Configuring Oracle Key Vault with OCI/DB@ for Exadata Dedicated

This blog post will walk through how to configure OCI (or multicloud) to use an existing Oracle Key Vault (OKV) with Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure.

This topic has come up a lot lately with customers who need  a central TDE key management system and I wanted to walk through the steps myself and document them for easy access.

 I am going to start at the point where OKV is already installed, the initial passwords have been set for ROOT and an ADMIN account, and I can log into the OKV management console.

NOTE: For my testing, I used the marketplace image of OKV installed in an instance in OCI.

The basic required steps to give the OCI database automation the information it needs to connect to OKV are :

• Configure OKV to enroll databases using the REST API functionality.
• Create a REST API user for OKV
• Create an OCI vault if one doesn't already exist
• Create an encryption key to encrypt a secret
• Store the OKV REST user password in that secret
• Create the Exadata Key Store.

There are a few similarly named objects involved, so I want to explain what each one does before going through the screens.

Object	What I am using it for
Oracle Key Vault (OKV)	The server(s) that will hold the database TDE master encryption keys when a database is configured to use OKV.  OKV is typically configured as a cluster for high availability.
OCI vault	The OCI vault used for the encryption key to encrypt a secret in this walkthrough.  It is not used for the TDE encryption keys.
OCI encryption key	The symmetric key used to encrypt the saved password.
OCI secret	The password for the OKV REST user.
Exadata Key Store	The OCI resource containing the OKV connection IP address(es), REST username, and reference to the password secret for the REST user.

NOTE: The key I create in OCI below protects the password secret. The database TDE keys will be managed in OKV.

Before starting

My screenshots show OKV 21.15. OCI menu names can change, so I have included links to Oracle's documentation throughout the post.

Make sure the Exadata client network can reach OKV. Oracle lists ports 443, 5695, and 5696 for outbound access from the client network. Check the routes, security lists or network security groups, and any firewall on the path. 

I also need OCI permissions to create or use the vault, key, secret, and Key Store, plus an IAM administrator to configure the policies below. For this walkthrough, I will work in the Exadata deployment's region and select the appropriate compartment at each step.

Oracle's main reference is Managing Encryption Keys on External Devices for Exadata Dedicated. Start with the section titled Setting Up Your Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure to Work With Oracle Key Vault.

Step #1 Enable REST access in OKV

First I am going to check that REST access is enabled. Log into OKV with a System Administrator account and go to System → Settings → RESTful Services.

In the screen below, REST access can be disabled, allowed from specific IP addresses, or allowed from all addresses. For a restricted configuration, select IP address(es) and include the actual client IP addresses used by all of the database VM hosts that will access OKV. Include every RAC node, and account for any source address translation in your network.  Save the change.

The supplied screenshot shows All selected. Use an explicit client IP list when restricting REST access.

Oracle documents these settings in Oracle Key Vault General System Administration, under Configuring RESTful Services Utility. Use the section appropriate to your standalone or multi-master cluster deployment.

Step #2a Create the OKV REST user

Next I am going to create a dedicated account for the integration. In OKV, go to Users → Manage Users and create a user such as okv_rest_user. Set its password and retain it securely. This is the password that I will put into the OCI secret.

Create the OKV user that OCI will use for the integration.

Open the user details, select the Create Endpoint privilege, and save the change. That is the REST user privilege specified for Exadata Dedicated in Oracle's integration prerequisites. The screenshot below shows it selected.

Grant Create Endpoint to the integration user.

Step #2b Reset the password for the REST user

Once you create the REST user, you need to reset the password before the first login.

This can be accomplished by logging into the OKV console as the okv_rest_user and you will be prompted to reset the password.

Step #3 Create or select an OCI vault

Now I am ready to move to the OCI Console. Open Identity & Security → Key Management and locate the vaults. Some Console layouts label this entry simply Vault.

If you already have an appropriate vault, select it and continue to the next step. Otherwise:

1. Select the compartment where the vault will be created.
2. Click Create Vault.
3. Enter a descriptive name, such as okv-integration-vault.
4. Select the vault type required by your organization. The virtual private vault option provides a dedicated HSM partition; it is not a requirement just to store this password.
5. Create the vault and wait for it to become available.

See Creating a Vault for the options. Choose the vault type carefully because it cannot be changed after creation.

Step #4 Create the key that will encrypt the secret

Within the vault, open Master Encryption Keys and select Create Key. Below are the settings in my example.

Field	Example setting
Compartment	The compartment chosen for the key
Name	bsg-okv-secret
Protection Mode	Software in this example; select HSM if required by your organization
Key Shape Algorithm	AES
Key Shape Length	256 bits
Import External Key	Off, so OCI generates the key

This key will encrypt the OKV password secret.

Click Create Key and wait for it to become available. Use a symmetric AES key for this secret; an asymmetric key is not supported for secret creation.

Oracle explains the protection modes and creation options in Creating a Master Encryption Key. A key's protection mode cannot be changed after creation.

Step #5 Create the secret containing the OKV password

Next go to Identity & Security → Secret Management → Secrets. Select the compartment and vault, then click Create secret.

I am storing the password that already exists in OKV, so I will use Manual secret generation. Fill in the fields as follows.

Field	What to enter
Create in compartment	The compartment where the secret should reside
Name	okv-rest-password
Description	Password for the OKV REST integration user
Vault compartment and Vault	The vault selected or created in Step #3
Encryption key compartment and Encryption key	The location and name of the AES key from Step #4
Secret generation	Manual secret generation
Secret type template	Plain-Text
Secret contents	Only the exact password for okv_rest_user

The key must belong to the vault selected for the secret. The compartment selectors matter here: the secret, vault, and key can have different compartment locations.

NOTE: Do not include the username, a JSON document, surrounding quotes, or an extra newline in the password value. With Plain-Text selected, enter the password directly. The Console handles the required base64 encoding; base64 itself is not encryption. OCI encrypts the secret using the selected key.

Click Create secret. Once it is active, record its name, compartment, and OCID for reference. I will select this secret in the Key Store form rather than paste the password into that form.

See Creating a Secret. Oracle now documents secrets under the Secret Management Service, which explains why older Vault documentation may direct you to a different page.

Step #6 Configure IAM access

Before creating the Key Store, I need the OCI resources to have access to each other. This is separate from the permissions that let me log into the Console and create the resources.

The following follows the compartment-based dynamic-group approach in Oracle's Exadata Dedicated setup guide. Have your IAM administrator adapt it to your compartment structure and identity domain. Replace every value in angle brackets before using it.

Create the dynamic groups under Identity & Security → Domains → your domain → Dynamic groups.

For a group named OKV-KeyStores, use the OCID of the compartment where the Key Store will reside:

ALL {resource.compartment.id = '<KEYSTORE-COMPARTMENT-OCID>'}

For a group named OKV-Exadata, use the compartment identified for the Exadata infrastructure in Oracle's setup procedure:

ALL {resource.compartment.id = '<EXADATA-INFRASTRUCTURE-COMPARTMENT-OCID>'}

Create the policy in a parent compartment that covers the target compartments. These examples use dynamic groups in the Default identity domain; substitute your domain if different.

Allow dynamic-group 'Default'/'OKV-KeyStores' to use secret-family in compartment <SECRET-COMPARTMENT>
Allow dynamic-group 'Default'/'OKV-Exadata' to use keystores in compartment <KEYSTORE-COMPARTMENT>
Allow service database to read secret-family in compartment <SECRET-COMPARTMENT>

The first statement gives the Key Store group access to the secret. The second lets the Exadata group use the Key Store. The third lets the database service read the secret.

NOTE: These matching rules select resources by compartment; they are not filters for a particular resource type. Use appropriately scoped compartments and have your IAM administrator review the resulting access. If the Exadata infrastructure and VM clusters are in different compartments, verify the resource membership against your deployment before proceeding.

For the full procedure, use Steps 2 through 4 in Oracle's Exadata Dedicated OKV setup documentation.

Step #7 Create the Exadata Key Store

Now I have the OKV connection information and the password stored as an OCI secret. Open Oracle AI Database → Oracle Exadata Database Service on Dedicated Infrastructure, select the compartment for the new Key Store, and click Key Stores.

Open Key Stores from the Exadata Dedicated service page.

Click Create Key Store and enter the following.

Field	What to enter
Name Your Key Store	A descriptive name, such as bsg-okv-keystore
Connection IP Addresses	The OKV IP address(s) reachable from the Exadata client network. You can enter multiple addreess if this is an OKV cluster.
Administrator Username	okv_rest_user, or the dedicated OKV username you created
Vault compartment and Vault	The vault associated with the password secret
Secret compartment and Secret	The compartment containing okv-rest-password, then that secret

The IP address and compartment names shown here belong to my example. Replace them with your own values.

For an OKV cluster, Oracle allows multiple comma-separated node IP addresses from the same OKV cluster. Enter addresses reachable from the database VMs. If you use a localhost tunnel to browse the OKV console, that localhost address does not belong in this field.

Review the settings, click Create Key Store, and wait for the resource to become active. Open its details and confirm the connection addresses, username, and password-secret reference.

If the secret does not appear in the selector, first check the selected region, vault, and secret compartment, followed by IAM access. If a later OKV operation cannot connect, check connectivity from every database VM, the REST access list, the Create Endpoint privilege, and whether the secret contains the current password.

Step #8 Using the Key Store

When creating a new database, you can now chose "Oracle Key Vault" from security choices for you encryption keys.

For an existing database, the next operation is on the database details page under Encryption → Change → Oracle Key Vault, where the Key Store is selected. Oracle states that this migration restarts the database, so plan a maintenance window. Follow the Administer Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) Keys section of the Exadata Dedicated documentation for that separate procedure.

NOTE: If you are already using an external key management system for this VM (OCI Vault for example), you cannot combining external Key Management systems on the same VM.

What I see in OKV

Endpoint

Within OKV, I can see that the tooling enrolled both VM cluster nodes as endpoints

The endpoints are named with the following format.

EXA_<database-name>_<resource-ID>_<VM-hostname>_EP

``` :chatgpt-content-reference{index="0"}

| Component           | Meaning |

|---                  |---|

| `EXA`               | Exadata automation prefix |

| `OKV1BSG_PPX_PHX`   | Database name/unique-name portion |

| `E47CC2A7-4C1F-40B3-8861-36CD245FB741` | Automation’s database resource identifier   |

| `EXACS-PHX3-OSRPA1` | DB VM hostname |

| `EP` | Endpoint |

**An endpoint authenticates the database host to OKV; a virtual wallet holds keys and grants access to endpoints.** If you see this name under **Wallets**, check its endpoint association—it may be an endpoint-associated wallet.

Wallet and Keys

I can see that wallet was created to store the keys

NOTE: on the DB side the unique identifier is the "database resource ID" rather than the OCID.

Summary:

These steps and links should give you the information you need to configure your database with OKV and have the tooling be able to properly manage the database.

A third recovery site: hybrid Data Guard and Autonomous Recovery Service

Until recently, most organizations I work with have been comfortable running their databases and applications across two regions. Sometimes that is an Active/Standby configuration, but more often I see some form of Active/Active. The big change I have seen recently is the addition of a third site, often described as a "cyber vault" or an IRE (Isolated Recovery Environment).

To provide that third site, many customers are looking at hosting a standby database in the cloud, either in OCI or through Oracle Database@ services in a multicloud environment. A practical way to limit traffic from the on-premises environment is to only send redo to the cloud database with Data Guard, then back up that cloud database to Autonomous Recovery Service. The backup workload stays on the cloud side.

Creating a cloud standby from your on-premises database is easier than you might think. In this post, I go through the standby build and the next step: configuring backups to Autonomous Recovery Service.

One thing to keep in mind is that a standby database and backups are only part of the picture. To use this as a cyber vault or IRE, you also need to control who can access it and which systems can connect to it. You need to protect the encryption keys and test that you can restore the database to a point before an attack or data corruption occurred. Plan for all of this as you build the standby and configure the backups..

The third-site pattern: send redo to a cloud standby, then back up the standby to Autonomous Recovery Service. The worked example below uses Oracle Exadata Database Service in OCI.

I recently went through the Oracle documentation for creating a hybrid Data Guard configuration. There is a lot of information to work through, especially when you are trying to figure out what needs to be ready before you start.

I am breaking this into four parts:

1. Get the prerequisites in place.
2. Run dbcactl to prepare the primary database.
3. Run dbaascli to create the standby database in OCI.
4. Configure backups from the cloud standby to Autonomous Recovery Service.

Once the preparation is done, the standby build comes down to two commands. I will go through their parameters and what dbcactl and  dbaascli are doing, then show where Recovery Service fits into the third-site design.

For this walkthrough, I am showing an on-premises Oracle RAC primary with a standby on Oracle Exadata Database Service in OCI. I have changed the database names and hostnames to use a generic sales example. My example build used a 19c Oracle Home and DBAAS CLI 26.3.1.0.0.

NOTE: The cloud VM cluster and Oracle Home need to exist before you start. configureStandby creates the database within that cluster. Refer to the full Oracle guide for platform requirements and configurations with additional standbys.

1) What needs to be ready before I start

First, let's go through the pieces that need to be in place before running either command.

• Download dbcactl. My Oracle Support document 3099785.1, linked from the hybrid guide, has the download and installation instructions. I am using /home/oracle/dbcacl/dbcactl in the example. The folder is named dbcacl, and the executable is dbcactl.
• Have the cloud Oracle Home ready. Match the primary release, RU, and one-off patches where possible. If you need a different RU, check the combinations allowed in the guide.
• Check connectivity in both directions. The primary needs to reach the cloud, and the cloud needs to reach the primary. Check DNS, SSH, and Oracle Net for all RAC nodes and SCAN endpoints. The network also needs enough bandwidth for the initial copy and ongoing redo.
• Existing standby database. If you already have an existing standby database you need to ensure that ALL databases can reach each other with DG broker. The existing standby needs to be able to resolve the scan listener on the new standby and connect. The new standby needs to be able to resolve the scan listener for the existing standby and connect.
• Have a shared ACFS directory on the primary if possible. This is where the network files and wallet configuration can be shared between instances. For this example I am using /acfs01/sales on an existing mounted ACFS filesystem.  If you do not have a shared ACFS directory you need to validate the connectivity on all DB nodes after executing dbcactl.
• Prepare the primary for Data Guard. This includes standby redo logs, logging, Flashback Database, Oracle Net encryption, and enough recovery-area space. Follow the MAA recommendations in the guide.

Make sure the encryption keys are there

One thing I want to call out is the TDE wallet. Even if the on-premises primary is not encrypted, it still needs a wallet with master encryption keys for this hybrid configuration. The cloud database needs those keys.

For this example I am using a file-based TDE keystore. Before starting, I would check that the wallet is usable and that the keys exist in the CDB root and each PDB other than the seed. The TDE with Data Guard documentation goes through the key handling.

For 19c at RU 19.16 or later, these are the settings I would look at:

Parameter	Example or policy	Purpose
WALLET_ROOT	/acfs01/sales/wallet	Root directory for wallet storage; the file-based TDE wallet is under tde. Use your existing keystore location.
TDE_CONFIGURATION	KEYSTORE_CONFIGURATION=FILE	Selects the file-based keystore used in this example.
TABLESPACE_ENCRYPTION	Choose for each site	AUTO_ENABLE is the cloud policy. DECRYPT_ONLY  is an on-premises option when encrypted tablespaces must be avoided. Do not apply it to the cloud standby.

NOTE: Setting the parameters does not create the wallet or set the master keys. Also, WALLET_ROOT is static, so changing it requires a restart.

If you still need to set up the wallet, follow the TDE configuration procedure. The TABLESPACE_ENCRYPTION reference explains the encryption policies. For earlier RUs, use the release-specific settings in the hybrid guide.

Here is a quick check I can run on the primary, connected through SQL*Plus as oracle:

SELECT name, db_unique_name, database_role, log_mode,
       force_logging, flashback_on
FROM v$database;

SHOW PARAMETER wallet_root
SHOW PARAMETER tde_configuration
SHOW PARAMETER tablespace_encryption

SELECT con_id, status, wallet_type, wrl_parameter
FROM v$encryption_wallet;

I want the primary in ARCHIVELOG mode, with force logging enabled and Flashback Database prepared before moving on. If archive logging still needs to be enabled, plan for the maintenance window that change may require.

I would also check V$DATABASE_KEY_INFO and V$ENCRYPTION_KEYS in the root and relevant PDBs. An open wallet is only part of the check; I need the master keys as well. If the wallet shows OPEN_NO_MASTER_KEY, that needs to be addressed before the build.

Use your existing key-management procedure and wallet location. There is no reason to replace an existing wallet just to match the path in my example.

Finally, have the primary SYS password, the TDE wallet password, and the password you will supply for AWR administration ready. These have different purposes and do not need to be the same.

Get Recovery Service ready as well

For the backup step, I also need the Recovery Service IAM policies, network connectivity, and a registered Recovery Service subnet. For 19c, the documented minimum is RU 19.18. Broker is mandatory for this backup destination in a Data Guard configuration with dbaascli 25.3.1.0.0 and later. I would also check regional availability, service limits, and the retention policy I need. The Exadata backup guide covers these prerequisites.

The names I am using in the example

Item	Generic value
Database name on both sites	sales
Primary database unique name	sales_primary
Standby database unique name	sales_stby
Primary SCAN	onprem-scan.example.com
Standby SCAN	cloud-scan.oraclevcn.com
Primary database service	sales_primary.example.com
SCAN listener port on both sites	1521
Existing cloud Oracle Home	/u02/app/oracle/product/19.0.0.0/dbhome_1

You can see that I am using sales as the database name on both sides. The unique names are different: sales_primary and sales_stby.

The other distinction to keep in mind is the SCAN name versus the database service. The SCAN gets me to the cluster, and the service identifies the database connection. Use the actual service registered with your primary listener when replacing sales_primary.example.com.

2) Run dbcactl on the primary

Figure 1. Run the preparation command on the first primary node. The standby SCAN already belongs to the provisioned cloud cluster.

Now I can prepare the primary. The diagram above shows the database and its SCAN listener, along with the cloud SCAN I will pass to the command.

I run this as oracle on the first primary node, with ORACLE_HOME and the local ORACLE_SID set for the source database. The shared directory /acfs01/sales also needs to be writable by oracle.

Here is the command with the example names:

/home/oracle/dbcacl/dbcactl \
  -silent \
  -oui_internal \
  -configureDatabase \
  -prepareForStandby \
  -dgTNSNamesoraFilePath /acfs01/sales \
  -sourceDB sales_primary \
  -gdbName sales.example.com \
  -standbyDBUniqueName sales_stby \
  -standbyScanName cloud-scan.oraclevcn.com \
  -standbyScanPort 1521 \
  -primaryScanPort 1521 \
  -standbyDBDomain oraclevcn.com \
  -blobFileLocation /tmp

The command prompts for the primary SYS password. In my run, I could see it creating the Data Guard services, updating tnsnames.ora and the include-file entry, and then preparing the standby bundle.

If you do not have a shared location for the the new tnsnames.ora file, you need to make sure ALL DB nodes have access to the entries in the new tnsnames.ora. This may involve manually adding the entries to your database.

What the dbcactl parameters mean

Parameter	Value in this example	Meaning
-silent	Flag	Runs without the graphical assistant; password prompts still appear.
-oui_internal	Flag	Workflow flag that allows for the use of prepareForStandby  (which is a hidden parameter)
-configureDatabase	Flag	Selects database configuration.
-prepareForStandby	Flag	Selects primary preparation for a standby.
-dgTNSNamesoraFilePath	/acfs01/sales	Directory for the Data Guard network configuration.  An "ifile" entry is created in the default tnsnames.ora file that points to a tnsnames.ora that is created in this directory which contains entries for both the primary database and the new standby database.
-sourceDB	sales_primary	Identifies the primary by its unique name.
-gdbName	sales.example.com	Global database name passed to the workflow.
-standbyDBUniqueName	sales_stby	Unique name planned for the standby.
-standbyScanName	cloud-scan.oraclevcn.com	SCAN hostname for the existing standby cluster.
-standbyScanPort	1521	Standby SCAN listener port.
-primaryScanPort	1521	Primary SCAN listener port.
-standbyDBDomain	oraclevcn.com	Standby database in OCI domain passed to the workflow.
-blobFileLocation	/tmp	Output directory for the generated bundle.

These are the options from my successful command, with the environment names changed. If you are using a different utility version, check its supported options, especially -gdbName and -pdbServiceDomain.

At the end, the command tells me where it wrote the .tar file. The filename will look like this, with a generated timestamp and ID:

Successfully created blob file:
/tmp/sales_<generated_timestamp>_<generated_id>.tar

This file contains the preparation material, including network files and the TDE wallet. I need to copy it securely to the first cloud node before running the second command.

For example, I can use scp:

scp /tmp/sales_<generated_timestamp>_<generated_id>.tar opc@cloud-node1.example.com:/tmp/

Replace the timestamp and ID with the actual filename from your output. For the next command, I am using /tmp/sales_standby.tar as a simpler name for the transferred file. You can keep the generated name instead; just use the same path in --standbyBlobFromPrimary.

NOTE: The bundle contains wallet material. Keep access to it restricted during the transfer and on the destination.