Switch-user equivalent

Hi:

I need a switch-user equivalent in Oracle. I dont want to know the password for someone, but want to log in as that person. I can settle for a workaround if available, but if I change the password of that user, I want to put it back to what it was before I changed it, without knowing what it was.

Suppose there us a user names jack with a password Jill. I, the DBA does not know the password Jill. I want to change the password temporarily to another value, use the id and then set-it back to the old value - like the 'su' equivalent in UNIX.

Is there a way I can alter the user Jack's password to test and then put it back to Jill using the encrypted value of the password?

I read somewhere that there is a syntax like alter user <username> identified as <hexvalue> ; will change the password to the text equivalent of the hexvalue (instead of the hexvalue used as a text string).

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

thanks,

-Badri Received on Tue Jul 21 1998 - 10:08:23 CDT