How to convert a non-partitioned table into a partitioned table in Oracle version 12.2 and onwards

With Oracle 12.2 and higher versions, it is really simple to convert a non-partitioned table to a partitioned table: you can now use the "ALTER TABLE .... MODIFY" syntax.

Below I am showing how I used this feature for one of my tables.

First, find some basic info about the table as it is right now:

SELECT TABLE_NAME, PARTITIONED,NUM_ROWS,COMPRESSION
FROM  DBA_TABLES
WHERE TABLE_NAME='SEGMENT_SIZE_SAMPLES';

Output:

TABLE_NAME	PARTITIONED	NUM_ROWS	COMPRESSION
SEGMENT_SIZE_SAMPLES	NO	948401	DISABLED

Alter the table. I am taking the opportunity to compress the table at the same time as I am getting it partitioned. I am also using the ONLINE keyword, allowing DML against the table during the operation:

ALTER TABLE SEGMENT_SIZE_SAMPLES MODIFY 
PARTITION BY RANGE (SAMPLE_DATE)
INTERVAL
(
   NUMTOYMINTERVAL(1,'MONTH')
)
(
PARTITION P_INIT VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE('2014-01','YYYY-MM') )
)
ROW STORE COMPRESS ADVANCED
ONLINE;

Analyze the table:

exec DBMS_STATS.GATHER_TABLE_STATS (OwnName => 'DBDRIFT',TabName => 'SEGMENT_SIZE_SAMPLES');

Check the table properties again:

SELECT TABLE_NAME, PARTITIONED,NUM_ROWS,COMPRESSION
FROM  DBA_TABLES
WHERE TABLE_NAME='SEGMENT_SIZE_SAMPLES';

Output:

TABLE_NAME	PARTITIONED	NUM_ROWS	COMPRESSION
SEGMENT_SIZE_SAMPLES	YES	1000719

How about compression?

Check the DBA_TAB_PARTITIONS (I am only showing the first 5 rows for brevity):

SELECT TABLE_NAME, PARTITION_NAME,NUM_ROWS,COMPRESSION, COMPRESS_FOR
FROM DBA_TAB_PARTITIONS
WHERE TABLE_NAME='SEGMENT_SIZE_SAMPLES'
FETCH FIRST 5 ROWS ONLY;

Output:

TABLE_NAME	PARTITION_NAME	NUM_ROWS	COMPRESSION	COMPRESS_FOR
SEGMENT_SIZE_SAMPLES	P_INIT	0	ENABLED	ADVANCED
SEGMENT_SIZE_SAMPLES	SYS_P17074	19320	ENABLED	ADVANCED
SEGMENT_SIZE_SAMPLES	SYS_P17075	24955	ENABLED	ADVANCED
SEGMENT_SIZE_SAMPLES	SYS_P17076	24150	ENABLED	ADVANCED
SEGMENT_SIZE_SAMPLES	SYS_P17077	24934	ENABLED	ADVANCED

How about existing indexes?

By default, existing non-unique indexes are also partitioned during the alteration of the table.

There are two indexes on my table, one unique index supporting the primary key constraint, and one non-unique index.

Before the table was altered, both were unpartitioned:

SELECT INDEX_NAME,UNIQUENESS, PARTITIONED 
FROM DBA_INDEXES
WHERE TABLE_NAME='SEGMENT_SIZE_SAMPLES';

INDEX_NAME	UNIQUENESS	PARTITIONED
SEGMENT_SIZE_SAMPLES_IDX1	UNIQUE	NO
SEGMENT_SIZE_SAMPLES_IDX2	NONUNIQUE	NO

After the table was partitioned, the non-unique index was automatically partitioned, too:

INDEX_NAME	UNIQUENESS	PARTITIONED
SEGMENT_SIZE_SAMPLES_IDX1	UNIQUE	NO
SEGMENT_SIZE_SAMPLES_IDX2	NONUNIQUE	YES

Update 18.03.2020:

Another example using LIST partitioning:

alter table MUSIC.ALBUM modify
partition by list (GENRE)
(
    partition P_ROCK values (( 'ROCK')),
    partition P_POP values (( 'POP')),
    partition P_CLASSICAL values (( 'CLASSICAL')),
    partition P_MISC values (default)
)
online;

Update 12.03.2021:
An example using subpartitions:

-- First, give the LOB the desired attributes, if you wish to change any of them:
alter TABLE STOCKS MOVE
LOB (DOC)
STORE AS SECUREFILE(
  TABLESPACE  DATA1
  ENABLE      STORAGE IN ROW
  CHUNK       8192
  COMPRESS    MEDIUM
);

-- Alter the table
alter TABLE STOCKS MODIFY
PARTITION BY LIST (stockname)
SUBPARTITION BY RANGE (LASTUPDATED)
(   -- First partition is called a_name
    PARTITION a_name VALUES('a-abc')
    (
    -- older values
    SUBPARTITION SP_a_name_1_older VALUES LESS THAN ( TO_DATE('2016-01', 'YYYY-MM')) TABLESPACE DATA1
    LOB (DOC) STORE AS SECUREFILE  ( TABLESPACE DATA1 ),
    -- 2016
    subpartition SP_a_name_201601 VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE(' 2016-02-01 00:00:00', 'SYYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS')) TABLESPACE DATA_2016
    LOB (DOC) STORE AS SECUREFILE  ( TABLESPACE DATA_2016 ),

...continue with one subpartition per month per year...

...contine with  partitions b_name, c_name etc

-- Final partition is called z_name
 PARTITION z_name VALUES(default)
  (
    -- 2016
    SUBPARTITION SP_sp_z_name_older VALUES LESS THAN ( TO_DATE('2016-01', 'YYYY-MM')) TABLESPACE DATA1,
    subpartition SP_sp_z_name_201601 VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE(' 2016-02-01 00:00:00', 'SYYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS')) TABLESPACE DATA_2016
    LOB (DOC) STORE AS SECUREFILE  ( TABLESPACE DATA_2016 ),

...continue with one subpartition per month per year...

 LOB (DOC) STORE AS SECUREFILE  ( TABLESPACE DATA_2022 ),
    subpartition SP_z_name_202212 VALUES LESS THAN (TO_DATE(' 2023-01-01 00:00:00', 'SYYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS')) TABLESPACE DATA_2022
    LOB (DOC) STORE AS SECUREFILE  ( TABLESPACE DATA_2022 ),
    SUBPARTITION SP_z_name_DEFAULT VALUES LESS THAN (MAXVALUE) TABLESPACE DATA1
    LOB (DOC) STORE AS SECUREFILE  ( TABLESPACE DATA1)
    )
)
ONLINE
UPDATE INDEXES(
  IDX_1 LOCAL,
  IDX_2 LOCAL
);
  

Note that UPDATE INDEXES converts IDX_1 and IDX_2 and convert them to LOCAL indexes, on the fly.
Source: Oracle Documentation
I also recommend to look at Oracle-base.com for further reading.

How to list subpartitions and their LOB segment sizes

The query below will list the lob segment names, the lob subpartition names, the table subpartition names and sizing information for any subpartitioned tables using LOB columns:

SELECT  ts.table_owner "table owner",
        ts.table_name "table name",
        s.SEGMENT_NAME "segment name",
        s.SEGMENT_TYPE "segment type",
        s.SEGMENT_SUBTYPE "lob type",
        s.PARTITION_NAME "lob subpart name",
        lsp.column_name "lob name",
        lsp.compression "lob compression",
        lsp.subpartition_name "table subpartition name",
        ts.num_rows "num rows",
        lsp.tablespace_name "tablespace",
        ROUND(sum(s.bytes)/1024/1024/1024) "size GB"
FROM dba_segments s JOIN dba_lob_subpartitions lsp
ON (s.partition_name = lsp.lob_subpartition_name)  
   JOIN DBA_TAB_SUBPARTITIONS ts
        ON (TS.SUBPARTITION_NAME = lsp.SUBPARTITION_NAME) 
WHERE lsp.table_name='DOCUMENTS'
AND   ts.table_name='DOCUMENTS'
-- To limit the output to a specific tablespace, uncomment line below
-- AND   s.tablespace_name='DATA1'
-- To limit output to specific table subpartitions only, uncomment the following row
--AND   lsp.subpartition_name like 'SYS_SUBP186786%'
AND s.segment_name IN ( SELECT lpt.lob_name 
                        FROM dba_lob_partitions lpt 
                        WHERE lpt.table_name IN ( 'DOCUMENTS' ) )

GROUP BY ts.table_owner,ts.table_name,s.SEGMENT_NAME,s.SEGMENT_TYPE,s.SEGMENT_SUBTYPE,s.PARTITION_NAME,lsp.COMPRESSION,lsp.subpartition_name, lsp.column_name,ts.num_rows,lsp.tablespace_name
/*
To limit output to lob subpartitions with a specific size, 
uncomment the restriction above and change the operator to suit your needs ( <, >, =) 
or use BETWEEN x AND y
*/
-- HAVING ROUND(sum(s.bytes)/1024/1024/1024) between 1 and 10
ORDER BY lsp.subpartition_name DESC;

Example output:

TABLE_NAME	segment name	segment type	lob type	lob subpart name	lob compression	table subpartition name	num rows	tablespace	size GB
MYTABLE	MYTABLE_LOB7	LOB SUBPARTITION	SECUREFILE	KLM_DOCS_2018_01	MEDIUM	KLM_SP_2018_01	164497	DOCS2018	235
MYTABLE	MYTABLE_LOB7	LOB SUBPARTITION	SECUREFILE	VISA_DOCS_2018_01	MEDIUM	VISA_SP_2018_01	72405	DOCS2018	76
MYTABLE	MYTABLE_LOB7	LOB SUBPARTITION	SECUREFILE	KLM_DOCS_2017_10	MEDIUM	KLM_SP_2017_10	16256	DOCS2017	19
MYTABLE	MYTABLE_SMALL_LOB7	LOB SUBPARTITION	SECUREFILE	KLM_DOCS_SMALL_2018_01	MEDIUM	KLM_SP_2018_01	164497	DOCS2018	18
MYTABLE	MYTABLE_SMALL_LOB7	LOB SUBPARTITION	SECUREFILE	VISA_DOCS_SMALL_2018_01	MEDIUM	VISA_SP_2018_01	72405	DOCS2018	8

What do do when an upgrade from 12cR1 to 18c is seemingly frozen in Phase #:50

During an upgrade from 12.1 to 18.0 my upgrade process seemed to be completely frozen at stage 50:

Restart  Phase #:47   [proddb01] Files:1    Time: 0s
*************   Final Catproc scripts   ************
Serial   Phase #:48   [proddb01] Files:1    Time: 4s
Restart  Phase #:49   [proddb01] Files:1    Time: 0s
**************   Final RDBMS scripts   *************
Serial   Phase #:50   [proddb01] Files:1

The catupgrd0.log file located in the $ORACLE_HOME/cfgtoollogs/proddb01/upgrade20191103120250 showed that the last entry was

12:23:40 SQL> update tabpart$
12:23:40   2    set hiboundval='4294967296', bhiboundval = '06C52B5F614961'
12:23:40   3    where obj# in (select t1.obj# as part_obj_no
12:23:40   4      from sys.tabpart$ t1
12:23:40   5        left join sys.tabpart$ tmax
12:23:40   6          on (t1.bo#=tmax.bo# and t1.part# < tmax.part#)
12:23:40   7        join sys.tab$ t3 on (t1.bo#=t3.obj#)
12:23:40   8      where tmax.part# is null and t1.hiboundval is not null
12:23:40   9        and t1.hiboundlen = 10 and bitand(t3.property/power(2, 75), 1) = 1);

This may happen when your database have tables with lots and lots of partitions. A check against the database proves this:

select table_owner,count(*)
from dba_tab_partitions
where table_owner <> 'SYS'
group by table_owner
order by 2 desc;

TABLE_OWNER	COUNT(*)
USER1	3497525
USER2	569471
USER3	288664
USER4	59857
USER5	28032
USER6	7239
USER7	1481

In our case, the grant total upgrade time was 10 hours and 11 minutes.
The "update tabpart$" statement above counted for 9,5 hours of this time.

The team responsible for application design later revealed that they have been meaning to redesign the tables to cut down on the number of partitions, but not yet come around to it.

Lession learned....

;-)

New security feature in Oracle 12.2: INACTIVE_ACCOUNT_TIME

A profile in Oracle 12.2 can now be configured with the setting INACTIVE_ACCOUNT_TIME, which specifies the maximum number of days an account can remain unused. Unless a new login occur within the specified number of days, the account will be automatically locked.

If not set, any custom-made profile will inherit the setting of the DEFAULT profile, which is UNLIMITED.

Syntax:

CREATE PROFILE my_profile LIMIT
INACTIVE_ACCOUNT_TIME 30;

ALTER PROFILE my_profile LIMIT
INACTIVE_ACCOUNT_TIME 30;

Sources:
Oracle 12.2 New Features guide

Automatically Locking Inactive Database User Accounts

Oracle streams being terminated with Oracle 18c

As noted in the "Desupported features" section of the Oracle 18c documentation, Oracle Streams will be terminated in with the release of Oracle 18c.

For replication, Oracle Corporation encourage their customers to use GoldenGate.

How to work around ORA-03206 when running the RCU (Repository Creation Utility) used by ODI

During installation you may encounter the error

ORA-03206: maximum file size of (13107200) blocks in AUTOEXTEND clause is out of range

In my case, the RCU attempted to create a temporary tablespace with autoextend of 100G. This is too much for a smallfile tablespace, and the error is thrown.
I checked the database creation scripts, and it is indeed created with smallfile as the default tablespace type.

To solve the problem, alter your database default setting:

ALTER DATABASE SET DEFAULT BIGFILE TABLESPACE;

and retry the operation.

Documentation for Oracle 12.2 can be found here

How to create a proxy authenticated user in Oracle

Create a general user for authentication:

CREATE USER APP_POOL
IDENTIFIED BY app_pool_users123
DEFAULT TABLESPACE USERS
TEMPORARY TABLESPACE TEMP
PROFILE APP_USERS
ACCOUNT UNLOCK;

GRANT CREATE SESSION TO APP_POOL;

To illustrate how proxy authentication can be used efficiently, I create two roles:

create role app_pool_role1 not identified;
create role app_pool_role2 not identified;

Grant object privileges on two different tables to the two new roles:

grant select on SCOTT.DEPT to app_pool_role1;
grant select on SCOTT.EMP to app_pool_role2;

Create a user:

CREATE USER VEGARD
IDENTIFIED BY vegard123
DEFAULT TABLESPACE USERS
TEMPORARY TABLESPACE TEMP
PROFILE APP_USERS
ACCOUNT UNLOCK;

Grant the ability to create sessions, and both the previously created roles to the new user, and enable them by default:

GRANT CREATE SESSION TO VEGARD;
GRANT APP_POOL_ROLE1 TO VEGARD;
GRANT APP_POOL_ROLE2 TO VEGARD;
ALTER USER VEGARD DEFAULT ROLE ALL;

Change the user so it connects through a proxy user.
Make sure that only the role APP_POOL_ROLE1 is enabled whenever the user connects through the proxy:

ALTER USER VEGARD
GRANT CONNECT THROUGH APP_POOL
WITH ROLE APP_POOL_ROLE1;

Let's connect to the database:

sqlplus app_pool[vegard]/app_pool_users123@pdb01

Verify the connection and session settings by using sys_context:

select sys_context('USERENV','AUTHENTICATED_IDENTITY') "AuthIdentity used", 
       decode(sys_context('USERENV', 'AUTHENTICATION_METHOD'), 'NONE', 'proxy') "auth method",
       sys_context('USERENV','CURRENT_SCHEMA') "current schema",
       sys_context('USERENV','CURRENT_USER') "grantee of privileges used",
       decode(sys_context('USERENV','IDENTIFICATION_TYPE'), 'LOCAL', 'Password') "identification type",
       sys_context('USERENV','PROXY_USER') "proxy user"
from dual;

Results shows that user VEGARD is authenticated by proxy, the current schema is VEGARD, the privileges for the session belongs to user VEGARD, the identification type is password and the proxy user is APP_POOL:

AuthIdentity used	auth method	current schema	grantee of privileges used	identification type	proxy user
VEGARD	proxy	VEGARD	VEGARD	Password	APP_POOL

Which roles are enabled?

select 'APP_POOL_ROLE1: ' || sys_context('sys_session_roles','APP_POOL_ROLE1') "Role granted?"
from dual
union
select 'APP_POOL_ROLE2: ' || sys_context('sys_session_roles','APP_POOL_ROLE2')
from dual
;

Result shows that only APP_POOL_ROLE1 is enabled:

Role granted?
APP_POOL_ROLE1: TRUE
APP_POOL_ROLE2: FALSE

Let's verify that the roles are actually working.
Logged in as user VEGARD, I now expect to be able to query the table scott.dept and nothing else:

VEGARD@pdb01 SQL> select count(*) from scott.emp;
select count(*) from scott.emp
                           *
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-00942: table or view does not exist


VEGARD@pdb01 SQL> select count(*) from scott.dept;

  COUNT(*)
----------
         4

There is nothing preventing the user VEGARD from connecting directly to the database:

sqlplus vegard/vegard123@pdb01
VEGARD@pdb01 SQL> show user
USER is "VEGARD"

When bypassing the proxy user, the users have access to both roles APP_POOL_ROLE1 as well as APP_POOL_ROLE2, and may now access both scott.emp and scott.dept:

VEGARD@vegdb01 SQL> select count(*) from scott.emp;

  COUNT(*)
----------
        14

Some advantages with using proxy connections:

* No more password administration for individual users
* Proxy authentication allows for role based access control
* Identity preservation of the real user behind the proxy user is automatically set up

Keep in mind that you still have to create and provision the end user accounts.