IBM Sterling Control Center support to use Kerberos based authentication with Oracle database server

Overview

IBM Sterling Control Center has been modified to support Kerberos based authentication to Oracle DB server. Read the entire section before making any configuration changes.

Kerberos is an authentication protocol which uses a shared secret and a trusted third-party arbitrator in order to validate the identity of clients. Click here to understand the overview of Kerberos.

Prerequisites

Following are the prerequisites to use Kerberos based authentication from Control Center to Oracle database:
  • Familiarity with Kerberos concepts and experience with using Kerberos client commands in Linux environment.
  • Oracle database server has been configured to support Kerberos based authentication. Click here for details on configuring Oracle database server to enable Kerberos based authentication.
  • A database user that uses Kerberos authentication has been created.
  • A Linux server is available with Kerberos client enabled and has the required system resources to install Control Center.
  • Location of Kerberos configuration file has been identified on the Linux server where Control Center will be installed.
  • Location of Kerberos credentials cache file has been identified on the Linux server where control Center will be installed.
Before configuring Control Center to use Kerberos based authentication with Oracle database server, it is strongly recommended that Kerberos based authentication with Oracle server be validated using a standalone Java program independent of Control Center. Sample standalone Java client program (named KerberosJdbcDemo) can be found here.
Note: Currently, only Linux environment (for Control Center) is supported to enable Kerberos based authentication with Oracle database.