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PostgreSQL PGVector user management

Users are created to access databases in a PostgreSQL PGVector cluster.

To create a database in a cluster, you must first create a user.

Only the cluster itself is available to users for work — there is no access to cluster nodes since they are hosted on the Selectel side. By default, all users in the cluster have the same permissions.

Access to a single PostgreSQL PGVector database can be granted to multiple users, but there can be only one database owner. Users can be granted privileges on database objects.

Database owner

When creating a PostgreSQL PGVector database, you must select an owner user.

A PostgreSQL PGVector database owner is a user who inherits ownership of objects from deleted users. After a user is deleted, you will not lose access to the objects they created, but will be able to manage them via the owner. Unlike a regular user, the database owner has access to all its objects and can perform operations on them.

Create a user

  1. In the Control panel, in the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Databases.
  2. Open the tab Active.
  3. Open the database cluster page → tab Users.
  4. Click Create user.
  5. Enter a name and password. Save the password — it will not be stored in the control panel.
  6. Click Save.

Change user password

After creating a cluster, the user password can be changed. Remember to change the password in your application.

  1. In the Control panel, in the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Databases.
  2. Open the tab Active.
  3. Open the cluster page → tab Users.
  4. In the user's menu, select Change password.
  5. Enter or generate a new password and save the changes.

Configure database access

Grant access to a user

Multiple users can be granted access to a single PostgreSQL PGVector database.

  1. In the Control panel, in the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Databases.
  2. Open the tab Active.
  3. Open the database cluster page → Databases tab → database page.
  4. In the Have access block, click Add and select a user.

The user can only connect to the database (CONNECT) and cannot perform operations on objects. To grant the user access to objects, grant them the required privileges.

Change database owner

A PostgreSQL PGVector database owner is assigned upon its creation. The owner cannot be deleted (each database must have an owner), but can be changed to another one.

  1. In the Control panel, in the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Databases.
  2. Open the tab Active.
  3. Open the database cluster page → Databases tab → database page.
  4. In the Database owner list, select another owner.

Remove access for a user

  1. In the Control panel, in the top menu, click Products and select Cloud Databases.
  2. Open the tab Active.
  3. Open the database cluster page → Databases tab → database page.
  4. In the Have access block, remove the user.

Configure user privileges

By default, a user has no access to operations on any database objects (schemas, tables, functions) unless they are the owner of that database. You can grant users a privilege (access right) on an object.

By default, object owners have access and all rights to the object.

Grant privileges

You can grant privileges on database objects to users using the GRANT command. Privileges can be as follows: SELECT, INSERT, DELETE, USAGE.

An example of granting read access (SELECT) to the table table to the user user:

GRANT SELECT ON table TO user;

Create a schema user with read-only permissions

You can create a user with access to the cluster database, to a table in the default schema, and to all tables in the schema.

All new tables will be automatically created with read-only access for this user.

  1. Create a user.

  2. Connect to the database.

  3. Create the schema schema and table table:

    CREATE SCHEMA schema;
    CREATE TABLE schema.table(i int);
    INSERT INTO schema.table(i) values(1);

  4. Grant privileges to the user user:

    GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA schema TO user;
    GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA schema TO user;
    ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES IN SCHEMA schema GRANT SELECT ON TABLES TO user;

Revoke privileges

You can revoke privileges from a user using the command REVOKE.

An example of revoking a privilege from the user user on the schema schema:

REVOKE USAGE ON SCHEMA schema FROM user;