Encrypting In-flight Oracle RMAN Database Backup via DD Boost

To secure Oracle database backup from a DB server to a Data Domain system, DD Boost for RMAN encryption can be enabled so that RMAN backup data can be encrypted after deduplication at the Oracle server and before transmitting across the network. Since the encryption happens after deduplication and before the segment leaves the Oracle server (in-flight encryption), deduplication ratios will not suffer on the Data Domain system. In contrast, if Oracle RMAN encryption is used, data will not be deduplicated because they will be encrypted first, thus deduplication ratio will suffer.

In-flight encryption enables applications to encrypt in-flight backup or restore data over the network from the Data Domain system. When configured, the client is able to use TLS to encrypt the session between the client and the Data Domain system.

To enable in-flight encryption for backup and restore operations over a LAN, run the following command on the Data Domain:

# ddboost clients add client-list [encryption-strength {medium | high} authentication-mode {one-way | two-way | anonymous}]

This command can enable encryption for a single client or for a set of clients.

The specific cipher suite used is either ADH-AES256-SHA, if the HIGH encryption option is selected, or ADH-AES128-SHA, if the MEDIUM encryption option is selected.

The authentication-mode option is used to configure the minimum authentication requirement. A client trying to connect by using a weaker authentication setting will be blocked. Both one-way and two-way authentication require the client to be knowledgeable about certificates.

For example:

# ddboost clients add db1.domain.com db2.domain.com encryption-strength high authentication-mode anonymous

To verify:

# ddboost clients show config
Client          Encryption Strength  Authentication Mode
*               none                 none
db1.domain.com  high                 anonymous
db2.domain.com  high                 anonymous

3 thoughts on “Encrypting In-flight Oracle RMAN Database Backup via DD Boost

  1. Venkata Chapati

    Hi Jonas, Thank you for this awesome post. I have couple of doubts about this , Could you please clarify me once?

    1. To implement this , do we need to configure anything on oracle server side to encrypt the session or just on dd side is enough?
    2. is the data will be Decrypted at the Data Domain?
    3. Any trade offs/Performance issues ?

    Thank you in advance

    Reply
    1. admin Post author

      Hi Venkata,

      You do not need to configure anything on the Oracle side. Configuration is only on the DD side. The data is encrypted after dedupe on the client side and sent over the nework. The data will not be decrypted on the DD side. There is very little performance penalty for the encryption process.

      Reply

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