Oracle external table logfile showing file not found when table not accessed

Question

We're using in Oracle 11g Release 2 an ORACLE_LOADER type external table to import data from a CSV file to a table. The external table has a dummy filename set for the LOCATION value, as the users will be entering the correct filename as a parameter when the package is run. The package code will then set the location via an ALTER statement.

There is only one package - and nothing else - using the external table, and that package is only run occasionally - say once a week. However, the external table's logfile is being updated about every 4 hours, saying the dummy file wasn't found (which, of course, it wouldn't be):

 LOG file opened at 05/10/13 22:00:12

 KUP-04040: file Dummy_Input_csv.csv in DIR_EXTDIR not found


 LOG file opened at 05/11/13 06:00:13

 KUP-04040: file Dummy_Input_csv.csv in DIR_EXTDIR not found


 LOG file opened at 05/11/13 10:05:07

 KUP-04040: file Dummy_Input_csv.csv in DIR_EXTDIR not found

From the Oracle documentation I've seen regarding managing and using external tables, I thought the external table's logfile would only be updated when the external table was actually used via a select statement to retrieve its data.

What else, outside of an actual SELECT, might cause an external table to go looking for its LOCATION file?

Answer 1

It might be one of the scheduled jobs trying to access the table, such as the automatic collection of statistics. See if there are any jobs in dba_scheduler_jobs or dba_autotask_client that are scheduled to run at about the time you see the error.