Issue Resolved - Interaction between SQL Server and Access

I'm implementing row-level security in a SQL Server database that uses Microsoft Access for the front end. I'm using a UDF (a view behaves the same way) to restrict access to specific rows of a base table based on membership in a role. According to the reading I've done, if the base table has DENY ALL permissions for the role, and the UDF has GRANT ALL, members of the role should be able to update records in the base table via the UDF, without having direct access to the base table. However, I find that unless I grant appropriate permissions on the base table, the user is unable to update the table via the UDF.

Is this expected behavior? Nothing I've read suggests I should have to grant permissions on the columns of the base table.

Yes, that is expected behavior.

Permissions in SQL Server have three values: GRANT, DENY, or 'unsaid'.

If you have been GRANTed permission for a table, obviously you have permission.

If your permission is 'unsaid', then you 'may' still have permission due to permission having been granted to another role that includes you.

But IF you have been explicited DENY(ied), that 'trumps' all.

Think of it this way.

Children have a knack of knowing how to 'scope out' their parents. Perhaps a son wants to go out with friends. He may approach Mom and 'feel her out' to find out if she 'might' say yes WITHOUT directly asking her. He knows that if he asks her and she says 'No', his plans are shot because he cannot then go and ask Dad (DENY). So he will attempt to find out if it is 'safe' to ask her. If it seems safe, he will ask and he's 'home free' (GRANT).

However, if he feels that she would probably say No, then without having asked, he is now free to ask Dad. So Mom was 'unsaid', if permission can be had by another route, it will work for him.

So anytime permission is an explicit DENY, there is no route around it.

Often, in a strong SQL Server security model, TABLE permissions are left 'unsaid', and access is GRANTed through VIEWS, Functions, and Stored Procedures. Users are also added to the db_DenyDataReader and db_DenyDataWriter roles to prohibit them having direct table access.

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Thanks for responding.

Ah, yes, that's what I thought. But if I leave the permissions on the base table "unsaid", and grant all on the UDF, Access tells me that the recordset is not updatable (maybe because it can't "see" the PK column?). So I'm back to having to grant permissions in the base table, which is unacceptable.

I read through the good whitepaper on row-level security by Rask, Rubin and Neumann. The architecture they propose is great, but overkill for what I need to do. Nevertheless, I set up a test using their methodology: DENY ALL on the base table, GRANT ALL on a view, and put an INSTEAD OF trigger on the view to verify appropriate access and perform an update. But because Access thinks the recordset isn't updatable, the trigger never fires. If I grant SELECT permissions to just the PK column of the base table, Access thinks the recordset is updatable, but I still can't get the trigger to fire because Access wants at least SELECT permissions on the other base table columns before it will even try to perform the update.

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I would suggest the following topics from BOL:

· CREATE VIEW (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms187956.aspx), got to the section Updatable Views

· Modifying Data Through a View (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms180800.aspx)

I hope this information helps,

-Raul Garcia

SDE/T

SQL Server Engine

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In addition to Raul's suggestions, I offer the following insight.

Access will allow you to UPDATE or DELETE a row without the table having a primary key (or some unique identifier.)

SQL Server does NOT allow UPDATES or DELETES unless there is a unambiguous way to be certain what row is being addressed. If the VIEW does not include a PK, or unique identifier, it would not be updatable.

|||Thanks for the references, I'll read through them and see where they lead. I note that these are from SQL Server 2005 BOL, and the server that must host the application I'm working with is SQL Server 2000 SP4. I'm just wondering whether you know whether the support for updatable views changed between SQL 2000 and 2005?|||

As far as I understand, updatable views should be supported in SQL Server 2000 SP4, but I am not 100% sure if all the documentation in the links I included may apply to SQL Server 2000 SP4 as well.

I would recommend trying to find the same topic in BOL fro SQL Server 2000 and giving it a try; if you have any further questions please let us know, we will be glad to help.

Thanks,

-Raul Garcia

SDE/T

SQL Server Engine

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Thanks to both you and Arnie for responding to this inquiry.

The problem turns out to have been an interaction between SQL Server and Access. In order for Access to update a SQL Server view, the view must be declared the WITH VIEW_METADATA option. If designing the view in Access, this is accomplished by checking the view option "Update using view rules" on the properties page. Once I did this, I was able to DENY ALL on the base table and GRANT ALL on the view, and the view was updatable via Access with appropriate security.

I ran a SQL Profiler trace to see what Access was sending to SQL Server when the option was properly set--it showed that the UPDATE statement Access generated was against the view, not the base tables. Without using the VIEW_METADATA option, Access does not consider the recordset updatable (hence my original question), so it doesn't generate an UPDATE statement. So I couldn't run a trace to see what happens in that case. I expect that if I could, the UPDATE would be going against the base table rather than the view.

Again, thanks for your help.