Managing SQL Server Permissions with Custom Roles
By Tom Nonmacher
One of the most important aspects of database administration is managing SQL Server permissions. This task can be complex due to the multitude of permissions that exist within the database system. However, the use of custom roles can simplify this process significantly. Custom roles are user-defined roles in SQL Server that allow administrators to group together certain permissions and assign them to users as a unit. In this blog post, we will discuss how to manage SQL Server permissions using custom roles in SQL Server 2016, SQL Server 2017, MySQL 5.7, DB2 11.1, and Azure SQL.
In SQL Server 2016 and 2017, you can create custom roles using the CREATE ROLE statement. For instance, let's create a new role called 'Sales' and grant it SELECT permission on the 'Orders' table:
--Create a new role
CREATE ROLE Sales;
--Grant SELECT permission on Orders table to Sales role
GRANT SELECT ON Orders TO Sales;
In MySQL 5.7, creating a custom role and assigning permissions is a bit different. First, you need to create a user that will act as a role, then assign permissions to that user:
--Create a new user
CREATE USER 'Sales'@'localhost';
--Grant SELECT permission on Orders table to Sales user
GRANT SELECT ON mydb.Orders TO 'Sales'@'localhost';
In DB2 11.1, you can use the CREATE ROLE statement to create a custom role, and then use the GRANT statement to assign permissions to it:
--Create a new role
CREATE ROLE Sales;
--Grant SELECT permission on Orders table to Sales role
GRANT SELECT ON Orders TO Sales;
Finally, in Azure SQL, the process for creating custom roles is very similar to that in SQL Server 2016 and 2017. However, you'll need to use the Azure portal or Azure PowerShell to create a custom role, and then use the GRANT statement to assign permissions to it:
--Create a new role
CREATE ROLE Sales;
--Grant SELECT permission on Orders table to Sales role
GRANT SELECT ON Orders TO Sales;
In conclusion, managing SQL Server permissions with custom roles is an efficient way to handle access control in your database systems. Whether you're using SQL Server 2016, SQL Server 2017, MySQL 5.7, DB2 11.1, or Azure SQL, creating custom roles and assigning permissions to them can simplify the process of managing user permissions and increase the security of your data.