Preface

Oracle Label Security enables access control to reach specific (labeled) rows of a database. With Oracle Label Security in place, users with varying privilege levels automatically have (or are excluded from) the right to see or alter labeled rows of data.

This Oracle Label Security Administrator's Guide describes how to use Oracle Label Security to protect sensitive data. It explains the basic concepts behind label-based security and provides examples to show how it is used.

This preface contains these topics:

Audience
Documentation Accessibility
Related Documentation
Conventions

Audience

The Oracle Label Security Administrator's Guide is intended for database administrators (DBAs), application programmers, security administrators, system operators, and other Oracle users who perform the following tasks:

Analyze application security requirements
Create label-based security policies
Administer label-based security policies
Use label-based security policies

To use this document, you need a working knowledge of SQL and Oracle fundamentals. You should also be familiar with Oracle security features described in "Related Documentation". To use SQL*Loader, you must know how to use the file management facilities of your operating system.

Documentation Accessibility

For information about Oracle's commitment to accessibility, visit the Oracle Accessibility Program website at http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=docacc.

Access to Oracle Support

Oracle customers have access to electronic support through My Oracle Support. For information, visit http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=info or visit http://www.oracle.com/pls/topic/lookup?ctx=acc&id=trs if you are hearing impaired.

Conventions

This section describes the conventions used in the text and code examples of this documentation set. It describes:

Conventions in Text
Conventions in Code Examples
Conventions for Windows Operating Systems

Conventions in Text

We use various conventions in text to help you more quickly identify special terms. The following table describes those conventions and provides examples of their use.

Convention	Meaning	Example
Bold	Bold typeface indicates terms that are defined in the text or terms that appear in a glossary, or both.	When you specify this clause, you create an index-organized table.
Italics	Italic typeface indicates book titles or emphasis.	Oracle Database Concepts Ensure that the recovery catalog and target database do not reside on the same disk.
`UPPERCASE monospace (fixed-width) font`	Uppercase monospace typeface indicates elements supplied by the system. Such elements include parameters, privileges, datatypes, Recovery Manager keywords, SQL keywords, SQL*Plus or utility commands, packages and methods, as well as system-supplied column names, database objects and structures, usernames, and roles.	You can specify this clause only for a `NUMBER` column. You can back up the database by using the `BACKUP` command. Query the `TABLE_NAME` column in the `USER_TABLES` data dictionary view. Use the `DBMS_STATS`.`GENERATE_STATS` procedure.
`lowercase monospace (fixed-width) font`	Lowercase monospace typeface indicates executable programs, filenames, directory names, and sample user-supplied elements. Such elements include computer and database names, net service names and connect identifiers, user-supplied database objects and structures, column names, packages and classes, usernames and roles, program units, and parameter values. Note: Some programmatic elements use a mixture of UPPERCASE and lowercase. Enter these elements as shown.	Enter `sqlplus` to start SQL*Plus. The password is specified in the `orapwd` file. Back up the datafiles and control files in the `/disk1/oracle/dbs` directory. The `department_id`, `department_name`, and `location_id` columns are in the `hr.departments` table. Set the `QUERY_REWRITE_ENABLED` initialization parameter to `true.` Connect as `oe` user. The `JRepUtil` class implements these methods.
`lowercase italic monospace (fixed-width) font`	Lowercase italic monospace font represents placeholders or variables.	You can specify the `parallel_clause`. Run `old_release.SQL` where `old_release` refers to the release you installed prior to upgrading.

Conventions in Code Examples

Code examples illustrate SQL, PL/SQL, SQL*Plus, or other command-line statements. They are displayed in a monospace (fixed-width) font and separated from usual text as shown in this example:

SELECT username FROM dba_users WHERE username = 'MIGRATE';

The following table describes typographic conventions used in code examples and provides examples of their use.

Convention	Meaning	Example
[ ]	Anything enclosed in brackets is optional.	DECIMAL (digits [ , precision ])
{ }	Braces are used for grouping items.	{ENABLE \| DISABLE}
\|	A vertical bar represents a choice of two options.	{ENABLE \| DISABLE} [COMPRESS \| NOCOMPRESS]
...	Ellipsis points mean repetition in syntax descriptions. In addition, ellipsis points can mean an omission in code examples or text.	CREATE TABLE ... AS subquery; SELECT col1, col2, ... , coln FROM employees;
Other symbols	You must use symbols other than brackets ([ ]), braces ({ }), vertical bars (\|), and ellipsis points (...) exactly as shown.	acctbal NUMBER(11,2); acct CONSTANT NUMBER(4) := 3;
Italics	Italicized text indicates placeholders or variables for which you must supply particular values.	CONNECT SYSTEM/system_password DB_NAME = database_name
UPPERCASE	Uppercase typeface indicates elements supplied by the system. We show these terms in uppercase in order to distinguish them from terms you define. Unless terms appear in brackets, enter them in the order and with the spelling shown. Because these terms are not case-sensitive, you can use them in either UPPERCASE or lowercase.	SELECT last_name, employee_id FROM employees; SELECT * FROM USER_TABLES; DROP TABLE hr.employees;
lowercase	Lowercase typeface indicates user-defined programmatic elements, such as names of tables, columns, or files. Note: Some programmatic elements use a mixture of UPPERCASE and lowercase. Enter these elements as shown.	SELECT last_name, employee_id FROM employees; sqlplus hr/hr CREATE USER mjones IDENTIFIED BY ty3MU9;

Conventions for Windows Operating Systems

The following table describes conventions for Windows operating systems and provides examples of their use.

Convention	Meaning	Example
Choose Start, menu item	How to start a program.	To start the Database Configuration Assistant, choose Start, Programs, Oracle - HOME_NAME, Configuration and Migration Tools, Database Configuration Assistant.
File and directory names	File and directory names are not case-sensitive. The following special characters are not allowed: left angle bracket (<), right angle bracket (>), colon (:), double quotation marks ("), slash (/), pipe (\|), and dash (-). The special character backslash (\) is treated as an element separator, even when it appears in quotation marks. If the filename begins with \\, then Windows assumes it uses the Universal Naming Convention.	c:\winnt"\"system32 is the same as C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32
`C:\>`	Represents the Windows command prompt of the current hard disk drive. The escape character in a command prompt is the caret (^). Your prompt reflects the subdirectory in which you are working. Referred to as the command prompt in this manual.	C:\oracle\oradata>
Special characters	The backslash (\) special character is sometimes required as an escape character for the double quotation mark (") special character at the Windows command prompt. Parentheses and the single quotation mark (') do not require an escape character. Refer to your Windows operating system documentation for more information about escape and special characters.	C:\> exp HR/HR TABLES=emp QUERY=\"WHERE job='REP'\"
HOME_NAME	Represents the Oracle home name. The home name can be up to 16 alphanumeric characters. The only special character allowed in the home name is the underscore.	C:\> net start OracleHOME_NAMETNSListener
`ORACLE_HOME` and `ORACLE_BASE`	In releases prior to Oracle8i release 8.1.3, when you installed Oracle components, all subdirectories were located under a top level `ORACLE_HOME` directory. The default for Windows NT was `C:\orant`. This release complies with Optimal Flexible Architecture (OFA) guidelines. All subdirectories are not under a top level `ORACLE_HOME` directory. There is a top level directory called `ORACLE_BASE` that by default is `C:\oracle\product\10.1.0`. If you install the latest Oracle release on a computer with no other Oracle software installed, then the default setting for the first Oracle home directory is `C:\oracle\product\10.1.0\db_n`, where `n` is the latest Oracle home number. The Oracle home directory is located directly under `ORACLE_BASE`. All directory path examples in this guide follow OFA conventions. Refer to Oracle Database Installation Guide for Microsoft Windows for additional information about OFA compliances and for information about installing Oracle products in non-OFA compliant directories.	Go to the `ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\rdbms\admin` directory.