Differences in Security [ Up and Running with ALLBASE/SQL ] MPE/iX 5.0 Documentation
Up and Running with ALLBASE/SQL
Differences in Security
TurboIMAGE and ALLBASE/SQL differ markedly in their implementation of
security systems.
TurboIMAGE Security
The security of TurboIMAGE databases is determined partly by passing MPE
file system security and partly by the assignment of user classes and
passwords within the schema. Externally, database users must be valid
users in the account where the root file resides. For internal security,
you define a numbered set of classes and assign passwords to them, then
you add the classes that have read and/or write access to each data item
and data set description in the schema. When accessing the database, you
must specify a password, which assigns you to a user class with
particular permissions in the database.
Granting and Revoking Authorities
In ALLBASE/SQL, the DBA (database administrator) GRANTs and REVOKEs
authorities that relate to the DBEnvironment as a whole or to specific
tables within it. If you are the DBEnvironment's creator, you have DBA
authority. Users can CONNECT to a DBEnvironment if the DBA grants
CONNECT authority to their DBEUserIDs, which are related to login name.
It is possible to CONNECT to a DBEnvironment from any account.
If you are the creator of a table, you have OWNER authority over it,
which lets you perform any operation on it, including granting
authorities to other users. Table authorities include the ability to
SELECT, DELETE, INSERT, and INDEX. UPDATE authority can be granted for
individual columns in a table or for the table as a whole.
Defining ALLBASE/SQL Groups
In ALLBASE/SQL, you can define authorization groups and then grant
authorities to them; then you can add users to the groups, at which point
they immediately receive the authorities the group possesses. This makes
it possible to create an authorization scheme that is independent of any
list of particular users and passwords. An authorization group may be a
member of another authorization group.
Defining Views in ALLBASE/SQL
A different approach to security is possible in ALLBASE/SQL through the
use of views. For a table that contains some sensitive information and
some widely used information, you can create a view that contains only
the widely-used information, grant appropriate access on the view to a
wide range of users, then restrict the access on the base table to only a
few users.
MPE/iX 5.0 Documentation