How do I restrict or allow a few client machines to connect to Oracle Server ?

If you do not want a particular client machine say machine of person X , connect to oracle server or vice versa.

The step are very simple , you need the following things

You must know the IP-address or host name of the client machine.

# Add the following lines in SQLNET.ora if you want to invite only the following client machine to connect
TCP.INVITED_NODES =(, )
# Add the following lines to SQLNET.ora if you want to invite all the client machine except the following
TCP.EXCLUDED_NODES=(, )
# The following is the required parameter in SQLNET.ora.
TCP.VALIDNODE_CHECKING=yes

Here is the simple example, to allows the user to connect to the oracle database with IP-ADDRESS 172.16.8.209 or 172.16.8.207 only , configure the protocol.ora as follows :-

tcp.invited_nodes=(172.16.8.209 , 172.16.8.207 )
tcp.validnode_checking=yes
Stop and restart the listener to make this effect.


Note : There are certian bugs attached with this method , check the oracle support or metalink for this for your specific platform and oracle version.
For further information check the metalink doc 185936.1

In Peoplesoft how connectivity works.

2 Tier - The Client to the Database connection is through SQL and uses the connection security like ODBC or TSN Names.

The connect ID in PeopleTools 8 and greater (or OPRID in PT 7.x) granted at the database level, has READ-ONLY rights to the following tables in order to authenticate the user:

PS.PSDBOWNER – Oracle and DB2 ONLY
PSLOCK – PT 7.5x ONLY
PSSTATUS – PT 8.x and forward releases ONLY, and all platforms
PSOPRDEFN – All tools versions and all platforms
PSACCESSPRFL – All tools versions and all platforms

Once the user is authenticated, through the check against the PSOPRDEFN table, the connection is disconnected and the user is logged in as the access id, which has full access to all PeopleSoft tables.

3 Tier - The Client to the App Server connection is through Tuxedo then the App Server makes a 2-tier connection to the database through SQL as explained above.

4 Tier - The Browser to the web server uses HTTP\HTML, the Web server to the App Server uses JOLT, and the App Server to the Database uses SQL.

SSL would be applied at any part you would need to secure outside your firewall.