Allowing users to see oracle host_name

Hi,

I want to display the host_name of the Oracle server in the 'About' box of my application. Of coure only SYS or SYSDBAs have access to V$INSTANCE, so a straight select simply won't work for most users. I tried to put the select in a package (on the basis that it would then run under the permissions of the packages creator), but Oracle wouldn't recognise V$INSTANCE.

The issue arises because for testing purposes the customer frequently rebuilds a backup machine from a copy of the main database. We need to be 100% certain which we are connected to before doing any tests.

What's the easiest way to accomplish this given that a) we're not getting paid for this so we don't want to expend too much effort and b) don't want to compromise security?

Thanks in advance,
Seán Hennessy Received on Tue Jul 01 2003 - 08:51:45 CDT