MySQL Role-Based Access Control
By Tom Nonmacher
Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) is a critical aspect of database security and management. This concept involves assigning permissions to roles, which are then granted to users. A user's permissions are, therefore, determined by their role. This approach makes it easier to manage permissions across a large number of users. In this blog post, we will explore how RBAC can be implemented in MySQL 8.0.
To begin with, let's define a new role. In MySQL 8.0, you can create a role using the CREATE ROLE statement. For instance, the following code creates a role named 'read_access'.
CREATE ROLE 'read_access';
Once the role is created, we can grant it specific permissions. The GRANT statement is used to assign permissions to a role. The following SQL code grants SELECT permission on the 'employees' table to the 'read_access' role.
GRANT SELECT ON employees TO 'read_access';
Having defined the role and granted permissions, the next step is to assign the role to a user. This can be done using the GRANT statement as shown below:
GRANT 'read_access' TO 'john';
Once the role is assigned, 'john' can perform SELECT operations on the 'employees' table. However, if you need to revoke some permissions, you can use the REVOKE statement. For instance, the following code revokes the 'read_access' role from 'john'.
REVOKE 'read_access' FROM 'john';
It's worth noting that while the above examples are specific to MySQL 8.0, the concept of RBAC is commonplace in many database systems, including SQL Server 2019, DB2 11.5, Azure SQL, and Azure Synapse. Each of these platforms provides its own syntax and tools for managing roles and permissions, but the underlying principles remain the same.
In conclusion, Role-Based Access Control is a powerful tool for managing user permissions in a database. It simplifies the task of managing permissions, especially in large systems with many users. By understanding how to implement RBAC in MySQL and other database systems, you can ensure that your data is protected and only accessible to authorized users.