{ Abhilash Kumar Bhattaram : Follow on LinkedIn }
In this week blog post we get into the bussiness process of the enteprises where compliance with regulatory entrprises of mission critical applications in India , for e.g. Banks , Insurance Companies , etc.
When it comes to Banks and Insurance companies compliance of databases is non negotiable , this is directly atrributed to the efficiency of the DBA Teams
Let me show reference documents .
RBI - (Reserve Bank of India ) Guidelines on Information security, Electronic Banking, Technology risk management and cyber frauds , here
IRDAI - (Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority of India ) here
Oracle Security framework defined for RBI here
I would like to highlight three Compliance guidelines that directly comes into operational efficiency in OCI
A. Backup / Restore
Compliance Guidelines define backups to be manintained for several years , in OCI we have a feature called Long Term Backups where you could define the number of years where a backup needs to be retained and this is a direct compliance part solved , note that this is a scheduling that needs to be done.
Solution : Use OCI Long Term Backups
Reference URL for Long Term Backups
https://docs.oracle.com/en/cloud/paas/autonomous-database/dedicated/mwtbc/
B. Patch Management
Patching Databases is something that is taken up seriously by compliance agents ,
Solution : Automate your patching , I have a complete blog written about it in my Week 1/52 https://dev.to/nabhaas/mastering-oracle-the-predictable-ctos-journey-with-nabhaas-3g0b
This is an another area of compliance that is directly met when your systems are upto date.
C. Separation of Prod / Non Prod Environments
This is a trademark classic requirement where compliance teams would like you to have your environments issolated.
Solution : There is no direct answer, we could have different OCI VCN's , different subnets for handling our Infrastructure but it needs to maintainable.
The reach challenge in database engineering for mission critical systems is to transalate technical knowhow into compliance fit solutions. This is where quality of Database teams are most important.
1. Ground Zero: Where Compliance Risk Lives
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 1. Ground Zero: Where Compliance Risk Lives |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - No complete Oracle DB inventory (versions, patch status, exposure) |
| - RBI/IRDAI : "Comprehensively address… network and database security.” |
| - Irregular patching of DB & GI across fleets |
| - RBI/IRDAI : Patch & Vulnerability Change Management expectation |
| - Excessive DBA privileges, incomplete audit trails |
| - RBI/IRDAI: "Ensure appropriate use, protection and audit-ability of assets.” |
| - Fragmented DR & restore verification, zero evidence |
| - RBI/IRDAI: Data restoration proof & continuity requirements |
| - Compliance teams define policies; DB teams see no mapping to Oracle operations |
| - Backups, audits, and monitoring fail during business peaks |
| - Regulators expect resilience *during* peak, not after |
| |
| >> At Ground Zero, Oracle compliance gaps usually come from missing hygiene and |
| unmanaged sprawl, not from lack of effort. |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
2. Underneath Ground Zero: Finding the Real Problem
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| 2. Underneath Ground Zero: Finding the Real Problem |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - Regulatory clauses aren't translated into DB tasks |
| - e.g., IRDAI 180-day audit-trail retention not aligned with Oracle configs |
| - Oracle workloads spike during business events (month-end, Diwali load) |
| - Compliance jobs like backup, auditing, patching fail silently |
| - Evidence collection is manual - logs, AWRs, patch proofs scattered |
| - No mapping of RBI/IRDAI controls to Oracle artifacts (AWR, Audit, TFA, backups) |
| - Compliance reports produced after incidents - not continuous |
| - Multi-cloud & multi-DB sprawl makes controls inconsistent |
| - DR systems exist, but no documented restore tests |
| |
| >> The real issue is not "non-compliance” — it is the absence of a managed |
| operational model that converts regulations into Oracle actions. |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
3. Working Upwards: Building a Managed Compliance-First Oracle Model
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 3. Working Upwards: Building a Managed Compliance-First Oracle Model |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| - Create an "Oracle Compliance Baseline” mapped to RBI + IRDAI clauses |
| - Security, patching, audit trails, DR evidence, privileged access |
| - Automate patching cycles, vulnerability scans, drift detection |
| - Aligns with RBI patch/change-management framework |
| - Implement controlled privileged access (DB Vault, Unified Auditing) |
| - Satisfies IRDAI custodianship & audit-ability expectations |
| - Establish periodic restore-verification & DR proof |
| - Regulatory continuity requirement |
| - Align compliance windows with business load maps |
| - Avoid failures during Diwali / month-end / policy-renewal bursts |
| - Consolidate evidence in a single compliance dashboard |
| - One view of patching, audit logs, backup tests, access reviews |
| - Convert compliance from manual - measurable - predictable |
| |
| >> Compliance becomes predictable only when Oracle operations become engineered, |
| automated, and mapped directly to RBI + IRDAI expectations. |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
How Nabhaas helps you
At Nabhaas, we work closely with teams to uncover dependencies, knowledge gaps, and process inefficiencies to ensure the patching cycle is smooth and predictable.
TAB ( Total Automation Box ) is how we automate patching lifecycles. https://www.nabhaas.com/tab
There is no staright answer to the points mentioned above but all of them needs to be addressed as best fits the organization.
At Nabhaas we ensure we identify all the above before beginning a patch cycle. Feel free to download our whitepaper here
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