Controlling permissions from the command line

Some command-line options control the permissions required to carry out certain global operations.

Starting and stopping databases

The -gd option allows you to limit the users who can start or stop a database on a running server to those with a certain level of permission in the database to which they are already connected:

NoteIf -gd ALL is not set when you start the server, only the DBA can start additional databases on that server. This means that users cannot connect to databases that are not already started, either at the same time as the server, or since then by the DBA. However, it also lets non-DBAs stop a database. For this reason, some sites may want to change this setting to DBA on production databases.

Creating and deleting databases

The -gu option limits the users who can create and drop databases to those with a certain level of permission in the database to which they are connected.

Stopping the server

The -gk option limits the users who can shut down a server with the DBSTOP utility or STOP ENGINE command:

Loading and unloading databases

The -gl option limits the users who can load data using LOAD TABLE to users with a certain level of permission in the database.