DDL take a long time (ADD COLUMN)

Environment:

Oracle Version: Oracle9i Enterprise Edition Release 9.2.0.7.0

OS: Linux


Hi all,

I need to add a column in table (11 kk rows), see below:

ALTER TABLE NOTAS_FISCAIS ADD (ID_QUEBRA_AGRUP VARCHAR2(50) DEFAULT 'X' NOT NULL);

But this DDL take a long time, how can I do for this DDL to be faster? Is there any option?

Thanks in advance.

Leonardo.

1- Add column as allowing Null values, no default.
2- at a time of low database activity run an update command populating all rows with the default value.
3- Alter the column setting it as Not Null and with a default value.

you can use dbms_redefinition, it wont be faster but downtime is very low