Donald K. Burleson    Oracle Utilities Tips

The dbms_alert_info Table

Practical Uses for dbms_alert

There are many times that users would prefer instant notification.  For a DBA, the following events may prove worthy of real-time alerts: 

·     Unauthorized users logging on to database

·     Unauthorized table access

·     Performance measurements, including long wait events and locks

·     Free space deficit

·     Queries that have exceeded n seconds in CPU usage

The dbms_alert package is a powerful tool that allows asynchronous notification of events.  Any event the DBA chooses can be monitored and communicated to any client application that registers an interest in the event.  The dbms_alert package is a great tool that enhances the monitoring skills of the DBA. 

The next utility describes how to send e-mail alerts from the database.

To learn more about these techniques, see the book "Advanced Oracle Utilities: The Definitive Reference". 

You can buy it directly from the publisher and get instant access to the code depot of utilities scripts.