Secure data access

PolyBase uses the security model of the underlying data source to access data. As you will only be reading data, the permissions required on the data source are limited to SELECT or read-only access. However, the credentials used to read the data are stored inside your data hub so you will need to know how to create and secure them. In this section, you will learn how to do this.

The database master key

The master key is created inside the SQL Server database you are using to act as the data hub. It is then used to secure the private keys created by database scoped credentials. You can only have one master key in a database. An example of the syntax to create a database master key is shown here:

CREATE MASTER KEY ENCRYPTION BY PASSWORD = '@rsen@l@re@m@zing!'
;

If you are using the data hub for other purposes, it is quite possible that you have already created a master key as other product features can require one. If you have, that's great...