Prepare for Oracle Call Interface, ODBC, and JDBC OCI Connections with Wallets (mTLS)

Preparing for any type of Oracle Call Interface (OCI) connection with mTLS authentication requires the installation of client software, downloading client credentials, and configuring certain files and environment variables.

This topic covers the steps to prepare an application to connect using mTLS authentication with a wallet that you download from an Autonomous Database instance. See Prepare for Oracle Call Interface, ODBC, and JDBC OCI Connections Using TLS Authentication for information on the steps to prepare for TLS authentication with these connection types.

New Oracle Client Installation

The following steps assume Oracle client software has not already been installed on the client computer. If Oracle client software has already been installed and there are working copies of sqlnet.ora and tnsnames.ora, see Updating an Existing Oracle Client Installation.

Before making an Oracle Call Interface (OCI), ODBC, or JDBC OCI connection, do the following:

1. Install Oracle Client software on your computer.

   • Oracle Instant Client/Oracle Database Client: 18.19 (or later), 19.2 (or later), or 21 (base release or later). The Instant Client contains the minimal software needed to make an Oracle Call Interface connection.

2. Download client credentials and store the file in a secure folder on your client computer. See Download Client Credentials (Wallets).

3. Unzip/uncompress the credentials file into a secure folder on your client computer.

4. Edit the sqlnet.ora file in the folder where you unzip the credentials file, replacing "?/network/admin" with the name of the folder containing the client credentials.

   For example, edit sqlnet.ora as follows:

   WALLET_LOCATION = (SOURCE = (METHOD = file) (METHOD_DATA = (DIRECTORY="?/network/admin")))
   SSL_SERVER_DN_MATCH=yes

   The changed value on UNIX/Linux is:

   WALLET_LOCATION = (SOURCE = (METHOD = file) (METHOD_DATA = (DIRECTORY="/home/adb_credentials")))
   SSL_SERVER_DN_MATCH=yes
   

   The changed value for Windows is:

   WALLET_LOCATION = (SOURCE = (METHOD = file) (METHOD_DATA = (DIRECTORY="D:\\myapp\\adb_credentials")))
   SSL_SERVER_DN_MATCH=yes
   

5. Create the TNS_ADMIN environment variable and set it to the location of the credentials file.

   Use this environment variable to change the directory path of Oracle Net Services configuration files from the default location of ORACLE_HOME\network\admin to the location of the secure folder containing the credentials file you saved in Step 2. Set the TNS_ADMIN environment variable to the directory where the unzipped credentials files are, not to the credentials file itself.

   For example, on UNIX/Linux set TNS_ADMIN to the full path of the directory where you unzipped the client credentials:

   export TNS_ADMIN=/home/adb_credentials

   For example on Windows:

   set TNS_ADMIN=d:\myapp\adb_credentials

Connections with an HTTP Proxy

If the client is behind a firewall and your network configuration requires an HTTP proxy to connect to the internet, then perform the following steps to update the sqlnet.ora and tnsnames.ora files. Connections through an HTTP proxy are only available with Oracle Client software version 12.2.0.1 or later.

Note:

To avoid manual updates in sqlnet.ora and tnsnames.ora files, you can use SQLcl and specify the HTTP proxy on the command line. See Connect Oracle SQLcl Cloud with a Wallet (mTLS) for more information.

1. Add the following line to the sqlnet.ora file to enable connections through an HTTP proxy:

   SQLNET.USE_HTTPS_PROXY=on

2. Add the HTTP proxy hostname and port to the connection definitions in tnsnames.ora. You need to add the https_proxy and https_proxy_port parameters in the address section of connection definitions. For example, the following sets the HTTP proxy to proxyhostname and the HTTP proxy port to 80; replace these values with your HTTP proxy information:

   ADB1_high =
          (description=
                (address=
                      (https_proxy=proxyhostname)(https_proxy_port=80)(protocol=tcps)(port=1522)(host=adb.example.oraclecloud.com)
                )
                (connect_data=(service_name=adb1_high.adb.oraclecloud.com)
                )
                (security=(ssl_server_dn_match=yes))
                )
          )

Note:

Configuring sqlnet.ora and tnsnames.ora for the HTTP proxy may not be enough depending on your organization's network configuration and security policies. For example, some networks require a username and password for the HTTP proxy. In such cases contact your network administrator to open outbound connections to hosts in the oraclecloud.com domain using port 1522 without going through an HTTP proxy.

For more information on SQLNET.USE_HTTPS_PROXY, see Net Services Reference.

For information on HTTPS_PROXY and HTTPS_PROXY_PORT, see Protocol Address Section.

Updating an Existing Oracle Client Installation

If you have an existing Oracle Client installation, you already have sqlnet.ora and tnsnames.ora files and the TNS_ADMIN environment variable. In this case, do the following:

1. Update your sqlnet.ora file by adding the following:

   WALLET_LOCATION = (SOURCE = (METHOD = file) (METHOD_DATA = (DIRECTORY="/home/adb_credentials")))

2. Copy the entries in the tnsnames.ora file provided in the Autonomous Database wallet to your existing tnsnames.ora file.