1. Administrator's Guide
  2. Getting Started with Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall
  3. Introducing Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall

2 Introducing Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall

To begin using Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall (Oracle AVDF), perform preliminary tasks, such as downloading the latest version of this manual and understanding the basic Oracle AVDF concepts.

2.1 Downloading the Latest Version of This Manual

Learn how to download the latest documentation for Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall.

Download the latest version of this manual from the following website:

https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/audit-vault-database-firewall/20/sigad/index.html

Find documentation for other Oracle products at the following website:

https://docs.oracle.com

2.2 Learning About Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall

Understanding the basic concepts of Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall is key to a successful Oracle AVDF deployment.

Oracle recommends that you read Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall Concepts Guide to understand the features, components, users, and deployment procedures of Oracle AVDF.

2.3 Supported Platforms for Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall

You can run Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall on various platforms.

Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall (Oracle AVDF) consolidates activity audit data from Oracle and non-Oracle databases, operating systems, and directories. It provides security and compliance reports through an accurate SQL grammar based engine. Database Firewall monitors SQL traffic and blocks unauthorized SQL.

See Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall Installation Guide for detailed platform support for the current release.

2.4 Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall System Features

Learn about the system features of Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall.

Topics

2.4.1 About Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall

Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall (Oracle AVDF) protects your IT infrastructure by monitoring activity, blocking intrusion attempts, collecting audit data, enacting customizable firewall rules, and assessing Oracle database configuration.

Oracle AVDF secures databases and other critical components of your IT infrastructure, such as operating systems, in the following ways:

  • Provides a database firewall that monitors activity and can block SQL statements on the network based on your firewall policy.
  • Collects audit data and presents the data in audit reports.
  • Enables you to proactively configure alerts and notifications.

This section provides a brief overview of the administrative and auditing features of Oracle AVDF.

Oracle AVDF auditing features are described in detail in Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall Auditor's Guide.

We strongly recommend that you read Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall Concepts Guide for more information on the features, components, users, and deployment of Oracle AVDF.

2.4.2 Security Technical Implementation Guides for Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall

Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall (Oracle AVDF) is compliant with the Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIG) standards.

To learn about Oracle AVDF compliance with STIG standards see the Security Technical Implementation Guides.

2.4.3 System Requirements for Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall

Read about the Oracle AVDF hardware and software requirements.

For hardware and software requirements, see Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall Installation Guide.

2.4.4 Supported Targets for Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall

Learn about Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall targets.

A target is a database or non-database product that you secure using either the Audit Vault Agent, the Database Firewall, or both. If the target is a database, then you can monitor or block its incoming SQL traffic with Database Firewall. If the target, whether or not it is a database, is supported by the Audit Vault Agent, then you can deploy the Agent on that target's host computer and collect audit data from the internal audit tables and operating system audit files.

Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall supports various target products out of the box in the form of built-in plug-ins.

See Also:

2.4.5 Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall Administrative Features

You can use Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall administrative features to manage targets and their hosts, firewalls, and other features.

You can use Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall administrative features to configure and manage the following:

  • Targets

  • Database Firewalls

  • High Availability

  • Third party integrations

  • Audit Vault Agent deployment

  • Audit trail collection

  • Audit data lifecycle, archiving, and purging

  • Microsoft Active Directory or OpenLDAP

2.4.6 Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall Auditing Features

Learn about Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall auditing features.

Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall auditing features enable you to configure and manage the following:

  • Firewall policies

  • Audit policies for Oracle Database

  • Reports and report schedules

  • Entitlement auditing for Oracle Database

  • Stored procedure auditing

  • Alerts and e-mail notifications

See Also:

Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall Auditor's Guide for detailed information about these auditing features

2.4.7 Integrating Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall with Oracle Key Vault

You can integrate Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall with Oracle Key Vault.

Oracle Key Vault events are collected by Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall.

See Oracle Key Vault Administrator's Guide for instructions about integrating Oracle Key Vault with Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall

2.5 Separation of Duties

Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall offers multiple roles as part of the separation of duties between auditors and administrators.

To provide greater security, the Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall administrator and auditor roles have different user interfaces, and different user accounts. This separation of interfaces and accounts ensures that there is a separation of duties between these two roles. In addition to these Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall user accounts, you can also set up user accounts on your targets as necessary to access targets for collecting audit data. This is needed by the Audit Vault Agent for connecting to the target and collecting the audit data from the audit trails. Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall provides scripts to set up these user accounts on database targets, and guidance for other types of targets.

The following table shows the user accounts in Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall.

Table 2-1 Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall User Accounts

Account Description

Super Administrator

Super administrators configure and maintain the Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall system, including Audit Vault Server settings such as network settings, high availability, data retention policies, etc. The super administrator can create other administrators or super administrators, and has access to all targets. The super administrator can also grant access to specific targets to other administrators.

Administrator

The administrator can perform a subset of the system configuration tasks that a super administrator can, such as registering hosts and targets, running archive jobs, etc. Administrators can also manage targets for which they have been granted access by a super administrator.

An administrator cannot create another administrator. This can be performed by a super administrator only.

Super Auditor

The super auditor can create firewall policies, provision audit policies for Oracle Database targets, and specify settings for target such as whether to enable stored procedure auditing. Super auditors also generate reports, and create alerts and notifications. The super auditor can access all targets, create auditor or super auditor users, and grant access to specific targets to those users.

Auditor

Auditors can perform all the functions of super auditors, but only for the targets to which they have access.

Additional accounts are provided for diagnostics and used under the guidance of Oracle Support.

2.6 Understanding the Administrator's Role

Oracle AVDF administrators can configure system settings, create connections and targets, deploy agents, configure audit trails, and more.

Oracle AVDF Administrator Tasks

As an Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall administrator, your tasks include:

  • Configuring the system settings on Audit Vault Server.
  • Configuring connections to host computers on which you deployed Audit Vault Agent. This is usually the same computer as your targets.
  • Creating targets on Audit Vault Server for each database or operating system that you are monitoring.
  • Deploying and activating Audit Vault Agent on target host computers.
  • Configuring audit trails for targets that Audit Vault Agent monitors.
  • Configuring Database Firewall on your network.
  • Creating Database Firewall monitoring points for targets.
  • Backing up and archiving audit and configuration data.
  • Creating administrative users and managing access (super administrator only).
  • Configuring Microsoft Active Directory or OpenLDAP.
  • Creating high availability for Audit Vault Server.

Administrator Roles in Oracle AVDF

There are two Oracle AVDF administrator roles with different target access levels:

  • Super Administrator - This role can create other administrators or super administrators, has access to all targets, and grants access to specific targets and groups to an administrator.

  • Administrator - Administrators can only see data for targets to which they have been granted access by a super administrator.

2.7 Planning Your Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall System Configuration

Learn about planning your system configuration for Oracle AVDF.

2.7.1 Guidance for Planning Your Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall Configuration

Learn about the steps for planning your Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall configuration.

The steps in this section summarize the planning steps with links to specific instructions in this user guide.

See Also:

Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall Concepts Guide for guidance on planning deployments of Oracle Audit Vault Server, Oracle Audit Vault Agent, and Oracle Database Firewall.

2.7.2 Step 1: Plan Your Oracle Audit Vault Server Configuration

Plan your Oracle Audit Vault Server configuration.

In this step, plan whether to configure a resilient pair of servers, whether to change the network configuration settings that were made during the installation, and how to configure optional services.

See Also:

2.7.3 Step 2: Plan Your Oracle Database Firewall Configuration

Learn how to plan your Oracle Database Firewall configuration.

If you are using Oracle Database Firewall, then plan how many you need, which target databases they will protect, where to place them in the network, whether they will be for monitoring only or for monitoring and blocking mode, and whether to configure a resilient pair of firewalls. Also plan whether to change the Oracle Database Firewall network configuration that was specified during installation.

See Also:

2.7.4 Step 3: Plan Your Oracle Audit Vault Agent Deployments

If you're deploying the Audit Vault Agent, determine the targets for which you want to collect audit data and identify their host computers.

You register these hosts with Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall (Oracle AVDF) and deploy the Audit Vault Agent on each of them. Then you register each target in the Audit Vault Server.

Note:

Starting in Oracle AVDF 20.9, you can use agentless collection instead of the Audit Vault Agent for up to 20 Oracle Database table audit trails. Starting in Oracle AVDF 20.10, you can also use agentless collection for Microsoft SQL Server directory audit trails for .sqlaudit and .xel (extended events). The total number of audit trails for agentless collection should not exceed 20. See Adding Audit Trails with Agentless Collection.

See Also:

2.7.5 Step 4: Plan Your Audit Trail Configurations

If you're deploying the Audit Vault Agent or using agentless collection (Oracle AVDF 20.9 and later) to collect audit data, then you need to configure audit trails.

Use these guidelines to plan audit trail configurations for the targets from which you want to extract audit data. The type of audit trail that you select depends on the target type, and in the case of an Oracle Database target, the type of auditing that you've enabled in Oracle Database.

To plan the target audit trail configuration:

  1. Ensure that auditing is enabled on the target. For Oracle Database targets, find the type of auditing that Oracle Database uses.
  2. If you're deploying the Audit Vault Agent, ensure that it's installed on a host computer. This is also called the agent machine.

    See Deploying the Audit Vault Agent on Host Computers.

    Note:

    Starting in Oracle AVDF 20.9, you can use agentless collection instead of the Audit Vault Agent for up to 20 Oracle Database table audit trails. Starting in Oracle AVDF 20.10, you can also use agentless collection for Microsoft SQL Server directory audit trails for .sqlaudit and .xel (extended events). The total number of audit trails for agentless collection should not exceed 20. See Adding Audit Trails with Agentless Collection.
  3. Determine which type of audit trail to collect.

    See Table C-22 for the types of audit trails that you can configure for each target type and supported platform.

  4. Familiarize yourself with the procedures to register a target and configure an audit trail.
  5. If you're collecting audit data from MySQL or IBM DB2 targets, see the additional steps in the following topics:

See Also:

Requirements for Collecting Audit Data from Targets

2.7.6 Step 5: Plan for High Availability

Learn how to plan for high availability.

In this step, consider the high availability options that are outlined in "High Availability in Oracle AVDF".

2.7.7 Step 6: Plan User Accounts and Access Rights

Learn how to plan your user accounts and their access rights.

As a super administrator, you can create other super administrators and administrators. Super administrators can see and modify any target. Administrators have access to the targets that you enable them to access. In this step, determine how many super administrators and administrators you create accounts for, and to which targets the administrators will have access.

See Also:

Managing User Accounts and Access

2.8 Summary of Configuration Steps

Learn about the Oracle AVDF configuration steps.

With Oracle AVDF, you can deploy Oracle Audit Vault Agent, Oracle Database Firewall, or both. This section suggests the high-level steps for configuring Oracle AVDF when you are:

2.8.1 Configuring Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall and Deploying the Agent

Use this procedure to configure Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall (Oracle AVDF) and deploy the Audit Vault Agent or configure agentless collection (Oracle AVDF 20.9 and later).

  1. Configure the Audit Vault Server. See Configuring Audit Vault Server.
  2. If you're deploying the Audit Vault Agent, register the host computers where you'll deploy the Audit Vault Agent. Then deploy and start the Audit Vault Agent on those hosts. See Registering Hosts and Deploying the Agent.

    Note:

    Starting in Oracle AVDF 20.9, you can use agentless collection instead of the Audit Vault Agent for up to 20 Oracle Database table audit trails. Starting in Oracle AVDF 20.10, you can also use agentless collection for Microsoft SQL Server directory audit trails for .sqlaudit and .xel (extended events). The total number of audit trails for agentless collection should not exceed 20. See Adding Audit Trails with Agentless Collection.
  3. Create user accounts on your targets for Oracle AVDF. See Scripts for Oracle AVDF Account Privileges on Targets.
  4. Register the targets that you're monitoring in the Audit Vault Server, configure data retention policies, and configure audit trails for these targets. See Configuring Targets, Audit Trails, and Database Firewall Monitoring Points.

After you configure the system as an administrator, the Oracle AVDF auditor creates and provisions audit policies for targets and generates various reports.

2.8.2 Configuring Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall and Deploying Oracle Database Firewall

Configure and deploy Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall to enable you to create firewall policies and assign them to the targets.

Complete this procedure to configure and deploy Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall.
  1. Configure the basic Oracle Database Firewall settings and associate the firewall with Oracle Audit Vault Server. Then configure the firewall on your network.
  2. Configure Oracle Audit Vault Server and associate each Oracle Database Firewall with the server.
  3. Register the targets that you are monitoring with Oracle Database Firewall in Oracle Audit Vault Server. Then configure the monitoring points for these targets. Optionally, if you want to also monitor the database response to SQL traffic, then use the scripts and configuration steps.

After configuring the system as administrator, the Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall auditor creates firewall policies and assigns them to the targets. Your role and tasks as an auditor are described in Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall Auditor's Guide.

2.9 Using Audit Vault Server Console

Learn how to log in and use Audit Vault Server console.

2.9.1 Log in to Audit Vault Server Console

Learn how to log in to Audit Vault Server console.

When you first log in after installing Audit Vault Server:

  • you must set up a password for root user
  • create a super administrator or super auditor

See Also:

Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall Installation Guide for information on post-installation tasks.

To log in to Oracle Audit Vault Server Console:

  1. From a browser, enter the following URL:

    https://host/

    where host is the server on which you installed Oracle Audit Vault Server.

    For example:

    https://192.0.2.1/

    If a message appears indicating that there is a problem with the Web site security certificate, then this could be due to a self-signed certificate. Click the Continue to this website (or similar) link.

    See Also:

    Changing the UI (Console) Certificate for Audit Vault Server for more information on providing a new UI Certificate to avoid the certificate message in future

  2. In the Login page, enter your user name and password, and then click Login.

    The Dashboard page appears.

    Note:

    The Audit Vault Server console has a maximum idle time of 30 minutes. Upon launching the console, it can be used up to a maximum of 8 hours actively. The session times out if the idle time reaches 30 minutes or 8 hours after the initial launch.

2.9.2 Log in to Database Firewall Console

Learn how to log in to Database Firewall Console.

Starting with Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall release 20.1.0.0.0, you can perform Database Firewall related tasks on the Audit Vault Server console.

  1. Log in to Audit Vault Server console.
  2. Click the Database Firewalls tab on the main page.

As administrator, use the Database Firewalls tab in the Audit Vault Server console to configure the network, services, and system settings for Database Firewall. You can also use the console to identify the Audit Vault Server that manages each firewall instance, to configure network traffic sources, monitor, and block threats to your target databases.

See Also:

Configuring Database Firewall for detailed information on configuring the Database Firewall using the Audit Vault Server console.

2.9.3 Understanding the Tabs and Menus in Audit Vault Server Console

Audit Vault Server Console tabs and menus enable you to see statuses for Agents, audit trails, targets, and more.

Oracle Audit Vault Server Console includes the following six tabs:

  • Home - Displays a dashboard showing high-level information and status for:

    • System Alerts
    • Targets
    • Audit Collection
    • Database Firewall Monitoring
    • Collection summary
    • Jobs summary
    • Data Retention summary
    • System overview

  • Targets - Provides menus for registering targets, managing target groups, managing access rights, and monitoring audit trails.

  • Agents - Provides menus for registering, deploying, activating, and managing Audit Vault Agents.

  • Database Firewalls - Provides menus for registering Database Firewalls in Audit Vault Server, for creating resilient firewall pairs for high availability, managing, and monitoring.

  • Data Retention - Provides menus for viewing details of online and archived data, viewing and creating archiving policies, assigning archive policies to targets, and viewing and creating remote archiving locations.

  • Settings - Provides menus for managing security, storage, archiving, users, certificates, password, and system settings. From here, you can also download the AVCLI command line utility.

2.9.4 Working with Lists of Objects in the Audit Vault Server Console

Learn how to work with lists of objects in the Audit Vault Server console.

In the Audit Vault Server console, you can view lists of objects such as users, monitoring points, and so on. You can also filter and customize the lists of objects using the Actions menu and other filters. This section provides a summary of how you can create custom views of lists of objects. For more detailed information, see the Reports chapter of Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall Auditor's Guide.

To filter and control the display of lists of objects in the Audit Vault Server console:

  1. For any list (or report) in the UI, there is a search box and Actions menu:
  2. To find an item in the list, enter the name in the search box.
  3. To customize the list, from the Actions menu, select any of the following:

    • Select Columns: Select the columns to display.

    • Filter: Filter the list by column or by row using regular expressions with the available operators. Rows provide more control and operators. When done, click Apply.

    • Rows Per Page: Select the number of rows to display per page.

    • Format: Format the list by selecting from the following options:

      • Sort

      • Control Break

      • Highlight

      • Compute

      • Aggregate

      • Chart

      • Group By

      Enter the criteria for each option as needed and click Apply.

    • Save Report: Save the current view of the list. Enter a name, description, and click Apply.

    • Reset: Reset the list to the default view.

    • Help: Display the online help.

    • Download: Download the list. Select the download format (CSV or HTML) to download.

2.10 Using the Audit Vault Command Line Interface

Learn about using the Audit Vault Command Line Interface (AVCLI).

You can download AVCLI and use it as an alternative to Audit Vault Server Console for:

  • configuring and managing Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall
  • creating Database Firewall monitoring points
  • managing audit trails
  • registering hosts and performing other Agent related tasks
  • configuring both database and non database targets for Audit Vault Server
  • managing archive locations

See Also:

2.11 Using the Oracle Audit Vault and Oracle Database Firewall Enterprise Manager Plug-In

Learn about using the Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall Enterprise Manager plug-in.

With Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control you can install the Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall plug-in. Use this plug-in to manage and monitor Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall through Oracle Enterprise Manager.

You can perform the following tasks:

  • View Audit Vault and Database Firewall topologies

  • Monitor the availability and performance of Oracle Audit Vault components

  • Provision Oracle Audit Vault Agent on targets

  • Initialize and integrate Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall with targets including Oracle Database, hosts, and audit trails for hosts as well as Oracle Database.

  • Perform discovery of sensitive columns on targets

  • Monitor targets

Using Oracle Enterprise Manager Audit Vault and Database Firewall plug-in, the following components can be managed to perform certain operations:

Components Operations Performed

Database Firewall

  • Restart

  • Delete

  • Power Off

Audit Vault Agent

  • Activate

  • Deactivate

  • Delete

  • Start

  • Stop

Monitoring Point

  • Start

  • Stop

  • Delete

Audit Trail

  • Start

  • Stop

  • Delete

Target

  • Delete

Related Topics

See Also:

Refer to MOS note (Doc ID 2855345.1) for more information to manually deploy Oracle Enterprise Manager 13.x Agent on Audit Vault Server using the pull method.

2.12 Logging In to Oracle AVDF Appliances Through SSH

When installing or administering Oracle Audit Vault and Database Firewall (Oracle AVDF), you sometimes need to log in to the Audit Vault Server or Database Firewall appliance through SSH.

  1. Log in to the appliance through SSH as the support user.

    The support user is set up during the post-installation process. See Post-Install Configuration Tasks.

    Note:

    If you're using the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) marketplace image, connect through SSH as the OPC user. 
    ssh support@<appliance_ip_address>

  2. Switch to the root user.

    su - root

    Note:

    If you're using the OCI marketplace image, use the sudo su - command.

Caution:

Logging in as root during install or upgrade uses tmux, a terminal multiplexer, to display persistent information. A user with access to these screens can create new root shells. If you plan to leave the session unattended, Oracle recommends disconnecting from the blue screen by using the CTRL-b d command. To reconnect, log in as root once more.

Related Topics