Skip to main content
Version: v4.5

Advanced repo settings

To set advanced communications, logging, analysis, and alerting options for a repository, go to Data Repos, then find and click on the name of your repository, and click the Advanced tab.

Authentication

Identity Provider

Specifies how users will authenticate with this repository.

  • None (default): Use the repository's native authentication
  • {IDENTITY_PROVIDER}: Select an identity provider you've integrated in Cyral to enable SSO authentication for your repository
    • Allow native authentication: Enable authentication using both native credentials as well as SSO credentials. When this is enabled, users authenticating through SSO are required to include an :idp prefix as described here

Client TLS

Specifies whether the sidecar will require TLS communication with clients.

  • Disable: Do not require clients to use TLS
  • Enable: Require clients to use TLS
  • Enable and verify certificate: Require clients to use TLS and present a valid certificate

Repository TLS

Specifies whether the sidecar will communicate with the repository using TLS.

  • Disable: Do not use TLS with repo
  • Enable: Use TLS with repo
  • Enable and verify certificate: Use TLS with repo and verify the repo's certificate

Logs

Redact literal values

When checked, data that might reveal the contents of your database is not included in the logs. For example, a log entry for a statement with a WHERE clause will not include the literal values the user provided in the WHERE clause. Each such value will be replaced with the string, ${cyral-redact}.

tip

You can also choose to redact only values from those fields you've set up for tracking in your data map. We call this partial redaction. To set it up, see Redacting the contents of a specific column or table from the Cyral logs

Enhance database logs

When checked, Cyral inserts the user's session data as a comment in each query so that it appears in your native database logs.

This feature provides a database-native supplement to the more complete Cyral query logs you've configured in the Log Settings panel for the repository. With this feature active, the user's identifying information will appear as comments in each query. For the person who ran the query, this shows:

  • username (usually the SSO username)
  • email address
  • group membership
  • repository username (local or native account on the repository)
  • repository role (user’s native role on the repository)

These values will also appear in the identity block of your Cyral query logs, if this repository is set to log Data activity.

Optionally, you can add the contents of the repo, client, and/or sidecar logging blocks as query comments, as well. To set this up, use the Cyral API. See Logging additional data as comments on a query.

Alerts

Alert on policy violations

When an action violates a Cyral policy, an alert is sent via your configured messaging platform. This requires a Cyral policy. If you have no policies, use preconfigured alerts, instead.

Enable preconfigured alerts

Preconfigured alerts don't rely on Cyral policies. Instead, they're triggered by common DDL, and other significant actions on your data repository, such as; creating, modifying or deleting an object; creating user account or role; modifying a user account, authentication mechanism, object, or role; granting/revoking user or role privileges; modifying database-native audit and logging settings or configuration; running a privileged command; or running a full table scan.

Analysis

Perform filter analysis

When a database query performs a filter on the requested data, usually using a WHERE clause, Cyral captures the filter being applied and emits this information in the query log, where it can be consumed by the Cyral policy evaluator, dashboards, and your team.

Policy enforcement

Cyral policy actions let you enforce the data access rules specified in your policies. Policy actions can include blocking access to data, rewriting datasets referenced by queries, and masking data.

To enable these actions on a repository, you must enable them in this section and specify rules for them in your policy. Set the Enable policy enforcements when data is violated toggle to ON and turn on the applicable checkboxes, as described below.

See policy enforcement actions to understand how the different actions interact with one another and affect users and logs.

Enable block on violation

For a given session, Cyral blocks any attempted action that would violate your policy. After an action is blocked, the user’s session continues normally.

  1. In the Cyral control plane UI click Data Repos ➡️ the name of your repository ➡️ Config

  2. Open the Policy Enforcement section.

  3. Turn on Enable policy enforcements when data is violated.

  4. Turn on Block on violation

  5. Set your policies to include your desired blocking logic.

Enable data masking

The data masking action obfuscates specific field values in each row returned, based on your policy rules.

  1. In the Cyral control plane UI click Data Repos ➡️ the name of your repository ➡️ Config

  2. Open the Policy Enforcement section.

  3. Turn on Enable policy enforcements when data is violated.

  4. Turn on Enable data masking

  5. Set your policies to include contexted rules with your desired masking instructions.

Enable dataset rewrites

The dataset rewrite action rewrites table expressions in the user's query, replacing them with a substitute query that you have specified in the policy. The substitute query can be any valid query. The most common use case is to filter or limit the result set by introducing a WHERE or LIMIT clause.

  1. In the Cyral control plane UI click Data Repos ➡️ the name of your repository ➡️ Config

  2. Open the Policy Enforcement section.

  3. Turn on Enable policy enforcements when data is violated.

  4. Turn on Enable dataset rewrites

  5. Set your policies to include contexted rules with your desired dataset rewriting instructions.

Tags

You can add one or more tags to a repository to make it easier to find in the Cyral control plane UI and the Cyral Access Portal.

  1. Click Data Repos ➡️ click your repo's name
  2. Click the ✏️ (pencil) icon in the upper right.
  3. In the Add Tags field, type the tag. Press <Enter> or the spacebar to complete the entry of each tag, and add more tags as needed.
    • To make the tag visible in the Cyral Access Portal, make sure the tag's name starts with public: followed directly by the tag name, without spaces. For example, to show the tag ny-study-3 in the Access Portal, you would type the tag as public:ny-study-3.
    • To remove a tag, click its x symbol.
  4. Click Save.

See also

To check and specify sidecar services for your repository, see Manage sidecar services for repositories.