About Distribution Path

A path is used to send trail data between two data endpoints of a deployment. You can add, monitor, reposition, and manage these paths using the Distribution Service. This topic discusses the steps to create a distribution path (DISTPATHS).

A distribution path defines the route for the trail to send and receive data for different topologies. Oracle GoldenGate uses the target authentication method to define the method for connecting source and target deployments.

The options for setting up the target authentication method are as follows:

USER ID ALIAS target authentication: On the target deployment, a user with Operator role is created and then the credentials of this user are added as credentials in the source Oracle GoldenGate deployment. When using the USERIDALIAS method, while creating the Distribution Path, the value of target authentication method is set to Password. The WSS (secure web socket) protocol is used for this type of distribution path.
Certificate target authentication: In this case, the distribution path uses trusted CA certificates to access the target deployment. The target authentication method that is set up which creating the Distribution Path is Certificate. The WSS (secure web socket) protocol is used for this type of distribution path.
OAuth target authentication: In this case, the Oracle GoldenGate user authentication is outsourced to an OAuth service such as IDCS and IAM as cloud-based identity providers and OAM as an on-premise identity provider.

Depending on the target deployment mode (secure or non-secure), you can choose the target authentication as follows:

Secure: Using certificates, USERIDALIAS, or external Identity Provider using OAuth2.0
Non-Secure: Using USERIDALIAS method.

If you use the USERIDALIAS, then consider the following guidelines:

The target Oracle GoldenGate instance contains a user identified with a password.
The source Oracle GoldenGate instance includes a USERIDALIAS (example: ggnet_alias) that matches the target's user credentials (example: user ggnet with password ***).
When a Distribution Path is initiated, the USERIDALIAS information will be passed to the target. After the target verifies that the USERIDALIAS information matches the target user credentials, the authorization succeeds, and a network connection can be established.

Note:

The USERIDALIAS used for the Network connection between source and target Oracle GoldenGate instance is unrelated to any database.
You can also create a user identified with a certificate at the target system. In this case, the source does not require a USERIDALIAS, but the appropriate certificate. See Connecting Two Deployments Using External RootCA Certificate.
You cannot use clear text USERID/PASSWORD credentials for the Distribution Path authorization.