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Resolving ORA-00001 ERROR: Unique Constraint Violated (KBA1817)

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The page describes how to best mask an Oracle database table and how to avoid and resolve ORA-00001: Unique Constraint Violated. 

At a Glance  

ORA Error: ORA-00001: Unique Constraint Violated
Affects versions: This issue affects all Masking Versions.
Root Cause: A rule which is defined in the database has been violated when a value was tried to be inserted/updated that is already in the column. 

This is Oracle's way to say 'Stop! I can't proceed or I break rules that the database owner has defined'.
The Rule:  On Oracle, there is one rule to a Unique Constraint: 
  1. A Unique Constraint ensures that all values in a column are unique - are different.

Note: On Oracle, a Unique Constraint accepts multiple NULLs. 
The Issue: There are two potential issues when masking: 
  1. The masked value (lookup or generated) is not Unique and hence duplicated. 
  2. The masked value (lookup of generated) is unique but it is already in the table and hence duplicated. 
  3. The Masking Engine (or the user) failed to disable the Unique Constraint. 
Solution: There are two things to think about here and a potential workaround for the 3rd issue:
  1. Ensure the Algorithm is generating a UNIQUE masked value that is mapped 1:1 (for example Mapping or Segment Mapping Algorithm).
  2. Select Disable Constraints in the masking job.

The first point above is mandatory. If the values aren't unique and mapped 1:1 Oracle is likely to throw the following error at the end of the job: ORA-02299: cannot validate (xxx) - duplicate keys found.

 3. If the disable failed due to owner issues or complexity of the constraint, please disable/re-enable manually.

 

Masking Job and ORA-00001: Unique Constraint Violated 

This article details the root cause and a solution to ORA-00001 error (Unique Constraint Violated) from a masking perspective. The error ORA-00001 is common in masking but is also easy to understand and resolve.

As mentioned, it is Oracle's way to say 'Stop! I can't proceed or I break rules that the database owner has defined'. So the key is to know that this is an error caused by a rule the database designer defined. 

So what is a Unique Constraint and why do we get it?

Unique Constraint

This is what defines a Unique Constraint (Oracle): 

  • A Unique Constraint ensures that all values in a column are unique - are different.

Notes: 

  • On Oracle, a Unique Constraint accepts multiple NULLs. 
  • A Unique Constraint is in many ways the same as a Primary Key Constraint. There is this one major difference a table can have multiple Unique Constraints while it can only have one Primary Key. 

Is this unique to Oracle? No

Unique Constraints is an integrity constraint defined in SQL. Here are other examples from different databases.

  • DB2
    • 'SQLSTATE: 23505. A violation of the constraint imposed by a unique index or a unique constraint occurred.'
       
  • MS SQL Server
    • 'Violation of PRIMARY KEY constraint '[CONSTRAINT]'. Cannot insert duplicate key in object '[TABLE]'. The duplicate key value is ([VALUE]).'
       
  • MySQL
    • '-- ERROR 1062 (23000): Duplicate entry '[NEW_VALUE]' for key [VALUE]'
       
  • Sybase
    • 'Check constraint violation occurred, dbname = [DATABASE], table name = [TABLE], constraint name = [CONSTRAINT].'

Example

Unique Constraint violation example 

In this section, I will show two different types of Constraint Violations possible when masking a column with a Unique Constraint.

  • Example 1: The masked value (lookup or generated) is not Unique and hence duplicated. 
  • Example 2: The masked value (lookup or generated) is unique but it is already in the table and hence duplicated. 

 

The database error message for these two root causes is the same.  

Background details 

To visualize this, let's create an example. This example will show both types of violations by using an algorithm that is not producing a 1:1 unique mapping (in this example: Secure Lookup with 25 values). The allocation of the masked value is random and the same masked value can appear more than once.

To simplify the illustration the Commit Size has been set to 4.

Explanation and Execution 

In the example, the error happens in the second Commit.

Steps:

  • Update set 1: Update sets the following 4 masked values (15, 2, 32, 21).
     
  • Commit 1: Success - this step is only to highlight errors in example 1. 
    • The first 4 masked values are Committed ok.
    • Note that row with ID: '1' is masked to '2'. This will later violate a duplicated masked value.
       
  • Update set 2: Update sets the following 4 masked values (2, 4, 9, 16).
     
  • Commit 2: Error - the second lot of 4 values are masked and the Commit is failing. 
    • We are masking '6' to '9' and '4' to '2'.
      Both these violate the constraint for two different reasons.

 

  • Reason UPDATE Example 1
    • The masked value '2' is also already in the table.
    • Since the mapping is not 1:1 and unique. '1' is masked to '2" and so is '4' as well. 
       
  • Reason UPDATE Example 2
    • The masked value '9' is already in the table and has not been masked yet.
    • We can never allocate '9' as this will violate the Unique Constraint. 

 

Note

Note:

 Example 1 CANNOT be resolved by Disable Constraints. To resolve example 1 you also need to have an algorithm that maps 1:1, is unique AND the data in the column needs to be unique. 

More about the resolution below. 

 

# Original Table                 # Masked Table
# before masking                 # after masking

SELECT * FROM Msk_Tbl;           SELECT * FROM Msk_Tbl;

+----+---------+                 +----+---------+
| ID | Mask    |                 | ID | Mask    |
+----+---------+    >> Mask >>   +----+---------+
| 0  | 0       |                 | 0  | 15      |
| 1  | 1       |                 | 1  | 2*      | < Example 1 violates this value (2)
| 2  | 2       |                 | 2  | 32      |
| 3  | 3       |      Commit 1 > | 3  | 21      |
+----+---------+                 +----+---------+
| 4  | 4       |         Error > | 4  | 2*      | < UPDATE example 1
| 5  | 5       |                 | 5  | 4       |   Masked value (2) duplicate.
| 6  | 6       |         Error > | 6  | 9*      | < UPDATE example 2
| 7  | 7       |      Commit 2 > | 7  | 16      |   Value (9) already in the column.
+----+---------+          Stop > +----+---------+ < Rollback last commit
| 8  | 8       |                 | 8  | 8       |
| 9  | 9       |                 | 9  | 9*      | < Example 2 violates this value (9)
| .. | ..      |                 | .. | ..      |
+----+---------+                 +----+---------+

Error message 

The error message we see on a Oracle database is: 

  • 'ORA-00001: unique constraint ([UNIQUE_CONSTRAINT]) violated'

Resolution

How to mask columns with Unique Constraints?

  1. Setup: Define an appropriate Algorithm for the masked column(s) and the data.
  2. Inventory: Assign the Algorithm to the Column. 
  3. Job Configuration: Select Disable Constraints in the Job Configuration.

Fail to Disable Constraints

If the issue is that the Unique Constraint can't be dropped using the Disable Constraints due to the constraint is defined using a different Owner or the Constraint is too complex then please Disable and then Re-Enable the Constraint manually. 

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