Securing AR System server and Oracle database communication

Secure communication between the AR System Server and Oracle database protects sensitive data from unauthorized access, interception, and data breaches. Encryption ensures that data transmitted between these systems remains confidential, reducing the risk of data breaches.

Encryption guidelines for AR System versions 20.08 and earlier

In AR System versions 20.08 and earlier, the AR System server is installed on virtual machines. You can modify the server files, including Oracle-specific configuration files, or add certificates to the virtual machines to enable encryption. For more information about how you can enable encryption on AR System server versions 20.08 and earlier, see Trending in Support: Encrypting Data Between AR Servers and Oracle Databases.

Encryption guidelines for AR System versions 21.3 and later

With the adoption of containerization, starting with AR System version 21.3, the AR System server is deployed as a Docker container within a Kubernetes infrastructure. This encapsulation restricts direct file system modifications. The following table provides information about encryption on AR System versions 21.3 and later:

Feature	Description
AR Server deployment	Containerized (Docker and Kubernetes)
Encryption configuration	Controlled by Oracle database settings
Oracle driver type	Type 4 JDBC driver
Customization	No direct access to config files in container
Encryption enforcement	Managed by database-side settings

Configuring encryption and integrity parameters by using Oracle Net Manager

You can use the Oracle Net Manager to specify the following four possible values for the encryption and integrity configuration parameters.

REJECTED
ACCEPTED
REQUESTED
REQUIRED

The encryption behavior depends on the client and server settings as shown in the following table:

Client Setting	Server Setting	Encryption and Data Negotiation
REJECTED	REJECTED	OFF
ACCEPTED	REJECTED	OFF
REQUESTED	REJECTED	OFF
REQUIRED	REJECTED	Connection fails
REJECTED	ACCEPTED	OFF
ACCEPTED	ACCEPTED	OFF
REQUESTED	ACCEPTED	ON
REQUIRED	ACCEPTED	ON
REJECTED	REQUESTED	OFF
ACCEPTED	REQUESTED	ON
REQUESTED	REQUESTED	ON
REQUIRED	REQUESTED	ON
REJECTED	REQUIRED	Connection fails
ACCEPTED	REQUIRED	ON
REQUESTED	REQUIRED	ON
REQUIRED	REQUIRED	ON

Important

To configure server-side encryption and integrity settings, see the Configuring Encryption and Integrity Parameters Using Oracle Net Manager topic in the official Oracle documentation relevant to your Oracle version.

The Oracle Type 4 JDBC driver used in AR System server defaults to ACCEPTED, and encryption is activated when the Oracle database is configured with REQUESTED or REQUIRED settings.

The following screenshot provides an example of various settings from the database server side for an Oracle database in OCI cloud, with which BMC verified the encryption of traffic between the AR server and the Oracle database: