A role is a set or group of privileges that can be granted to users or another role. This is a great way for database administrators to save time and effort.
Creating a Role
To create a role, you must have CREATE ROLE system privileges.
The syntax for creating a role is:
CREATE ROLE role_name
[ NOT IDENTIFIED |
IDENTIFIED {BY password | USING [schema.] package | EXTERNALLY | GLOBALLY } ;
The role_name phrase is the name of the new role that you are creating. This is how you will refer to the grouping of privileges.
The NOT IDENTIFIED phrase means that the role is immediately enabled. No password is required to enable the role.
The IDENTIFIED phrase means that a user must be authorized by a specified method before the role is enabled.
The BY password phrase means that a user must supply a password to enable the role.
The USING package phrase means that you are creating an application role - a role that is enabled only by applications using an authorized package.
The EXTERNALLY phrase means that a user must be authorized by an external service to enable the role. An external service can be an operating system or third-party service.
The GLOBALLY phrase means that a user must be authorized by the enterprise directory service to enable the role.
Note
If both the NOT IDENTIFIED and IDENTIFIED phrases are omitted in the CREATE ROLE statement, the role will be created as a NOT IDENTIFIED role.
For Example
CREATE ROLE test_role;
This first example creates a role called test_role.
CREATE ROLE test_role IDENTIFIED BY test123;
This second example creates the same role called test_role, but now it is password protected with the password of test123.
Grant Privileges (on Tables) to Roles
You can grant roles various privileges to tables. These privileges can be any combination of select, insert, update, delete, references, alter, and index. Below is an explanation of what each privilege means.
| Privilege | Description |
|---|---|
| Select | Ability to query the table with a select statement. |
| Insert | Ability to add new rows to the table with the insert statement. |
| Update | Ability to update rows in the table with the update statement. |
| Delete | Ability to delete rows from the table with the delete statement. |
| References | Ability to create a constraint that refers to the table. |
| Alter | Ability to change the table definition with the alter table statement. |
| Index | Ability to create an index on the table with the create index statement. |
The syntax for granting privileges on a table is:
grant privileges on object to role_name
For example, if you wanted to grant select, insert, update, and delete privileges on a table called suppliers to a role named test_role, you would execute the following statement:
grant select, insert, update, delete on suppliers to test_role;
You can also use the all keyword to indicate that you wish all permissions to be granted. For example:
grant all on suppliers to test_role;
Revoke Privileges (on Tables) to Roles
Once you have granted privileges, you may need to revoke some or all of these privileges. To do this, you can execute a revoke command. You can revoke any combination of select, insert, update, delete, references, alter, and index.
The syntax for revoking privileges on a table is:
revoke privileges on object from role_name;
For example, if you wanted to revoke delete privileges on a table called suppliers from a role named test_role, you would execute the following statement:
revoke delete on suppliers from test_role;
If you wanted to revoke all privileges on a table, you could use the all keyword. For example:
revoke all on suppliers from test_role;
Grant Privileges (on Functions/Procedures) to Roles
When dealing with functions and procedures, you can grant roles the ability to execute these functions and procedures. The Execute privilege is explained below:
| Privilege | Description |
|---|---|
| Execute | Ability to compile the function/procedure. Ability to execute the function/procedure directly. |
The syntax for granting execute privileges on a function/procedure is:
grant execute on object to role_name;
For example, if you had a function called Find_Value and you wanted to grant execute access to the role named test_role, you would execute the following statement:
grant execute on Find_Value to test_role;
Revoke Privileges (on Functions/Procedures) to Roles
Once you have granted execute privileges on a function or procedure, you may need to revoke these privileges from a role. To do this, you can execute a revoke command.
The syntax for the revoking privileges on a function or procedure is:
revoke execute on object from role_name;
If you wanted to revoke execute privileges on a function called Find_Value from a role named test_role, you would execute the following statement:
revoke execute on Find_Value from test_role;
Granting the Role to a User
Now, that you've created the role and assigned the privileges to the role, you'll need to grant the role to specific users.
The syntax to grant a role to a user is:
GRANT role_name TO user_name;
For Example
GRANT test_role to smithj;
This example would grant the role called test_role to the user named smithj.
The SET ROLE statement
The SET ROLE statement allows you to enable or disable a role for a current session.
When a user logs into Oracle, all default roles are enabled, but non-default roles must be enabled with the SET ROLE statement.
The syntax for the SET ROLE statement is:
SET ROLE ( role_name [ IDENTIFIED BY password ] | ALL [EXCEPT role1, role2, ... ] | NONE );
The role_name phrase is the name of the role that you wish to enable.
The IDENTIFIED BY password phrase is the password for the role to enable it. If the role does not have a password, this phrase can be omitted.
The ALL phrase means that all roles should be enabled for this current session, except those listed in the EXCEPT phrase.
The NONE phrase disables all roles for the current session. (including all default roles)
For Example
SET ROLE test_role IDENTIFIED BY test123;
This example would enable the role called test_role with a password of test123.
Setting a role as DEFAULT Role
A default role means that the role is always enabled for the current session at logon. It is not necessary to issue the SET ROLE statement. To set a role as a DEFAULT role, you need to issue the ALTER USER statement.
The syntax for setting a role as a DEFAULT role is:
ALTER USER user_name DEFAULT ROLE ( role_name | ALL [EXCEPT role1, role2, ... ] | NONE );
The user_name phrase is the name of the user whose role you are setting as DEFAULT.
The role_name phrase is the name of the role that you wish to set as DEFAULT.
The ALL phrase means that all roles should be enabled as DEFAULT, except those listed in the EXCEPT phrase.
The NONE phrase disables all roles as DEFAULT.
For Example
ALTER USER smithj DEFAULT ROLE test_role;
This example would set the role called test_role as a DEFAULT role for the user named smithj.
ALTER USER smithj DEFAULT ROLE ALL;
This example would set all roles assigned to smithj as DEFAULT.
ALTER USER smithj DEFAULT ROLE ALL EXCEPT test_role;
This example would set all roles assigned to smithj as DEFAULT, except for the role called test_role.
Dropping a Role
It is also possible to drop a role. The syntax for dropping a role is:
DROP ROLE role_name;
For Example
DROP ROLE test_role;
This drop statement would drop the role called test_role that we defined earlier.
