SQL Server 2005 – Track Write Requests on Read-Only Database

I did exactly this as a project back in 2008-2009, a web service (billing) that needed to handle 1M+ calls per day. I used SQL Server table as a queue, and the lesson from that project I distilled into the article Using Tables as Queues. Stick to the rules I lay out there, and specially don't try to add any whistles and bells to your table, use it exclusively as a queue. Under load I found that a critical issue was to batch dequeue (dequeue 100 web service call request in one DB operation) and handle the dispatch in the app (place the dequeue request into an in memory list, have the web call handlers pick up work from this list). Doing the web service call async is critical. Also, you must read about the ServicePointManager.DefaultConnectionLimit.

If you have a list of known usernames, you can store them in a table somewhere:

CREATE TABLE dbo.WebDevelopers(name SYSNAME PRIMARY KEY);

INSERT dbo.WebDevelopers(name)
  SELECT N'YourDomain\User1'
  UNION ALL 
  SELECT N'YourDomain\User2';

Now you can create a variety of scripts to ensure that:

1. they exist as a login at the server level

2. for each relevant database:

   • they exist as a user
   • they are in the db_datareader role
   • they have SELECT permission on the dbo schema

Here is a start to solve 1. (I'll come back and address the others as I have time later today):

DECLARE @sql NVARCHAR(MAX), @cr NCHAR(2) = CHAR(13) + CHAR(10);

SELECT @sql = N'';

SELECT @sql = @sql + @cr + 'CREATE LOGIN '
 + QUOTENAME(d.name) + ' FROM WINDOWS;'
FROM dbo.WebDevelopers AS d
LEFT OUTER JOIN sys.server_principals AS p
ON d.name = p.name
WHERE p.name IS NULL;

PRINT @sql;
-- EXEC sp_executesql @sql;

For the rest, this makes some basic assumptions: you always elevate privileges using database-level roles, rather than explicit GRANT/DENY, server role membership or AD group membership. Like the table of developers, you also want to have somewhere a list of the databases you want to affect:

CREATE TABLE dbo.DeveloperDatabases(name SYSNAME PRIMARY KEY);

INSERT dbo.DeveloperDatabases(name)
  SELECT N'some_database'
  -- UNION ALL N'...';

Now you can build a script that will drop the user from each database, create the entire list from scratch, and add each user only to the db_datareader role. You may want to customize the script if you want to grant explicit rights on a certain schema or set of objects.

DECLARE @sql NVARCHAR(MAX), @cr NCHAR(2) = CHAR(13) + CHAR(10);

SELECT @sql = N'SELECT @sql2 = N'''';';

SELECT @sql = @sql + @cr + N'SELECT @sql2 = @sql2 + ''
  USE ' + QUOTENAME(name) + '; 
  DROP USER '' + QUOTENAME(d.name) + '';''
FROM dbo.WebDevelopers AS d
INNER JOIN ' + QUOTENAME(name) + '.sys.database_principals AS p
ON d.name = p.name;'
FROM dbo.DeveloperDatabases;

SELECT @sql = @sql + @cr + N'SELECT @sql2 = @sql2 + ''
  USE ' + QUOTENAME(name) + '; 
  CREATE USER '' + QUOTENAME(d.name) + '' FROM LOGIN '' + QUOTENAME(d.name) + '';
  EXEC sp_addrolemember ''''db_datareader'''', '''''' + d.name + '''''';''
FROM dbo.WebDevelopers AS d
LEFT OUTER JOIN ' + QUOTENAME(name) + '.sys.database_principals AS p
ON d.name = p.name
WHERE p.name IS NULL;'
FROM dbo.DeveloperDatabases;

DECLARE @sql2 NVARCHAR(MAX);

EXEC sp_executesql @sql, N'@sql2 NVARCHAR(MAX) OUTPUT', @sql2 OUTPUT;

PRINT @sql2;
-- EXEC sp_executesql @sql2;

This is very rough, and lots of things can make it break. I could have combined the two selects into a single query but I think double-nested dynamic SQL was complex enough without adding conditional string concatenation in there as well.