Enterprise User Security (EUS), an Oracle Database Enterprise Edition feature, leverages the Oracle Directory Services and gives you the ability to centrally manage database users and role memberships in an LDAP directory. Enterprise User Security reduces administration cost, increases security, and improves compliance through centralized database user account management, centralized provisioning and de-provisioning of database users, centralized password management and self-service password reset, and centralized management of authorizations using global database roles.

Most enterprises, if not all, already have an existing enterprise directory, such as Microsoft Active Directory or Sun Java System Directory Server, and would like to leverage the existing infrastructure to centralize Oracle database users and roles. Oracle Virtual Directory (OVD), a directory virtualization service (not a repository), enables enterprises to implement EUS leveraging their existing directory infrastructure, so as to lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

This paper presents the EUS deployment options available using OVD with Active Directory and Sun Java System Directory Server, and the user cases will help determine when one is more appropriate than the other based on customer environment.