Overview of Users and Security

For users to access your database, you the database administrator must create user accounts and grant appropriate database access privileges to those accounts. A user account is identified by a username and defines the user's security attributes, including the following:

Authentication method
Password (encrypted) for database authentication
Tablespace access
Tablespace quotas
Whether the account is locked or not

User accounts are usually created by a database administrator or a person specifically assigned to create accounts and administer security. After you create a user account, you must grant basic privileges to the account to enable the user to connect to the database and to view and create database objects, known as schema objects. The name of the schema is identical to the name of the user.

All databases include the SYS, SYSTEM, SYSMAN, and DBSNMP administrative accounts. Other accounts are included depending upon what features or options are installed.

The administrative accounts provided by Oracle Database should be used only by authorized individuals. To protect these accounts from unauthorized access, these accounts are initially locked with their passwords expired. As the database administrator, you are responsible for the unlocking and resetting of these accounts as described in "Unlocking Accounts and Resetting Passwords". Table 7-1 contains descriptions of some of these accounts.

Table 7-1 Administrative User Accounts Provided by Oracle Database

Username	Password	Description	See Also
CTXSYS	CTXSYS	The Oracle Text account	Oracle Text Reference
DBSNMP	DBSNMP	The account used by the Management Agent component of Oracle Enterprise Manager to monitor and manage the database	Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control Installation and Basic Configuration
MDDATA	MDDATA	The schema used by Oracle Spatial for storing Geocoder and router data	Oracle Spatial User's Guide and Reference
MDSYS	MDSYS	The Oracle Spatial and Oracle interMedia Locator administrator account	Oracle Spatial User's Guide and Reference
DMSYS	DMSYS	The data mining account. `DMSYS` performs data mining operations.	Oracle Data Mining Administrator's Guide Oracle Data Mining Concepts
OLAPSYS	MANAGER	The account used to create OLAP metadata structures. This account owns the OLAP Catalog (CWMLite).	Oracle OLAP Application Developer's Guide
ORDPLUGINS	ORDPLUGINS	The Oracle interMedia user. Plugins supplied by Oracle and third party format plugins are installed in this schema.	Oracle interMedia User's Guide
ORDSYS	ORDSYS	The Oracle interMedia administrator account	Oracle interMedia User's Guide
OUTLN	OUTLN	The account that supports plan stability. Plan stability enables you to maintain the same execution plans for the same SQL statements. `OUTLN` acts as a role to centrally manage metadata associated with stored outlines.	Oracle Database Performance Tuning Guide
SI_INF ORMTN_SCHEMA	SI_INFORMTN_SCHEMA	The account that stores the information views for the SQL/MM Still Image Standard	Oracle interMedia User's Guide
SYS	CHANGE_ON_INSTALL	The account used to perform database administration tasks	"About Administrative Accounts"
SYSMAN	CHANGE_ON_INSTALL	The account used to perform Oracle Enterprise Manager database administration tasks. Note that `SYS` and `SYSTEM` can also perform these tasks.	Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control Installation and Basic Configuration
SYSTEM	MANAGER	Another account used to perform database administration tasks	"About Administrative Accounts"

Sample Schemas

Most of the included accounts are administrative accounts, but Sample Schema accounts are also present. The Oracle Database Sample Schemas are a set of interlinked schemas that enable Oracle documentation, and Oracle by Example Series, to illustrate common database tasks:

The human resources (hr) schema is useful for introducing basic topics. An extension to this schema supports Oracle Internet Directory demos.
The order entry (oe) schema is useful for dealing with matters of intermediate complexity. Many datatypes are available in this schema, including nonscalar datatypes.
The online catalog (oc) subschema is a collection of object-relational database objects built inside the oe schema.
The product media (pm) schema is dedicated to multimedia datatypes.
The information exchange (ix) schemas demonstrate Oracle Advanced Queuing capabilities.
The sales history (sh) schema is designed for demos with large amounts of data. An extension to this schema provides support for advanced analytic processing.