Understanding EclipseLink,
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Authentication is the means by which a data source validates a user's identity and determines whether or not the user has sufficient privileges to perform a given action. Authentication plays a central role in data security and user accountability and auditing.
For two-tier applications, simple JDBC authentication is usually sufficient.
The following sections describe the different authentication strategies:
When you configure an EclipseLink database login with a user name and password, EclipseLink provides these credentials to the JDBC driver that you configure your application to use.
By default, EclipseLink writes passwords to and reads them from the sessions.xml file in encrypted form using JCE encryption. Optionally, you can configure a different encryption class.
EclipseLink supports proxy authentication with Oracle Database in Java SE applications and Java EE applications with the Oracle JDBC driver and external connection pools only.
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EclipseLink does not support Oracle Database proxy authentication with JTA. |
Oracle Database proxy authentication delivers the following security benefits:
A limited trust model, by controlling the users on whose behalf middle tiers can connect, and the roles the middle tiers can assume for the user.
Scalability, by supporting user sessions through Oracle Call Interface (OCI) and thick JDBC, and eliminating the overhead of reauthenticating clients.
Accountability, by preserving the identity of the real user through to the database, and enabling auditing of actions taken on behalf of the real user.
Flexibility, by supporting environments in which users are known to the database, and in which users are merely "application users" of which the database has no awareness.
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Oracle Database supports proxy authentication in three-tiers only; it does not support it across multiple middle tiers. |
For more information about authentication in Oracle Database, see "Preserving User Identity in Multitiered Environments" in the Oracle Database Security Guide.
Configure your EclipseLink database login to use proxy authentication to do the following:
address the complexities of authentication in a three-tier architecture (such as client-to-middle-tier and middle-tier-to-database authentication, and client reauthentication through the middle -tier to the database)
enhance database audit information (for even triggers and stored procedures) by using a specific user for database operations, rather than the generic pool user
simplify VPD/OLS configuration by using a proxy user, rather than setting user information directly in the session context with stored procedures
Regardless of what type of authentication you choose, EclipseLink logs the name of the user associated with all database operations. Example 8-1 shows the CONFIG level EclipseLink logs when a ServerSession connects through the main connection for the sample user "scott", and a ClientSession uses proxy connection "jeff"
Example 8-1 Logs with Oracle Database Proxy Authentication
[EclipseLink Config]--ServerSession(13)--Connection(14)--Thread(Thread[main,5,main])--connecting(DatabaseLogin( platform=>Oracle9Platform user name=> "scott" connector=>OracleJDBC10_1_0_2ProxyConnector datasource name=>DS)) [EclipseLink Config]--ServerSession(13)--Connection(34)--Thread(Thread[main,5,main])--Connected: jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:orcl User: SCOTT [EclipseLink Config]--ClientSession(53)--Connection(54)--Thread(Thread[main,5,main])--connecting(DatabaseLogin(platform=>Oracle9Platform user name=> "scott" connector=>OracleJDBC10_1_0_2ProxyConnector datasource name=>DS)) [EclipseLink Config]--ClientSession(53)--Connection(56)--Thread(Thread[main,5,main])--Connected: jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:orcl User: jeff
Your database server likely provides additional user auditing options. Consult your database server documentation for details.
Alternatively, you may consider using the EclipseLink unit of work in conjunction with your database schema for auditing purposes.
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