Oracle FAQ's Part-3

51. What is the function of Optimizer ?
The goal of the optimizer is to choose the most efficient way to execute a SQL statement.

52. What is Execution Plan ?
The combinations of the steps the optimizer chooses to execute a statement is called an execution plan.

53. What are the different approaches used by Optimizer in choosing an execution plan ?
Rule-based and Cost-based.

54. What does ROLLBACK do ?
ROLLBACK retracts any of the changes resulting from the SQL statements in the transaction.

55. What is SAVE POINT ?
For long transactions that contain many SQL statements, intermediate markers or savepoints can be declared which can be used to divide a transaction into smaller parts. This allows the option of later rolling back all work performed from the current point in the transaction to a declared savepoint within the transaction.

56. What are the values that can be specified for OPTIMIZER MODE Parameter ?
COST and RULE.

57. What is COST-based approach to optimization ?
Considering available access paths and determining the most efficient execution plan based on statistics in the data dictionary for the tables accessed by the statement and their associated
clusters and indexes.

58. What does COMMIT do ?
COMMIT makes permanent the changes resulting from all SQL statements in the transaction. The changes made by the SQL statements of a transaction become visible to other user sessions transactions that start only after transaction is committed.

59. What is RULE-based approach to optimization ?
Choosing an executing planbased on the access paths available and the ranks of these access paths.

60. What are the values that can be specified for OPTIMIZER_GOAL parameter of the ALTER SESSION Command ?
CHOOSE,ALL_ROWS,FIRST_ROWS and RULE.

61. Define Transaction ?
A Transaction is a logical unit of work that comprises one or more SQL statements executed by a single user.

62. What is Read-Only Transaction ?
A Read-Only transaction ensures that the results of each query executed in the transaction are consistant with respect to the same point in time.

63. What is a deadlock ? Explain .
Two processes wating to update the rows of a table which are locked by the other process then deadlock arises. In a database environment this will often happen because of not issuing proper row lock commands. Poor design of front-end application may cause this situation and the performance of server will reduce drastically.These locks will be released automatically when a commit/rollback operation performed or any one of this processes being killed externally.

64. What is a Schema ?
The set of objects owned by user account is called the schema.

65. What is a cluster Key ?
The related columns of the tables are called the cluster key. The cluster key is indexed using a cluster index and its value is stored only once for multiple tables in the cluster.

66. What is Parallel Server ?
Multiple instances accessing the same database (Only In Multi-CPU environments)

67. What are the basic element of Base configuration of an oracle Database ?
It consists of one or more data files.
one or more control files.
two or more redo log files.
The Database contains multiple users/schemas
one or more rollback segments
one or more tablespaces
Data dictionary tables
User objects (table,indexes,views etc.,)
The server that access the database consists of
SGA (Database buffer, Dictionary Cache Buffers, Redo log buffers,
Shared SQL pool)
SMON (System MONito)
PMON (Process MONitor)
LGWR (LoG Write)
DBWR (Data Base Write)
ARCH (ARCHiver)
CKPT (Check Point)
RECO
Dispatcher
User Process with associated PGS

68. What is clusters ?
Group of tables physically stored together because they share common columns and are often used together is called Cluster.

69. What is an Index ? How it is implemented in Oracle Database ?
An index is a database structure used by the server to have direct access of a row in a table. An index is automatically created when a unique of primary key constraint clause is specified in create table comman (Ver 7.0)

70. What is a Database instance ? Explain
A database instance (Server) is a set of memory structure and background processes that access a set of database files.The process can be shared by all users. The memory structure that
are used to store most queried data from database. This helps up to improve database performance by decreasing the amount of I/O performed against data file.



71. What is the use of ANALYZE command ?
To perform one of these function on an index,table, or cluster:
- To collect statistics about object used by the optimizer and store them in the data dictionary.
- To delete statistics about the object ussed by object from the data dictionary.
- To validate the structure of the object..
- To identify migrated and chained rows off the table or cluster.

72. What is default tablespace ?
The Tablespace to contain schema objects created without specifying a tablespace name.

73. What are the system resources that can be controlled through Profile ?
The number of concurrent sessions the user can establish the CPU processing time available to the user's session the CPU processing time available to a single call to ORACLE made by a SQL statement the amount of logical I/O available to the user's session the amout of logical I/O available to a single call to ORACLE made by a SQL statement the allowed amount of idle time for the user's session the allowed amount of connect time for the user's session.

74. What is Tablespace Quota ?
The collective amount of disk space available to the objects in a schema on a particular tablespace.

76. What are the different Levels of Auditing ?
Statement Auditing, Privilege Auditing and Object Auditing.

77. What is Statement Auditing ?
Statement auditing is the auditing of the powerful system privileges without regard to specifically named objects

78. What are the database administrators utilities avaliable ?
SQL * DBA - This allows DBA to monitor and control an ORACLE database. SQL * Loader - It loads data from standard operating system files (Flat files) into ORACLE database tables. Export (EXP) and Import (imp) utilities allow you to move existing data in ORACLE format to and from ORACLE database.

79. How can you enable automatic archiving ?
Shut the database
Backup the database
Modify/Include LOG_ARCHIVE_START_TRUE in init.ora file.
Start up the database.

80. What are roles? How can we implement roles ?
Roles are the easiest way to grant and manage common privileges needed by different groups of database users. Creating roles and assigning provides to roles. Assign each role to group of users.
This will simplify the job of assigning privileges to individual users.

81. What are Roles ?
Roles are named groups of related privileges that are granted to users or other roles.

82. What are the use of Roles ?
REDUCED GRANTING OF PRIVILEGES - Rather than explicitly granting the same set of privileges to many users a database administrator can grant the privileges for a group of related users granted to a role and then grant only the role to each member of the group.
DYNAMIC PRIVILEGE MANAGEMENT - When the privileges of a group must change, only the privileges of the role need to be modified. The security domains of all users granted the group's role automatically reflect the changes made to the role.
SELECTIVE AVAILABILITY OF PRIVILEGES - The roles granted to a user can be selectively enable (available for use) or disabled (not available for use). This allows specific control of a user's privileges in any given situation.
APPLICATION AWARENESS - A database application can be designed to automatically enable and disable selective roles when a user attempts to use the application.

83. What is Privilege Auditing ?
Privilege auditing is the auditing of the use of powerful system privileges without regard to specifically named objects.

84. What is Object Auditing ?
Object auditing is the auditing of accesses to specific schema objects without regard to user.

85. What is Auditing ?
Monitoring of user access to aid in the investigation of database use.

86. What are the responsibilities of a Database Administrator ?
Installing and upgrading the Oracle Server and application tools.
Allocating system storage and planning future storage requirements for the database system. Managing primary database structures (tablespaces) Managing primary objects (table,views,indexes) Enrolling users and maintaining system security. Ensuring compliance with Oralce license agreement Controlling and monitoring user access to the database. Monitoring and optimizing the performance of the database. Planning for backup and recovery of database information.
Maintain archived data on tape Backing up and restoring the database. Contacting Oracle Corporation for technical support.

87. What is a trace file and how is it created ?
Each server and background process can write an associated trace file. When an internal error is detected by a process or user process, it dumps information about the error to its trace. This can be used for tuning the database.

88. What is a profile ?
Each database user is assigned a Profile that specifies limitations on various system resources available to the user.

89. How will you enforce security using stored procedures?
Don't grant user access directly to tables within the application.
Instead grant the ability to access the procedures that access the tables. When procedure executed it will execute the privilege of procedures owner. Users cannot access tables except via the procedure.

90. What are the dictionary tables used to monitor a database spaces ?
DBA_FREE_SPACE
DBA_SEGMENTS
DBA_DATA_FILES.

91. What are the roles and user accounts created automatically with the database?
DBA - role Contains all database system privileges.
SYS user account - The DBA role will be assigned to this account. All of the base tables and views for the database's dictionary are store in this schema and are manipulated only by ORACLE. SYSTEM user account - It has all the system privileges for the database and additional tables and views that display administrative information and internal tables and views used by oracle tools are created using this username.

92. What are the minimum parameters should exist in the parameter file (init.ora) ?
DB NAME - Must set to a text string of no more than 8 characters and it will be stored inside the data files, redo log files and control files and control file while database creation.
DB_DOMAIN - It is string that specifies the network domain where the database is created. The global database name is identified by setting these parameters.
(DB_NAME & DB_DOMAIN) CONTORL FILES - List of control filenames of the database. If name is not mentioned then default name will be used.
DB_BLOCK_BUFFERS - To determine the no of buffers in the buffer cache in SGA.
PROCESSES - To determine number of operating system processes that can be connected to ORACLE concurrently. The value should be 5 (background process) and additional 1 for each user.
ROLLBACK_SEGMENTS - List of rollback segments an ORACLE instance acquires at database startup. Also optionally
LICENSE_MAX_SESSIONS,LICENSE_SESSION_WARNING and LICENSE_MAX_USERS.

93. How can we specify the Archived log file name format and destination?
By setting the following values in init.ora file. LOG_ARCHIVE_FORMAT = arch %S/s/T/tarc (%S - Log sequence number and is zero left padded, %s - Log sequence number not padded. %T - Thread number lef-zero-padded and %t - Thread number not padded). The file name created is arch 0001 are if %S is used. LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST = path.

94. What is user Account in Oracle database?
An user account is not a physical structure in Database but it is having important relationship to the objects in the database and will be having certain privileges.

95. When will the data in the snapshot log be used?
We must be able to create a after row trigger on table (i.e., it should be not be already available) After giving table privileges. We cannot specify snapshot log name because oracle uses the name of the master table in the name of the database objects that support its snapshot log. The master table name should be less than or equal to 23 characters. (The table name created will be MLOGS_tablename, and trigger name will be TLOGS name).

96. What dynamic data replication?
Updating or Inserting records in remote database through database triggers. It may fail if remote database is having any problem.

97. What is Two-Phase Commit ?
Two-phase commit is mechanism that guarantees a distributed transaction either commits on all involved nodes or rolls back on all involved nodes to maintain data consistency across the global
distributed database. It has two phase, a Prepare Phase and a Commit Phase.

98. How can you Enforce Referential Integrity in snapshots ?
Time the references to occur when master tables are not in use. Peform the reference the manually immdiately locking the master tables. We can join tables in snopshots by creating a complex snapshots that will based on the master tables.

99. What is a SQL * NET?
SQL *NET is ORACLE's mechanism for interfacing with the communication protocols used by the networks that facilitate distributed processing and distributed databases. It is used in Clint-Server and Server-Server communications.

100. What is a SNAPSHOT ?
Snapshots are read-only copies of a master table located on a remote node which is periodically refreshed to reflect changes made to the master table.