---
title: "CREATE ROLE (Transact-SQL)"
description: CREATE ROLE (Transact-SQL)
author: VanMSFT
ms.author: vanto
ms.date: "04/10/2017"
ms.service: sql
ms.subservice: t-sql
ms.topic: reference
f1_keywords:
  - "CREATE ROLE"
  - "DATABASE ROLE"
  - "ROLE_TSQL"
  - "DATABASE_ROLE_TSQL"
  - "CREATE_ROLE_TSQL"
  - "CREATE DATABASE ROLE"
  - "ROLE"
  - "CREATE_DATABASE_ROLE_TSQL"
helpviewer_keywords:
  - "database roles [SQL Server], creating"
  - "CREATE DATABASE ROLE statement"
  - "roles [SQL Server], creating"
  - "CREATE ROLE statement"
dev_langs:
  - "TSQL"
monikerRange: ">=aps-pdw-2016||=azuresqldb-current||=azure-sqldw-latest||>=sql-server-2016||>=sql-server-linux-2017||=azuresqldb-mi-current"
---
# CREATE ROLE (Transact-SQL)
[!INCLUDE [sql-asdb-asdbmi-asa-pdw](../../includes/applies-to-version/sql-asdb-asdbmi-asa-pdw.md)]

  Creates a new database role in the current database.  
  
 :::image type="icon" source="../../includes/media/topic-link-icon.svg" border="false"::: [Transact-SQL syntax conventions](../../t-sql/language-elements/transact-sql-syntax-conventions-transact-sql.md)  
  
## Syntax  
  
```syntaxsql  
CREATE ROLE role_name [ AUTHORIZATION owner_name ]  
```  
  
[!INCLUDE[sql-server-tsql-previous-offline-documentation](../../includes/sql-server-tsql-previous-offline-documentation.md)]

## Arguments
 *role_name*  
 Is the name of the role to be created.  
  
 AUTHORIZATION *owner_name*  
 Is the database user or role that is to own the new role. If no user is specified, the role will be owned by the user that executes CREATE ROLE. The owner of the role, or any member of an owning role can add or remove members of the role.
  
## Remarks  
 Roles are database-level securables. After you create a role, configure the database-level permissions of the role by using GRANT, DENY, and REVOKE. To add members to a database role, use [ALTER ROLE (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/statements/alter-role-transact-sql.md). For more information, see [Database-Level Roles](../../relational-databases/security/authentication-access/database-level-roles.md).  
  
 Database roles are visible in the sys.database_role_members and sys.database_principals catalog views.  
  
 For information about designing a permissions system, see [Getting Started with Database Engine Permissions](../../relational-databases/security/authentication-access/getting-started-with-database-engine-permissions.md).  
  
> [!CAUTION]  
>  [!INCLUDE[ssCautionUserSchema](../../includes/sscautionuserschema-md.md)]  
  
## Permissions  
 Requires **CREATE ROLE** permission on the database or membership in the **db_securityadmin** fixed database role. When you use the **AUTHORIZATION** option, the following permissions are also required:  
  
-   To assign ownership of a role to another user, requires IMPERSONATE permission on that user.  
  
-   To assign ownership of a role to another role, requires membership in the recipient role or ALTER permission on that role.  
  
-   To assign ownership of a role to an application role, requires ALTER permission on the application role.  
  
## Examples  
The following examples all use the AdventureWorks database.   

### A. Creating a database role that is owned by a database user  
 The following example creates the database role `buyers` that is owned by user `BenMiller`.  
  
```sql  
CREATE ROLE buyers AUTHORIZATION BenMiller;  
GO  
```  
  
### B. Creating a database role that is owned by a fixed database role  
 The following example creates the database role `auditors` that is owned the `db_securityadmin` fixed database role.  
  
```sql  
CREATE ROLE auditors AUTHORIZATION db_securityadmin;  
GO  
```  
  
## See Also  
 [Principals (Database Engine)](../../relational-databases/security/authentication-access/principals-database-engine.md)   
 [ALTER ROLE (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/statements/alter-role-transact-sql.md)   
 [DROP ROLE (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/statements/drop-role-transact-sql.md)   
 [EVENTDATA (Transact-SQL)](../../t-sql/functions/eventdata-transact-sql.md)   
 [sp_addrolemember (Transact-SQL)](../../relational-databases/system-stored-procedures/sp-addrolemember-transact-sql.md)   
 [sys.database_role_members (Transact-SQL)](../../relational-databases/system-catalog-views/sys-database-role-members-transact-sql.md)   
 [sys.database_principals (Transact-SQL)](../../relational-databases/system-catalog-views/sys-database-principals-transact-sql.md)   
 [Getting Started with Database Engine Permissions](../../relational-databases/security/authentication-access/getting-started-with-database-engine-permissions.md)