Re: External tables. Security concerns.

From: <bdbafh_at_gmail.com>
Date: 18 Aug 2006 12:41:37 -0700
Message-ID: <1155930097.759651.173530@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>

artmt_at_hotmail.com wrote:
> I am considering using external tables for my ETL processes.
> The DBAs are telling me that their policy is not allow any access to
> the file system via the database - due to security concerns. This
> means no external tables, no directory objects, no utl_file.
> Are their concerns valid?
> Is there a way to use these features securely?
>
> Thanks
> Art

Does their security policy allow for the following statements?

create database ...
create tablespace ...
alter tablespace add datafile ...
create logfile ...
alter system set log_archive_dest= ...

As these all affect the database server's filesystem via the database.

I can understand their position in wanting to limit access to the database server's filesystems, but a properly configured setup that allows for this functionality to be used may be more efficient than forcing such data to be sql loaded into staging tables, then manipulated (meaning ETL in the database). Perhaps the additional space and workload might outweigh the (overly broad) security concerns?

-bdbafh Received on Fri Aug 18 2006 - 14:41:37 CDT