Review the list of limitations in managing PDBs.

• Oracle recommends using the Console or API-based tools (including the OCI CLI, SDKs, and Terraform) to create and manage PDBs. However, there would be periodic sync of the PDBs created through DBAASCLI and SQL*Plus.
• PDB management using the OCI Console and API is available only for Oracle Database versions 19c and later.
• PDBs are backed up at the CDB level, and each backup includes all the PDBs in the database. OCI Control Plane does not support the creation of backups for individual PDBs. However, bkup_api supports PDB backup operations. For more information, see Configuring and Customizing Backups with bkup_api.
  Examples:

  • List backups:

    /var/opt/oracle/bkup_api/bkup_api list --dbname psarch

  • Create initial PDB backup manually:

    /var/opt/oracle/bkup_api/bkup_api bkup_start --level1 --dbname psarch --pdb NEWPDBA

• Restore operations are performed at the CDB level. OCI Control Plane does not support restoring individual PDBs. However, bkup_api supports PDB restore operations.
  Examples:

  • Recover a PDB with least or no data loss possible:

    /var/opt/oracle/bkup_api/bkup_api recover_start --latest --dbname psarch --pdb NEWPDBA

  • Recover a PDB back to a point in time:

    /var/opt/oracle/bkup_api/bkup_api recover_start -t '17-AUG2021 21:15:00' --dbname psarch --pdb NEWPDBA

  • Recover until SCN:

    /var/opt/oracle/bkup_api/bkup_api recover_start -scn 138935800 -pdb=NEWPDBA -uuid=fec6579e077211ec8b0a00102ee75632 -bname=psarch

You can create a PDB from the OCI Console, or with the pluggable database APIs.

• Using the Console to Create a Pluggable Database
  To create a pluggable database with the console, use this procedure.
• Using the API to Create a Pluggable Database
  Use various API features to help create your pluggable databases on Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer.

To start, stop, clone, and delete a PDB, use these procedures.

• Using the Console to Start a Pluggable Database
  The PDB must be available and stopped to use this procedure.
• Using the Console to Stop a Pluggable Database
  The PDB must be available and running (started) to use this procedure.
• Using the Console to Delete a Pluggable Database
  The PDB must be available and stopped to use this procedure.
• Using the Console to Get Connection Strings for a Pluggable Database
  Learn how to get connection strings for the administrative service of a PDB. Oracle recommends connecting applications to an application service using the strings created for the application service.
• Using the API to Manage Pluggable Databases
  Use various API features to help manage your pluggable databases on Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer.
• Using the Console to Clone a PDB
  You can create clones of your PDBs within the same database (CDB). This operation is known as local cloning. You can also clone a PDB to a different CDB. This operation is known as remote cloning.
• Using the API to Clone a Pluggable Database
  Clone a pluggable database (PDB) in the same database (CDB) as the source PDB or to a different database from the source PDB.

You can enable an Oracle Database instance to use Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (IAM) authentication and authorization for users.

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure IAM integration with Oracle Exadata Database Service on Cloud@Customer supports the following:

• IAM Database Password Authentication
• Identity and Access Management (IAM) SSO Token Based Authentication

See Authenticating and Authorizing IAM Users for Oracle DBaaS Databases for complete details about the architecture for using IAM users on Oracle Exadata Database Service on Cloud@Customer.

You can enable an Oracle Database instance to allow user access with an Oracle Cloud Infrastructure IAM database password (using a password verifier).

An Oracle Cloud Infrastructure IAM database password allows an IAM user to log in to an Oracle Database instance as Oracle Database users typically log in with a user name and password. The user enters their IAM user name and IAM database password. An IAM database password is a different password than the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Console password. Using an IAM user with the password verifier, you can log in to Oracle Database with any supported database client.

For more information about managing IAM database password, see Managing User Credentials.

You can enable an Oracle Database instance to use Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Identity and Access Management (IAM) SSO tokens.

There are several ways a database client can obtain an IAM database token:

• A client application or tool can request the database token from IAM for the user and can pass the database token through the client API. Using the API to send the token overrides other settings in the database client. For more information about the clients supported for this type of IAM database token usage, see Supported Client Drivers for IAM Connections.
• If the application or tool does not support requesting an IAM database token through the client API, the IAM user can first use the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure command line interface (CLI) to retrieve the IAM database token and save it in a file location. For example, to use SQL*Plus and other applications and tools using this connection method, you first obtain the database token using the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Command Line Interface (CLI). For more information, see db-token get. If the database client is configured for IAM database tokens, when a user logs in with the slash login form, the database driver uses the IAM database token that has been saved in the default or specified file location.
• A client application or tool can use an Oracle Cloud Infrastructure IAM instance principal or resource principal to get an IAM database token and use the IAM database token to authenticate itself to an Oracle Database instance.
• IAM users and OCI applications can request a database token from IAM with several methods, including using an API key. See Configuring a Client Connection for SQL*Plus That Uses an IAM Token for an example. See Authenticating and Authorizing IAM Users for Oracle DBaaS Databases for a description of other methods such as using a delegation token within an OCI cloud shell.

In previous releases, you could only use the IAM user name and database password to get a password verifier from IAM. Getting a token with these credentials is more secure than getting a password verifier because a password verifier is considered sensitive. Using a token means that you do not need to pass or use the verifier. Applications cannot pass a token that was retrieved by the IAM user name and password through the database client API. Only the database client can retrieve this type of token. A database client can only retrieve a database token using the IAM user name and IAM database password.

Review the prerequisites for enabling IAM user access to Oracle Database.

If the database is enabled for another external authentication scheme, verify that you want to use IAM on the Oracle Database instance. There can only be one external authentication scheme enabled at any given time.

If you want to use IAM and another external authentication scheme is enabled, you must first disable the other external authentication scheme.

Configure a network connection to OCI to be able to make calls to OCI IAM for the database instances on Oracle Exadata Database Service on Cloud@Customer to accept IAM database access tokens (db-tokens), or get IAM database password verifiers.

1. Consult your ExaDB-C@C administrator to determine the OCI region assigned to your ExaDB-C@C installation.
2. Determine the OCI IAM endpoint for that OCI region. For more information, see Identity and Access Management Service API.
3. Find the port number for Identity Service for name resolution of Oracle operators. For more information, see Table 3-2 Ports to Open for Control Plane Connectivity in Network Requirements for Oracle Exadata Database Service on Cloud@Customer.

   For example, if your OCI region is Phoenix, then open port 443 to https://identity.us-phoenix-1.oci.oraclecloud.com.

4. Configure your network to open this connection.

When sending IAM tokens from the database client to the database server, a TLS connection must be established. The TLS wallet with the database certificate for the ExaDB-C@C service instance must be stored under the WALLET_ROOT location. Create a tls directory so it looks like: WALLET_ROOT/<PDB GUID>/tls.

Configure network proxy settings in your environment to allow the database to access OCI IAM. Replace the network proxy URL http://www-proxy.example.com:80/ and the database name given in the example with yours.

1. Log in to the host operating system.
2. Set the proxy environment variables.

   srvctl setenv database -db exampledbname -env "https_proxy=http://www-proxy.example.com:80/"
   srvctl setenv database -db exampledbname -env "http_proxy=http://www-proxy.example.com:80/"
   

3. Stop the database and verify that the variables have been set:

   $ srvctl stop database -db exampledbname

   $ srvctl getenv database -db exampledbname
   http_proxy=http://www-proxy.example.com:80/
   https_proxy=http://www-proxy.example.com:80/

4. Restart the database.

   $ srvctl start database -db exampledbname

Review the steps to enable IAM user access to Oracle Database.

1. Perform the prerequisites for IAM authorization and authentication on Oracle Database.

   See Prerequisites for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Identity and Access Management (IAM) Authentication on Oracle Database for more information.

2. Enable Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (IAM) Authentication and Authorization using the ALTER SYSTEM command.

   ALTER SYSTEM SET IDENTITY_PROVIDER_TYPE=OCI_IAM SCOPE=BOTH;

3. Verify the value of IDENTITY_PROVIDER_TYPE system parameter.

   SELECT NAME, VALUE FROM V$PARAMETER WHERE NAME='identity_provider_type';
   NAME                     VALUE
   ----------------------   -------
   identity_provider_type   OCI_IAM

Review the steps to change the external identity provider from (IAM) authentication and authorization to another and vice-versa.

1. Disable IAM integration using the ALTER SYSTEM command.

   ALTER SYSTEM RESET IDENTITY_PROVIDER_TYPE SCOPE=BOTH;

2. Verify the value of IDENTITY_PROVIDER_TYPE system parameter.

   SELECT NAME, VALUE FROM V$PARAMETER WHERE NAME='identity_provider_type';
   NAME                   VALUE   
   ---------------------- ------- 
   identity_provider_type None

3. Configure the other directory service integration.

Review the steps to re-enable IAM users to connect to Oracle Database using Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (IAM) Authentication and Authorization

1. Disable the integration with the other identity provider or directory service.
2. Enable IAM integration as described in Enable Identity and Access Management (IAM) Authentication on Oracle Database.

Describes the steps to disable IAM external authentication user access for Oracle Database.

1. Disable IAM integration using the ALTER SYSTEM command.

   ALTER SYSTEM RESET IDENTITY_PROVIDER_TYPE SCOPE=BOTH;

2. If you also want to remove IAM user access to the database, you may need to remove or modify the IAM group and the IAM policies you set up to allow access to the database.

Review the notes for using Oracle Database tools with IAM authentication enabled.

• Oracle APEX is not supported for IAM users with Oracle Database.
• Database Actions is not supported for IAM users with Oracle Database. See Provide Database Actions Access to Database Users for information on using regular database users with Oracle Database.
• Oracle Machine Learning Notebooks and other components are not supported for IAM Authorized users with Oracle Database. See Add Existing Database User Account to Oracle Machine Learning Components for information on using regular database users with Oracle Database.

Review the the steps to write policy statements for an IAM group to enable IAM user access to OCI resources, specifically the Oracle Database instances.

1. Create an IAM group for IAM users to access OCI databases. Add users to this group.

   For example, create the group sales_dbusers. For more information, see Managing Groups.

2. Write policy statements to enable access to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure resources.
   1. In the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure console, click Identity and Security, and then click Policies.
   2. To a write policy, click Create Policy, and then enter a Name and a Description.
   3. Use the Policy Builder to create a policy.
      For example, to create a policy to allow users in IAM group DBUsers to access any Oracle Database in their tenancy:

      Allow group DBUsers to use database-connections in tenancy

      For example to create a policy that limits members of DBUsers group to access Oracle Databases in the compartment testing_compartment only:

      allow group DBUsers to use database-connections in compartment testing_compartment

      For example, to create a policy that limits group access to a single database in a compartment:

      allow group DBUsers to use database-connections in compartment testing_compartment where target.database.id = 'ocid1.autonomousdatabase.oc1.iad.aaaabbbbcccc'

   4. Click Create.

Review the steps to authorize IAM users on an Oracle Database instance.

1. Log in as the ADMIN user to the database that is enabled to use IAM.

   The ADMIN user has the required CREATE USER and ALTER USER system privileges that you need for these steps.

2. Create a mapping between the Oracle Database user (schema) with CREATE USER or ALTER USER statements and include the IDENTIFIED GLOBALLY AS clause, specifying the IAM group name.
   Use the following syntax to map a global user to an IAM group:

   CREATE USER global_user IDENTIFIED GLOBALLY AS 'IAM_GROUP_NAME=IAM_GROUP_NAME';

   For example, to map an IAM group named db_sales_group to a shared database global user named sales_group:

   CREATE USER sales_group IDENTIFIED GLOBALLY AS 'IAM_GROUP_NAME=db_sales_group';

   This creates a shared global user mapping. The mapping, with the global user sales_group is effective for all users in the IAM group. Thus, anyone in the db_sales_group can log in to the database using their IAM credentials through the shared mapping of the sales_group global user.

   If you want to create additional global user mappings for other IAM groups or users, follow these steps for each IAM group or user.

   Note
   
   Database users that are not IDENTIFIED GLOBALLY can continue to login as before, even when the Oracle Database is enabled for IAM authentication.

Review the steps to map Oracle Database global roles to IAM groups.

1. Log in as the ADMIN user to the database that is enabled to use IAM.

   The ADMIN user has the required CREATE USER and ALTER USER system privileges that you need for these steps.

2. Set database authorization for Oracle Database roles with CREATE ROLE or ALTER ROLE statements and include the IDENTIFIED GLOBALLY AS clause, specifying the IAM group name.
   Use the following syntax to map a global role to an IAM group:

   CREATE ROLE global_role IDENTIFIED GLOBALLY AS 'IAM_GROUP_NAME=IAM_GROUP_of_WHICH_the_IAM_USER_IS_a_MEMBER';

   For example, to map an IAM group named ExporterGroup to a shared database global role named export_role:

   CREATE ROLE export_role IDENTIFIED GLOBALLY AS 'IAM_GROUP_NAME=ExporterGroup';

3. Use the GRANT statements to grant the required privileges or other roles to the global role.

   GRANT CREATE SESSION TO export_role;

   GRANT DWROLE TO export_role;

4. If you want an existing database role to be associated with an IAM group, then use the ALTER ROLE statement to alter the existing database role to map the role to an IAM group.
   Use the following syntax to alter an existing database role to map it to an IAM group:

   ALTER ROLE existing_database_role IDENTIFIED GLOBALLY AS 'IAM_GROUP_NAME=IAM_Group_Name';

To add an IAM user and allow the IAM user to login to Oracle Database by supplying a username and password, you must create an IAM database password.

For more information, see Working with IAM Database Passwords.

IAM users can connect to the Oracle Database instance by using either an IAM database password verifier or an IAM token.

Using the IAM database password verifier is similar to the Oracle Database password authentication process. However, instead of the password verifier (encrypted hash of the password) being stored in the Oracle Database, the verifier is instead stored as part of the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) IAM user profile.

The second connection method, the use of an IAM token for the database, is more modern. The use of token-based access is a better fit for Cloud resources such as Oracle Database. The token is based on the strength that the IAM endpoint can enforce. This can be multi-factor authentication, which is stronger than the use of passwords alone. Another benefit of using tokens is that the password verifier (which is considered sensitive) is never stored or available in memory.

• Client Connections That Use an Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Identity and Access Management (IAM) Database Password Verifier
  After you have configured the authorization needed for the IAM user, this user can log in using an existing client application, such as SQL*Plus or SQLcl without additional configuration.
• Client Connections That Use a Token Requested by a Client Application or Tool
  For IAM token access to the Oracle DBaaS, the client application or tool requests a database token from IAM for the IAM user.
• Client Connections That Use a Token Requested by an IAM User Name and Database Password
  You can create a client connection that uses a token requested by an IAM user name and database password.
• Configure a Secure External Password Store Wallet to Retrieve an Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Identity and Access Management (IAM) Token
  You can enable an IAM user name and a secure external password store (SEPS) to request the IAM database token.

You can configure SQL*Plus to use an IAM database password.

1. As the IAM user, log in to the Oracle Database.

   CONNECT user_name@db_connect_string
   Enter password: password

   In this specification, user_name is the IAM user name. There is a limit of 128 bytes for the combined domain_name/user_name.

   The following example shows how IAM user peter_fitch can log in to an Oracle Database instance.

   sqlplus /nolog
   connect peter_fitch@db_connect_string
   Enter password: password

   Some special characters will require double quotation marks around user_name and password. For example:

   "peter_fitch@example.com"@db_connect_string
   "IAM database password"

You can configure a client connection for SQL*Plus that uses an IAM token.

1. Ensure you have an IAM user account.
2. Check with an IAM administrator and Oracle Database administrator to ensure you have a policy allowing you to access the database in the compartment or your tenancy and that you are mapped to a global schema in the database.
3. If your application or tool does not support direct IAM integration, then download, install, and configure the OCI CLI.

   See OCI Command Line Interface Quickstart.

4. Set up an API key as part of the OCI CLI configuration and select default values.
   1. Set up the API key access for the IAM user.
   2. Retrieve the db-token.
      For example:

      • Retrieving a db-token with an API-key using the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) command-line interface:

        oci iam db-token get

      • Retrieving a db-token with a security (or session) token:

        oci iam db-token get --auth security_token

        If the security token has expired, a window will appear so the user can log in to OCI again. This generates the security token for the user. OCI CLI will use this refreshed token to get the db-token.

      • Retrieving a db-token with a delegation token: When you log in to the cloud shell, the delegation token is automatically generated and placed in the /etc directory. To get this token, execute the following command in the cloud shell:

        oci iam db-token get

      • Retrieving an instance token by using the OCI command-line interface:

        oci iam db-token get --auth instance_principal

      See Required Keys and OCIDs for more information.

5. Ensure that you are using the latest release updates for the Oracle Database client release 19c.

   This configuration only works with the Oracle Database client release 19c (Oracle Database release 21c offers limited IAM token features).

6. Ensure that TLS is configured for the database connection.
   1. Confirm that DN matching is enabled by looking for SSL_SERVER_DN_MATCH=ON in the sqlnet.ora file.
   2. Configure the database client to use the IAM token by adding TOKEN_AUTH=OCI_TOKEN to the sqlnet.ora file.

      Because you will be using the default locations for the database token file, you do not need to include the token location.

   The TOKEN_AUTH and TOKEN_LOCATION values in the tnsnames.ora connect strings take precedence over the sqlnet.ora settings for that connection.

   For example, for the connect string, assuming that the token is in the default location (~/.oci/db-token for Linux):

   (description= 
     (retry_count=20)(retry_delay=3)
     (address=(protocol=tcps)(port=1522)
     (host=example.us-phoenix-1.oraclecloud.com))
     (connect_data=(exa1scan.example.com:1521/PDB1.example.yourcloud.com))
     (security=(ssl_server_cert_dn="CN=example.uscom-east-1.oraclecloud.com, 
        OU=Oracle BMCS US, O=Example Corporation, 
        L=Redwood City, ST=California, C=US")
     (TOKEN_AUTH=OCI_TOKEN)))

   After the connect string is updated with the TOKEN_AUTH parameter, the IAM user can log in to the Oracle Database instance by running the following command to start SQL*Plus. You can include the connect descriptor itself or use the name of the descriptor from the tnsnames.ora file.

   connect /@exampledb_high

   (or)

   (description= 
     (retry_count=20)(retry_delay=3)
     (address=(protocol=tcps)(port=1522)
     (host=example.us-phoenix-1.oraclecloud.com))
     (connect_data=(exa1scan.example.com:1521/PDB1.example.yourcloud.com))
     (security=(ssl_server_cert_dn="CN=example.uscom-east-1.oraclecloud.com, 
        OU=Oracle BMCS US, O=Example Corporation, 
        L=Redwood City, ST=California, C=US")
     (TOKEN_AUTH=OCI_TOKEN)))

After the DBA user enables Oracle Cloud Infrastructure IAM on Oracle Database, an application can access the database through an Oracle Cloud Infrastructure IAM database token using an instance principal.

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Identity and Access Management (IAM) users can connect to Oracle Database by using proxy authentication.

Proxy authentication is typically used to authenticate the real user and then authorize them to use a database schema with the schema privileges and roles in order to manage an application. Alternatives such as sharing the application schema password are considered insecure and unable to audit which actual user performed an action.

A use case can be in an environment in which a named IAM user who is an application database administrator can authenticate by using their credentials and then proxy to a database schema user (for example, hrapp). This authentication enables the IAM administrator to use the hrapp privileges and roles as user hrapp in order to perform application maintenance, yet still use their IAM credentials for authentication. An application database administrator can sign in to the database and then proxy to an application schema to manage this schema.

You can configure proxy authentication for both password authentication and token authentication methods.

To configure proxy authentication for an IAM user, the IAM user must already have a mapping to a global schema (exclusive or shared mapping). A separate database schema for the IAM user to proxy to must also be available.

1. Log in to the Oracle Database instance as a user who has the ALTER USER system privileges.
2. Grant permission for the IAM user to proxy to the local database user account.
   An IAM user cannot be referenced in the command so the proxy must be created between the database global user (mapped to the IAM user) and the target database user. In the following example, hrapp is the database schema to proxy to, and peterfitch_schema is the database global user exclusively mapped to user peterfitch.

   ALTER USER hrapp GRANT CONNECT THROUGH peterfitch_schema;

   At this stage, the IAM user can log in to the database instance using the proxy.

   For example, to connect using a password verifier:

   CONNECT peterfitch[hrapp]@connect_string
   Enter password: password

3. To connect using a token:

   CONNECT [hrapp]/@connect_string

You can validate the IAM user proxy configuration for both password and token authentication methods.

1. Log in to the Oracle Database instance as a user who has the CREATE USER and ALTER USER system privileges.
2. Connect at the IAM user and execute the SHOW USER and SELECT SYS_CONTEXT commands.

   For example, suppose you want to check the proxy authentication of the IAM user peterfitch when they proxy to database user hrapp. You will need to connect to the database using the different types of authentication methods shown here, but the output of the commands that you execute will be the same for all types.

   • For password authentication:

     CONNECT peterfitch[hrapp]/password\!@connect_string
     SHOW USER;
     --The output should be USER is "HRAPP"
     SELECT SYS_CONTEXT('USERENV','AUTHENTICATION_METHOD') FROM DUAL;
     --The output should be "PASSWORD_GLOBAL"
     SELECT SYS_CONTEXT('USERENV','PROXY_USER') FROM DUAL;
     --The output should be "PETERFITCH_SCHEMA"
     SELECT SYS_CONTEXT('USERENV','CURRENT_USER') FROM DUAL;
     --The output should be "HRAPP"

   • For token authentication:

     CONNECT [hrapp]/@connect_string
     SHOW USER;
     --The output should be USER is "HRAPP"
     SELECT SYS_CONTEXT('USERENV','AUTHENTICATION_METHOD') FROM DUAL;
     --The output should be "TOKEN_GLOBAL"
     SELECT SYS_CONTEXT('USERENV','PROXY_USER') FROM DUAL;
     --The output should be "PETERFITCH_SCHEMA"
     SELECT SYS_CONTEXT('USERENV','CURRENT_USER') FROM DUAL;
     --The output should be "HRAPP"