CLOSE SYMMETRIC KEY (Transact-SQL)

Closes a symmetric key, or closes all symmetric keys open in the current session.

Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions

CLOSE { SYMMETRIC KEY key_name | ALL SYMMETRIC KEYS }

• Key_name
  Is the name of the symmetric key to be closed.

Open symmetric keys are bound to the session not to the security context. An open key will continue to be available until it is either explicitly closed or the session is terminated. CLOSE ALL SYMMETRIC KEYS will close any database master key that was opened in the current session by using the OPEN MASTER KEY statement. Information about open keys is visible in the sys.openkeys (Transact-SQL) catalog view.

No explicit permission is required to close a symmetric key.

The following example closes the symmetric key ShippingSymKey04.

CLOSE SYMMETRIC KEY ShippingSymKey04;
GO

The following example closes all symmetric keys that are open in the current session, and also the explicitly opened database master key.

CLOSE ALL SYMMETRIC KEYS;
GO

CREATE SYMMETRIC KEY (Transact-SQL)
ALTER SYMMETRIC KEY (Transact-SQL)
OPEN SYMMETRIC KEY (Transact-SQL)
DROP SYMMETRIC KEY (Transact-SQL)

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