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This guide outlines how to securely deploy MemSQL in a reduced-privileges, role-separated environment.

It is assumed that MemSQL is not currently configured in strict mode. If strict mode is already enabled, the cluster must be wiped and reinstalled before you can proceed.

Role-based operations

Role	Description
Compliance Officer	Management for roles and schema authorizations.
Security Officer	Full authority to view, modify, and create users and groups. Manages user passwords.
Database Administrator	This role cannot execute backups, nor can it read any of the data within the database. Responsible for creating and removing databases. Ability to restore backups.
Cluster Administrator	Minimal set of privileges required to run a MemSQL cluster.
Backup Operator	Authorization to perform cluster backups.
Application Schema Owner	Dedicated, per-application role, authorized to execute create, alter, and delete DDL statements. Cannot view application data.
Application Service Account	Dedicated, per-application role, authorized to execute select, update, insert, delete DML.

Role Creation

MemSQL recommends the following roles be used as a starting point for all use of the RBAC functionality. It is strongly suggested that these commands be kept in a separate, version controlled, file and loaded into MemSQL. These scripts should be executed on all nodes where users will connect, typically all aggregators and on all leaves if the application’s design requires it to bypass the aggregators.

Compliance Officer

CREATE ROLE 'compliance_role';
GRANT USAGE on *.* to ROLE 'compliance_role' WITH GRANT OPTION;

CREATE GROUP 'compliance';
GRANT ROLE 'compliance_role' to 'compliance';

Security Officer

CREATE ROLE 'security_role';
GRANT CREATE USER on *.* to ROLE 'security_role';

CREATE GROUP 'security';
GRANT ROLE 'security_role' to 'security';

Database Administrator

CREATE ROLE 'dba_role';
GRANT CREATE DATABASE, DROP DATABASE on *.* to ROLE 'dba_role';
GRANT RELOAD on *.* to ROLE 'dba_role';
GRANT SUPER on *.* to ROLE 'dba_role';
GRANT SHOW METADATA on *.* to ROLE 'dba_role';

CREATE GROUP 'dba';
GRANT ROLE 'dba_role' to 'dba';

Cluster Administrator

CREATE ROLE 'cluster_role';
GRANT CLUSTER on *.* to ROLE 'cluster_role';
GRANT SHOW METADATA on *.* to ROLE 'cluster_role';

CREATE GROUP 'cluster';
GRANT ROLE 'cluster_role' to 'cluster';

Backup Operator

CREATE ROLE 'backup_operator_role';
GRANT BACKUP, RELOAD on *.* to ROLE 'backup_operator_role';

CREATE GROUP 'backup_admins';
GRANT ROLE 'backup_operator_role' to 'backup_admins';

Application Schema Owner Create one for each distinct application:

CREATE ROLE 'app_<NAME>_schema_role';
GRANT CREATE, ALTER, DROP on <NAME>.* to ROLE 'app_<NAME>_schema_role';
GRANT CREATE VIEW, ALTER VIEW, DROP VIEW on <NAME>.* to ROLE 'app_<NAME>_schema_role';
GRANT SHOW VIEW on <NAME>.* to ROLE 'app_<NAME>_schema_role';
GRANT CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES on <NAME>.* to ROLE 'app_<NAME>_schema_role';

CREATE GROUP 'app_<NAME>_schema';
GRANT ROLE 'app_<NAME>_schema_role' to 'app_<NAME>_schema';

Application Service Account Create one for each distinct application:

CREATE ROLE 'app_<NAME>_role';
GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE on <NAME>.* to ROLE 'app_<NAME>_role';
GRANT SHOW VIEW on <NAME>.* to ROLE 'app_<NAME>_role';
GRANT LOCK TABLES on <NAME>.* to ROLE 'app_<NAME>_role';
GRANT CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES on <NAME>.* to ROLE 'app_<NAME>_role';

CREATE GROUP 'app_<NAME>';
GRANT ROLE 'app_<NAME>_role' to 'app_<NAME>';

Account Creation

MemSQL recommends the following roles be used as a starting point for all use of the RBAC functionality. It is strongly suggested that these commands be kept in a separate, version controlled, file and loaded into MemSQL. Depending on requirements, these scripts should be executed on all nodes where users will connect, typically all aggregators and optionally leaves.

Compliance Officer

GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'compliance_user' IDENTIFIED BY 'AVery$ecurePassword123';
GRANT GROUP 'compliance' TO 'compliance_user';

Security Officer

GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'security_user' IDENTIFIED BY 'AVery$ecurePassword123';
GRANT GROUP 'security' TO 'security_user';

Database Administrator

GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'dba_user' IDENTIFIED BY 'AVery$ecurePassword123';
GRANT GROUP 'dba' TO 'dba_user';

Cluster Administrator

GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'cluster_user' IDENTIFIED BY 'AVery$ecurePassword123';
GRANT GROUP 'cluster' TO 'cluster_user';

Backup Operator

GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'backup_user' IDENTIFIED BY 'AVery$ecurePassword123';
GRANT GROUP 'backup_admins' TO 'backup_user';

Application Schema Owner Create one for each distinct application.

GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'app_<NAME>_schema_user' IDENTIFIED BY 'AVery$ecurePassword123';
GRANT GROUP 'app_<NAME>_schema' TO 'app_<NAME>_schema_user';

Application Service Accounts Create one for each distinct application. For additional release validation, one may consider creating a number of accounts for the same application and rotating them during code releases. They should all have unique names and unique passwords.

GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'app_<NAME>_user' IDENTIFIED BY 'AVery$ecurePassword123';
GRANT GROUP 'app_<NAME>_schema' TO 'app_<NAME>_user';

Enable Strict Mode

Once all roles and grants have been configured in the cluster, strict mode should be enabled. After this has been done, the superuser ‘root’ role can no longer be used to configure the cluster.

Remove Default and Low-level Accounts

Prior to deploying in strict mode, remove any root user accounts.

DROP USER 'root'@'%';

You should also delete any other default accounts if you installed or upgraded from an older version. See Deleting unnecessary users for a list of those accounts and how to delete them.

Set Strict Mode with Management Tools

Set strict_mode on all nodes in the cluster. This is the preferred method to ensure the value is set correctly across all nodes in the cluster.

sdb-admin update-config --all --key strict_mode --value true

Set Strict Mode without Management Tools

Edit memsql.cnf and add the following to the [server] section on every node that had roles created on it and restart.

---snip---
[server]

strict_mode = true
---snip---

Appendix: Role-Based Access Control Command Reference

The following commands are available to query the status of the different users, groups, and roles in MemSQL Enterprise running in RBAC mode.

SHOW USERS;
SHOW USERS FOR ROLE 'role';
SHOW USERS FOR GROUP 'group';
SHOW GROUPS;
SHOW GROUPS FOR ROLE 'role';
SHOW GROUPS FOR USER 'user'@'%';
SHOW ROLES;
SHOW ROLES FOR USER 'user'@'%';
SHOW ROLES FOR GROUP 'group';