How to connect to UNIX OS from oracle stored procedure

Question

Hi,
I need to connect to UNIX OS from oracle stored procedure.
Curently working in Oracle9i.
I tried in google but I could'nt get any.
Can you send me pointers on how to do this.
Thanks,
Kavitha.

Answer 1

Can use Java Stored Proc, or an External Proc.
Java method:
create or replace and compile Java Source named "OSCommand" as
-- java:        OS COMMAND
-- descr:       Executes an Operating System Command using the JAVA RTS
-- IN parameter:        os command to execute (including fully qualified path names)
-- OUT parameter:       returncode [\nstring]
--                      where string a max of 32000 chars of the output of the command
--                      (note that \n is used as separators in the string)
--                      returncode=-1   Java RTS error occurred (e.g. command does not exist)
--                      returncode=255  o/s command failed (e.g. invalid command params)
import java.io.*;
import java.lang.*;
public class OSCommand{
        public static String Run(String Command){
                Runtime rt = Runtime.getRuntime();
                int     rc = -1;
                try{
                        Process p = rt.exec( Command );
                        int bufSize = 32000;
                        int len = 0;
                        byte buffer[] = new byte[bufSize];
                        String s = null;
                        BufferedInputStream bis = new BufferedInputStream( p.getInputStream(), bufSize );
                        len = bis.read( buffer, 0, bufSize );
                        rc = p.waitFor();
                        if ( len != -1 ){
                                s = new String( buffer, 0, len );
                                return( s );
                        return( rc+"" );
                catch (Exception e){
                        e.printStackTrace();
                        return(  "-1\ncommand[" + Command + "]\n" + e.getMessage() );
show errors
create or replace function osexec( cCommand IN string ) return varchar2 is
-- function:    OS EXEC
-- descr:       Executes an Operating System Command
language        JAVA
name            'OSCommand.Run(java.lang.String) return java.lang.String';
show errors===
This can then be used from PL/SQL and even SQL. e.g.
SQL> select osexec( '/bin/date' ) from dual;
OSEXEC('/BIN/DATE')
Wed Nov  9 13:30:13 SAST 2005
SQL>Note the Java permissions required - replace FOO with the name of applicable Oracle schema
==begin
        dbms_java.grant_permission(
                'FOO',
                'SYS:java.io.FilePermission',
                '<<ALL FILES>>',
                'execute'
        dbms_java.grant_permission(
                'FOO',
                'SYS:java.lang.RuntimePermission',
                'writeFileDescriptor',
        dbms_java.grant_permission(
                'FOO',
                'SYS:java.lang.RuntimePermission',
                'readFileDescriptor',
        commit;
end;
/==
Last thing... note that opens a potential giant size security hole into the Oracle Server Platform. So implement it properly using a proper Oracle security model.