Moving Stored Outlines From One Database To Another

Moving stored outlines from one database to another involves simply exporting the outline schema tables (outln.ol$,outln.ol$hints and outln.ol$nodes) from the source database to another. Since the outlines are global even if the user schema under which the outlines are created is not present in the destination database, any schema running the same sql in the destination database will use the store outline.(provided other outline related constraints are met. Refer 67536.1 and 132547.1) Stored outlines don't depend on the schema and once created all user schema running the same SQL could use the stored outline.
This post shows steps to transfer the earlier created outlines to a different database where the schema under which outlines were initially created is not present.
1. Export the current outlines

SQL> select owner,name from dba_outlines;

OWNER       NAME
----------- -------------
ASANGA      JDBC_OUTLINE
ASANGA      FULL_TABLE

Exporting with exp

exp system/std11g1db  file=outlns.dmp tables=\(outln.ol\$,outln.ol\$hints,outln.ol\$nodes\) statistics=none

Export: Release 11.1.0.7.0 - Production on Mon Jan 7 10:58:27 2013

Connected to: Oracle Database 11g Release 11.1.0.7.0 - 64bit Production
Export done in AL32UTF8 character set and AL16UTF16 NCHAR character set

About to export specified tables via Conventional Path ...
Current user changed to OUTLN
. . exporting table                            OL$          2 rows exported
. . exporting table                       OL$HINTS         20 rows exported
. . exporting table                       OL$NODES         26 rows exported
Export terminated successfully without warnings.

2. The stored outlines are owned by user asanga but this user is missing in the destination database

SQL> select username from dba_users order by 1;

USERNAME
------------------------------
ANONYMOUS
BEAR
DBSNMP
DIP
EXFSYS
ORACLE_OCM
OUTLN
PERFSTAT
SYS
SYSTEM
TSMSYS
WMSYS
XDB
XS$NULL

It's assumed that at the destination database the application schema is named "bear".
3. Copy the generated dump file to the destination and import it into the destination database.

imp system/racse11g1db file=outlns.dmp full=y ignore=y

Import: Release 11.1.0.7.0 - Production on Mon Jan 7 11:31:05 2013

Connected to: Oracle Database 11g Release 11.1.0.7.0 - 64bit Production
With the Real Application Clusters option

Export file created by EXPORT:V11.01.00 via conventional path
import done in US7ASCII character set and AL16UTF16 NCHAR character set
import server uses AL32UTF8 character set (possible charset conversion)
export client uses AL32UTF8 character set (possible charset conversion)
. importing SYSTEM's objects into SYSTEM
. importing OUTLN's objects into OUTLN
. . importing table                          "OL$"          2 rows imported
. . importing table                     "OL$HINTS"         20 rows imported
. . importing table                     "OL$NODES"         26 rows imported
Import terminated successfully without warnings.

4. Even though the user asanga is missing in the destination database, the stored outlines will be showed as owned by user asanga.

SQL> show user
USER is "SYS"

SQL> select  owner,name from dba_outlines;

OWNER    NAME
-------- --------------------
ASANGA   FULL_TABLE
ASANGA   JDBC_OUTLINE

and there will be no stored outlines under user_outlines views for user "bear".

SQL> conn bear/bear
Connected.
SQL> select name from user_outlines;

no rows selected

5. But if the same SQL is executed under the user bear schema the SQL will use the appropriate outline (it's assumed use stored outline is set).

SQL> select count(*) from big_table where p_id=1;

SQL> select * from table(dbms_xplan.display_cursor(null,null,'ALLSTATS OUTLINE'));
SQL_ID  80151fvm1d9af, child number 0
-------------------------------------
select count(*) from big_table where p_id=:"SYS_B_0"

Plan hash value: 599409829

-------------------------------------------------
| Id  | Operation          | Name      | E-Rows |
-------------------------------------------------
|   0 | SELECT STATEMENT   |           |        |
|   1 |  SORT AGGREGATE    |           |      1 |
|*  2 |   TABLE ACCESS FULL| BIG_TABLE |      2 |
-------------------------------------------------

Outline Data
-------------

  /*+
      BEGIN_OUTLINE_DATA
      IGNORE_OPTIM_EMBEDDED_HINTS
      OPTIMIZER_FEATURES_ENABLE('11.1.0.7')
      DB_VERSION('11.1.0.7')
      OPT_PARAM('_optimizer_extended_cursor_sharing' 'none')
      OPT_PARAM('_optimizer_extended_cursor_sharing_rel' 'none')
      OPT_PARAM('optimizer_index_cost_adj' 25)
      OPT_PARAM('optimizer_index_caching' 90)
      FIRST_ROWS(1000)
      OUTLINE_LEAF(@"SEL$1")
      FULL(@"SEL$1" "BIG_TABLE"@"SEL$1")
      END_OUTLINE_DATA
  */

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------

   2 - filter("P_ID"=:SYS_B_0)

Note
-----
   - outline "FULL_TABLE" used for this statement
   - Warning: basic plan statistics not available. These are only collected when:
       * hint 'gather_plan_statistics' is used for the statement or
       * parameter 'statistics_level' is set to 'ALL', at session or system level

6. User "bear" could be made to own the stored outline by creating a private outline and then refreshing the public outline with it.

SQL> create private outline myfulltable from full_table;
Outline created.

SQL> execute dbms_outln_edit.refresh_private_outline('MYFULLTABLE');
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

SQL> create or replace outline full_table from private MYFULLTABLE;
Outline created.

After this the full_table outline will appear when user_outline is queried in "bear" schema.

SQL> select name from user_outlines;

NAME
-----------
FULL_TABLE

Querying dba_outlines shows now the outline is owned by user "bear"

SQL> select owner,name from dba_outlines;

OWNER    NAME
-------- --------------------
ASANGA   JDBC_OUTLINE
BEAR     FULL_TABLE

7. Verify that stored outline is still used.

SQL> select count(*) from big_table where p_id=1;

SQL> select * from table(dbms_xplan.display_cursor(null,null,'ALLSTATS OUTLINE'));
SQL_ID  80151fvm1d9af, child number 0
-------------------------------------
select count(*) from big_table where p_id=:"SYS_B_0"

Plan hash value: 599409829

-------------------------------------------------
| Id  | Operation          | Name      | E-Rows |
-------------------------------------------------
|   0 | SELECT STATEMENT   |           |        |
|   1 |  SORT AGGREGATE    |           |      1 |
|*  2 |   TABLE ACCESS FULL| BIG_TABLE |      2 |
-------------------------------------------------

Outline Data
-------------

  /*+
      BEGIN_OUTLINE_DATA
      IGNORE_OPTIM_EMBEDDED_HINTS
      OPTIMIZER_FEATURES_ENABLE('11.1.0.7')
      DB_VERSION('11.1.0.7')
      OPT_PARAM('_optimizer_extended_cursor_sharing' 'none')
      OPT_PARAM('_optimizer_extended_cursor_sharing_rel' 'none')
      OPT_PARAM('optimizer_index_cost_adj' 25)
      OPT_PARAM('optimizer_index_caching' 90)
      FIRST_ROWS(1000)
      OUTLINE_LEAF(@"SEL$1")
      FULL(@"SEL$1" "BIG_TABLE"@"SEL$1")
      END_OUTLINE_DATA
  */

Predicate Information (identified by operation id):
---------------------------------------------------

   2 - filter("P_ID"=:SYS_B_0)

Note
-----
   - outline "FULL_TABLE" used for this statement
   - Warning: basic plan statistics not available. These are only collected when:
       * hint 'gather_plan_statistics' is used for the statement or
       * parameter 'statistics_level' is set to 'ALL', at session or system level

Related Post
Changing Execution Plan Using Stored Outline

Useful metalink notes
Stored Outline Quick Reference [ID 67536.1]
How to Transfer Stored Outlines from One Database to Another (9i and above) [ID 728647.1]