How to enable incremental statistics gathering for a large partitioned table

What is incremental statistics?

It's a way to improve performance of global statisics gathering on large partitioned tables.

Incremental statistics allows the database to scan the table once to gather partition statistics and from there to derive global statistics by aggregating partition-level statistics.

During later statistics gathering, the database only needs to scan stale partitions and then update their statistics.
From there the database can derive global statistics from the fresh partition statistics, which in turn saves a full table scan.

To view the current settings:

SQL> select dbms_Stats.get_prefs('INCREMENTAL','SCOTT','EMP') "paramvalue" from dual;

paramvalue
--------------------
FALSE

To change the setting:

SQL> exec dbms_stats.set_table_prefs(ownname=>'SCOTT',tabname=>'EMP',pname=>'INCREMENTAL',pvalue=>'TRUE');

Verify:

SQL> select dbms_Stats.get_prefs('INCREMENTAL','SCOTT','EMP') "paramvalue" from dual;

paramvalue
--------------------
TRUE

For more information about incremental statistics and how it can benefit large table, read this from the Oracle Documentation

How to find the NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS used for your PL/SQL objects

Use the view DBA_PLSQL_OBJECT_SETTINGS:

SELECT OWNER,NAME,TYPE,NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS
FROM DBA_PLSQL_OBJECT_SETTINGS
WHERE OWNER IN ('USER1','USER2');

Join with DBA_OBJECTS for creation time and last ddl time etc:

SELECT POS.OWNER,POS.NAME,POS.TYPE,POS.NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS, O.LAST_DDL_TIME,O.CREATED, O.STATUS
FROM DBA_PLSQL_OBJECT_SETTINGS POS JOIN DBA_OBJECTS O
ON (POS.NAME = O.OBJECT_NAME)
AND POS.OWNER = 'SCOTT'
ORDER BY NAME;

ORA-01775: Looping chain of synonyms during repository installation

During installation of a repository for an Oracle tool, the following error occurs

Select distinct mrc_name from schema_version_registry;

Select distinct mrc_name from schema_version_registry
                              *
ERROR on line 1:
ORA-01775: Looping chain of synonyms

Cause: There was only a synonym present in the database, and no underlying base object:

SQL> SELECT owner, SYNONYM_NAME,TABLE_OWNER,TABLE_NAME from DBA_SYNONYMS where table_name='SCHEMA_VERSION_REGISTRY'

OWNER                SYNONYM_NAME               TABLE_OWNER          TABLE_NAME
-------------------- -------------------------- -------------------- ----------------------------------------
PUBLIC               SCHEMA_VERSION_REGISTRY    SYSTEM               SCHEMA_VERSION_REGISTRY

Solution is to drop the public synonym:

SQL> drop public synonym SCHEMA_VERSION_REGISTRY;

Synonym dropped.

Source: ORA-01775 or ORA-980 from Public Synonym when Base Table is Missing (Doc ID 392705.1)

How to import only users over a network link

Use the following parameter file to import only the user definitions from your source database to your test database:
Remember that the database link proddb01 must be correctly defined and working before you import the data.

userid='system/yourpassword
network_link=proddb1.mydomain.com
logfile=DATA_PUMP_DIR:user_definitions.log
full=Y
include=USER

To import a specific user only:

INCLUDE=USER:"='SCOTT'"

To include a specific user and remap it to another user name during import:

REMAP_SCHEMA=SCOTT:JIM
INCLUDE=USER:"='SCOTT'"

Remember to check if the SCOTT user is assigned a default tablespace that doesn't exist in the target database.
If this is the case, you need to use remap_schema directive to make it work:

REMAP_TABLESPACE=SCOTT_DATA:JIM_DATA

... or potentiall pre-create the tablespace SCOTT_DATA in the target database, but this may not be what you wish.

How to create a startup-trigger

In this example, I needed to write a simple trigger that opens the wallet upon startup of the instance:

create or replace trigger
   open_wallet
after startup on database
begin
   execute immediate 'ALTER SYSTEM SET ENCRYPTION WALLET OPEN IDENTIFIED BY "mysecretpassword"';
end;
/

How to solve ORA-01031: insufficient privileges when creating a materialized view

At first, I got the following error from the Oracle server when exeuting the "CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW" script:

where    tab2.year >   to_number(to_char(sysdate, 'YYYY')) - 4
                                       *
ERROR at line 36:
ORA-01031: insufficient privileges

Solution:
If you try to create a materialized view based on tables in a different schema, you need the privilege

GLOBAL QUERY REWRITE

as well as

CREATE TABLE
CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW

Grant the privileges:

grant GLOBAL QUERY REWRITE to scott;
grant CREATE TABLE to scott;
grant CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW to scott;

Verify your users privileges:

connect scott/tiger

select * from user_sys_privs;


USERNAME                       PRIVILEGE                                ADM
------------------------------ ---------------------------------------- ---
EKSTERN                        CREATE SESSION                           NO
EKSTERN                        CREATE TABLE                             NO
EKSTERN                        CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW                 NO
EKSTERN                        GLOBAL QUERY REWRITE                     NO

This should fix your ORA-01031 problems.

Source: Oracle Support "Create Local Materialized View with Query Rewrite Option Fails with ORA-1031 Insufficient Privileges" (Doc ID 1079983.6)

How to redefine a table that is created with an identity column

You have the following non-partitioned table defined:

CREATE TABLE MYTABLE
(
  ENTRY_SEQ_NUM        NUMBER Generated as Identity ( START WITH 1180965539 MAXVALUE 9999999999999999999999999999 MINVALUE 1 NOCYCLE CACHE 20 NOORDER NOKEEP) NOT NULL,
  ENTRY_ID             VARCHAR2(50 BYTE)            NULL,
  DOC_NAME             VARCHAR2(100 BYTE)           NULL,
  CREATED              TIMESTAMP(6)                 NULL,
  REVISION#            INTEGER                      NULL,
  APPLICABLE_YEAR      INTEGER                      NULL,
  PERIOD               VARCHAR2(10 BYTE)            NULL,
  DOCUMENT_STATUS      VARCHAR2(50 BYTE)            NULL,
  PHONE#               VARCHAR2(11 BYTE)            NULL
);

The table is growing, and your customer want it partitioned.

Solution:

Create an interim table. Make sure to use a datatype of NUMBER for the column ENTRY_SEQ_NUM, instead of the Identity column:

CREATE TABLE MYTABLE_INTERIM
(
  ENTRY_SEQ_NUM        NUMBER,
  ENTRY_ID             VARCHAR2(50 BYTE),
  DOC_NAME             VARCHAR2(100 BYTE)           NULL,
  CREATED              TIMESTAMP(6)                 NULL,
  REVISION#            INTEGER                      NULL,
  APPLICABLE_YEAR      INTEGER                      NULL,
  PERIOD               VARCHAR2(10 BYTE)            NULL,
  DOCUMENT_STATUS      VARCHAR2(50 BYTE)            NULL,
  PHONE#               VARCHAR2(11 BYTE)            NULL
)
PARTITION BY RANGE (PERIOD)
INTERVAL( NUMTOYMINTERVAL(1,'MONTH'))
(
  PARTITION P_INIT VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('2013-01', 'YYYY-MM'))
)
TABLESPACE USERS
;

Start redefinition. Note that you need to use the TO_DATE function on the partition key column, together with proper masking of the date format string:

begin
DBMS_REDEFINITION.start_redef_table(uname=>'SCOTT',
orig_table=>'MYTABLE',
int_table=>'MYTABLE_INTERIM',
col_mapping =>'ENTRY_SEQ_NUM ENTRY_SEQ_NUM,ENTRY_ID ENTRY_ID,DOC_NAME DOC_NAME,CREATED CREATED,REVSION# REVSION#,APPLICABLE_YEAR APPLICABLE_YEAR,TO_DATE(PERIOD,''YYYY-MM'') PERIOD,DOCUMENT_STATUS DOCUMENT_STATUS,PHONE# PHONE#',
options_flag=>dbms_redefinition.cons_use_pk);
end;
/

Finish the redefinition:

begin
 DBMS_REDEFINITION.FINISH_REDEF_TABLE(uname=>'SCOTT',orig_table=>'MYTABLE',int_table=>'MYTABLE_INTERIM);
end;
/

Add a new column, of type "Identity":

alter session force parallel ddl;
alter session force parallel dml;
alter table mytable
add ENTRY_SEQ_NUM_X NUMBER Generated as Identity ( START WITH 1
                                                   MAXVALUE 9999999999999999999999999999 MINVALUE 1 NOCYCLE CACHE 20
                                                   NOORDER NOKEEP);

Drop the old column:

alter table mytable drop column ENTRY_SEQ_NUM;

Rename the Identity column back to the name of the column you just dropped:

alter table mytable rename column ENTRY_SEQ_NUM_X to ENTRY_SEQ_NUM;