Database actions (previously known as SQL Developer Web) can be accessed from Oracle Autonomous Database. In this post we will look at what Database Actions are, how to access/use them and also how to grant access to other users to make the most out of the features available.

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What is “Database Actions”?

Database Actions, available with Oracle Autonomous Database, is a web-based interface which leverages ORDS (Oracle REST Data Services) to provide a rich set of features for development, data studio, administration and monitoring Oracle Autonomous Database services. This is relevant for both Oracle Autonomous Data Warehouse (ADW) and Oracle Autonomous Transaction Processing (ATP) service instances.

At a high-level, features of “database actions” include execution of SQL statements/scripts, the creation of data modeler diagrams, developing RESTful web services, managing JSON collections, using Data Load/Catalog/Insight features and data transformation tools. See further down this post for a full list and description of available features.

Accessing “Database Actions” – ADMIN User

Note 1: The details below assume that you already have an Oracle Cloud free tier (or upgraded!) account. If you don’t you can get one here.
Note 2: The details below assume that you already have a provisioned & active Oracle Autonomous Database service instance. If you do not, you may wish to follow the steps in my posts: Creating an ATP Database in Oracle Cloud & Connecting to an ATP Database in Oracle Cloud
Note 3: Given the regular release schedule present in Oracle Cloud, it is possible that the screens may change somewhat beyond the writing of this post. If this happens, please comment on this post and I will try to help you out. (and update this post!)

The following steps can be used to access the Database Actions Launchpad:

Step 1: Log into your Oracle Cloud account (free tier is suitable)

Step 2: Click on the menu icon (often referred to as “Hamburger” or “Pancake Stack” icon)

Step 3: Select “Oracle Database” and then select “Autonomous Database”

Step 4: Click on the database instance you will use – In my case I will use “ASG_ATP_DB” which is an ATP instance.

Step 5: Click “Database Actions”

You will be presented with the Database Actions Launchpad. By default, this will open as the “admin” user that was provisioned when you created your instance.

You can also download and deploy Database Actions for use in your on-premises Oracle Database. For more information, see the Oracle documentation Oracle Database Actions for On-Premises Oracle Database

Granting “Database Actions” access to other DB Users

As database users who do not have service administration privileges, do not have access to the Oracle Cloud Console, you must use your ADMIN user to grant access to other database users if you want to be able to take advantage of the rich features available in Database Actions.

To grant “Database Actions” to existing database users, follow the below steps:

Step 1: Log into your Oracle Cloud account (free tier is suitable)

Step 2: Click on the menu icon (often referred to as “Hamburger” or “Pancake Stack” icon)

Step 3: Select “Oracle Database” and then select “Autonomous Database”

Step 4: Click on the database instance you will use – In my case I will use “ASG_ATP_DB” which is an ATP instance.

Step 5: Click “Database Actions”

Step 6: In the administration block of the Database Actions Launchpad, click “Database Users”

Step 7: In the database users administration page, you will see information about existing users of your database such as usernames, if REST is enabled for this user, the last date & time that the user logged. On each user card, the icon displays the user status by colour (note that I have filtered by only users with “Open” status):

• Green = Open
• Amber = Locked
• Red = Expired

A URL is available in the user’s card information if the user is REST enabled. In my screenshot below, only my ADMIN user is enabled (I have blocked out the URL with a red line).

Step 8: Click on the “3 dot” icon for the user that you wish to provide access to the Database Action toolset.

Step 9: Click “Enable REST” and then click “REST Enable User”

Step 10: Now, my HR user card has a URL. Use the copy icon to share the URL with the user.

The user will now be able to use this URL to access the database actions tools available based on their privileges.

“Database Actions” Features

A number of features are available within database actions. Note that some features may only be available for users with administrator privileges. See here to view required roles to access tools from database actions.

1. Development

• SQL: Execute queries and scripts, browse and manage your database objects, load data, create charts, and optimize SQL queries using graphical execution plans.
• Data Modeler: Reverse-engineer schemas to relational diagrams and data dictionary reports, and generate DDL for your objects.
• REST: An IDE for your REST APIs that enables you to manage templates, handlers and OAuth clients, generate API documentation, and test APIs.
• Liquibase: View ChangeLogs applied to your schema.
• JSON: Create collections, upload documents, query and filter your data, create diagrams for your JSON document structures, and create relational views and indexes.
• Charts: Use SQL queries to build rich charts and dashboards containing multiple charts.
• Scheduling: An interface for DBMS_SCHEDULER that enables you to monitor jobs, view execution history, forecast upcoming jobs, and visualize scheduler chains.
• Oracle Machine Learning: Oracle Machine Learning provides several components accessible through a common user interface.
• APEX: Login to APEX, develop and run rich, low-code web applications.
• Graph Studio: Oracle Graph Studio lets you create property graph databases and automates the creation of graph models and in-memory graphs from database tables.

2. Data Studio

• Data Studio Overview: Data Studio Tools
• Data Load: Load or access data from local files or remote databases.
• Catalog: Understand data dependencies and the impact of changes.
• Data Insights: Discover anomalies, outliers and hidden patterns in your data.
• Data Transforms: Transform data for analysis and other applications.
• Data Analysis: Analyze your data.

3. Administration

• Database Users: REST enable schemas, change passwords, assign storage quota, and identify accounts with passwords that will expire soon.
• APEX Workspaces: Create and delete APEX workspaces, view the list of applications, developers, and administrators assigned, toggle to the associated Oracle schema.
• Data Pump: View Data Pump jobs and use our wizard to quickly create and run import jobs.
• Download Client Credentials (Wallet): Connections to Autonomous Database use a secure connection. Your existing tools and applications will need to use this wallet file to connect to your Autonomous Database instance. If you are familiar with using an Oracle Database within your own data center, you may not have previously used these secure connections.
• Set Resource Management Rules: Set resource management rules to allocate CPU/IO shares to consumer groups and to cancel SQL statements based on their runtime and amount of IO.

4. Monitoring

• Performance Hub: Access SQL Monitoring reports and Active Session History (ASH) Analytics.
• Database Dashboard: Monitor database activity charts such as CPU usage, number of executing SQL statements, and wait events formerly found on your Autonomous Database Service Console.

5. Downloads

• Download Oracle Instant Client: This is a free, light-weight set of tools, libraries and SDKs for building and connecting applications. 
• Download SODA Drivers: Simple Oracle Document Access (SODA) is a set of APIs for using collections of JSON documents stored in Oracle Database. SODA drivers are available for Java, Node.js, Python, C, PL/SQL, and REST.

6. Related Services

• RESTful Services and SODA: Oracle Machine Learning provides REST APIs for OML4Py Embedded Python Execution and OML Services.
• Oracle Machine Learning RESTful Services: Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) provides HTTPS interfaces for working with the contents of your Oracle Database in one or more REST enabled schemas.