Oracle - Bulk Load

Overview

The Oracle - Bulk Load Snap processes data in bulk using Oracle SQL*Loader to load data from a temporary data file or named pipe into the target table.

The input data is first written to either a temporary data file (on a Windows JCC) or a named pipe (on a Linux JCC). Then the Oracle SQL*Loader loads the data from the data file/named pipe into the target table.

Note:
  • The Oracle Bulk Load Snap uses Oracle SQL*Loader internally to perform the bulk load action. You must install sqlldr utility for the Snap to run on Groundplex. The SnapLogic Platform does not support the installation of utilities or processes on Cloudplexes. Learn more.
  • This Snap uses EZCONNECT to connect to Oracle. It does not use TNSNames or LDAP connections.
Important: JDBC Driver upgrade and behavior change

The Oracle JDBC Driver is upgraded from OJDBC6 JAR (v11.2.0.4) to OJDBC10 JAR (v19.20.0.0) in the latest distribution in October 2023 and deployed to the stable distribution in the November 2023 release (after the Snaplex upgrade). The latest JDBC driver upgrade is backward-compatible. Learn more: Oracle JDBC driver and JOOQ upgrades.

You can consume this driver upgrade with the 434patches23000 Snap Pack version.

This JDBC driver upgrade has resulted in specific behavior changes that include errors, status codes, and success and failure messages. Learn more about the behavior changes to ensure your migration to the upgraded driver is seamless.

  • This is a Write-type Snap.
  • Does not support Ultra Tasks

Prerequisites

None.

Known issues

  • When processing data, the Oracle Bulk Load Snap executes in an infinite loop when database storage reaches its full capacity.
  • Oracle - Bulk Load Snap does not support Kerberos authentication for Oracle.

Limitations

  • Columns in a table that do not contain actual values but are generated based on a formula are referred as virtual columns. Tables containing virtual columns cannot be bulk loaded using this Snap. The table must only contain actual values to be bulk loaded. A workaround for this issue is to use a view that specifies only the non-virtual columns and use that view for the bulk load. For more information about creating a view in the Oracle database, refer to Creating a view in Oracle database.
  • The BLOB type is not supported by this Snap.

Behavior changes

This JDBC driver upgrade has resulted in specific behavior changes that include errors, status codes, and success and failure messages. Learn more about the behavior changes to ensure your migration to the upgraded driver is seamless.

Snap views

Type Description Examples of upstream and downstream Snaps
Input

This Snap has one document input view by default.

A second view can be added for metadata for the table as a document so that the target absent table can be created in the database with a similar schema as the source table. This schema is usually from the second output of a database Select Snap. If the schema is from a different database, there is no guarantee that all the data types would be properly handled.

Output

This Snap has at most one document output view.

Learn more about Error handling.

Snap settings

Legend:
  • Expression icon (): Allows using pipeline parameters to set field values dynamically (if enabled). SnapLogic Expressions are not supported. If disabled, you can provide a static value.
  • SnapGPT (): Generates SnapLogic Expressions based on natural language using SnapGPT. Learn more.
  • Suggestion icon (): Populates a list of values dynamically based on your Snap configuration. You can select only one attribute at a time using the icon. Type into the field if it supports a comma-separated list of values.
  • Upload : Uploads files. Learn more.
Learn more about the icons in the Snap settings dialog.

In a scenario where the Auto commit on the account is set to true, and the downstream Snap depends on the data processed on an Upstream Database Bulk Load Snap, use the Script Snap to add delay for the data to be available.

For example, when performing a create, insert and a delete function sequentially on a pipeline, using a Script Snap helps in creating a delay between the insert and delete function or otherwise it may turn out that the delete function is triggered even before inserting the records on the table.

Field/Field set Description

Label

String

Required. Specify a unique name for the Snap. Modify this to be more appropriate, especially if more than one of the same Snaps is in the pipeline.

Default value: Oracle - Bulk Load

Schema name

String/Expression/ Suggestion

Specify the database schema name. The suggestions in the Schema field are populated only when at least a single table exists in the schema. If no tables exist to use that schema, only SYS, SYSTEM, and XDB are populated.

The values can be passed using the Pipeline parameters but not the upstream parameter.

Default value: None

Example: SYS

Table name*

String/Expression/ Suggestion

Required. Specify the table that the rows will be inserted into. This list is populated based on the tables associated with the selected schema.

The values can be passed using the Pipeline parameters but not the upstream parameter.

Default value: None

Example: people

Create table if not present

Checkbox

Select this checkbox to automatically create the target table if it does not exist.

  • If a second input view is configured for the Snap and it contains a document with schema (metadata) from the source table, the Snap creates the new (target) table using the same schema (metadata). However, if the schema comes from a different database, the Snap might fail with the Unable to create table: "<table_name>" error due to data type incompatibility.
  • In the absence of a second input view, the Snap creates a table based on the data types of the columns generated from the first row of the input document (first input view).
Note: Due to implementation details, a newly created table is not visible to subsequent database Snaps during runtime validation. If you want to immediately use the newly updated data you must use a child Pipeline that is invoked through a Pipeline Execute Snap.

Default value: Not selected

Sqlldr absolute path

String/Expression

Specify the absolute path of the sqlldr program in the JCC's file system. If empty, the Snap will look for it in the JCC's environment variable PATH.

Note: On Windows, a value must be specified and must be entered manually and the path to the sqlldr executable should include the ".exe" extension to ensure the executable is actually referenced.

Default value: None

Example: /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/bin/sqlldr (For Linux)

Example: C:\app\Administrator\product\11.2.0\client_1\bin\sqlldr.exe (For Windows)

Insert mode

Dropdown list

Available insert modes when loading data into table.

  • INSERT - Load rows only if the target table is empty.
  • APPEND - If data already exists in the table, the new rows are appended to the table. If data does not already exist, the new rows are simply loaded.
  • REPLACE - First delete all the rows in the existing table and then load rows.
  • TRUNCATE - First truncate the table and then load rows.

Default value: APPEND

See this doc for more information.

Maximum error count

Integer/Expression

Required. Specify the maximum number of rows which can fail before the bulk load operation is stopped.

Default value: 50

Example: 10 (if you want the Pipeline execution to continue as far as the number of failed records are less than 10)

Use direct path load

Checkbox

Select this check box to use direct path load mode of SQLLDR program. Typically, used when loading large data sets. This substantially improves the bulk load performance by reducing loading time.

Default value: Selected

Skip virtual columns

Checkbox

Select this checkbox to skip virtual columns to prevent errors while loading data.

Default value: Selected

Additional SQL Loader Parameters

Use this field set to define additional SQL Load parameters if any. This field set contains Param Name and Param Value fields.
Parameter Name

Dropdown list

Choose the parameter name for SQL. Available options are:

  • BINDSIZE
  • COLUMNARRAYROWS
  • DIRECT
  • LOAD
  • MULTITHREADING
  • PARALLEL
  • READSIZE
  • RESUMABLE
  • RESUMABLE_NAME
  • RESUMABLE_TIMEOUT
  • ROWS
  • SILENT
  • SKIP
  • SKIP_INDEX
  • MAINTENANCE
  • SKIP_UNUSABLE_INDEXES
  • STREAMSIZE

See SQL* Loader parameters for more information.

Default value: N/A

Example: COLUMNARRAYROWS

Parameter Value

String/Expression

Specify the value for the parameter selected above.

Default value: N/A

Example: 2000

Column Length Overrides

Use this field set to define values for overriding the column length that includes CLOB (Character Large Object) and NCLOB (National Character Large Object) data types. Add each column in a separate row. The field set contains the following fields: Column Name and Length.
Column Name

String/Expression/ Suggestion

Specify or select the name of the column in the table that you want to load.

Default value: N/A

Example: DESCRIPTION, MESSAGE_BODY

Length (in bytes)

Integer/Expression

Specify a value (in bytes) for the column length.

Default value: N/A

Example: 10

Snap execution

Dropdown list
Choose one of the three modes in which the Snap executes. Available options are:
  • Validate & Execute: Performs limited execution of the Snap and generates a data preview during pipeline validation. Subsequently, performs full execution of the Snap (unlimited records) during pipeline runtime.
  • Execute only: Performs full execution of the Snap during pipeline execution without generating preview data.
  • Disabled: Disables the Snap and all Snaps that are downstream from it.

Default value: Execute only

Example: Validate & execute

Important:

In a scenario where the Auto commit on the account is set to true, and the downstream Snap depends on the data processed by an upstream Database Bulk Load Snap, use the Script Snap to add delay for the data to be available.

For example, when performing a create, insert, and a delete function sequentially on a pipeline, using a Script Snap helps in creating a delay between the insert and delete function so that the delete function is not triggered before inserting the records on the table.

Examples

Bulk load records into a table