Encrypting Traffic Between 11i Application and Database Tiers

It's now possible to encrypt the SQL*Net traffic that flows between the E-Business Suite Release 11i application and database tier servers.

This long-awaited certification is delivered through an Oracle database feature called Oracle Advanced Security Option (ASO). For reasons too arcane to discuss here, this is also referred to as Advanced Networking Option (ANO).

The process involves installing an E-Business Suite Concurrent Manager patch and Oracle Advanced Networking, changing several configuration files, and then relinking your Apps executables.

The minimum prerequisites for this configuration include:

• Oracle Applications 11.5.10 users with RUP 3 or later (11i.ATG.PF.H RUP3 patch 4334965 or later)

Negligible Impact on Performance

According to the E-Business Suite Performance Group, the overhead is approximately 5%, mainly due to an increase in round-trips and payload size as well as some trivial amount of packet processing when ASO is enabled.

For the security-conscious, this overhead is a small price to pay for the added security for encrypting this sensitive traffic.

Related
Encrypting EBS 11i Network Traffic using Advanced Security Option / Advanced Networking Option (Note 391248.1)