CREATE DATABASE LINK

Syntax

authenticated_clause::=

Purpose

To create a database link. A database link is a schema object in the local database that allows you to access objects on a remote database. The remote database need not be an Oracle system.

Once you have created a database link, you can use it to refer to tables and views on the remote database. You can refer to a remote table or view in a SQL statement by appending @dblink to the table or view name. You can query a remote table or view with the SELECT statement. If you are using Oracle with the distributed option, you can also access remote tables and views using any of the following statements:

• "DELETE"

• "INSERT"

• "LOCK TABLE"

• "UPDATE"

For information about accessing remote tables or views with PL/SQL functions, procedures, packages, and datatypes, see Oracle8i Application Developer's Guide - Fundamentals. For information on distributed database systems, see Oracle8i Distributed Database Systems.

Prerequisites

To create a private database link, you must have CREATE DATABASE LINK system privilege. To create a public database link, you must have CREATE PUBLIC DATABASE LINK system privilege.

You must have CREATE SESSION privilege on the remote Oracle database.

Net8 must be installed on both the local and remote Oracle databases.

To access non-Oracle systems you must use the Oracle Heterogeneous Services.

Keyword and Parameters

SHARED	uses a single network connection to create a public database link that can be shared between multiple users. This clause is available only with the multi-threaded server configuration. See Also: Oracle8i Distributed Database Systems for more information about shared database links.
PUBLIC	creates a public database link available to all users. If you omit this clause, the database link is private and is available only to you.
dblink	is the complete or partial name of the database link. For guidelines for naming database links, see "Referring to Objects in Remote Databases".
	Restrictions: You cannot create a database link in another user's schema, and you cannot qualify dblink with the name of a schema. (Periods are permitted in names of database links, so Oracle interprets the entire name, such as RALPH.LINKTOSALES, as the name of a database link in your schema rather than as a database link named LINKTOSALES in the schema RALPH.) The number of different database links that can appear in a single statement is limited to the value of the initialization parameter OPEN_LINKS.
CONNECT TO	enables a connection to the remote database.
CURRENT_USER	creates a current user database link. The current user must be a global user with a valid account on the remote database for the link to succeed. If the database link is used directly, that is, not from within a stored object, then the current user is the same as the connected user.
	When executing a stored object (such as a procedure, view, or trigger) that initiates a database link, CURRENT_USER is the username that owns the stored object, and not the username that called the object. For example, if the database link appears inside procedure SCOTT.P (created by SCOTT), and user JANE calls procedure SCOTT.P, the current user is SCOTT.
	However, if the stored object is an invoker-rights function, procedure, or package, the invoker's authorization ID is used to connect as a remote user. For example, if the privileged database link appears inside procedure SCOTT.P (an invoker-rights procedure created by SCOTT), and user JANE calls procedure SCOTT.P, then CURRENT_USER is JANE and the procedure executes with JANE's privileges. See Also: "CREATE FUNCTION" for more information on invoker-rights functions.
user IDENTIFIED BY password	is the username and password used to connect to the remote database (fixed user database link). If you omit this clause, the database link uses the username and password of each user who is connected to the database (connected user database link).
authenticated_clause	specifies the username and password on the target instance. This clause authenticates the user to the remote server and is required for security. The specified username and password must be a valid username and password on the remote instance. The username and password are used only for authentication. No other operations are performed on behalf of this user.
	You must specify this clause when using the SHARED clause.
USING 'connect string'	specifies the service name of a remote database. For information on specifying remote databases, see Net8 Administrator's Guide.

Examples

CURRENT_USER Example

The following statement defines a current-user database link:

CREATE DATABASE LINK sales.hq.acme.com
   CONNECT TO CURRENT_USER
   USING 'sales';

Fixed User Example

The following statement defines a fixed-user database link named SALES.HQ.ACME.COM:

CREATE DATABASE LINK sales.hq.acme.com 
   CONNECT TO scott IDENTIFIED BY tiger 
   USING 'sales';

Once this database link is created, you can query tables in the schema SCOTT on the remote database in this manner:

SELECT *
   FROM [e-mail];

You can also use DML statements to modify data on the remote database:

INSERT INTO [e-mail](acc_no, acc_name, balance)
   VALUES (5001, 'BOWER', 2000);

UPDATE [e-mail] 
   SET balance = balance + 500;

DELETE FROM [e-mail] 
   WHERE acc_name = 'BOWER';

You can also access tables owned by other users on the same database. This statement assumes SCOTT has access to ADAM's DEPT table:

SELECT *
   FROM [e-mail];

The previous statement connects to the user SCOTT on the remote database and then queries ADAM's DEPT table.

A synonym may be created to hide the fact that SCOTT's EMP table is on a remote database. The following statement causes all future references to EMP to access a remote EMP table owned by SCOTT:

CREATE SYNONYM emp 
   FOR [e-mail];

PUBLIC Example

The following statement defines a shared public fixed user database link named SALES.HQ.ACME.COM that refers to user SCOTT with password TIGER on the database specified by the string service name 'SALES':

CREATE SHARED PUBLIC DATABASE LINK sales.hq.acme.com 
   CONNECT TO scott IDENTIFIED BY tiger 
   AUTHENTICATED BY anupam IDENTIFIED BY bhide
   USING 'sales';