Network Access Control Lists and Upgrade to Oracle Database 12c

Network access control lists (ACLs) are implemented as Real Application Security ACLs in 12c, and existing ACLs are migrated from XML DB ACLs and renamed during upgrade.

During Oracle Database upgrades to 12c release 1 (12.1) and later releases, network access control in Oracle Database is implemented using Real Application Security access control lists (ACLs). Existing ACLs in XDB are migrated during upgrade. Existing APIs in the DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN PL/SQL package and catalog views are deprecated. These deprecated views are replaced with new equivalents in Oracle Database 12c.

Starting with Oracle Database 12c release 1 (12.1), you can grant network privileges by appending an access control entry (ACE) to a host ACL using DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN.APPEND_HOST_ACE. If you append an ACE to a host that has no existing host ACL, then a new host ACL is created implicitly. If the host ACL exists, then the ACEs are appended to the existing ACL.

How Changing to Real Application Security ACLS Affects You

During upgrades, the following changes are made:

Existing network ACLs are migrated from Oracle Database 11g XML DB to Oracle Database 12c Real Application Security. All privileges of the existing ACLs are preserved during this migration.
Existing ACLs are renamed.

What You Need To Do Before Upgrades

Check for existing Network ACLs before the upgrade.
Preserve existing network ACLs and privileges (DBA_NETWORK_ACLS and DBA_NETWORK_ACL_PRIVILEGES) in an intermediate staging table. Preserving the existing privileges in a table enables you to restore them if the automatic migration fails, or if you want to roll back an upgrade.