Command Line Options that Control Permissions

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

Switches that Start and Stop 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:

DBA — Only users with DBA authority can start an extra database.
ALL (default in start_iq and default.cfg) — Any user can start and stop databases. This setting means that the DBA does not need to issue START DATABASE commands. (Note that users still need permission to access a particular database once they have started it.)
NONE — No one can start or stop a database from Interactive SQL on a running server.

Note: If -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.

Switches that Create and Delete 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.

DBA—Only users with DBA authority can create and drop databases.
ALL (default)—Any user can create and drop databases.
NONE—No user can create or drop a database.
UTILITY_DB—Only those users who can connect to the utility_db database can create and drop databases.

The Stop Server Switch

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

DBA (default) — Only users with DBA authority can stop the server.
ALL — Any user can stop the server.
NONE — No user can shut down the server with the DBSTOP utility or STOP ENGINE command.

Switches that Load and Unload 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.

DBA — Only users with DBA authority can load data.
ALL (default for start_iq and default.cfg) — Any user can load data.
NONE — Data cannot be loaded.