Creating an Encrypted Database

Manage the transparent encryption of databases through SAP Control Center.

Prerequisites
Before you can encrypt a database:
  1. Create a master key. See Creating a Master Key.
  2. Create a database encryption key. See Creating a Database Encryption Key.
Task

Full database encryption protects an entire database without affecting existing applications. Once you encrypt a database, all of its data, indexes, and transaction logs become encrypted. This encryption is transparent; so that you can perform operations on tables, indexes, and so on, as usual, without noticing any differences.

Data is encrypted at the page level. Once your database is set up as encrypted, the encryption and decryption process is automatic. Data becomes encrypted just before the page is written into disk, and decrypted as soon as the data page is loaded into memory.

Related concepts
Manage Encryption Keys