Thursday 9 August 2012

Considerations after creating a database - 11g R2


Hi,

My name is Mark Tiger, creator of this blog.  I am an Oracle Certified Professional (OCP DBA 11g).

Gathering information for some DBA tasks can be time-consuming, even although the commands that you need to issue eventually can be over quite quickly.  I have gone through this process over and over again, and have decided to help other Oracle DBA’s in the community.

In this blog, I will give you the details of how to carry out those tasks, that typically need a lot of research, before you can do them.  I will try to present the information in an easy to understand way.  My hope is that this will save you lots of time in research, and help to make you more productive as an Oracle DBA.  The illustrations are primarily meant for Linux, since this is a good choice of platform.  However they are easily adaptable for versions of UNIX/AIX and windows etc.

Considerations after creating a database - 11g R2

Transparent data encryption

Transparent data encryption is a feature that enables you to encrypt individual columns in a database table, or to encrypt selected tablespaces.

If a user were to use Operating system tools to look inside the datafiles, they would see only the encrypted data.  Database users with appropriate privileges would be able to view the unencrypted data.

Users who have the CREATE TABLE privilege are able to choose one or more columns in a table to encrypt.  The data is then encrypted in the data files and the audit logs.

Creating a secure external password store
For large scale deployments, where applications use password credentials to connect to the databases; it is possible to store such credentials in a client-side wallet.  An Oracle wallet is a secure software container that is used to store authentication credentials.

Storing credentials  a wallet, eliminates the need to embed usernames and passwords in application code.  This reduces the risk of exposing logon credentials in the clear.

Once it is set up the applications can connect with syntax like this:
SQL> connect /&database_alias


Installing the Oracle Sample Schemas
The Oracle database includes a set of sample schemas, that will help you to become familiar with the Oracle database functionality.  The schemas can be installed automatically by the database configuration assistant, or you can install them manually afterwards.



Dropping a database
When you drop a database, you remove all the datafiles, redo log files, control files and initialization parameter files.  All the data in the database is lost.

SQL> DROP DATABASE;
This statement deletes all the database files and control files, and then shuts down the database.  To work the database must be mounted in exclusive and restricted mode.  The drop statement does not affect archived log files or backups of the database.  RMAN will efficiently delete the archive log files and the backups for you.

If the database is on RAW disks, then the raw disk special files are not deleted.

If you used database configuration assistant to create your database, then you can use it to drop your database, and remove the relevant files.

You can display information about your database using these views:
DATABASE_PROPERTIES                               Permanent database properties
GLOBAL_NAME                                                Global database name
V$DATABASE                                     database information from the control file

Mark Tiger,
Need a database health check, remote monitoring, support & maintenance, or a security Audit?

P.S. I am busy preparing Nine books on preparing for the Oracle 11g R2 OCM DBA exam.  Watch this spot for details on the books, as they start becoming available.

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