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An Oracle database can be configured to audit actions by its users, and you can configure this auditing feature according to several criteria, although the default behavior of the database is not to audit actions. The following parameters let you configure how you audit your database usage.

The AUDIT_TRAIL parameter turns auditing on or off for the database. If you don t want auditing to be turned on, do nothing, since the default value for this parameter is none, or false, which disables database auditing. If you want auditing turned on, you can set the AUDIT_TRAIL parameter to any of the following values: os: Oracle writes the audit records to an operating system audit trail, which is an operating system file, including audit records from the OS, audit records for the SYS user, and those database actions that are always automatically audited. db: Oracle records the same type of auditing as with the os setting, but it directs all audit records to the database audit trail, which is the AUD$ table owned by SYS. db,extended: This is similar to the db setting, but also provides extended audit information like the SQLBIND and SQLTEXT columns of the SYS.AUD$ table. none: This value disables auditing. In addition, you have two XML-related AUDIT_TRAIL values: XML: This value for audit trail enables database auditing and writes audit details to OS files in XML format. XML,EXTENDED: This value prints all database audit records plus the SQLTEXT and SQLBIND values to OS files in the XML format. The parameter is set as follows: Example: AUDIT_TRAIL=db Default value: None Parameter type: Static 12 provides more information about auditing actions within an Oracle database.

Even if you don t set the AUDIT_TRAIL parameter to any value, Oracle will still write audit information to an operating system file for all database actions that are audited by default. On a UNIX system, the default location for this file is the $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/audit directory. Of course, you can specify a different directory if you wish.

The AUDIT_FILE_DEST parameter specifies the directory in which the database will write the audit records, when you choose the operating system as the destination with the AUDIT_TRAIL parameter by specifying AUDIT_TRAIL=os. You can also specify this parameter if you choose the XML or XML,EXTENDED options for the AUDIT_TRAIL option, since the audit records are written to operating system files in both cases. Example: AUDIT_FILE_DEST=/u01/app/oracle/audit Default value: $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/audit Parameter type: Dynamic. You can modify this parameter with the ALTER SYSTEM . . . DEFERRED command.

If set to a value of true, AUDIT_SYS_OPERATIONS will audit all actions of the SYS user and any other user with a SYSDBA or SYSOPER role and will write the details to the operating system audit trail specified by the AUDIT_TRAIL parameter. By writing the audit information to a secure operating system location, you remove any possibility of the SYS user tampering with an audit trail that is located within the database. The possible values are true and false. Example: AUDIT_SYS_OPERATIONS=true Default value: false Parameter type: Static

LDAP_DIRECTORY_SYSAUTH is a new initialization parameter in Oracle Database 11g that enables or disables directory authentication for the SYSDBA and SYSOPER privileges. Possible values are yes and no. Example: LDAP_DIRECTORY_SYSAUTH=yes Default value: None Parameter type: Static

The most important of the general parameters is the parameter that sets the name of the database. Let s look at this set of parameters in detail.

The DB_NAME parameter sets the name of the database. This is a mandatory parameter, and the value is the same as the database name you used to create the database. The DB_NAME value should be the same as the value of the ORACLE_SID environment variable. This parameter can t be changed after the database is created. You can have a DB_NAME value of up to eight characters. Example: DB_NAME=orcl11 Default value: false Parameter type: Static The DB_UNIQUE_NAME parameter lets you specify a globally unique name for the database.