Implementing Role-Based Access Control for Azure SQL Server

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) in Azure SQL Server is an approach to restrict database access to authorized users. It is a security mechanism to control who has access to what within your SQL database. There are various components and roles provided by Azure to achieve RBAC, such as assigning specific database roles to users, creating custom roles, and managing permissions.

In Pulumi, configuring Role-Based Access Control for Azure SQL Server involves creating an instance of the SQL Server and setting up the appropriate roles and permissions. Azure Native provider in Pulumi would be the primary tool used to accomplish this task.

Below is a Pulumi program written in Python that creates an Azure SQL Server instance and assigns roles to control access. The `azure_native` package's `SqlServer` resource is used to create the server, and then RBAC can be configured using roles and permissions through the Azure portal or Azure CLI.

```python
import pulumi
import pulumi_azure_native as azure_native

# Create a new resource group
resource_group = azure_native.resources.ResourceGroup('resourceGroup')

# Create a new SQL Server
sql_server = azure_native.sql.Server('sqlServer',
    resource_group_name=resource_group.name,
    administrator_login='pulumiadmin',
    administrator_login_password='complex_password',
    version='12.0',  # Replace with your desired version
    location=resource_group.location
)

# SQL Server creation does not directly include RBAC as it's typically a step done post-deployment.
# RBAC settings must be configured separately either via Azure Portal, Azure CLI or Azure PowerShell.

# Output the SQL Server name and fully qualified domain name (FQDN)
pulumi.export('sql_server_name', sql_server.name)
pulumi.export('sql_server_fqdn', sql_server.fully_qualified_domain_name)
```

Once the server is created, you would typically follow these steps to set up RBAC:

1. **Define Roles**: You would define roles either predefined or custom.
2. **Assign Permissions**: Assign appropriate permissions to those roles, determining what level of access each role has.
3. **Assign Roles to Users**: Assign these roles to the SQL Server users or groups you have in your Azure Active Directory.

With Azure, this often involves using Azure's RBAC features in the portal where you can assign users or groups to different roles on the SQL Server.

Keep in mind that the actual role definitions and assignments do not happen within Pulumi. They occur within Azure itself, since role definitions often include navigating a controlled taxonomy of actions and permissions suited to the specifics of your organization and Azure subscriptions. After the initial creation of the SQL Server with Pulumi, you'd typically use the Azure Portal, Azure CLI, or Azure PowerShell to configure the RBAC settings on the database.

Make sure to use strong and secure values for `administrator_login` and `administrator_login_password` and wherever else that sensitive data is used. It's recommended to use a secret manager or Pulumi configuration for handling such secrets.

If you would like to apply RBAC policies as part of your infrastructure code, you would need to script this using Azure's CLI or PowerShell commands, potentially using Pulumi's automation features to execute them.

Do remember to replace placeholder values with actual values that pertain to your use case, especially for credentials and potentially for the SQL Server version (in the example above, it's '12.0' which indicates SQL Server 2014 compatibility level, you'll need to update this to the version you are targeting).