Basic security model

The security model is a combination of administrator privileges that are given to users and groups, object privileges for specific objects, and object privileges for classes of objects.

As part of the model, any privilege that is granted to a group is automatically granted to (that is, inherited by) any user in that group. Privileges are additive, which means that you cannot remove a privilege from a user who is granted that privilege as a group member.

Each object has an owner. Individual owners automatically have full access to their objects and do not require individual object privileges to manage them.

In the Netezza Performance Server system, the admin user owns all predefined objects. The admin user has full access to all functions and objects, which is similar to the super user (root) in UNIX. There are no privilege records associated with the admin user. You cannot delete the admin user or change its name. Unlike all other objects, admin user has no owner.

The PUBLIC group is also predefined. All users automatically are members of the group. You cannot delete the PUBLIC group or change its name. Its owner is the admin user.