There are some differences between the Adaptive Server Enterprise and SQL Anywhere models of users and groups.

In Adaptive Server Enterprise, users connect to a server. Each user requires a login ID and password to the server and a user ID for each database they want to access on that server. Each user of a database can only be a member of one group.

In SQL Anywhere, users connect directly to a database and do not require a separate login ID to the database server. Instead, each user receives a user ID and password on a database so they can use that database. Users can be members of many groups, and group hierarchies are allowed.

Both servers support groups, so you can grant permissions to many users at one time. However, there are differences in the specifics of groups in the two servers. For example, Adaptive Server Enterprise allows each user to be a member of only one group, while SQL Anywhere has no such restriction. You should compare the documentation on users and groups in the two products for specific information.

Both Adaptive Server Enterprise and SQL Anywhere have a public group, for defining default permissions. Every user automatically becomes a member of the public group.

SQL Anywhere supports the following Adaptive Server Enterprise system procedures for managing users and groups. See Adaptive Server Enterprise system and catalog procedures.

In Adaptive Server Enterprise, login IDs are server-wide. In SQL Anywhere, users belong to individual databases.

Database object permissions

The Adaptive Server Enterprise and SQL Anywhere GRANT and REVOKE statements for granting permissions on individual database objects are very similar. Both allow SELECT, INSERT, DELETE, UPDATE, and REFERENCES permissions on database tables and views, and UPDATE permissions on selected columns of database tables. Both allow EXECUTE permissions to be granted on stored procedures.

For example, the following statement is valid in both Adaptive Server Enterprise and SQL Anywhere:

GRANT INSERT, DELETE
ON Employees
TO MARY, SALES;

This statement grants permission to use the INSERT and DELETE statements on the Employees table to user MARY and to the SALES group.

Both SQL Anywhere and Adaptive Server Enterprise support the WITH GRANT OPTION clause, allowing the recipient of permissions to grant them in turn, although SQL Anywhere does not permit WITH GRANT OPTION to be used on a GRANT EXECUTE statement. In SQL Anywhere, you can only specify WITH GRANT OPTION for users. Members of groups do not inherit the WITH GRANT OPTION if it is granted to a group.

Database-wide permissions

Adaptive Server Enterprise and SQL Anywhere use different models for database-wide user permissions. SQL Anywhere employs DBA permissions to allow a user full authority within a database. The System Administrator in Adaptive Server Enterprise enjoys this permission for all databases on a server. However, DBA authority on a SQL Anywhere database is different from the permissions of an Adaptive Server Enterprise Database Owner, who must use the Adaptive Server Enterprise SETUSER statement to gain permissions on objects owned by other users. See Users and groups.

SQL Anywhere employs RESOURCE permissions to allow a user the right to create objects in a database. A closely corresponding Adaptive Server Enterprise permission is GRANT ALL, used by a Database Owner.