Access Network File System from Autonomous Database

You can attach a Network File System to a directory location in your Autonomous Database.

This allows you to load data from Oracle Cloud Infrastructure File Storage in your Virtual Cloud Network (VCN) or from any other Network File System in on-premises data centers.

Supporting Network File System allows you to do the following:

Connect to an Autonomous Database instance from a legacy application and use the file system to load and unload data.
Analyze data from different sources in an Autonomous Database.
Secure access to data in an Autonomous Database from the file systems in an on-premises data center or Private Virtual Cloud Networks (VCNs).

Topics

Attach Network File System to Autonomous Database

Use DBMS_CLOUD_ADMIN.ATTACH_FILE_SYSTEM to attach a file system to a directory in your Autonomous Database.

Note:

The DBMS_CLOUD_ADMIN.ATTACH_FILE_SYSTEM procedure can only attach a private File Storage Service to databases that are on private endpoints.

To access data in an Autonomous Database from the file systems in an on-premises data center you must set up FastConnect or a Site-to-Site VPN to connect to the on-premises data center. See FastConnect and Site-to-Site VPN for more information.

Create a directory or use an existing directory to attach a Network File System in your Autonomous Database. You must have WRITE privilege on the directory object on your Autonomous Database instance to attach a file system to a directory location in the database.
For example, the following command creates the database directory named FSS_DIR and creates the file system directory fss:
```
CREATE DIRECTORY FSS_DIR AS ‘fss’;
```
See Create Directory in Autonomous Database for more information.
Run DBMS_CLOUD_ADMIN.ATTACH_FILE_SYSTEM to attach a file system to a directory in your Autonomous Database. To run this procedure, you must be logged in as the ADMIN user or have EXECUTE privilege on DBMS_CLOUD_ADMIN.
```
BEGIN
   DBMS_CLOUD_ADMIN.ATTACH_FILE_SYSTEM (
    file_system_name      => 'FSS',
    file_system_location  => 'myhost.sub000445.myvcn.oraclevcn.com:/results',
    directory_name        => 'FSS_DIR',  
    description           => 'Source NFS for sales data'                                   
);                                                                          
END;                                                                          
/
```
This example attaches the network file system specified in the file_system_name parameter to the Autonomous Database.

The file_system_location parameter specifies the location of the file system. The value you supply with file_system_location consists of a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) and a file path in the form: FQDN:file_path.

For example:
- FQDN: myhost.sub000445.myvcn.oraclevcn.com
  
  For Oracle Cloud Infrastructure File Storage set the FQDN in Show Advanced Options when you create a file system. See Creating File Systems for more information.
- File Path: /results
The directory_name parameter specifies the directory name in the Autonomous Database where you want to attach the file system. This is the directory you created in Step 1, or another directory you previously created.

The description parameter specifies the description for the task.

After you attach a file system you can query the DBA_CLOUD_FILE_SYSTEMS view to retrieve information about the attached file system.

For example:


SELECT file_system_name, file_system_location, directory_path                      
   FROM dba_cloud_file_systems
   WHERE file_system_name = 'FSS';

This query returns details for the FSS file system name.

See DBA_CLOUD_FILE_SYSTEMS View for more information.

With an attached file system you can read and write to files on an attached file system using any PL/SQL API that accepts a directory name. For example, you can use any of the following methods to work with an attached NFS directory:

The UTL_FILE package.
Data Pump Export and Import utilities.
The DBMS_CLOUD APIs that work with directories such as DBMS_CLOUD.LIST_FILES and DBMS_CLOUD.PUT_OBJECT.

Example showing a write a file on an attached file system using UTL_FILE:

DECLARE
  l_file         UTL_FILE.FILE_TYPE;
  l_location     VARCHAR2(100) := 'FSS_DIR';
  l_filename     VARCHAR2(100) := 'test.csv';
BEGIN
  -- Open the file.
  l_file := UTL_FILE.FOPEN(l_location, l_filename, 'w');
   
  UTL_FILE.PUT(l_file, 'Scott, male, 1000');
 
  -- Close the file.
  UTL_FILE.FCLOSE(l_file);
END;
/

Example showing a read a file on an attached file system using UTL_FILE:

DECLARE
  l_file         UTL_FILE.FILE_TYPE;
  l_location     VARCHAR2(100) := 'FSS_DIR';
  l_filename     VARCHAR2(100) := 'test.csv';
  l_text         VARCHAR2(32767);
BEGIN
  -- Open the file.
  l_file := UTL_FILE.FOPEN(l_location, l_filename, 'r');
 
  UTL_FILE.GET_LINE(l_file, l_text, 32767);
 
  -- Close the file.
  UTL_FILE.FCLOSE(l_file);
END;
/

Example showing list files on an attached file system using DBMS_CLOUD.LIST_FILES:

SELECT object_name FROM DBMS_CLOUD.LIST_FILES('FSS_DIR');

Notes for using DBMS_CLOUD_ADMIN.ATTACH_FILE_SYSTEM:

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure File Storage uses NFS Version 3 to share
If you attach to non-Oracle Cloud Infrastructure File Storage systems, the procedure supports NFS Version 2 and NFS Version 3
DBMS_CLOUD_ADMIN.ATTACH_FILE_SYSTEM does not support NFS Version 4

See the following for more information:

Detach Network File System from Autonomous Database

Use the DBMS_CLOUD_ADMIN.DETACH_FILE_SYSTEM procedure to detach a file system from a directory in your Autonomous Database.

Note:

The DBMS_CLOUD_ADMIN.DETACH_FILE_SYSTEM procedure can only detach a private File Storage Service from the databases that are on private endpoints.

You must have the WRITE privilege on the directory object to detach a file system from a directory location.

Run DBMS_CLOUD_ADMIN.DETACH_FILE_SYSTEM procedure to detach a file system from a directory location in your Autonomous Database. To run this procedure, you must be logged in as the ADMIN user or have the EXECUTE privilege on DBMS_CLOUD_ADMIN.

BEGIN
   DBMS_CLOUD_ADMIN.DETACH_FILE_SYSTEM (
    file_system_name      => 'FSS'                                       
  );                                                                          
END;                                                                          
/

This example detaches the network file system specified in the file_system_name parameter from the Autonomous Database. You must provide a value for this parameter.

The information about this file system is removed from the DBA_CLOUD_FILE_SYSTEMS view.

See the following for more information:

DBA_CLOUD_FILE_SYSTEMS View

The DBA_CLOUD_FILE_SYSTEMS view lists the information about the network file system attached to a directory location in the database.

Column	Description
`FILE_SYSTEM_NAME`	File system name
`FILE_SYSTEM_LOCATION`	File system location
`DIRECTORY_NAME`	Attached directory name
`DIRECTORY_PATH`	Attached directory path
`DESCRIPTION`	The value provided for the description parameter when you run `DBMS_CLOUD_ADMIN.ATTACH_FILE_SYSTEM`
`CREATION_TIME`	Creation timestamp