Configuration of Adabas Role-Based Security

The configuration of Adabas role-based security is stored in the following files:

  • adaauth.ini

  • adaaudit.ini

These files configure the security for a local machine and apply to all databases, to all product installations and product versions that are greater than or equal to Version 6.5 on the machine.

These are ASCII files, which can be edited with a standard text editor.

Configuration of Adabas Role-Based Security

Location of Configuration and Logging Files

The configuration file adaauth.ini is located centrally. The location is platform-specific and is fixed; e.g. cannot be modified. Initially, the file adaaudit.ini is also located in the predefined location. These files can be moved as required to other locations.

File Description Fixed Location
adaauth.ini Configuration Definitions Yes
adaaudit.ini Audit Log Configuration No
adaaudt.log Audit Log No

Note:
It is mandatory that all users who are authorized to execute an Adabas utility, have READ/WRITE access permissions to both the log file and the directory in which it is located.

On Windows

The configuration and audit log files are installed into the following locations: 

%PROGRAMDATA%\Software AG\Adabas\auth
     adaauth.ini
     adaaudit.ini
%PROGRAMDATA%\Software AG\Adabas\log
     adaaudit.log

On Linux

The configuration and audit log files are installed into the following locations: 

/etc/softwareag/Adabas/auth
     adaauth.ini
     adaaudit.ini
/var/log/softwareag/Adabas
     adaaudit.log

File and Directory Permissions

Important:
The configuration and audit log files mentioned above are installed without restrictive file permissions. Please refer to Security Considerations in the Adabas Security Facilities documentation, for further details on how to secure (“harden”) the dataset.

All users of Adabas utilities require the following minimal file and directory permissions:

  1. READ privileges to the configuration files.

  2. WRITE privileges to the Audit Log File (LOG_FILE setting)

  3. WRITE privileges to the directory in which the Audit Log File is located.

adaauth.ini

The configuration file adaauth.ini contains information which applies to the machine and to all databases, to all product installations and product versions that are greater than or equal to Version 6.5 on the machine.

This file contains the following basic security definitions:

  • The location of the security configuration definition.

  • The location of the audit configuration file.

Structure of adaauth.ini

The configuration file adaauth.ini contains a single section with the topic AUTHZ.

The section starts with a line containing the name of the topic enclosed in square brackets, using the syntax [topic-name]. The topics relevant to security definitions are:

  • AUTHZ, with items

    • ACTION

    • AUDIT_FILE

    • MODE

    • RBAC_FILE

Topic: AUTHZ

The topic AUTHZ contains information used to configure security for the local machine.

The syntax for the topic AUTHZ is as follows: 

[AUTHZ]
  ACTION     = <activation of feature>
  MODE       = <source of definitions>
  AUDIT_FILE = <path to adaaudit.ini>
  [AUTHZ-END]

Item: ACTION

The item ACTION activates the Adabas role-based security feature.

  • YES
    enables the feature.

  • NO
    disables the feature.

The default setting is YES.

Important:
The item ACTION will be depreciated in a future release.

Item: MODE

The item MODE defines the source of the security definitions.

  • ADABAS
    The security definitions are defined in the RBAC system file. This is the only valid setting for mode.

  • INI
    This setting is deprecated and will be automatically replaced by the setting ADABAS.

Item: AUDIT_FILE

The item AUDIT_FILE defines the location of the file adaaudit.ini, which contains the configuration of the audit processing; e.g. the layout and location of the audit log.

adaaudit.ini

The configuration file adaaudit.ini contains information which applies to the machine and to all databases, to all product installations and product versions that are greater than or equal to Version 6.5 on the machine.

This file contains the following information:

Basic configuration audit file processing; e.g. the layout and location of the audit log.

Structure of adaaudit.ini

The configuration file adaaudit.ini contains a single section with the topic AUDIT.

The section starts with a line containing the name of the topic enclosed in square brackets, using the syntax [topic-name]. The topics relevant to security definitions are:

  • AUDIT, with items

    • FORMAT

    • LOG_FILE

    • SEPARATOR

Topic: AUDIT

The topic AUDIT defines the parameters of the Audit Log.

The syntax for the topic AUDIT is as follows: 

[AUDIT]
  FORMAT    = <file layout>
  SEPARATOR = <token separator>
  LOG_FILE  = <log file name>
[AUDIT-END]

Item: FORMAT

The item FORMAT defines the layout of an audit log entry.

  • TEXT
    All values in the audit entry are preceded by a header and separated by blanks.

  • CSV
    All values in the audit entry are separated by the separator value.

Item: SEPARATOR

The item SEPARATOR defines the character to be used to separate values in CSV format.

Valid parameter values for SEPARATOR are:

Parameter Value Description
"," Comma
";" Semi-Colon
"/t" Tabulator
" " Blank (Default)

The parameter value must be quoted.

Note:
The parameter value for Tabulator is the string "/t".

Item: LOG_FILE

The item LOG_FILE defines the location and file name of the audit log.