B Enabling and Disabling Oracle Database Vault

You must disable Oracle Database Vault to perform upgrade tasks or correct erroneous configurations. You can reenable Oracle Database Vault after you complete the corrective tasks.

This chapter includes the following sections:

• When You Must Disable Oracle Database Vault

• Step 1: Disable Oracle Database Vault

• Step 2: Perform the Required Tasks

• Step 3: Enable Oracle Database Vault

B.1 When You Must Disable Oracle Database Vault

The following situations require you to disable Oracle Database Vault:

• The password for the Oracle Database Vault account manager (with role DV_ACCTMGR) has been forgotten.

• The Database Vault Owner (with role DV_OWNER) or Database Vault Administrator (with role DV_ADMIN) accounts have been inadvertently locked out.

• A rule set associated with the CONNECT role has been configured incorrectly. This is resulting in failed database logins for all accounts, including those with the DV_OWNER or DV_ADMIN role, who could correct this problem.

• You must perform maintenance tasks on Oracle Database Vault.

• You must install any of the Oracle Database optional products, such as Oracle Spatial Data Option or Oracle interMedia, by using Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA).

• You are about to install a third-party product, install an Oracle product, or perform an Oracle patch update whose installation may be prevented if Oracle Database Vault is running.

• You need to archive the Oracle Database Vault audit trail.

B.2 Step 1: Disable Oracle Database Vault

Follow these steps to disable Oracle Database Vault on UNIX systems:

1. Turn off the software processes. Make sure that the environment variables, ORACLE_HOME, ORACLE_SID, and PATH are correctly set.

   For single-instance installations, shut down the database instance:

   $ sqlplus "sys / as sysoper"
   Enter password: password
   SQL> SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE
   SQL> EXIT
   

   For Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) installations, shut down each database instance as follows:

   $ srvctl stop database -d db_name -c "sys/sys_passwd as sysoper"
   

   If you cannot connect to the database, then proceed to the next step.

2. Relink the Oracle executable to turn off the Oracle Database Vault option:

   $ cd $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/lib
   $ make -f ins_rdbms.mk dv_off
   $ cd $ORACLE_HOME/bin
   $ relink oracle
   

   For RAC installations, run these commands on all nodes.

3. Start the database.

   For single-instance database installations:

   $ sqlplus "sys / as sysoper"
   Enter password: password
   SQL> STARTUP
   SQL> EXIT
   

   For RAC installations:

   $ srvctl start database -d db_name -c "sys/sys_passwd as sysoper"
   

4. Run Oracle Database Vault Configuration Assistant (DVCA) to disable Oracle Database Vault using the following syntax:

   $ORACLE_HOME/bin/dvca -silent -action disable -service service -sys_passwd SYS_password -owner_account DV_owner_account_name -owner_passwd DV_owner_password -nodecrypt [-logfile ./dvca.log]
   

   For RAC installations, run this command on all nodes.

   In this specification:

   • silent: Required if you are not running Oracle Database Vault Configuration Assistant in an xterm window

   • action: The action to perform. enable enables Oracle Database Vault. Other options are as follows:

     • disable: Disables Oracle Database Vault.

     • option: If you are using Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) and are setting the racnode value, include this setting to update the instance parameters for primary RAC node instance.

     • optionrac: Also used with the racnode value, but used for the non-primary RAC node.

   • service: The alias for a connection in the tnsnames.ora file. Used to connect to a listener/database. For example, orcl.

   • sys_passwd: Password for user SYS

   • owner_account: Oracle Database Vault Owner account name

   • owner_password: Oracle Database Vault owner account password

   • nodecrypt: Reads plaintext passwords as passed on the command line. You must use this option if you are passing plaintext passwords to the command.

   • logfile: Optionally, specify a log file name and location. You can enter an absolute path or a path that is relative to the location of the $ORACLE_HOME/bin directory.

Note:

After you disable Oracle Database Vault, you still can run the Oracle Database Vault API functions. Note also that after you disable Oracle Database Vault, the ANY privileges are available.

B.3 Step 2: Perform the Required Tasks

With Oracle Database Vault disabled, you can restart your database and perform the following tasks, as required. Advice is as follows:

• If the Oracle Database Vault owner account called MACSYS forgets his or her password, for example, you can log in to a database instance as the SYSTEM or SYS account to create a new password for the Oracle Database Vault owner account as follows

  $ sqlplus "sys / as sysdba"
  Enter password: password
  SQL> PASSWORD MACSYS
  New password: new_password
  Retype new password: new_password
  

  If you need to reenable the SYSDBA privilege, see "Enable or Disable SYSDBA Logins" in Oracle Database Vault Installation Guide for instructions on enabling connections with the SYSDBA privilege.

• Similarly, to unlock a locked account, log in to the database instance as SYSTEM or SYS, and then unlock the account. For example:

  SQL> ALTER USER ACCOUNT MACSYS UNLOCK; 
  

• To correct a login or connect rule set error, use the DBMS_MACADM package or the Oracle Database Vault Administrator interface.

  Note:

  If you are using Oracle Database Vault Administrator, then you must start the dbconsole process. You can check the status of the dbconsole process by entering the following command from the $ORACLE_HOME/bin directory of the Oracle home in which you deployed Database Vault Administrator:

  ./emctl status dbconsole
  

  To start dbconsole:

  ./emctl start dbconsole
  

• You can perform the installation, upgrade, or other tasks that require security protections to be disabled. If you must run Oracle Database Vault Configuration Assistant (DVCA), ensure that the Oracle Database listener is running. To start the listener, run the following command from the $ORACLE_HOME/bin directory:

  $ lsnrctl start
  

B.4 Step 3: Enable Oracle Database Vault

Use the following steps to enable Oracle Database Vault on UNIX systems:

1. Run Oracle Database Vault Configuration Assistant (DVCA) using the following syntax:

   $ORACLE_HOME/bin/dvca -silent -action enable -service service -sys_passwd SYS_password -owner_account DV_owner_account_name -owner_passwd DV_owner_password -nodecrypt [-logfile ./dvca.log]
   

   For RAC installations, run this command on all nodes. See Step 4 under "Step 1: Disable Oracle Database Vault" for an explanation of the DVCA command options.

   See also Appendix B, "Running DVCA After Creating a Database Vault Database" in Oracle Database Vault Installation Guide.

2. Turn off the software processes. Make sure that the environment variables, ORACLE_HOME, ORACLE_SID, and PATH are correctly set.

3. Shut down the database instance.

   For single-instance installations:

   $ sqlplus "sys / as sysoper"
   Enter password: password
   SQL> SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE
   SQL> EXIT
   

   For RAC installations:

   $ srvctl stop database -d db_name -c "sys/sys_passwd as sysoper"
   

4. Relink the oracle executable to turn on the Oracle Database Vault option:

   $ cd $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/lib
   $ make -f ins_rdbms.mk dv_on
   $ cd $ORACLE_HOME/bin
   $ relink oracle
   

   For RAC installations, run these commands on all nodes.

5. Start the database:

   For single-instance database installations:

   $ sqlplus "sys / as sysoper"
   Enter password: password
   SQL> STARTUP
   SQL> EXIT
   

   For RAC installations:

   $ srvctl start database -d db_name -c "sys/sys_passwd as sysoper"