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Oracle9i Security and Network Integration Guide
Release 2 (9.2) for Windows

Part Number A95492-01
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Glossary

Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI)

A client-side product based on Component Object Model (COM). ADSI defines a directory service model and a set of COM interfaces that enable Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows 98, and Windows 95 client applications to access several network directory services, including Active Directory. ADSI allow applications to communicate with Active Directory.

alert file

A file that contains important information and error messages that are generated during database operations.

authenticate

To verify the identity of a user, device, or other entity in a computer system, often as a prerequisite for allowing access to resources in a system.

authorization

Permission given to a user, program, or process to access an object or set of objects. In Oracle, authorization is done through the role mechanism. A single person or a group of people can be granted a role or a group of roles. A role, in turn, can be granted other roles.

certificate authority

A certificate authority (CA) is a trusted third party that certifies the identity of other entities such as users, databases, administrators, clients, and servers. The certificate authority verifies the user's identity and grants a certificate, signing it with one of the certificate authority's private keys.

connect descriptor

A specially formatted description of the destination for a network connection. A connect descriptor contains destination service and network route information. The destination service is indicated by using its service name for Oracle9i or Oracle8i databases or its Oracle system identifier (SID) for Oracle8 release 8.0 databases. The network route provides, at a minimum, the location of the listener through use of a network address.

connect identifier

A net service name or service name, that maps to a connect descriptor. Users initiate a connect request by passing a username and password along with a connect identifier in a connect string for the service to which they wish to connect, for example:

CONNECT username/password@connect_identifier

connect string

Information the user passes to a service to connect, such as username, password and net service name. For example:

CONNECT username/password@net_service_name

control file

A file that records the physical structure of a database and contains database name, names and locations of associated databases and online redo log files, timestamp of database creation, current log sequence number, and checkpoint information.

credentials

A username, password, or certificate used to gain access to the database.

data dictionary

A set of read-only tables that provide information about a database.

database alias

See net service name.

decryption

Process of converting contents of a message that has gone through encryption (ciphertext) back into its original readable format (plaintext).

digital certificates

ITU X.509 v3 standard data structures that securely bind an identity to a public key. A certificate is created when an entity's public key is signed by a trusted identity, a certificate authority. The certificate ensures that the entity's information is correct and that the public key actually belongs to that entity.

digital signature

Digital signatures are created when a public key algorithm is used to sign messages with senders' private keys. A digital signature assures that a document is authentic, has not been forged by another entity, has not been altered, and cannot be repudiated by the sender.

encryption

Process of disguising a message, rendering it unreadable to any but the intended recipient.

enterprise domains

Directory constructs consisting of Oracle9i databases and enterprise users and roles. Enterprise domains are different from Windows 2000 domains, which are collections of computers that share a common directory database.

enterprise role

A directory structure which contains global roles on multiple databases, and which can be granted to an enterprise user.

enterprise user

A user that has a unique identity across an enterprise. An enterprise user connects to individual databases through a schema and is assigned an enterprise role that determines the user's access privileges on databases.

external role

Roles created and managed by Windows NT and Windows 20000 operating systems. Once an external role is created, you can grant or revoke that role to a database user. You must set init.ora parameter OS_ROLES to true and restart your Oracle database before you can create an external role. You cannot use both Windows operating systems and the Oracle database to grant roles concurrently.

external user

A user authenticated by the Windows 2000 or Windows NT operating system who can access the Oracle database without being prompted for a password. External users are typically regular database users (non-database administrators) to which you assign standard database roles (such as CONNECT and RESOURCE), but do not want to assign SYSDBA (database administrator) or SYSOPER (database operator) privilege.

forest

A group of one or more Active Directory trees that trust each other. All trees in a forest share a common schema, configuration, and global catalog. When a forest contains multiple trees, the trees do not form a contiguous namespace. All trees in a given forest trust each other through transitive bidirectional trust relationships.

global groups

See Windows NT global groups.

global role

A role whose privileges are contained within a single database, but which is managed in a directory.

HOMEID

Represents a unique registry subkey for each Oracle home directory in which you install products. A new HOMEID is created and incremented each time you install products to a different Oracle home directory on one computer. Each HOMEID contains its own configuration parameter settings for installed Oracle products.

HOME_NAME

Represents the name of an ORACLE_HOME. All Oracle homes have a unique HOME_NAME.

init.ora

See initialization parameter file.

initialization parameter file

An ASCII text file that contains information needed to initialize a database and instance. File init.ora resides in directory \ORACLE_BASE\admin\DB_NAME\pfile on Windows operating systems.

instance

Every running Oracle database is associated with an Oracle instance. When a database is started on a database server (regardless of computer type), Oracle allocates a memory area called System Global Area (SGA) and starts an Oracle process. This combination of SGA and an Oracle process is called an instance. The memory and the process of an instance manage the associated database's data efficiently and serve the one or more database users.

LDAP

See Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP).

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)

A standard, extensible directory access protocol. It is a common language that LDAP clients and servers use to communicate. LDAP is a framework of design conventions supporting industry-standard directory products, such as Oracle Internet Directory.

listener

A process that resides on the server whose responsibility is to listen for incoming client connection requests and manage traffic to the server. Every time a client requests a network session with a server, a listener receives the actual request. If client information matches listener information, then the listener grants a connection to the server.

listener.ora

A configuration file for the listener that identifies listener name, protocol addresses for accepting connection requests, and the services for which it is listening.

File listener.ora typically resides in ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\network\admin on Windows operating systems.

local groups

See Windows NT local groups.

local roles

Roles created and managed by the database. Once a local role is created, you can grant or revoke that role to a database user. You cannot use Windows NT (for external role management) and the Oracle database (for local role management) concurrently.

Microsoft Management Console

An application that serves as a host for administrative tools called snap-ins. By itself, Microsoft Management Console does not provide any functionality.

mount

To associate a database with an instance that has been started.

multiple Oracle homes

Capability of having more than one Oracle home on a computer.

net service name

Name used by clients to identify a database server. A net service name is mapped to a port number and protocol. Also known as a connect string, or database alias.

network listener

A listener on a server that listens for connection requests for one or more databases on one or more protocols. See listener.

network service

In an Oracle application network, a service performs tasks for its service consumers. For example, an Oracle Names server provides name resolution services for clients.

obfuscated

Obfuscated information is scrambled into a non-readable form. De-scrambling is extremely difficult if the algorithm used for scrambling is not known.

ORACLE_BASE

Oracle base, known as ORACLE_BASE in this guide, is the root of the Oracle directory tree.

ORACLE_HOME

Corresponds to the environment in which Oracle products run. This environment includes location of installed product files, PATH variable pointing to products' binary files, registry entries, net service names, and program groups.

Oracle Net

A component of Oracle Net Services that enables a network session from a client application to an Oracle database server. Once a network session is established, Oracle Net acts as a data courier for the client application and the database server. It is responsible for establishing and maintaining the connection between the client application and database server, as well as exchanging messages between them. Oracle Net is able to perform these jobs because it is located on each computer in the network.

Oracle Net Services

A suite of networking components that provide enterprise-wide connectivity solutions in distributed, heterogeneous computing environments. Oracle Net Services are comprised of Oracle Net, listener, Oracle Connection Manager, Oracle Net Configuration Assistant, and Oracle Net Manager.

Oracle service

A service that is associated with an Oracle component.

private keys

In public key cryptography, these are the secret keys. They are used primarily for decryption but also for encryption with a digital signature.

privilege

A right to execute a particular type of SQL statement or to access another user's object.

process

A mechanism in an operating system that can run an executable. (Some operating systems use the term job or task.) A process normally has its own private memory area in which it runs. On Windows NT, a process is created when a program runs (such as Oracle or Microsoft Word). In addition to an executable program, all processes consist of at least one thread. The Oracle master process contains hundreds of threads.

public key

In public key cryptography, this key is made public to all. It is primarily used for encryption but can also be used for verifying signatures.

public key cryptography

Public key cryptography involves information encryption and decryption using a shared public key paired with private keys. Provides for secure, private communications within a public network.

quota

A limit on a resource, such as a limit on the amount of database storage used by a database user. A database administrator can set tablespace quotas for each Oracle username.

recovery

To restore a physical backup is to reconstruct it and make it available to the Oracle server. To recover a restored backup is to update it using redo records (that is, records of changes made to the database after the backup was taken). Recovering a backup involves two distinct operations: rolling forward the backup to a more current time by applying redo data, and rolling back all changes made in uncommitted transactions to their original state.

registry

A Windows repository that stores configuration information for a computer.

remote computer

A computer on a network other than the local computer.

role

A named group of related privileges. You can grant a role to users or other roles.

schema

A named collection of objects, such as tables, views, clusters, procedures, and packages, associated with a particular user.

service

An executable process installed in the registry and administered by Windows NT. Once a service is created and started, it can run even when no user is logged on to the computer.

service name

See net service name.

SID

See system identifier (SID).

SYSDBA

A special database administration role that contains all system privileges with ADMIN OPTION, and SYSOPER system privilege. SYSDBA also permits CREATE DATABASE actions and time-based recovery.

SYSOPER

A special database administration role that permits a database administrator to perform STARTUP, SHUTDOWN, ALTER DATABASE OPEN/MOUNT, ALTER DATABASE BACKUP, ARCHIVE LOG, and RECOVER, and includes RESTRICTED SESSION privilege.

System Global Area (SGA)

A group of shared memory structures that contain data and control information for an Oracle instance.

system identifier (SID)

A unique name for an Oracle instance. To switch between Oracle databases, users must specify the desired SID. The SID is included in the CONNECT DATA parts of the connect descriptor in a tnsnames.ora file, and in the definition of the network listener in a listener.ora file.

SYSTEM

A standard DBA username automatically created with each database. SYSTEM is created with an initial password of MANAGER. Username SYSTEM is the preferred username for DBAs to use for database maintenance.

tablespace

A database is divided into one or more logical storage units called tablespaces. Tablespaces are divided into logical units of storage called segments, which are further divided into extents.

thread

An individual path of execution within a process. Threads are objects within a process that execute program instructions. Threads allow concurrent operations within a process so that a process can execute different parts of its program simultaneously on different processors. A thread is the most fundamental component that can be scheduled on Windows NT.

tnsnames.ora

A file that contains connect descriptors; each connect descriptor is mapped to a net service name. The file may be maintained centrally or locally, for use by all or individual clients. This file typically resides in ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\network\admin on Windows NT.

trust points

Trust points or trusted certificates are third party identities that are qualified with a level of trust. A trusted certificate is used when an identity is being validated as the entity it claims to be. Certificate authorities you trust are called trusted certificates. If there are several levels of trusted certificates, a trusted certificate at a lower level in the certificate chain does not need to have all its higher level certificates reverified.

universal groups

Universal groups are available in Windows 2000, but not in Windows NT. They can contain other groups, including other universal groups, local groups, and global groups.

username

A name that can connect to and access objects in a database.

views

Selective presentations of one or more tables (or other views), showing both their structure and their data.

Windows NT global groups

Groups that can be granted permissions and rights in their own domain, member servers and workstations of their domain, and in trusted domains. They can also become members of Windows NT local groups in all these places. But global groups can contain user accounts only from their own domains.

Windows NT local groups

Groups that can be granted permissions and rights only for its own computer or, if part of a domain, to the domain controllers of that domain. Local groups can, however, contain user accounts and Windows NT global groups from both their own domain and from trusted domains.


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