I just started investigating Oracle Database 12c and decided to dig into the multi-tennant feature to learn about that architecture. Part of this is understanding the way the new data dictionary views organize database information for CDBs/PDBs, and how security and roles relate to this new system. One thing I found confusing is that if you want to view data from views such as v$containers, v$pdbs, or v$datafile, the data will be limited to the context of the current container (no con_id) unless you are connected "as SYSDBA". Even SYSTEM returns context-aware results. Is there any way to get around this such that a user other than SYS can have this universal view of the database? I was hoping that common users (c##username) would be able to query this sort of information without connecting as SYS. Part of this is because I'd like to be able to connect as a "read only" user for day-to-day investigations, and not connect as a privileged account (much less SYS) unless I have a specific need to. Also, all actions performed by SYS user are audited and if I'm connecting to the database just to browse the data dictionary, this generates unnecessary audit records and noise in the audit trail.