Chapter 5: Identity Management and Enterprise Users

Overview

Chapter 4 discussed ways to connect application users to the database. The discussion was based on the fact that the application user population is large and continues to grow, which places an emphasis on scalability and security. The important security principle was identity preservation which, when adhered to, allows the database to exercise all of its security capabilities. Proxy authentication allows the identity to be preserved, and it has one important requirement: each application user has to be a database user.

This chapter explores Oracle’s Enterprise User Security (EUS) feature, which allows the Oracle database users to be authenticated by an LDAP-compliant directory. The goal with EUS is simple: centralize the administration of database users thereby facilitating single sign-on, single usernames and passwords, and increased security by more efficient user management. You’ll see how EUS supports each of these objectives.

Enterprise Users fits into a broader security area known as identity management. The chapter begins with an overview of identity management and then positions Oracle EUS into this broader concept.