SQL in a Nutshell, 4th Edition

Chapter 6. Securing Your Data

In this chapter, we will discuss the SQL commands that enable DBAs and developers to permit or disable access to data, objects, and execution permissions within the database, as well as several commands that provide a higher level of control over the runtime characteristics of a worker session. These statements, particularly GRANT and REVOKE, make up the core of the data control language (DCL) category within the SQL standard.

There are some variations between vendors in terms of which statements they classify as DCL statements, and not all of them use that name. For example, SQL Server includes a DENY statement that implements a subset of the behavior of the SQL standard’s REVOKE statement (as explained in “REVOKE Statement”), and MySQL categorizes GRANT and REVOKE as database administration statements and does not use the term DCL.

How to Use This Chapter

When researching a command in this chapter:

1. Read “SQL Platform Support”.

2. Check Table 6-1.

3. Look up the specific SQL statement, check the syntax, and read the “Keywords,” “Rules at a glance,” and “Programming tips and gotchas” sections. Do this even if you are looking for a specific platform implementation.

4. Finally, read the platform-specific implementation information.

You will note that the entry for a given platform implementation does not duplicate information on any clauses that do not differ from the standard. So, it is possible that you will need to flip between the descriptions for a vendor ...