ALTER PROFILE

Purpose

Use the ALTER PROFILE statement to add, modify, or remove a resource limit or password management parameter in a profile.

Changes made to a profile with an ALTER PROFILE statement affect users only in their subsequent sessions, not in their current sessions.

Prerequisites

You must have ALTER PROFILE system privilege to change profile resource limits. To modify password limits and protection, you must have ALTER PROFILE and ALTER USER system privileges.

Syntax

alter_profile::=

Description of the illustration alter_profile.gif

(resource_parameters::=, password_parameters::=)

resource_parameters::=

Description of the illustration resource_parameters.gif

(size_clause::=)

password_parameters::=

Description of the illustration password_parameters.gif

Semantics

The keywords, parameters, and clauses in the ALTER PROFILE statement all have the same meaning as in the CREATE PROFILE statement.

You cannot remove a limit from the DEFAULT profile.

Refer to CREATE PROFILE and to the examples in the next section for more information.

Examples

Making a Password Unavailable: Example The following statement makes the password of the new_profile profile (created in "Creating a Profile: Example") unavailable for reuse for 90 days:

ALTER PROFILE new_profile 
   LIMIT PASSWORD_REUSE_TIME 90 
   PASSWORD_REUSE_MAX UNLIMITED;

Setting Default Password Values: Example The following statement defaults the PASSWORD_REUSE_TIME value of the app_user profile (created in "Setting Profile Resource Limits: Example") to its defined value in the DEFAULT profile:

ALTER PROFILE app_user 
   LIMIT PASSWORD_REUSE_TIME DEFAULT
   PASSWORD_REUSE_MAX UNLIMITED;

Limiting Login Attempts and Password Lock Time: Example The following statement alters profile app_user with FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS set to 5 and PASSWORD_LOCK_TIME set to 1:

ALTER PROFILE app_user LIMIT
   FAILED_LOGIN_ATTEMPTS 5
   PASSWORD_LOCK_TIME 1;

This statement causes the app_user account to become locked for one day after five unsuccessful login attempts.

Changing Password Lifetime and Grace Period: Example The following statement modifies the profile app_user2 PASSWORD_LIFE_TIME to 90 days and PASSWORD_GRACE_TIME to 5 days:

ALTER PROFILE app_user2 LIMIT
   PASSWORD_LIFE_TIME 90
   PASSWORD_GRACE_TIME 5;

Limiting Concurrent Sessions: Example This statement defines a new limit of 5 concurrent sessions for the app_user profile:

ALTER PROFILE app_user LIMIT SESSIONS_PER_USER 5; 

If the app_user profile does not currently define a limit for SESSIONS_PER_USER, then the preceding statement adds the limit of 5 to the profile. If the profile already defines a limit, then the preceding statement redefines it to 5. Any user assigned the app_user profile is subsequently limited to 5 concurrent sessions.

Removing Profile Limits: Example This statement removes the IDLE_TIME limit from the app_user profile:

ALTER PROFILE app_user LIMIT IDLE_TIME DEFAULT;

Any user assigned the app_user profile is subject in their subsequent sessions to the IDLE_TIME limit defined in the DEFAULT profile.

Limiting Profile Idle Time: Example This statement defines a limit of 2 minutes of idle time for the DEFAULT profile:

ALTER PROFILE default LIMIT IDLE_TIME  2; 

This IDLE_TIME limit applies to these users:

• Users who are not explicitly assigned any profile

• Users who are explicitly assigned a profile that does not define an IDLE_TIME limit

This statement defines unlimited idle time for the app_user2 profile:

ALTER PROFILE app_user2 LIMIT IDLE_TIME UNLIMITED; 

Any user assigned the app_user2 profile is subsequently permitted unlimited idle time.