CREATE ROLE

Function

CREATE ROLE creates a role.

A role is an entity that owns database objects and permissions. In different environments, a role can be considered a user, a group, or both.

Precautions

• CREATE ROLE adds a role to a database. The role does not have the LOGIN permission.
• Only the user who has the CREATE ROLE permission or a system administrator is allowed to create roles.

Syntax

CREATE ROLE role_name [ [ WITH ] option [ ... ] ] [ ENCRYPTED | UNENCRYPTED ] { PASSWORD | IDENTIFIED BY } { 'password' [EXPIRED] | DISABLE };

{SYSADMIN | NOSYSADMIN}
    | {MONADMIN | NOMONADMIN}
    | {OPRADMIN | NOOPRADMIN}
    | {POLADMIN | NOPOLADMIN}
    | {AUDITADMIN | NOAUDITADMIN}
    | {CREATEDB | NOCREATEDB}
    | {USEFT | NOUSEFT}
    | {CREATEROLE | NOCREATEROLE}
    | {INHERIT | NOINHERIT}
    | {LOGIN | NOLOGIN}
    | {REPLICATION | NOREPLICATION}
    | {INDEPENDENT | NOINDEPENDENT}
    | {VCADMIN | NOVCADMIN}
    | {PERSISTENCE | NOPERSISTENCE}
    | CONNECTION LIMIT connlimit
    | VALID BEGIN 'timestamp'
    | VALID UNTIL 'timestamp'
    | RESOURCE POOL 'respool'
    | USER GROUP 'groupuser'
    | PERM SPACE 'spacelimit'
    | TEMP SPACE 'tmpspacelimit'
    | SPILL SPACE 'spillspacelimit'
    | NODE GROUP logic_cluster_name
    | IN ROLE role_name [, ...]
    | IN GROUP role_name [, ...]
    | ROLE role_name [, ...]
    | ADMIN rol e_name [, ...]
    | USER role_name [, ...]
    | SYSID uid
    | DEFAULT TABLESPACE tablespace_name
    | PROFILE DEFAULT
    | PROFILE profile_name
    | PGUSER

Parameter Description

• role_name

  Specifies the name of a role.

  Value range: a string. It must comply with the identifier naming convention and can contain a maximum of 63 characters. If the value contains more than 63 characters, the database truncates it and retains the first 63 characters as the role name. When a role is created, the database will display a message.

  

  The identifier must be letters, underscores (_), digits (0-9), or dollar signs ($) and must start with a letter (a-z) or underscore (_).

• password

  Specifies the login password.

  A new password must:

  • Contain at least eight characters. This is the default length.
  • Differ from the username or the username spelled backward.
  • Contain at least three of the following character types: uppercase characters, lowercase characters, digits, and special characters (limited to ~!@#$ %^&*()-_=+\|[{}];:,<.>/?).
  • The password can also be a ciphertext character string that meets the format requirements. This mode is mainly used to import user data. You are not advised to use it directly. If a ciphertext password is used, the user must know the plaintext corresponding to the ciphertext password and ensure that the plaintext password meets the complexity requirements. The database does not verify the complexity of the ciphertext password. Instead, the security of the ciphertext password is ensured by the user.
  • Be enclosed by single quotation marks when a role is created.

  Value range: a character string that cannot be empty.

• EXPIRED

  When creating a user, you can specify the EXPIRED parameter to create a user whose password is invalid. The user cannot perform simple or extended queries. The statement can be executed only after the password is changed.

• DISABLE

  By default, you can change your password unless it is disabled. To disable the password of a user, use this parameter. After the password of a user is disabled, the password will be deleted from the system. The user can connect to the database only through external authentication, for example, Kerberos authentication. Only administrators can enable or disable a password. Common users cannot disable the password of an initial user. To enable a password, run ALTER USER and specify the password.

• ENCRYPTED | UNENCRYPTED

  Controls whether the password is stored encrypted in the system catalogs. According to product security requirement, the password must be stored encrypted. Therefore, UNENCRYPTED is forbidden in GaussDB. If the password string has already been encrypted in the SHA256 format, it is stored encrypted as it was, regardless of whether ENCRYPTED or UNENCRYPTED is specified (since the system cannot decrypt the specified encrypted password string). This allows reloading of encrypted passwords during dump/restore.

• SYSADMIN | NOSYSADMIN

  Specifies whether a new role is a system administrator. Roles with the SYSADMIN attribute have the highest permission.

  Value range: If not specified, NOSYSADMIN is the default.

  When separation of duties is disabled, users with the SYSADMIN permission can create users with the SYSADMIN, REPLICATION, CREATEROLE, AUDITADMIN, MONADMIN, POLADMIN, or CREATEDB permission and common users.

  When separation of duties is enabled, users with the SYSADMIN permission do not have the permission to create users.

• MONADMIN | NOMONADMIN

  Specifies whether a role is a monitor administrator.

  Value range: If not specified, NOMONADMIN is the default.

• OPRADMIN | NOOPRADMIN

  Specifies whether a role is an O&M administrator.

  Value range: If not specified, NOOPRADMIN is the default.

• POLADMIN | NOPOLADMIN

  Specifies whether a role is a security policy administrator.

  Value range: If not specified, NOPOLADMIN is the default.

• AUDITADMIN | NOAUDITADMIN

  Specifies whether a role has the audit and management attributes.

  If not specified, NOAUDITADMIN is the default.

• CREATEDB | NOCREATEDB

  Specifies a role's permission to create databases.

  A new role does not have the permission to create databases.

  Value range: If not specified, NOCREATEDB is the default.

• USEFT | NOUSEFT

  This parameter is reserved and not used in this version.

• CREATEROLE | NOCREATEROLE

  Specifies whether a role will be permitted to create new roles (that is, execute CREATE ROLE and CREATE USER). A role with the CREATEROLE permission can also modify and delete other roles.

  Value range: If not specified, NOCREATEROLE is the default.

  When separation of duties is disabled, users with the CREATEROLE permission can create users with the CREATEROLE, AUDITADMIN, MONADMIN, POLADMIN, or CREATEDB permission and common users.

  When separation of duties is enabled, users with the CREATEROLE permission can create users with the CREATEROLE, MONADMIN, POLADMIN, or CREATEDB permission and common users.

• INHERIT | NOINHERIT

  Specifies whether a role "inherits" the permissions of roles in the same group. It is not recommended.

• LOGIN | NOLOGIN

  Specifies whether a role is allowed to log in to a database. A role having the LOGIN attribute can be considered as a user.

  Value range: If not specified, NOLOGIN is the default.

• REPLICATION | NOREPLICATION

  Specifies whether a role is allowed to initiate streaming replication or put the system in and out of backup mode. A role having the REPLICATION attribute is specific to replication.

  If not specified, NOREPLICATION is the default.

• INDEPENDENT | NOINDEPENDENT

  Defines private, independent roles. For a role with the INDEPENDENT attribute, administrators' permissions to control and access this role are separated. The rules are as follows:

  • Administrators have no permission to add, delete, query, modify, copy, or authorize the corresponding table objects without the authorization from the INDEPENDENT role.
  • If permissions related to private user tables are granted to non-private users, the system administrator will obtain the same permissions.
  • System administrators and security administrators with the CREATEROLE attribute have no permission to modify the inheritance relationship of the INDEPENDENT role without the authorization of the INDEPENDENT role.
  • System administrators have no permission to modify the owner of the table objects for the INDEPENDENT role.
  • System administrators and security administrators with the CREATEROLE attribute have no permission to remove the INDEPENDENT attribute of the INDEPENDENT role.
  • System administrators and security administrators with the CREATEROLE attribute have no permission to change the database password of the INDEPENDENT role. The INDEPENDENT role must manage its own password. If the password is lost, it cannot be reset.
  • The SYSADMIN attribute of a user cannot be changed to the INDEPENDENT attribute.
• VCADMIN | NOVCADMIN

  This parameter has no actual meaning.

• PERSISTENCE | NOPERSISTENCE

  Defines a permanent user. Only the initial user is allowed to create, modify, and delete permanent users with the PERSISTENCE attribute.

• CONNECTION LIMIT

  Specifies how many concurrent connections the role can make.

  

  • The system administrator is not restricted by this parameter.
  • The number of concurrent connections of each primary database node is calculated separately (which is the value of connlimit). The number of all connections of the database = Value of connlimit x Number of normal primary database nodes.

  Value range: an integer greater than or equal to -1. The default value is -1, which means unlimited.

• VALID BEGIN

  Sets a date and time when the role's password takes effect. If this clause is omitted, the password takes effect immediately.

• VALID UNTIL

  Sets a date and time after which the role's password is no longer valid. If this clause is omitted, the password will be valid for all time.

• RESOURCE POOL

  Sets the name of resource pool used by the role. The name belongs to the system catalog pg_resource_pool.

• USER GROUP

  Creates a sub-user. This function is not supported in the current version.

• PERM SPACE

  Sets the space available for a user.

• TEMP SPACE

  Sets the space allocated to the temporary table of a user.

• SPILL SPACE

  Sets the operator disk flushing space of a user.

• NODE GROUP

  Specifies the name of the logical cluster associated with a user. (The current feature is a lab feature. Contact Huawei technical support before using it.) This function is not supported in the current version.

• IN ROLE

  Lists one or more existing roles to which the new role will be immediately added as a new member. It is not recommended.

• IN GROUP

  Specifies an obsolete spelling of IN ROLE. It is not recommended.

• ROLE

  Lists one or more existing roles which are automatically added as members of the new role.

• ADMIN

  Similar to ROLE. However, ADMIN grants permissions of new roles to other roles.

• USER

  Specifies an obsolete spelling of the ROLE clause.

• SYSID

  The SYSID clause is ignored.

• DEFAULT TABLESPACE

  The DEFAULT TABLESPACE clause is ignored.

• PROFILE

  The PROFILE clause is ignored.

• PGUSER

  In the current version, this attribute is reserved only for forward compatibility.

Examples

-- Create role manager whose password is xxxxxxxxx.
openGauss=# CREATE ROLE manager IDENTIFIED BY 'xxxxxxxxx';

-- Create a role with its validity from January 1, 2015 to January 1, 2026.
openGauss=# CREATE ROLE miriam WITH LOGIN PASSWORD 'xxxxxxxxx' VALID BEGIN '2015-01-01' VALID UNTIL '2026-01-01';

-- Change the password of role manager to abcd@123.
openGauss=# ALTER ROLE manager IDENTIFIED BY 'abcd@123' REPLACE 'xxxxxxxxx';

-- Change role manager to the system administrator.
openGauss=# ALTER ROLE manager SYSADMIN;

-- Delete role manager.
openGauss=# DROP ROLE manager;

-- Delete role miriam.
openGauss=# DROP ROLE miriam;

Helpful Links

SET ROLE, ALTER ROLE, DROP ROLE and GRANT.