Learning is not a spectator sport

It seems an odd thing that so many facilities on the cloud environment take advantage of the concept of stored database credentials when it comes to authenticating/authorising access to those facilities, but a database link on your on-premise database typically will still require the username and password hard-coded as part of the DDL in the CREATE DATABASE link command. That creates a nuisance when you are wanting to deploy scripts securely.

But you’ll be pleased to know you can now also use a stored credential for your database links, eg

SQL> exec dbms_credential.create_credential('SCOTT_CRED', 'SCOTT', 'tiger')

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

SQL> create database link mydblink connect with SCOTT_CRED using 'pdb21a';

Database link created.

SQL> select * from dual@mydblink;

D
-
X

SQL>

Full disclosure: The capability actually arrived in 21c, but since 99% of you are on 19c it is likely the first time you can start to take advantage of it is once you upgrade to 26ai.

Similarly, there is probably a huge stack of other 21c features that you’ve never explored, that its probably time to go back and take a look at as you plan your upgrades to 26ai.

Enjoy!