ALTER ROLE

Use the ALTER ROLE to add, change, or remove a password, change the role options for a role, and set default values for a role.

You can use the keywords ROLE and USER interchangeably. is an alias for ALTER ROLE.

Considerations

Password management

Password creation and alteration is supported only in secure clusters.

Session variable precedence

When a starts, CockroachDB determines the initial value of each by evaluating the settings in the following order (items earlier in the list take precedence over later items):

1. : A value supplied as a query parameter in the connection URL (for example, .../movr?sslmode=disable&timezone=UTC).
2. : A value set by ALTER ROLE {role_name} IN DATABASE {db_name} SET {var}={value}.
3. : A value set by ALTER ROLE {role_name} SET {var}={value}.
4. : A value set by ALTER ROLE ALL IN DATABASE {db_name} SET {var}={value} or equivalently by ALTER DATABASE {db_name} SET {var}={value}.
5. : A value set by ALTER ROLE ALL SET {var}={value}.

If a session variable is not modified using any of the preceding methods, the built-in system default value is used. Note that the is exempt from settings 3–5. The root user is only affected by values specified in the connection string.

You can also set session variables for the duration of a single transaction by using .

Changes to defaults using the preceding methods only apply to future sessions. This is because session variable resolution happens at session start time. To change a default value in an existing open session, set the variable explicitly with .

Required privileges

• To alter an , the user must be a member of the admin role.
• To alter other roles, the user must be a member of the admin role or have the role option.

Synopsis

Parameters

Parameter	Description
role_name	The name of the role to alter.
WITH role_option	Apply a role option to the role.
SET {session variable}	Set default values for a role.
RESET {session variable} RESET ALL	Reset one session variable or all session variables to the default value.
IN DATABASE database_name	Specify a database for which to apply session variable defaults. When IN DATABASE is not specified, the default session variable values apply for a role in all databases. In order for a session to initialize session variable values to database defaults, the database must be specified as a . Database default values will not appear if the database is set after connection with USE <dbname>/SET database=<dbname.
ROLE ALL .../USER ALL ...	Apply session variable settings to all roles. Exception: The root user is exempt from session variable settings. This is a failsafe; if you make a mistake with a session variable setting, you can still log in as root and be unaffected.

Role options

Role option	Description
BYPASSRLS/NOBYPASSRLS	: Allow or disallow a role to bypass policies on a table. This option controls the access from an RLS perspective only; the user also needs sufficient privileges to read or write to the table.
CANCELQUERY/NOCANCELQUERY	Deprecated in v22.2: Use the CANCELQUERY . Allow or disallow a role to cancel and of other roles. Without this role option, roles can only cancel their own queries and sessions. Even with the CANCELQUERY role option, non-admin roles cannot cancel admin queries or sessions. This option should usually be combined with VIEWACTIVITY so that the role can view other roles’ query and session information. By default, the role option is set to NOCANCELQUERY for all non-admin roles.
CONTROLCHANGEFEED/NOCONTROLCHANGEFEED	Deprecated in v23.1: Use the CHANGEFEED . Allow or disallow a role to run on tables they have SELECT privileges on. By default, the role option is set to NOCONTROLCHANGEFEED for all non-admin roles.
CONTROLJOB/NOCONTROLJOB	Allow or disallow a role to , , and jobs. Non-admin roles cannot control jobs created by admin roles. By default, the role option is set to NOCONTROLJOB for all non-admin roles.
CREATEDB/NOCREATEDB	Allow or disallow a role to or a database. The role is assigned as the owner of the database. By default, the role option is set to NOCREATEDB for all non-admin roles.
CREATELOGIN/NOCREATELOGIN	Allow or disallow a role to manage authentication using the WITH PASSWORD, VALID UNTIL, and LOGIN/NOLOGIN role options. By default, the role option is set to NOCREATELOGIN for all non-admin roles.
CREATEROLE/NOCREATEROLE	Allow or disallow the new role to , alter, and other non-admin roles. By default, the role option is set to NOCREATEROLE for all non-admin roles.
LOGIN/NOLOGIN	Allow or disallow a role to log in with one of the . Setting the role option to NOLOGIN prevents the role from logging in using any authentication method.
MODIFYCLUSTERSETTING/NOMODIFYCLUSTERSETTING	Allow or disallow a role to modify the with the sql.defaults prefix. By default, the role option is set to NOMODIFYCLUSTERSETTING for all non-admin roles.
PASSWORD password/PASSWORD NULL	The credential the role uses to . A password should be entered as a . For compatibility with PostgreSQL, a password can also be entered as an identifier. To prevent a role from using and to mandate , .
SQLLOGIN/NOSQLLOGIN	Deprecated in v22.2: Use the NOSQLLOGIN . Allow or disallow a role to log in using the SQL CLI with one of the . The role option to NOSQLLOGIN prevents the role from logging in using the SQL CLI with any authentication method while retaining the ability to log in to DB Console. It is possible to have both NOSQLLOGIN and LOGIN set for a role and NOSQLLOGIN takes precedence on restrictions. Without any role options all login behavior is permitted.
VALID UNTIL	The date and time (in the format) after which the password is not valid.
VIEWACTIVITY/NOVIEWACTIVITY	Deprecated in v22.2: Use the VIEWACTIVITY . Allow or disallow a role to see other roles’ and using SHOW STATEMENTS, SHOW SESSIONS, and the and pages in the DB Console. VIEWACTIVITY also permits visibility of node hostnames and IP addresses in the DB Console. With NOVIEWACTIVITY, the SHOW commands show only the role’s own data, and DB Console pages redact node hostnames and IP addresses. By default, the role option is set to NOVIEWACTIVITY for all non-admin roles.
VIEWCLUSTERSETTING / NOVIEWCLUSTERSETTING	Deprecated in v22.2: Use the VIEWCLUSTERSETTING . Allow or disallow a role to view the with SHOW CLUSTER SETTING or to access the page in the DB Console. By default, the role option is set to NOVIEWCLUSTERSETTING for all non-admin roles.
VIEWACTIVITYREDACTED/NOVIEWACTIVITYREDACTED	Deprecated in v22.2: Use the VIEWACTIVITYREDACTED . Allow or disallow a role to see other roles’ queries and sessions using SHOW STATEMENTS, SHOW SESSIONS, and the Statements and Transactions pages in the DB Console. With VIEWACTIVITYREDACTED, a user will not have access to the usage of statements diagnostics bundle (which can contain PII information) in the DB Console, and will not be able to list queries containing for other users when using the listSessions endpoint through the . It is possible to have both VIEWACTIVITY and VIEWACTIVITYREDACTED, and VIEWACTIVITYREDACTED takes precedence on restrictions. If the user has VIEWACTIVITY but doesn’t have VIEWACTIVITYREDACTED, they will be able to see DB Console pages and have access to the statements diagnostics bundle. By default, the role option is set to NOVIEWACTIVITYREDACTED for all non-admin roles.

Examples

The following statements are run by the root user that is a member of the admin role and has ALL privileges.

Allow a role to log in to the database using a password

The following example allows a role to log in to the database with a :

CREATE ROLE carl;

ALTER ROLE carl WITH LOGIN PASSWORD 'An0ther$tr0nGpassW0rD' VALID UNTIL '2021-10-10';

Prevent a role from using password authentication

The following statement prevents the user from using password authentication and mandates certificate-based :

ALTER ROLE carl WITH PASSWORD NULL;

Allow a role to create other roles and manage authentication methods for the new roles

The following example allows the role to and for them:

ALTER ROLE carl WITH CREATEROLE CREATELOGIN;

Allow a role to create and rename databases

The following example allows the role to or databases:

ALTER ROLE carl WITH CREATEDB;

Allow a role to pause, resume, and cancel non-admin jobs

The following example allows the role to , , and jobs:

ALTER ROLE carl WITH CONTROLJOB;

Allow a role to see and cancel non-admin queries and sessions

The following example allows the role to cancel and for other non-admin roles:

ALTER ROLE carl WITH CANCELQUERY VIEWACTIVITY;

Allow a role to control changefeeds

The following example allows the role to run :

ALTER ROLE carl WITH CONTROLCHANGEFEED;

Allow a role to modify cluster settings

The following example allows the role to modify :

ALTER ROLE carl WITH MODIFYCLUSTERSETTING;

Allow a role to bypass row-level security (RLS)

To allow a to bypass , execute the following statement to grant the privilege:

ALTER ROLE carl WITH BYPASSRLS;

To disable the role’s ability to bypass RLS, execute the following statement:

ALTER ROLE carl WITH NOBYPASSRLS;

Set default session variable values for a role

In the following example, the root user creates a role named max, and sets the default value of the timezone for the max role.

CREATE ROLE max WITH LOGIN;

ALTER ROLE max SET timezone = 'America/New_York';

This statement does not affect the default timezone value for any role other than max:

SHOW timezone;

  timezone
------------
  UTC
(1 row)

To see the default timezone value for the max role, run the SHOW statement as a member of the max role:

SHOW timezone;

      timezone
--------------------
  America/New_York
(1 row)

For a list of the session variables that have been updated from default values, see .

Set default session variable values for a role in a specific database

In the following example, the root user creates a role named max and a database named movr, and sets the default value of the statement_timeout for the max role in the movr database.

CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS movr;

CREATE ROLE IF NOT EXISTS max WITH LOGIN;

ALTER ROLE max IN DATABASE movr SET statement_timeout = '10s';

This statement does not affect the default statement_timeout value for any role other than max, or in any database other than movr.

SHOW statement_timeout;

  statement_timeout
---------------------
  0
(1 row)

To see the new default statement_timeout value for the max role, run the SHOW statement as a member of the max role that has connected to the cluster, with the database movr specified in the connection string.

cockroach sql --url 'postgresql://max@localhost:26257/movr?sslmode=disable'

SHOW statement_timeout;

  statement_timeout
---------------------
  10000
(1 row)

For a list of the session variables that have been updated from default values, see .

Set default session variable values for a specific database

In the following example, the root user creates a database named movr, and sets the default value of the timezone for all roles in that database.

CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS movr;

ALTER ROLE ALL IN DATABASE movr SET timezone = 'America/New_York';

This statement is identical to .

This statement does not affect the default timezone value for any database other than movr:

SHOW timezone;

  timezone
------------
  UTC
(1 row)

To see the default timezone value for the max role, run the SHOW statement as a member of the max role:

SHOW timezone;

      timezone
--------------------
  America/New_York
(1 row)

For a list of the session variables that have been updated from default values, see .

Set default session variable values for all users

To set a default value for all users for any that applies during login, issue a statement like the following:

ALTER ROLE ALL SET sql.spatial.experimental_box2d_comparison_operators.enabled = "on";

ALTER ROLE

The root user is exempt from session variable settings changes. This is a failsafe; if you make a mistake with a session variable setting, you can still log in as root and be unaffected.

Use instead of the sql.defaults.* . This allows you to set a default value for all users for any that applies during login, making the sql.defaults.* cluster settings redundant.

For a list of the session variables that have been updated from default values, see .

Set the SUBJECT role option for certificate based authentication

You can associate an X.509 certificate’s Subject with a as shown below. Note that the Subject fields in the certificate have to be an exact match with what you pass in via the SQL statement. By exact match, we mean that the order of attributes passed in via the SQL statement must match the order of attributes in the certificate.

ALTER ROLE max WITH SUBJECT 'CN=myName2,OU=myOrgUnit2,O=myOrg2,L=myLocality2,ST=myState2,C=myCountry2' LOGIN;

If you manage your own Certificate Authority (CA) infrastructure, CockroachDB supports mapping between the Subject field of your X.509 certificates and SQL . For more information, see .

See also