User authentication example in a single-user, embedded environment

In this example, Derby is embedded in a single-user application that is deployed in a number of different and potentially insecure ways.

For that reason, the application developer has decided to encrypt the database and to turn on user authentication using Derby's built-in user authentication, which will not require connections to an LDAP server. The end-user must know the bootPassword to boot the database and the user name and password to connect to the database. Even if the database ended up in an e-mail, only the intended recipient would be able to access data in the database. The application developer has decided not to use any user authorization features, since each database will accept only a single user. In that situation, the default full-access connection mode is acceptable.

Important: Derby's built-in authentication mechanism is suitable only for development and testing purposes. It is strongly recommended that production systems rely on LDAP or a user-defined class for authentication. It is also strongly recommended that production systems protect network connections with SSL/TLS.

When creating the database, the application developer encrypts the database by using the following connection URL:

jdbc:derby:wombat;create=true;dataEncryption=true;
    bootPassword=sxy90W348HHn;user=redbaron

Before deploying the database, the application developer turns on user authentication, sets the authentication provider to BUILTIN, creates a single user and password, and disallows system-wide properties to protect the database-wide security property settings:

CALL SYSCS_UTIL.SYSCS_SET_DATABASE_PROPERTY(
    'derby.connection.requireAuthentication', 'true')

CALL SYSCS_UTIL.SYSCS_SET_DATABASE_PROPERTY(
    'derby.authentication.provider', 'BUILTIN')

CALL SYSCS_UTIL.SYSCS_SET_DATABASE_PROPERTY(
    'derby.user.redbaron', 'red29PlaNe')

CALL SYSCS_UTIL.SYSCS_SET_DATABASE_PROPERTY(
    'derby.database.propertiesOnly', true')

When the user connects (and boots) the database, the user has to provide the bootPassword, the user name, and the password.

Note: The user name (the value specified by the derby.user.enduser property) must be supplied when the database is created, even if authentication is not yet enabled. Otherwise the database owner will have the default name "APP" (see Database owner for details).

The following example shows how to provide these properties in a connection URL, although the application programmer would probably provide GUI windows to allow the end user to type those in:

jdbc:derby:wombat;bootPassword=sxy90W348HHn;
    user=redbaron;password=red29PlaNe