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About Apache Ranger Plugin

The Apache Ranger Plugin is a lightweight Java library embedded within the compute environment of the data source. It enforces security policies in real-time and provides centralized auditing capabilities.

Key Features:

  • Real-Time Policy Enforcement: The plugins enforce policies as data access requests are made, ensuring immediate and up-to-date protection.
  • Embedded Integration: Being embedded within the data source's compute environment, these plugins offer seamless integration and minimal performance overhead.
  • Centralized Auditing: Audit logs generated by the plugins are sent to a central audit service, enabling comprehensive monitoring and compliance reporting.
  • Versatility: This mechanism is versatile and supports various data sources and platforms, enhancing its applicability across different environments.

How It Is Done:

  • Plugin Deployment: Lightweight Java plugins are deployed within the compute environment of the data source.
  • Policy Retrieval: These plugins retrieve security policies from the Privacera platform or a Ranger admin service.
  • Real-Time Enforcement: As data access requests are made, the plugins enforce the relevant policies in real-time.
  • Auditing: The plugins generate audit logs for each access request, which are sent to a central audit service for monitoring and reporting purposes.
  • Dynamic Updates: Policies can be updated dynamically without downtime, as the plugins continuously check for policy updates.
sequenceDiagram
    participant User
    box Java Process
      participant DataSourceCompute
      participant RangerPlugin
    end
    box Privacera Platform    
      participant PolicyManager
      participant CentralAuditService
    end
    Note right of RangerPlugin: Periodically check<br> for policy updates
    RangerPlugin->>PolicyManager: Retrieve updated policies
    PolicyManager-->>RangerPlugin: Updated policies retrieved
    User->>DataSourceCompute: Data access request
    DataSourceCompute->>RangerPlugin: Process access request
    RangerPlugin-->>RangerPlugin: Authorize request
    RangerPlugin-->> DataSourceCompute: Allow/Deny access
    DataSourceCompute-->>User: Provide access to data<br> (if authorized)
    RangerPlugin-->>CentralAuditService: Send audit log

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