Thanks for your prompt reply! When we say they're responsible for their databases we mean in terms of the users/roles/privileges they create, and the data they're able to access. But we are responsible for OS patches, database availability, making sure that backups and restores are taken consistently, etc.
Concerning the configuration adjustment, we also provide them with a way to change the configuration (postgresql.conf and pg_hba.conf) on the web interface. Of course there are some vetoed parameters that they are not allowed to change. Basically, we want to provide all the admin functionality, for which you'd need access to the machine, via our web interface. At the moment we offer: start/stop, backups (and backups to tape), scheduling of backups, restores, configuration management, download of logs, one-click upgrades and access to monitoring. The only thing we would have to do for them is installing database extensions, but that rarely happens in our environment.
From your reply and considering why I have just said, I think that, in our case, these users would be better off without superuser access. As for their day-to-day operations they wouldn't need it as long as they can create their databases and roles, and execute the rest of operations on the web interface.
Cheers,
Daniel
On 25 April 2014 16:02, Tom Lane <tgl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
If you're not willing to give them a shell login on the database server,Daniel Gomez Blanco <nanodgb@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
> I'm part of a service where we provide users with their own PostgreSQL
> instances. The idea is that we provide them with a website to request and
> manage their databases (start/stop, backups, restores, upgrades,
> monitoring, etc). By doing this, we avoid having to give them access to the
> machine where their database is running, as this would be a security
> concern. But in the end, the user is the sole responsible for the database.
> At the moment we create an "admin" user for them and give it "createdb" and
> "createrole" privileges. My question is, in case we give that user the
> superuser privilege, what would the repercussion be concerning security (as
> in accessing data on the machine for example)? And what advantages would
> the user acquire by having that privilege (considering major admin
> functionality is provided via the website)?
you'd better not give them superuser, because the latter is easily
parlayed into the former on most platforms. (It's not trivial
necessarily, but we do not consider it a security bug if you can.)
However, it's also generally assumed that a person with DBA
responsibilities should be able to log in as the O/S user that runs the
database server (not root, but the postgres O/S user). So if your service
is telling people that they are "solely responsible", maybe you should
rethink that end of it.
The main functionality omission I'm noticing in your sketch is server
configuration adjustment and installation of database extensions ...
regards, tom lane
