Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 5-11.
Creating the data warehouse database
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next, we discuss a number of advanced options in the database creation process, but you do not need to
use these options for the exercises of this topic.
Note
Setting the Database Owner
Most of the time, the database owner setting has little impact on working with the database. An example of
when it is necessary, however, is when using SQL Server's diagram features. If there is no owner assigned to the
database or the one that was assigned is no longer valid, the diagramming tools will not work.
The database owner can map to either a Windows login account or a SQL Server login account. Both are
similar, but a SQL Server login's name and password are passed onto the network as plain text. And although
this network traffic can be encrypted, by default it is not. Because of this, many SQL administrators have stopped
using SQL logins for most occasions and just use Windows logins instead. Thus, the standard choice for a
database owner is an existing Windows login.
There are times, however, where using a SQL login for the database owner makes sense. For example, if you
created a database using your personal login account as the owner of the database and then backed it up to send
to a co-worker's computer, the database owner may not be valid on your co-worker's computer. When your co-
worker restores the database on his or her own machine, if your personal login account does not exist on his or
her machine, the database ownership is broken.
At first, this would probably go unnoticed, but if your co-worker tried to create a database diagram, which
requires the use of valid owner, your co-worker will get the error message shown in Figure
5-12
.
