First published in the Informix Tech Notes Magazine in 1999
INFORMIX-OnLine Dynamic Server, version 7.10.UD1, introduced a new feature called “Roles.” Roles provide a way to grant and revoke privileges to a function, rather than to individual users. In addition, a user is granted the privilege to use one or more Roles. When a user requires access to the privileges of a Role, the user or application sets the current access levels to the Role. Then, after the user has performed the functions for which the Role was granted, the Role can be deselected so that the privileges are no longer in effect. This article examines some examples which use Roles to improve security, and discusses the limitations of Roles. The examples used in this article were developed using the stores database provided with INFORMIX-OnLine Dynamic Server, version 7.10.UD1, on a Sun Sparc hardware platform.