Working with Oracle SecureFiles

PeopleTools supports the use of Oracle SecureFiles. Oracle SecureFiles is a feature introduced with Oracle Database 11g and is designed to deliver high performance storage and retrieval for unstructured data files in your system. Traditionally, relational data is stored in a database while unstructured data is stored as files in the file system. Oracle SecureFiles enables you to store unstructured files in your database while maintaining performance comparable to the performance of traditional file systems, all while retaining the advantages of the Oracle database.

PeopleSoft applications generate and store a variety of unstructured data files, such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, text files, SQR reports, and so on. Using Oracle SecureFiles you can apply advanced capabilities, including encryption, compression, and versioning.

To use SecureFiles the following items need to be in place:

  • Tablespaces need to be created with ASSM (Automatic Segment Space Management). This is the default for PeopleSoft tablespaces.

  • Compatibility level should be set to 11.1 or higher.

  • Database Initialization parameter db_securefile must be set in init.ora. For example:

    ALTER SYSTEM SET db_securefile = 'ALWAYS'

Note: To use compression and encryption in LOB storage parameters you must purchase Oracle Advanced Security and Oracle Advanced Compression Packs.

PeopleTools preserves any SecureFiles storage parameters during a PeopleTools upgrade. For example:

  • If a table is defined as Secure File the customization would be retained.

  • If a table is defined as Basic File, it would be retained as a Basic File during upgrade.

Note: PeopleTools preserves any customization with respect to SecureFiles during an upgrade only. If you have made SecureFiles customizations to a table, and perform a Build for that record in Application Designer you could lose your SecureFiles changes. You can modify the build scripts to make sure underlying LOB objects are stored as secure files, as needed.

See Oracle® Database SecureFiles and Large Objects Developer's Guide 11g Release:"Using Oracle SecureFiles" for more information.