Step 3: Open (or Close) the Wallet

Immediately after you create the wallet key, the wallet is open, and you are ready to start encrypting data. However, if you have restarted the database after you created the wallet, you must manually open the wallet before you can use transparent data encryption.

To open the wallet:  

• In SQL*Plus, enter the following ALTER SYSTEM statement, where password is the password you use to protect the wallet:

  ALTER SYSTEM SET ENCRYPTION WALLET OPEN IDENTIFIED BY "password";
  

You must inclose the password in quotation marks.

In most cases, leave the wallet open unless you have a reason for closing it. You can close the wallet to disable access to the master key and prevent access to the encrypted columns. The wallet must be open for transparent data encryption to work. To reopen the wallet, use the ALTER SYSTEM SET WALLET OPEN IDENTIFIED BY password statement.

To close the wallet:  

• In SQL*Plus, enter the following statement, and ensure that you enclose the password in quotation marks:

  ALTER SYSTEM SET ENCRYPTION WALLET CLOSE IDENTIFIED BY "password";