Administration Guide

Audit Facility Usage Scenarios

By considering the syntax of the audit facility, we can review the way the facility can be used.

The following is a description and the implied use of each parameter:

configure

This parameter allows the modification of the db2audit.cfg configuration file in the instance's security subdirectory. Updates to this file can occur even when the instance is shut down. Updates occurring when the instance is active dynamically affect the auditing being done by DB2 across all partitions. The configure action on the configuration file causes the creation of an audit record if the audit facility has been started and the audit category of auditable events is being audited.

The following are the possible actions on the configuration file:

RESET. This action causes the configuration file to revert to the initial configuration (where SCOPE is all of the categories except CONTEXT, STATUS is FAILURE, ERRORTYPE is NORMAL, and AUDIT is OFF). This action will create a new audit configuration file if the original has been lost or damaged.

SCOPE. This action specifies which category or categories of events are to be audited. This action also allows a particular focus for auditing and reduces the growth of the log. It is recommended that the number and type of events being logged be limited as much as possible, otherwise the audit log will grow rapidly.

Note:

Please notice that the default SCOPE is all categories except CONTEXT and may result in records being generated rapidly. In conjunction with the mode (synchronous or asynchronous), the selection of the categories may result in a significant performance reduction and significantly increased disk requirements.

STATUS. This action specifies whether only successful or failing events, or both successful and failing events, should be logged.
Note: Context events occur before the status of an operation is known. Therefore, such events are logged regardless of the value associated with this parameter.
ERRORTYPE. This action specifies whether audit errors are returned to the user or are ignored. The value for this parameter can be:
- AUDIT. All errors including errors occurring within the audit facility are managed by DB2 and all negative SQLCODEs are reported back to the caller.
- NORMAL. Any errors generated by db2audit are ignored and only the SQLCODEs for the errors associated with the operation being performed are returned to the application.

describe

This parameter displays to standard output the current audit configuration information and status.

extract

This parameter allows the movement of audit records from the audit log to an indicated destination. If no optional clauses are specified, then all of the audit records are extracted and placed in a flat report file. If the "extract" parameter is not specified, the audit record is placed a file called db2audit.out in the security directory. If output_file already exists, an error message is returned.

The following are the possible options that can be used when extracting:

FILE. The extracted audit records are placed in a file (output_file).
DELASC. The extracted audit records are placed in a delimited ASCII format suitable for loading into DB2 relational tables. The output is placed in separate files: one for each category. The filenames are:
- audit.del
- checking.del
- objmaint.del
- secmaint.del
- sysadmin.del
- validate.del
- context.del
The DELASC choice also allows you to override the default audit character string delimiter ("0xff") when extracting from the audit log. You would use DELASC DELIMITER followed by the new delimiter that you wish to use in preparation for loading into a table that will hold the audit records. The new load delimiter can be either a single character (such as !) or a four-byte string representing a hexadecimal number (such as 0xff). For more information, refer to Audit Facility Tips and Techniques.
CATEGORY. The audit records for the specified categories of audit events are to be extracted. If not specified, all categories are eligible for extraction.
DATABASE. The audit records for a specified database are to be extracted. If not specified, all databases are eligible for extraction.
STATUS. The audit records for the specified status are to be extracted. If not specified, all records are eligible for extraction.

flush

This parameter forces any pending audit records to be written to the audit log. Also, the audit state is reset in the engine from "unable to log" to a state of "ready to log" if the audit facility is in an error state.

prune

This parameter allows for the deletion of audit records from the audit log. If the audit facility is active and the "audit" category of events has been specified for auditing, then an audit record will be logged after the audit log is pruned.

The following are the possible options that can be used when pruning:

ALL. All of the audit records in the audit log are to be deleted.
DATE yyyymmddhh. The user can specify that all audit records that occurred on or before the date/time specified are to be deleted from the audit log. The user may optionally supply a
```
pathname
```
which the audit facility will use as a temporary space when pruning the audit log. This temporary space allows for the pruning of the audit log when the disk it resides on is full and does not have enough space to allow for a pruning operation.

start

This parameter causes the audit facility to begin auditing events based on the contents of the db2audit.cfg file. In a partitioned DB2 instance, auditing will begin on all partitions when this clause is specified. If the "audit" category of events has been specified for auditing, then an audit record will be logged when the audit facility is started.

stop

This parameter causes the audit facility to stop auditing events. In a partitioned DB2 instance, auditing will be stopped on all partitions when this clause is specified. If the "audit" category of events has been specified for auditing, then an audit record will be logged when the audit facility is stopped.

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