There are a number of layers in the SQL Server security model, giving you a nearly infinite number of ways to set up access control on your server and databases. Security is a huge topic, and there are literally entire books on it, so this series of articles is designed to give you just a quick overview of the SQL Server security model to get you started.
In this first installment, I’ll go through the different types of security principals that are available, as well as how they connect to each other.