RE: CREATE DATABASE LINK privilege discussion

> I'm in full agreement. I'm fighting a losing battle it 'seems' with dev's manager too - which is weird.
> It is exceedingly strange that 1 Dev complaining about not having access to Production data is reflecting negatively on my image/reputation.
> Suddenly I becoming that "guy who is hard to work with" because I'm insistent that this shouldn't be done.

You unfortunately have a political problem, not a technical one :S

This situation looks like you'll need to get your social skills working. That one dev complaining is probably the manager's friend and/or has a bigger audience then you. So IMHO should talk to this one dev in particular and try to understand exactly why he says he needs this link. Once you understand this, you can try to find another solution which would not have the db links and still allow him to work. Then I would go talk with the manager directly telling him that you a) did talk with this dev guy, b) why you don't think that granting a dev to create a database link from the dev to the prod systems is a good idea (get some references from books, best practices, etc) and c) the solution which would allow the devs to work without dev to prod db links.

If you have a different manager then the dev one, get him involved as well. If you're friend with the manager's manager, try to get him on your side. If upper management is on your side, then you should win. If you have an I.T. security division, talk to them. They can even find out the Oracle database links best practices for you and explain it to the devs and the managers (it's their job, so why not let them do your work ;) If your production system has some sensitive information, then explain to the security guys that the devs might be able to create db links to the production sensitive info. That should work wonders!

> And for the very reasons you mentioned. I even snapped a screenshot from Grid Control of the activity his session alone was generating.

That's perfect, it's exactly the kind of hard evidence you need to show both the devs, the manager and the security guys. If the manager has any common sense, he'll see the negative impact on production machines.

> Frustrating.

Yeah, big time! Keep you cool, it's the only way to win this one.

And good luck!

David

> Chris Taylor
> Sr. Oracle DBA
> Ingram Barge Company
> Nashville, TN 37205

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