The Metadata Engine and Authorization

An administrator uses a product like SAS Management Console to set authorization. This security model is a metadata-based authorization layer that supplements security from the host environment and other systems. The metadata engine enforces the authorizations that are set in metadata, but it does not create or update any authorization. For more information, see the SAS Intelligence Platform: Security Administration Guide.
The administrator can use authorization in the following ways for member-level and column-level security:
  • The administrator can associate authorizations to any metadata resource in a repository. The metadata engine enforces effective permissions (which is a calculation of the net effect of all applicable metadata layer permission settings) for libraries and tables.
  • The administrator can associate different authorizations to individual libraries and tables. For example, suppose a library has 20 tables defined in the repository. The administrator restricts access to five of the tables, because the five tables contain sensitive information. Only a few users can access all 20 tables. Most users can access only 15 tables.
The metadata authorizations that are enforced by the metadata engine control the actions that users can perform on data that is accessed with the engine; the engine does not prevent other SAS programs from accessing the data.