Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 24 Hours

Recommended Book

Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 24 Hours, 3rd Edition

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Recommended Book

Recommended Book 

Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 24 Hours, 3rd Edition

Learn More Buy

Users Are the Reason

Users are the reason for the season—the season of designing, creating, implementing, and maintaining any database. The user's needs are taken into consideration when the database is designed, and the final goal in implementing a database is making the database available to users, who in turn utilize the database that you and possibly many others have had a hand in developing.

A common perception of users is that if there were no users, nothing bad would ever happen to the database. Although this statement reeks with truth, the database was nevertheless created to hold data so that users can function in their day-to-day jobs.

Although user management is often the database administrator's implicit task, other individuals sometimes take a part in the user management process. User management is vital in the life of a relational database and is ultimately managed through the use of SQL concepts and commands, although they vary from vendor to vendor.

Types of Users

There are several types of database users:

• Data entry clerks
• Programmers
• System engineers
• Database administrators
• System analysts
• Developers
• Testers
• Management
• End user

Each type of user has its own set of job functions (and problems), all of which are critical to their daily survival and job security. Furthermore, each type of user has different levels of authority and its own place in the database.

Who Manages Users?

A company's management staff is responsible for the day-to-day management of users; however, the database administrator or other assigned individuals are ultimately responsible for the management of users within the database.

The database administrator usually handles the creation of the database user accounts, roles, privileges, profiles, as well as dropping those user accounts from the database. Because it can become an overwhelming task in a large and active environment, some companies have a security officer who assists the database administrator with the user management process.

The security officer, if one is assigned, is usually responsible for the paperwork, relaying to the database administrator a user's job requirements, and letting the database administrator know when a user no longer requires access to the database.

The system analyst, or system administrator, is usually responsible for the operating system security, which entails creating users and assigning appropriate privileges. The security officer also may assist the system analyst in the same way he or she does the database administrator.

The User's Place in the Database

A user should be given the roles and privileges necessary to accomplish his or her job. No user should have database access that extends beyond the scope of his or her job duties. Protecting the data is the entire reason for setting up user accounts and security. Data can be damaged or lost, even if unintentionally, if the wrong user has access to the wrong data. When the user no longer requires database access, that user's account should be either removed from the database or disabled.

All users have their place in the database; some have more responsibilities and different duties than others. Database users are like parts of a human body—all work together in unison (at least that is the way it is supposed to be) to accomplish some goal.

How Does a User Differ from a Schema?

A database's objects are associated with database user accounts, called schemas. A schema is a set of database objects that a database user owns. This database user is called the schema owner. The difference between a regular database user and a schema owner is that a schema owner owns objects within the database, whereas most users do not own objects. Most users are given database accounts to access data that is contained in other schemas.