Permissions on sys.syslogins I've got the following scenario:
( loggend in on SQL-Server with full admin-privileges )

Creating LogIn, User, Role and associate them. 

IF NOT EXISTS( SELECT "name" FROM "master"."dbo"."syslogins" WHERE "name" = 'ocmb_admin' ) BEGIN CREATE LOGIN ocmb_admin WITH PASSWORD = 'pw', CHECK_POLICY = OFF; END

IF NOT EXISTS ( SELECT 1 FROM "sys"."database_principals" WHERE "name" = N'ocmb_admin' ) BEGIN CREATE USER ocmb_admin FOR LOGIN ocmb_admin;END

if not exists ( select 1 from "sys"."database_principals" where "name" = N'ocmb_grp_admin' ) begin CREATE role "ocmb_grp_admin"; end

EXECUTE sp_addrolemember N'ocmb_grp_admin', N'ocmb_admin';


Works fine. Needed permissions on objects for created login ( ocmb_admin ) are granted in separate queries, not completely neccessary for this question.

Now, logging in with this login I have to query sys.syslogins which is possible but only returns data for current login and sa.

I tried several ways to grant explicit permissions to the group ( ocmb_grp_admin ), but none of them leaded to the fact, that I can query the complete content of the view.

I need to determine, whether some logins exist while logging in with an random account, which is assigned to the prior created role 'ocmb_grp_admin'. Permissions can and SOHULD be granted to this role, to avoid having to grant them for each new user.

What I tried so far:

A:

USE master
GO
GRANT VIEW ANY DEFINITION TO "&lt;username&gt;"


This one works, but is completely uncomfortable, because every user has to be added separately.

B:

USE master
GO
GRANT VIEW DEFINITION ON master.sys.syslogins TO ocmb_admin


Error - Definition privilege is not compatible with object.

C:

USE master
GO
GRANT VIEW DEFINITION ON master.sys.syslogins TO ocmb_grp_admin


Same as B

D:

USE master
GO
GRANT VIEW DEFINITION ON LOGIN::ocmb_admin TO ocmb_admin

Can be executed, if ocmb_admin is also created on master-db, but does not have any effects on querying.

Thanks for hints!
You can use SUSER_ID which will give you the SID from sys.server_principals regardless of metadata visibility

Also note that syslogins has been deprecated since SQL Server 2005