The Database Owner is the creator of a database or someone to whom database ownership has been transferred. A System Administrator grants users the authority to create databases with the grant command.
A Database Owner logs in to Adaptive Server using his or her assigned login name and password. In other databases, that owner is known by his or her regular user name. In the database Adaptive Server recognizes the user as having the “dbo” account.
A Database Owner can:
Run the system procedure sp_adduser to allow other Adaptive Server users access to the database
Use the grant command to give other users permission to create objects and execute commands within the database
Adding users to databases is discussed in Chapter 10, “Managing Adaptive Server Logins and Database Users.” Granting permissions to users is discussed in Chapter 11, “Managing User Permissions.”
The Database Owner does not automatically receive permissions on objects owned by other users. However, a Database Owner can temporarily assume the permissions of other users in the database at any time by using the setuser command. Using a combination of the setuser and grant commands, the Database Owner can acquire permissions on any object in the database.
Because the Database Owner role is so powerful, the
System Administrator should plan carefully who should own databases
in the server. The System Security Officer should consider auditing
the database activity of all Database Owners.
