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Oracle® Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference
10g Release 2 (10.2)

Part Number B14258-01
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43 DBMS_FLASHBACK

Using DBMS_FLASHBACK, you can flash back to a version of the database at a specified wall-clock time or a specified system change number (SCN)

See Also:

For detailed information about DBMS_FLASHBACK:

This chapter contains the following topics:


Using DBMS_FLASHBACK


Overview

When DBMS_FLASHBACK is enabled, the user session uses the Flashback version of the database, and applications can execute against the Flashback version of the database.

You may want to use DBMS_FLASHBACK for the following reasons:


Security Model

To use this package, a database administrator must grant EXECUTE privileges for DBMS_FLASHBACK.


Exceptions

Table 43-1 DBMS_FLASHBACK Error Messages

Error Description
ORA-08180 Time specified is too old.
ORA-08181 Invalid system change number specified.
ORA-08182 User cannot begin read-only or serializable transactions in Flashback mode.
ORA-08183 User cannot enable Flashback within an uncommitted transaction.
ORA-08184 User cannot enable Flashback within another Flashback session.
ORA-08185 SYS cannot enable Flashback mode.


Operational Notes

DBMS_FLASHBACK is automatically turned off when the session ends, either by disconnection or by starting another connection.

PL/SQL cursors opened in Flashback mode return rows as of the flashback time or SCN. Different concurrent sessions (connections) in the database can perform Flashback to different wall-clock times or SCNs. DML and DDL operations and distributed operations are not allowed while a session is running in Flashback mode. You can use PL/SQL cursors opened before disabling Flashback to perform DML.

Under Automatic Undo Management (AUM) mode, you can use retention control to control how far back in time to go for the version of the database you need.If you need to perform a Flashback over a 24-hour period, the DBA should set the undo_retention parameter to 24 hours. This way, the system retains enough undo information to regenerate the older versions of the data.

You can set the RETENTION GUARANTEE clause for the undo tablespace to ensure that unexpired undo is not discarded.UNDO_RETENTION is not in itself a complete guarantee because, if the system is under space pressure, unexpired undo may be overwritten with freshly generated undo. In such cases, RETENTION GUARANTEE prevents this. For more information, see the Oracle Database Administrator's Guide

In a Flashback-enabled session, SYSDATE will not be affected; it will continue to provide the current time.

DBMS_FLASHBACK can be used within logon triggers to enable Flashback without changing the application code.


Examples

The following example illustrates how Flashback can be used when the deletion of a senior employee triggers the deletion of all the personnel reporting to him. Using the Flashback feature, you can recover and re-insert the missing employees.

DROP TABLE employee;
DROP TABLE keep_scn;

REM -- Keep_scn is a temporary table to store scns that we are interested in

CREATE TABLE keep_scn (scn number); 
SET ECHO ON 
CREATE TABLE employee ( 
   employee_no   number(5) PRIMARY KEY, 
   employee_name varchar2(20), 
   employee_mgr  number(5) 
      CONSTRAINT mgr_fkey REFERENCES EMPLOYEE ON DELETE CASCADE, 
   salary        number, 
   hiredate      date 
); 

REM -- Populate the company with employees
INSERT INTO employee VALUES (1, 'John Doe', null, 1000000, '5-jul-81'); 
INSERT INTO employee VALUES (10, 'Joe Johnson', 1, 500000, '12-aug-84'); 
INSERT INTO employee VALUES (20, 'Susie Tiger', 10, 250000, '13-dec-90'); 
INSERT INTO employee VALUES (100, 'Scott Tiger', 20, 200000, '3-feb-86'); 
INSERT INTO employee VALUES (200, 'Charles Smith', 100, 150000, '22-mar-88'); 
INSERT INTO employee VALUES (210, 'Jane Johnson', 100, 100000, '11-apr-87'); 
INSERT INTO employee VALUES (220, 'Nancy Doe', 100, 100000, '18-sep-93'); 
INSERT INTO employee VALUES (300, 'Gary Smith', 210, 75000, '4-nov-96'); 
INSERT INTO employee VALUES (310, 'Bob Smith', 210, 65000, '3-may-95'); 
COMMIT; 

REM -- Show the entire org
SELECT lpad(' ', 2*(level-1)) || employee_name Name 
FROM employee 
CONNECT BY PRIOR employee_no = employee_mgr 
START WITH employee_no = 1 
ORDER BY LEVEL; 

REM -- Sleep for a short time (approximately 10 to 20  seconds) to avoid 
REM -- querying close to table creation

EXECUTE DBMS_LOCK.SLEEP(10);

REM -- Store this snapshot for later access through Flashback
DECLARE 
I NUMBER; 
BEGIN 
I := DBMS_FLASHBACK.GET_SYSTEM_CHANGE_NUMBER; 
INSERT INTO keep_scn VALUES (I); 
COMMIT; 
END;
/

REM -- Scott decides to retire but the transaction is done incorrectly
DELETE FROM EMPLOYEE WHERE employee_name = 'Scott Tiger'; 
COMMIT; 

REM -- notice that all of scott's employees are gone 
SELECT lpad(' ', 2*(level-1)) || employee_name Name 
FROM EMPLOYEE 
CONNECT BY PRIOR employee_no = employee_mgr 
START WITH employee_no = 1 
ORDER BY LEVEL; 

REM -- Flashback to see Scott's organization
DECLARE 
   restore_scn number; 
BEGIN 
   SELECT  scn INTO restore_scn FROM keep_scn; 
   DBMS_FLASHBACK.ENABLE_AT_SYSTEM_CHANGE_NUMBER (restore_scn); 
END; 
/ 

REM -- Show Scott's org.
SELECT lpad(' ', 2*(level-1)) || employee_name Name 
FROM employee 
CONNECT BY PRIOR employee_no = employee_mgr 
START WITH employee_no = 
   (SELECT employee_no FROM employee WHERE employee_name = 'Scott Tiger') 
ORDER BY LEVEL; 

REM -- Restore scott's organization.
DECLARE 
   scotts_emp NUMBER; 
   scotts_mgr NUMBER; 
   CURSOR c1 IS 
      SELECT employee_no, employee_name, employee_mgr, salary, hiredate 
      FROM employee 
      CONNECT BY PRIOR employee_no = employee_mgr 
      START WITH employee_no = 
         (SELECT employee_no FROM employee WHERE employee_name = 'Scott Tiger'); 
   c1_rec c1 % ROWTYPE; 
BEGIN 
   SELECT employee_no, employee_mgr INTO scotts_emp, scotts_mgr FROM employee 
   WHERE employee_name = 'Scott Tiger'; 
   /* Open c1 in flashback mode */
   OPEN c1; 
   /* Disable Flashback */
   DBMS_FLASHBACK.DISABLE; 
 LOOP 
   FETCH c1 INTO c1_rec; 
   EXIT WHEN c1%NOTFOUND; 
   /*
     Note that all the DML operations inside the loop are performed
     with Flashback disabled
   */
   IF (c1_rec.employee_mgr = scotts_emp) then 
      INSERT INTO employee VALUES (c1_rec.employee_no, 
         c1_rec.employee_name, 
         scotts_mgr, 
         c1_rec.salary, 
         c1_rec.hiredate); 
   ELSE 
   IF (c1_rec.employee_no != scotts_emp) THEN 
   INSERT INTO employee VALUES (c1_rec.employee_no, 
         c1_rec.employee_name, 
         c1_rec.employee_mgr, 
         c1_rec.salary, 
         c1_rec.hiredate); 
      END IF; 
    END IF; 
 END LOOP; 
END; 
/ 

REM -- Show the restored organization.
select lpad(' ', 2*(level-1)) || employee_name Name 
FROM employee 
CONNECT BY PRIOR employee_no = employee_mgr 
START WITH employee_no = 1 
ORDER BY LEVEL; 

Summary of DBMS_FLASHBACK Subprograms

Table 43-2 DBMS_FLASHBACK Package Subprograms

Subprogram Description
DISABLE Procedure
Disables the Flashback mode for the entire session
ENABLE_AT_SYSTEM_CHANGE_NUMBER Procedure
Enables Flashback for the entire session. Takes an SCN as an Oracle number and sets the session snapshot to the specified number. Inside the Flashback mode, all queries will return data consistent as of the specified wall-clock time or SCN
ENABLE_AT_TIME Procedure
Enables Flashback for the entire session. The snapshot time is set to the SCN that most closely matches the time specified in query_time
GET_SYSTEM_CHANGE_NUMBER Function
Returns the current SCN as an Oracle number. You can use the SCN to store specific snapshots
SCN_TO_TIMESTAMP Function
Takes the current SCN as an Oracle number datatype and returns a TIMESTAMP.
TIMESTAMP_TO_SCN Function
Takes a TIMESTAMP as input and returns the current SCN as an Oracle number datatype


DISABLE Procedure

This procedure disables the Flashback mode for the entire session.

Syntax

DBMS_FLASHBACK.DISABLE;

Examples

The following example queries the salary of an employee, Joe, on August 30, 2000:

EXECUTE dbms_flashback.enable_at_time('30-AUG-2000');
SELECT salary FROM emp where name = 'Joe'
EXECUTE dbms_flashback.disable;

ENABLE_AT_SYSTEM_CHANGE_NUMBER Procedure

This procedure takes an SCN as an input parameter and sets the session snapshot to the specified number. In the Flashback mode, all queries return data consistent as of the specified wall-clock time or SCN. It enables Flashback for the entire session.

Syntax

DBMS_FLASHBACK.ENABLE_AT_SYSTEM_CHANGE_NUMBER (
   query_scn IN NUMBER);

Parameters

Table 43-3 ENABLE_AT_SYSTEM_CHANGE_NUMBER Procedure Parameters

Parameter Description
query_scn The system change number (SCN), a version number for the database that is incremented on every transaction commit.


ENABLE_AT_TIME Procedure

This procedure enables Flashback for the entire session. The snapshot time is set to the SCN that most closely matches the time specified in query_time.It enables Flashback for the entire session.

Syntax

DBMS_FLASHBACK.ENABLE_AT_TIME (
   query_time   IN TIMESTAMP);

Parameters

Table 43-4 ENABLE_AT_TIME Procedure Parameters

Parameter Description
query_time This is an input parameter of type TIMESTAMP. A time stamp can be specified in the following ways:
  • Using the TIMESTAMP constructor

    EXECUTE DBMS_FLASHBACK.ENABLE_AT_TIME(TIMESTAMP '2001-01-09 12:31:00'). 
    

    Use the Globalization Support (NLS) format and supply a string. The format depends on the Globalization Support settings.

  • Using the TO_TIMESTAMP function:

    EXECUTE DBMS_FLASHBACK.ENABLE_AT_TIME(TO_TIMESTAMP('12-02-2001 14:35:00', 'DD-MM-YYYY HH24:MI:SS'))
    

    You provide the format you want to use. This example shows the TO_TIMESTAMP function for February 12, 2001, 2:35 PM.

  • If the time is omitted from query time, it defaults to the beginning of the day, that is, 12:00 A.M.

  • Note that if the query time contains a time zone, the time zone information is truncated.



GET_SYSTEM_CHANGE_NUMBER Function

This function returns the current SCN as an Oracle number datatype. You can obtain the current change number and store it for later use. This helps you retain specific snapshots.

Syntax

DBMS_FLASHBACK.GET_SYSTEM_CHANGE_NUMBER
 RETURN NUMBER;

SCN_TO_TIMESTAMP Function

This function takes the SCN as an Oracle number datatype and returns the corresponding TIMESTAMP.

Syntax

DBMS_FLASHBACK.SCN_TO_TIMESTAMP
  query_scn  IN        NUMBER)
RETURN TIMESTAMP;

Parameters

Table 43-5 SCN_TO_TIMESTAMP Procedure Parameters

Parameter Description
query_scn The system change number (SCN), a version number for the database that is incremented on every transaction commit.


TIMESTAMP_TO_SCN Function

This function takes a TIMESTAMP as input and returns the corresponding SCN as an Oracle number datatype.

Syntax

DBMS_FLASHBACK.TIMESTAMP_TO_SCN
  query_time    IN        TIMESTAMP
RETURN NUMBER);

Parameters

Table 43-6 TIMESTAMP_TO_SCN Procedure Parameters

Parameter Description
query_time This is an input parameter of type TIMESTAMP. A time stamp can be specified in the following ways:
  • Using the TIMESTAMP constructor

    EXECUTE DBMS_FLASHBACK.ENABLE_AT_TIME(TIMESTAMP '2001-01-09 12:31:00')
    

    Use the Globalization Support (NLS) format and supply a string. The format depends on the Globalization Support settings.

  • Using the TO_TIMESTAMP function:

    EXECUTE DBMS_FLASHBACK.ENABLE_AT_TIME(TO_TIMESTAMP('12-02-2001 14:35:00', 'DD-MM-YYYY HH24:MI:SS'))
    

    You provide the format you want to use. This example shows the TO_TIMESTAMP function for February 12, 2001, 2:35 PM.

  • If the time is omitted from query time, it defaults to the beginning of the day, that is, 12:00 A.M.

  • Note that if the query time contains a time zone, the time zone information is truncated.