Configuring Authentication

Authentication means to verify the identity of users or other entities that connect to the database.

• About Authentication
  Authentication means verifying the identity of a user, device, or other entity who wants to use data, resources, or applications.

• Configuring Password Protection
  You can secure user passwords in a variety of ways, such as controlling the password creation requirements or using password management policies.

• Authentication of Database Administrators
  You can authenticate database administrators by using strong authentication, from the operating system, or from the database using passwords.

• Database Authentication of Users
  Database authentication of users entails using information within the database itself to perform the authentication.

• Configuring Multi-Factor Authentication
  Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) through push notifications or certificate-based authentication can be configured for Oracle Database native users.

• Schema-Only Accounts
  You can create schema-only accounts, that is, the schema user has no password.

• Configuring Operating System Users for a PDB
  The DBMS_CREDENTIAL.CREATE_CREDENTIAL procedure configures user accounts to be operating system users for a pluggable database (PDB).

• External (Non-Database) User Authentication and Access to the Database
  External authentication centralizes user security for database access improving security and reducing database administrative workload. You can perform external authentication with either local database authorization or external authorization.

• Multitier Authentication and Authorization
  Oracle Database secures middle-tier applications by limiting privileges, preserving client identities through all tiers, and auditing actions by clients.

• Administration and Security in Clients, Application Servers, and Database Servers
  In a multitier environment, an application server provides data for clients and serves as an interface to one or more database servers.

• Preserving User Identity in Multitiered Environments
  You can use middle tier servers for proxy authentication and client identifiers to identify application users who are not known to the database.

• User Authentication Data Dictionary Views
  Oracle Database provides data dictionary views that list information about user authentication, such as roles that users have or profiles they use.