Kerberos Authentication with Oracle Databases

In an effort to simplify Oracle database authentication, Kerberos will be installed and configured to authenticate user’s password against Microsoft AD. This will allow users to maintain only one password for AD and Oracle databases.

There are several parts to the configuration; MS AD, Unix and Oracle Database. This document will consolidate all the parts into one document for a consistent installation across all the database servers.

Microsoft AD

Create a user with the samaccountname that matches the short name. The cn, displayname, givenname and name attributes must match FQDN.

The following was run from PDC emulator (Should be able to use any DC).  The password was a generated, complex password.

$Pass=”…….”

ktpass.exe -princ <userPrincipalName> -mapuser <cn> -crypto all -pass $pass -out C:\temp\krb5.keypass

The pertinent user attributes are below.  The red color represents admin entered.  The black bold represent populated by the ktpass command when it creates the keytab file.

cn                       <servername>.<company.com>
displayName              <servername>.<company.com>
distinguishedName        CN=<servername>.<company.com>,OU=AIX,DC=corp,DC=<company>,DC=com
givenName                <servername>.<company.com>
name                     <servername>.<company.com>
sAMAccountName           <servername>
servicePrincipalName     oracle/<servername>.<company.com>
                         oracle/<servername>.corp.<company.com>
userAccountControl       [512] User
userPrincipalName        oracle/<servername>.<company.com>@CORP.<COMPANY.COM>

The resultant file was transferred to the *nix admin for installation and config.

Unix

Make krb components available:

revise AD server exports to make /export/71 available to target server(s);
mount AD Server:/export/71 /mnt
cd /mnt/lppsource_71TL3SP6_full/installp/ppc
smitty install from current directory

Check/Install these Kerberos components:

krb5.client.rte 1.5.0.3      Network Authentication Servi…
krb5.client.samples 1.5.0.3  Network Authentication Servi…
krb5.doc.en_US.html 1.5.0.3  Network Auth Service HTML Do…
krb5.doc.en_US.pdf 1.5.0.3   Network Auth Service PDF Doc…
krb5.lic 1.5.0.3             Network Authentication Servi…

Revise kerberos entries in /etc/services:

kerberos                88/tcp  kerberos5 krb5  # Kerberos v5
kerberos                88/udp  kerberos5 krb5  # Kerberos v5

Oracle Database Servers

Create or add the following to the sqlnet.ora file ($ORACLE_HOME/network/admin)

SQLNET.KERBEROS5_KEYTAB=/etc/krb5/krb5.keytab
SQLNET.AUTHENTICATION_SERVICES = (BEQ,KERBEROS5PRE,KERBEROS5)
SQLNET.AUTHENTICATION_REQUIRED=TRUE
SQLNET.KERBEROS5_CONF_MIT=TRUE
SQLNET.KERBEROS5_CONF=$ORACLE_HOME/network/admin/krb5.conf
SQLNET.AUTHENTICATION_KERBEROS5_SERVICE=oracle
SQLNET.INBOUND_CONNECT_TIMEOUT=180

Update each user with the following:

alter user <username> identified externally as ‘<username>@CORP.<COMPANY.COM>’;

I hope this blog helps provide you with a one stop shop to simplify your Oracle database authentication. If you’re looking for support your Oracle databases, please reach out.