This page describes how Cloud SQL works with PostgreSQL users and roles. PostgreSQL roles enable you to control what kind of access and capabilities a user has when they access your PostgreSQL instance.
For complete documentation about PostgreSQL roles, see the PostgreSQL documentation. For information about creating and managing Cloud SQL users, see Creating and Managing Users.
PostgreSQL roles and users
PostgreSQL roles can be a single role, or they can function as a group of roles.
A user is simply a role with the ability to login (the role has the LOGIN
attribute). Because all roles created by Cloud SQL have the LOGIN
attribute, Cloud SQL uses the terms "role" and "user" interchangeably.
However, if you create a role with the psql client, it does not necessarily
have the LOGIN attribute.
All PostgreSQL users must have a password. You cannot login with a user that does not have a password.
Superuser restrictions
Because Cloud SQL PostgreSQL is a managed service it restricts access to certain system procedures and tables that require advanced privileges. In Cloud SQL customers cannot create or have access to users with superuser attributes.
Default PostgreSQL users
When you create a new Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL instance, the default
postgres user is already created for you, though you must set its password.
The postgres user is part of the cloudsqlsuperuser role, and
has the following attributes (privileges): CREATEROLE,
CREATEDB, and LOGIN. It does not have the SUPERUSER or REPLICATION
attributes.
Other PostgreSQL users
You can create other PostgreSQL users or roles. All users you
create using Cloud SQL are created as part of the cloudsqlsuperuser
role, and have the same set of attributes as the postgres user: CREATEROLE,
CREATEDB, and LOGIN. You can change the attributes of any user by using the
ALTER ROLE command.
If you create a new user with the psql client, you can choose
to associate it with a different role, or give it different attributes.
What's next
- Configure the postgres user for your instance.
- Create and manage users.
- Create and manage databases.
- See the PostgreSQL documentation about roles.
- Learn about options for connecting to your instance.
