYSBACKUP |
If the value of this column is TRUE , then the user can log on with the SYSBACKUP administrative privileges. |
SYSDG |
If the value of this column is TRUE , then the user can log on with the SYSDG administrative privileges. |
SYSKM |
If the value of this column is TRUE , then the user can log on with the SYSKM administrative privileges. |
Note:
SYSASM
is valid only for Oracle Automatic Storage Management instances.This section describes how to:
Expand the number of password file users if the database password file becomes full
Remove the database password file
If you receive an error when you try to grant system privileges to a user because the file is full, then you must create a larger database password file and grant the privileges to the users again.
Use the following procedure to replace a database password file:
Identify the users who have system privileges by querying the V$PWFILE_USERS
view.
Delete the existing database password file.
Follow the instructions for creating a new database password file using the ORAPWD
utility in "Creating a Database Password File with ORAPWD". Ensure that the ENTRIES
parameter is set to a number larger than you think you will ever need.
Follow the instructions in "Adding Users to a Database Password File".
If you determine that you no longer require a database password file to authenticate users, then you can delete the database password file and then optionally reset the REMOTE_LOGIN_PASSWORDFILE
initialization parameter to none
. After you remove this file, only those users who can be authenticated by the operating system can perform SYSDBA
, SYSOPER
, SYSBACKUP
, SYSDG
, or SYSKM
database administration operations.
Oracle utilities are available to help you maintain the data in your Oracle Database.
SQL*Loader is used both by database administrators and by other users of Oracle Database. It loads data from standard operating system files (such as, files in text or C data format) into database tables.
The Data Pump utility enables you to archive data and to move data between one Oracle Database and another. Also available are the original Import (IMP) and Export (EXP) utilities for importing and exporting data from and to earlier releases.
See Also:
Oracle Database Utilities for detailed information about these utilities