CREATE USER

Create a new user.

Create a new user.

Synopsis

CREATE USER IF NOT EXISTS user_name WITH PASSWORD 'password' 
 NOSUPERUSER | SUPERUSER
Table 1. Legend
  • Uppercase means literal
  • Lowercase means not literal
  • Italics mean optional
  • The pipe (|) symbol means OR or AND/OR
  • Ellipsis (...) means repeatable

A semicolon that terminates CQL statements is not included in the synopsis.

Description

CREATE USER defines a new database user account. By default users accounts do not have superuser status. Only a superuser can issue CREATE USER requests.

User accounts are required for logging in under internal authentication and authorization.

Enclose the user name in single quotation marks if it contains non-alphanumeric characters. You cannot recreate an existing user. To change the superuser status or password, use ALTER USER.

Creating internal user accounts

You need to use the WITH PASSWORD clause when creating a user account for internal authentication. Enclose the password in single quotation marks.

CREATE USER spillman WITH PASSWORD 'Niner27';
CREATE USER akers WITH PASSWORD 'Niner2' SUPERUSER;
CREATE USER boone WITH PASSWORD 'Niner75' NOSUPERUSER;

If internal authentication has not been set up, you do not need the WITH PASSWORD clause:

CREATE USER test NOSUPERUSER;

Creating a user account conditionally

You can test that the user does not have an account before attempting to create one. Attempting to create an existing user results in an invalid query condition unless the IF NOT EXISTS option is used. If the option is used, the statement will be a no-op if the user exists. 

$ bin/cqlsh -u cassandra -p cassandra
Connected to Test Cluster at 127.0.0.1:9042.
[cqlsh 5.0.1 | Cassandra 2.1.0 | CQL spec 3.2.0 | Native protocol v3]
Use HELP for help.

cqlsh> CREATE USER newuser WITH PASSWORD 'password';

cqlsh> CREATE USER newuser WITH PASSWORD 'password';
code=2200 [Invalid query] message="User newuser already exists"

cqlsh> CREATE USER IF NOT EXISTS newuser WITH PASSWORD 'password';
cqlsh>