Java Programming with Oracle JDBC

Secure Sockets Layer

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is an industry-standard protocol for secure authentication, data encryption, and data integrity. With Version 8.1.6, SSL is supported only by the OCI driver. So when you configure the Oracle Client and the Server’s listener software to use SSL, data encryption and integrity are transparently enabled, that is, as far as your Java programs are concerned. It’s just a matter of specifying a net service name configured to use SSL in your database URL. Since the Thin driver does not yet support SSL, and may never support SSL because of export laws, there’s no need for a programmer to specify any properties, and therefore, no need to show you an example. Nonetheless, it may be helpful to understand the steps involved in configuring the Oracle Client and Server to use SSL. For testing purposes, here’s an outline of the activities required to configure your server for SSL:

1. Use Oracle Wallet Manager to create a new Oracle wallet, which is an abstraction for a X.509 certificate database.

2. In Wallet Manager, create a certificate request using the fully qualified domain name of your server’s host as the common name.

3. Export your certificate request and send it to a certificate authority along with the required information to acquire a trusted certificate. For testing purposes, send your request to VeriSign, which you can do at http://digitalid.verisign.com/server/trial/index.htm. After VeriSign sends you your certificate via email, install the corresponding ...