SecureFiles is a completely new architecture inside the Oracle

Database 11g for handling file or unstructured data word, pdf,

image, video and etc. Traditionally, we stored unstructured data in
data type of LOB/BLOB or in OS with reference to database. Before
Oracle 11g, there are many overheads if you store your unstructured
data in OS/LOB data type, like no smart backup mechanism, no storage
saving, no transaction/read consistency algorithm, no fine-grained
security control, no auditing and etc. In general: most of the
database features cannot be applied on it.
But now with SecureFiles, the advanced features are available only
for SecureFiles and do not apply to older LOBs or BasicFiles. The
new features in SecureFiles - Deduplication, Compression and
Encryption - can be setup independently or as a combination of one
or more features.
Using SecureFiles:
First of all, there is a new initialization parameter enables DBA to
specify SecureFIles usage inside database. From doc:
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/B28359_01/appdev.111/b28393/adlob_smart.ht
m#BABJFIBC
Parameter Name: db_securefile
Parameter Type: text
Allowable Values: { ALWAYS | FORCE | PERMITTED | NEVER | IGNORE }
Default Value: PERMITTED
Description: This parameter enables the database administrator to
either allow SECUREFILE LOBs to be created (PERMITTED), disallow
SECUREFILE LOBs from being created going forward (NEVER), force all
LOBs created going forward to be SECUREFILE LOBs (FORCE), attempt to
create SECUREFILE LOBs but fall back to BASICFILE LOBs (ALWAYS), or
disallow SECUREFILE LOBs and ignore any errors that would otherwise
be caused by forcing BASICFILE LOBs with SECUREFILE options
(IGNORE). Pls, read more details on this parameter from
documentation.
Example:
Prior to Oracle 11g, we would have defined the table as follows:
CREATE TABLE basic_tab (
id
NUMBER,
myblob BLOB
)
LOB(myblob)(tablespace users);

In Oracle 11g, as for backward compatibility, you would have define

it as below:
CREATE TABLE basic_tab (
id
NUMBER,
myblob BLOB
)
LOB(myblob) store as basicfile (tablespace users);

If you want to store the LOB as a SecureFile, all you have to do is

place a clause "store as securefile" in the table creation, as shown
below:
CREATE TABLE secure_tab (
id
NUMBER,
myblob BLOB
)
LOB(myblob) STORE AS SECUREFILE (tablespace users);
SQL>
2
3
4
5
6

CREATE TABLE basic_tab (

id number,
myblob BLOB
)
LOB(myblob) store as BASICFILE (tablespace users)
/

Table created.
SQL>
2
3
4
5
6

CREATE TABLE secure_tab(

id number,
myblob BLOB
)
LOB(myblob) store as SECUREFILE (tablespace users)
/

Table created.

Note: The tablespace where you are creating the securefile must be
Automatic Segment Space Management (ASSM) enabled, otherwise you
will meet with below error:
SQL>
2
3
4

CREATE TABLESPACE mytbs1

DATAFILE '/u01/app/oracle/oradata/ocmdb/mytbs01.dbf' SIZE 10M
EXTENT MANAGEMENT LOCAL
SEGMENT SPACE MANAGEMENT MANUAL;

Tablespace created.
SQL> CREATE TABLE secure_tab_ms(
2 id number,
3 myblob BLOB
4 )
5 LOB(myblob) store as securefile (tablespace mytbs1);
CREATE TABLE secure_tab_ms(
*
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-43853: SECUREFILE lobs cannot be used in non-ASSM tablespace "MYTBS1"

Your applications do not need to be changed in order to load data to

SecureFile LOBs, the same as you did for pre-11g LOB (BasicFile).
Deduplication:
In my opinion, deduplication is the most popular feature in
SecureFiles. Imagine you have 10 records each with BLOB. 6 of the
BLOBs are identical. Is it possible to store the BLOB only once and
store only the reference to that copy on other 5 records, it would
reduce the space consumption. This is possible in OS files but would
not have been possible in Oracle Database 10g LOBs. But with

SecureFiles it's actually trivial via a property called

deduplication. You can specify it during the table creation or
modify it later. Here, I will insert the same number of records to 2
tables: one with DEDUPLICATE option, another one with
KEEP_DUPLICATES. Later, we will see how much space used in each
case:
CREATE TABLE keep_duplicates_tab (
id
NUMBER,
myblob CLOB
)
LOB(myblob) STORE AS SECUREFILE (KEEP_DUPLICATES tablespace users);
CREATE TABLE deduplicate_tab (
id
NUMBER,
myblob
CLOB
)
LOB(myblob) STORE AS SECUREFILE (DEDUPLICATE tablespace users);
DECLARE
l_blob CLOB := RPAD('X', 10000, 'X');
BEGIN
FOR i IN 1 .. 1000 LOOP
INSERT INTO keep_duplicates_tab VALUES (i, l_blob);
END LOOP;
COMMIT;
FOR i IN 1 .. 1000 LOOP
INSERT INTO deduplicate_tab VALUES (i, l_blob);
END LOOP;
COMMIT;
END;
SQL> select l.table_name, l.segment_name, s.bytes from dba_lobs l,
user_segments s where l.table_name IN ('DEDUPLICATE_TAB',
'KEEP_DUPLICATES_TAB') AND S.SEGMENT_NAME = L.SEGMENT_NAME;
TABLE_NAME
SEGMENT_NAME
BYTES
------------------------------ ------------------------------ -----KEEP_DUPLICATES_TAB
SYS_LOB0000071365C00002$$
71303168
DEDUPLICATE_TAB
SYS_LOB0000071368C00002$$
327680
You can also reverse the deduplication process:
SQL> alter table deduplicate_tab modify lob(myblob) (keep_duplicates);
Table altered.
SQL> select l.table_name, l.segment_name, s.bytes from dba_lobs l,
user_segments s where l.table_name IN ('DEDUPLICATE_TAB',
'KEEP_DUPLICATES_TAB') AND S.SEGMENT_NAME = L.SEGMENT_NAME;
TABLE_NAME
-------------------------KEEP_DUPLICATES_TAB
DEDUPLICATE_TAB

SEGMENT_NAME
BYTES
------------------------------ ---------SYS_LOB0000071365C00002$$
71303168
SYS_LOB0000071368C00002$$
9764864

LOB Compression
Anothjer useful feature of SecureFile is COMPRESS. This option of
SecureFiles enables compression of LOB contents at table or
partition level. The level of compression is indicated using the
optional MEDIUM and HIGH keywords. If no compression level is
specified, MEDIUM is used:
CREATE TABLE nocompress_tab (
id
NUMBER,
myblob CLOB
)
LOB(myblob) STORE AS SECUREFILE nocompress_lob(NOCOMPRESS tablespace
users);
CREATE TABLE compress_tab (
id
NUMBER,
myblob CLOB
)
LOB(myblob) STORE AS SECUREFILE (COMPRESS HIGH tablespace users);
DECLARE
l_blob CLOB := RPAD('X', 10000, 'X');
BEGIN
FOR i IN 1 .. 1000 LOOP
INSERT INTO nocompress_tab VALUES (i, l_blob);
END LOOP;
COMMIT;
FOR i IN 1 .. 1000 LOOP
INSERT INTO compress_tab VALUES (i, l_blob);
END LOOP;
COMMIT;
END;
SQL> select l.table_name, l.segment_name, s.bytes from dba_lobs l,
user_segments s where l.table_name IN ('COMPRESS_TAB', 'NOCOMPRESS_TAB')
AND S.SEGMENT_NAME = L.SEGMENT_NAME;
TABLE_NAME
SEGMENT_NAME
BYTES
------------------------------ ------------------------------ ---------NOCOMPRESS_TAB
SYS_LOB0000071389C00002$$
71303168
COMPRESS_TAB
SYS_LOB0000071385C00002$$
131072

You can also reverse the compression process:

ALTER TABLE compress_tab MODIFY LOB(myblob) (NOCOMPRESS);
SQL> select l.table_name, l.segment_name, s.bytes from dba_lobs l,
user_segments s where l.table_name IN ('COMPRESS_TAB', 'NOCOMPRESS_TAB')
AND S.SEGMENT_NAME = L.SEGMENT_NAME;
TABLE_NAME
SEGMENT_NAME
BYTES
------------------------- ------------------------------ ---------NOCOMPRESS_TAB
SYS_LOB0000071389C00002$$
71303168
COMPRESS_TAB
SYS_LOB0000071385C00002$$
76808192