DBA_FEATURE_USAGE_STATISTICS

Oracle introduced this view in version 10. It looks like this in version 11:

 

SQL> desc dba_feature_usage_statistics

Name                       Null?    Type

-------------------------- -------- ------------------

DBID                       NOT NULL NUMBER

NAME                       NOT NULL VARCHAR2(64)

VERSION                    NOT NULL VARCHAR2(17)

DETECTED_USAGES            NOT NULL NUMBER

TOTAL_SAMPLES              NOT NULL NUMBER

CURRENTLY_USED                      VARCHAR2(5)

FIRST_USAGE_DATE                    DATE

LAST_USAGE_DATE                     DATE

AUX_COUNT                           NUMBER

FEATURE_INFO                        CLOB

LAST_SAMPLE_DATE                    DATE

LAST_SAMPLE_PERIOD                  NUMBER

SAMPLE_INTERVAL                     NUMBER

DESCRIPTION                         VARCHAR2(128)

 

SQL>

 

As its name suggests, it allows you to see if a database uses a particular Oracle feature or not. In Oracle 11, it has over 150 entries:

 

SQL> l

  1  select count(*)

  2* from dba_feature_usage_statistics

SQL> /

 

  COUNT(*)

----------

       152

 

SQL>

 

Some of the features reported are shown below:

 

SQL> l

  1* select name from dba_feature_usage_statistics

SQL> /

 

 

NAME

-------------------------------------------------------

Encrypted Tablespaces

MTTR Advisor

Multiple Block Sizes

OLAP - Analytic Workspaces

OLAP - Cubes

Oracle Managed Files

Oracle Secure Backup

Parallel SQL DDL Execution

Parallel SQL DML Execution

Parallel SQL Query Execution

Partitioning (system)

Partitioning (user)

Oracle Text

PL/SQL Native Compilation

Real Application Clusters (RAC)

Recovery Area

Recovery Manager (RMAN)

RMAN - Disk Backup

RMAN - Tape Backup

Etc

 

I checked in a database where I did not think that SQL Loader had been used with the Direct Path option. The value in the DETECTED_USAGES column was zero:

 

SQL> l

  1  select detected_usages

  2  from dba_feature_usage_statistics

  3  where name =

  4* 'Oracle Utility SQL Loader (Direct Path Load)'

SQL> /

 

DETECTED_USAGES

---------------

              0

 

SQL>

 

I checked in a database where I had used SQL Loader with the Direct Path option a few times. The value in the DETECTED_USAGES column seemed far too high:

 

SQL> l

  1  select detected_usages

  2  from dba_feature_usage_statistics

  3  where name =

  4* 'Oracle Utility SQL Loader (Direct Path Load)'

SQL> /

 

DETECTED_USAGES

---------------

            231

 

SQL>

 

I will do some research and once I know how this figure is calculated, I will return to this post and update it.