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Using RBAC to define and apply permissions

RBAC overview

Role-based access control (RBAC) objects determine whether a user is allowed to perform a given action within a project.

Cluster administrators can use the cluster roles and bindings to control who has various access levels to the OpenShift Container Platform platform itself and all projects.

Developers can use local roles and bindings to control who has access to their projects. Note that authorization is a separate step from authentication, which is more about determining the identity of who is taking the action.

Authorization is managed using:

Authorization object Description

Rules

Sets of permitted verbs on a set of objects. For example, whether a user or service account can create pods.

Roles

Collections of rules. You can associate, or bind, users and groups to multiple roles.

Bindings

Associations between users and/or groups with a role.

There are two levels of RBAC roles and bindings that control authorization:

RBAC level Description

Cluster RBAC

Roles and bindings that are applicable across all projects. Cluster roles exist cluster-wide, and cluster role bindings can reference only cluster roles.

Local RBAC

Roles and bindings that are scoped to a given project. While local roles exist only in a single project, local role bindings can reference both cluster and local roles.

A cluster role binding is a binding that exists at the cluster level. A role binding exists at the project level. The cluster role view must be bound to a user using a local role binding for that user to view the project. Create local roles only if a cluster role does not provide the set of permissions needed for a particular situation.

This two-level hierarchy allows reuse across multiple projects through the cluster roles while allowing customization inside of individual projects through local roles.

During evaluation, both the cluster role bindings and the local role bindings are used. For example:

  1. Cluster-wide "allow" rules are checked.

  2. Locally-bound "allow" rules are checked.

  3. Deny by default.

Default cluster roles

OpenShift Container Platform includes a set of default cluster roles that you can bind to users and groups cluster-wide or locally.

It is not recommended to manually modify the default cluster roles. Modifications to these system roles can prevent a cluster from functioning properly.
Default cluster role Description

admin

A project manager. If used in a local binding, an admin has rights to view any resource in the project and modify any resource in the project except for quota.

basic-user

A user that can get basic information about projects and users.

cluster-admin

A super-user that can perform any action in any project. When bound to a user with a local binding, they have full control over quota and every action on every resource in the project.

cluster-status

A user that can get basic cluster status information.

cluster-reader

A user that can get or view most of the objects but cannot modify them.

edit

A user that can modify most objects in a project but does not have the power to view or modify roles or bindings.

self-provisioner

A user that can create their own projects.

view

A user who cannot make any modifications, but can see most objects in a project. They cannot view or modify roles or bindings.

Be mindful of the difference between local and cluster bindings. For example, if you bind the cluster-admin role to a user by using a local role binding, it might appear that this user has the privileges of a cluster administrator. This is not the case. Binding the cluster-admin to a user in a project grants super administrator privileges for only that project to the user. That user has the permissions of the cluster role admin, plus a few additional permissions like the ability to edit rate limits, for that project. This binding can be confusing via the web console UI, which does not list cluster role bindings that are bound to true cluster administrators. However, it does list local role bindings that you can use to locally bind cluster-admin.

The relationships between cluster roles, local roles, cluster role bindings, local role bindings, users, groups and service accounts are illustrated below.

OpenShift Container Platform RBAC

The get pods/exec, get pods/*, and get * rules grant execution privileges when they are applied to a role. Apply the principle of least privilege and assign only the minimal RBAC rights required for users and agents. For more information, see RBAC rules allow execution privileges.

Evaluating authorization

OpenShift Container Platform evaluates authorization by using:

Identity

The user name and list of groups that the user belongs to.

Action

The action you perform. In most cases, this consists of:

  • Project: The project you access. A project is a Kubernetes namespace with additional annotations that allows a community of users to organize and manage their content in isolation from other communities.

  • Verb : The action itself: get, list, create, update, delete, deletecollection, or watch.

  • Resource name: The API endpoint that you access.

Bindings

The full list of bindings, the associations between users or groups with a role.

OpenShift Container Platform evaluates authorization by using the following steps:

  1. The identity and the project-scoped action is used to find all bindings that apply to the user or their groups.

  2. Bindings are used to locate all the roles that apply.

  3. Roles are used to find all the rules that apply.

  4. The action is checked against each rule to find a match.

  5. If no matching rule is found, the action is then denied by default.

Remember that users and groups can be associated with, or bound to, multiple roles at the same time.

Project administrators can use the CLI to view local roles and bindings, including a matrix of the verbs and resources each are associated with.

The cluster role bound to the project administrator is limited in a project through a local binding. It is not bound cluster-wide like the cluster roles granted to the cluster-admin or system:admin.

Cluster roles are roles defined at the cluster level but can be bound either at the cluster level or at the project level.

Cluster role aggregation

The default admin, edit, view, and cluster-reader cluster roles support cluster role aggregation, where the cluster rules for each role are dynamically updated as new rules are created. This feature is relevant only if you extend the Kubernetes API by creating custom resources.

Projects and namespaces

A Kubernetes namespace provides a mechanism to scope resources in a cluster. The Kubernetes documentation has more information on namespaces.

Namespaces provide a unique scope for:

  • Named resources to avoid basic naming collisions.

  • Delegated management authority to trusted users.

  • The ability to limit community resource consumption.

Most objects in the system are scoped by namespace, but some are excepted and have no namespace, including nodes and users.

A project is a Kubernetes namespace with additional annotations and is the central vehicle by which access to resources for regular users is managed. A project allows a community of users to organize and manage their content in isolation from other communities. Users must be given access to projects by administrators, or if allowed to create projects, automatically have access to their own projects.

Projects can have a separate name, displayName, and description.

  • The mandatory name is a unique identifier for the project and is most visible when using the CLI tools or API. The maximum name length is 63 characters.

  • The optional displayName is how the project is displayed in the web console (defaults to name).

  • The optional description can be a more detailed description of the project and is also visible in the web console.

Each project scopes its own set of:

Object Description

Objects

Pods, services, replication controllers, etc.

Policies

Rules for which users can or cannot perform actions on objects.

Constraints

Quotas for each kind of object that can be limited.

Service accounts

Service accounts act automatically with designated access to objects in the project.

Cluster administrators can create projects and delegate administrative rights for the project to any member of the user community. Cluster administrators can also allow developers to create their own projects.

Developers and administrators can interact with projects by using the CLI or the web console.

Default projects

OpenShift Container Platform comes with a number of default projects, and projects starting with openshift- are the most essential to users. These projects host master components that run as pods and other infrastructure components. The pods created in these namespaces that have a critical pod annotation are considered critical, and the have guaranteed admission by kubelet. Pods created for master components in these namespaces are already marked as critical.

Do not run workloads in or share access to default projects. Default projects are reserved for running core cluster components.

The following default projects are considered highly privileged: default, kube-public, kube-system, openshift, openshift-infra, openshift-node, and other system-created projects that have the openshift.io/run-level label set to 0 or 1. Functionality that relies on admission plugins, such as pod security admission, security context constraints, cluster resource quotas, and image reference resolution, does not work in highly privileged projects.

Viewing cluster roles and bindings

You can use the oc CLI to view cluster roles and bindings by using the oc describe command.

Prerequisites

  • Install the oc CLI.

  • Obtain permission to view the cluster roles and bindings.

Users with the cluster-admin default cluster role bound cluster-wide can perform any action on any resource, including viewing cluster roles and bindings.

Procedure

  1. To view the cluster roles and their associated rule sets:

    $ oc describe clusterrole.rbac
    Example output
    Name:         admin
Labels:       kubernetes.io/bootstrapping=rbac-defaults
Annotations:  rbac.authorization.kubernetes.io/autoupdate: true
PolicyRule:
  Resources                                                  Non-Resource URLs  Resource Names  Verbs
  ---------                                                  -----------------  --------------  -----
  .packages.apps.redhat.com                                  []                 []              [* create update patch delete get list watch]
  imagestreams                                               []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch create get list watch]
  imagestreams.image.openshift.io                            []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch create get list watch]
  secrets                                                    []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch create delete deletecollection patch update]
  buildconfigs/webhooks                                      []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  buildconfigs                                               []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  buildlogs                                                  []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  deploymentconfigs/scale                                    []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  deploymentconfigs                                          []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  imagestreamimages                                          []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  imagestreammappings                                        []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  imagestreamtags                                            []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  processedtemplates                                         []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  routes                                                     []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  templateconfigs                                            []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  templateinstances                                          []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  templates                                                  []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  deploymentconfigs.apps.openshift.io/scale                  []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  deploymentconfigs.apps.openshift.io                        []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  buildconfigs.build.openshift.io/webhooks                   []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  buildconfigs.build.openshift.io                            []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  buildlogs.build.openshift.io                               []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  imagestreamimages.image.openshift.io                       []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  imagestreammappings.image.openshift.io                     []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  imagestreamtags.image.openshift.io                         []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  routes.route.openshift.io                                  []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  processedtemplates.template.openshift.io                   []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  templateconfigs.template.openshift.io                      []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  templateinstances.template.openshift.io                    []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  templates.template.openshift.io                            []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  serviceaccounts                                            []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch impersonate create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  imagestreams/secrets                                       []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch]
  rolebindings                                               []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch]
  roles                                                      []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch]
  rolebindings.authorization.openshift.io                    []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch]
  roles.authorization.openshift.io                           []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch]
  imagestreams.image.openshift.io/secrets                    []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch]
  rolebindings.rbac.authorization.k8s.io                     []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch]
  roles.rbac.authorization.k8s.io                            []                 []              [create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch]
  networkpolicies.extensions                                 []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  networkpolicies.networking.k8s.io                          []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  configmaps                                                 []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  endpoints                                                  []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  persistentvolumeclaims                                     []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  pods                                                       []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  replicationcontrollers/scale                               []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  replicationcontrollers                                     []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  services                                                   []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  daemonsets.apps                                            []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  deployments.apps/scale                                     []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  deployments.apps                                           []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  replicasets.apps/scale                                     []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  replicasets.apps                                           []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  statefulsets.apps/scale                                    []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  statefulsets.apps                                          []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  horizontalpodautoscalers.autoscaling                       []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  cronjobs.batch                                             []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  jobs.batch                                                 []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  daemonsets.extensions                                      []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  deployments.extensions/scale                               []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  deployments.extensions                                     []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  ingresses.extensions                                       []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  replicasets.extensions/scale                               []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  replicasets.extensions                                     []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  replicationcontrollers.extensions/scale                    []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  poddisruptionbudgets.policy                                []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update get list watch]
  deployments.apps/rollback                                  []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update]
  deployments.extensions/rollback                            []                 []              [create delete deletecollection patch update]
  catalogsources.operators.coreos.com                        []                 []              [create update patch delete get list watch]
  clusterserviceversions.operators.coreos.com                []                 []              [create update patch delete get list watch]
  installplans.operators.coreos.com                          []                 []              [create update patch delete get list watch]
  packagemanifests.operators.coreos.com                      []                 []              [create update patch delete get list watch]
  subscriptions.operators.coreos.com                         []                 []              [create update patch delete get list watch]
  buildconfigs/instantiate                                   []                 []              [create]
  buildconfigs/instantiatebinary                             []                 []              [create]
  builds/clone                                               []                 []              [create]
  deploymentconfigrollbacks                                  []                 []              [create]
  deploymentconfigs/instantiate                              []                 []              [create]
  deploymentconfigs/rollback                                 []                 []              [create]
  imagestreamimports                                         []                 []              [create]
  localresourceaccessreviews                                 []                 []              [create]
  localsubjectaccessreviews                                  []                 []              [create]
  podsecuritypolicyreviews                                   []                 []              [create]
  podsecuritypolicyselfsubjectreviews                        []                 []              [create]
  podsecuritypolicysubjectreviews                            []                 []              [create]
  resourceaccessreviews                                      []                 []              [create]
  routes/custom-host                                         []                 []              [create]
  subjectaccessreviews                                       []                 []              [create]
  subjectrulesreviews                                        []                 []              [create]
  deploymentconfigrollbacks.apps.openshift.io                []                 []              [create]
  deploymentconfigs.apps.openshift.io/instantiate            []                 []              [create]
  deploymentconfigs.apps.openshift.io/rollback               []                 []              [create]
  localsubjectaccessreviews.authorization.k8s.io             []                 []              [create]
  localresourceaccessreviews.authorization.openshift.io      []                 []              [create]
  localsubjectaccessreviews.authorization.openshift.io       []                 []              [create]
  resourceaccessreviews.authorization.openshift.io           []                 []              [create]
  subjectaccessreviews.authorization.openshift.io            []                 []              [create]
  subjectrulesreviews.authorization.openshift.io             []                 []              [create]
  buildconfigs.build.openshift.io/instantiate                []                 []              [create]
  buildconfigs.build.openshift.io/instantiatebinary          []                 []              [create]
  builds.build.openshift.io/clone                            []                 []              [create]
  imagestreamimports.image.openshift.io                      []                 []              [create]
  routes.route.openshift.io/custom-host                      []                 []              [create]
  podsecuritypolicyreviews.security.openshift.io             []                 []              [create]
  podsecuritypolicyselfsubjectreviews.security.openshift.io  []                 []              [create]
  podsecuritypolicysubjectreviews.security.openshift.io      []                 []              [create]
  jenkins.build.openshift.io                                 []                 []              [edit view view admin edit view]
  builds                                                     []                 []              [get create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  builds.build.openshift.io                                  []                 []              [get create delete deletecollection get list patch update watch get list watch]
  projects                                                   []                 []              [get delete get delete get patch update]
  projects.project.openshift.io                              []                 []              [get delete get delete get patch update]
  namespaces                                                 []                 []              [get get list watch]
  pods/attach                                                []                 []              [get list watch create delete deletecollection patch update]
  pods/exec                                                  []                 []              [get list watch create delete deletecollection patch update]
  pods/portforward                                           []                 []              [get list watch create delete deletecollection patch update]
  pods/proxy                                                 []                 []              [get list watch create delete deletecollection patch update]
  services/proxy                                             []                 []              [get list watch create delete deletecollection patch update]
  routes/status                                              []                 []              [get list watch update]
  routes.route.openshift.io/status                           []                 []              [get list watch update]
  appliedclusterresourcequotas                               []                 []              [get list watch]
  bindings                                                   []                 []              [get list watch]
  builds/log                                                 []                 []              [get list watch]
  deploymentconfigs/log                                      []                 []              [get list watch]
  deploymentconfigs/status                                   []                 []              [get list watch]
  events                                                     []                 []              [get list watch]
  imagestreams/status                                        []                 []              [get list watch]
  limitranges                                                []                 []              [get list watch]
  namespaces/status                                          []                 []              [get list watch]
  pods/log                                                   []                 []              [get list watch]
  pods/status                                                []                 []              [get list watch]
  replicationcontrollers/status                              []                 []              [get list watch]
  resourcequotas/status                                      []                 []              [get list watch]
  resourcequotas                                             []                 []              [get list watch]
  resourcequotausages                                        []                 []              [get list watch]
  rolebindingrestrictions                                    []                 []              [get list watch]
  deploymentconfigs.apps.openshift.io/log                    []                 []              [get list watch]
  deploymentconfigs.apps.openshift.io/status                 []                 []              [get list watch]
  controllerrevisions.apps                                   []                 []              [get list watch]
  rolebindingrestrictions.authorization.openshift.io         []                 []              [get list watch]
  builds.build.openshift.io/log                              []                 []              [get list watch]
  imagestreams.image.openshift.io/status                     []                 []              [get list watch]
  appliedclusterresourcequotas.quota.openshift.io            []                 []              [get list watch]
  imagestreams/layers                                        []                 []              [get update get]
  imagestreams.image.openshift.io/layers                     []                 []              [get update get]
  builds/details                                             []                 []              [update]
  builds.build.openshift.io/details                          []                 []              [update]


Name:         basic-user
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  openshift.io/description: A user that can get basic information about projects.
	              rbac.authorization.kubernetes.io/autoupdate: true
PolicyRule:
	Resources                                           Non-Resource URLs  Resource Names  Verbs
	  ---------                                           -----------------  --------------  -----
	  selfsubjectrulesreviews                             []                 []              [create]
	  selfsubjectaccessreviews.authorization.k8s.io       []                 []              [create]
	  selfsubjectrulesreviews.authorization.openshift.io  []                 []              [create]
	  clusterroles.rbac.authorization.k8s.io              []                 []              [get list watch]
	  clusterroles                                        []                 []              [get list]
	  clusterroles.authorization.openshift.io             []                 []              [get list]
	  storageclasses.storage.k8s.io                       []                 []              [get list]
	  users                                               []                 [~]             [get]
	  users.user.openshift.io                             []                 [~]             [get]
	  projects                                            []                 []              [list watch]
	  projects.project.openshift.io                       []                 []              [list watch]
	  projectrequests                                     []                 []              [list]
	  projectrequests.project.openshift.io                []                 []              [list]

Name:         cluster-admin
Labels:       kubernetes.io/bootstrapping=rbac-defaults
Annotations:  rbac.authorization.kubernetes.io/autoupdate: true
PolicyRule:
Resources  Non-Resource URLs  Resource Names  Verbs
---------  -----------------  --------------  -----
*.*        []                 []              [*]
           [*]                []              [*]

...

  2. To view the current set of cluster role bindings, which shows the users and groups that are bound to various roles:

    $ oc describe clusterrolebinding.rbac
    Example output
    Name:         alertmanager-main
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  <none>
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  alertmanager-main
Subjects:
  Kind            Name               Namespace
  ----            ----               ---------
  ServiceAccount  alertmanager-main  openshift-monitoring


Name:         basic-users
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  rbac.authorization.kubernetes.io/autoupdate: true
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  basic-user
Subjects:
  Kind   Name                  Namespace
  ----   ----                  ---------
  Group  system:authenticated


Name:         cloud-credential-operator-rolebinding
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  <none>
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  cloud-credential-operator-role
Subjects:
  Kind            Name     Namespace
  ----            ----     ---------
  ServiceAccount  default  openshift-cloud-credential-operator


Name:         cluster-admin
Labels:       kubernetes.io/bootstrapping=rbac-defaults
Annotations:  rbac.authorization.kubernetes.io/autoupdate: true
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  cluster-admin
Subjects:
  Kind   Name            Namespace
  ----   ----            ---------
  Group  system:masters


Name:         cluster-admins
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  rbac.authorization.kubernetes.io/autoupdate: true
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  cluster-admin
Subjects:
  Kind   Name                   Namespace
  ----   ----                   ---------
  Group  system:cluster-admins
  User   system:admin


Name:         cluster-api-manager-rolebinding
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  <none>
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  cluster-api-manager-role
Subjects:
  Kind            Name     Namespace
  ----            ----     ---------
  ServiceAccount  default  openshift-machine-api

...

Viewing local roles and bindings

You can use the oc CLI to view local roles and bindings by using the oc describe command.

Prerequisites

  • Install the oc CLI.

  • Obtain permission to view the local roles and bindings:

    • Users with the cluster-admin default cluster role bound cluster-wide can perform any action on any resource, including viewing local roles and bindings.

    • Users with the admin default cluster role bound locally can view and manage roles and bindings in that project.

Procedure

  1. To view the current set of local role bindings, which show the users and groups that are bound to various roles for the current project:

    $ oc describe rolebinding.rbac

  2. To view the local role bindings for a different project, add the -n flag to the command:

    $ oc describe rolebinding.rbac -n joe-project
    Example output
    Name:         admin
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  <none>
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  admin
Subjects:
  Kind  Name        Namespace
  ----  ----        ---------
  User  kube:admin


Name:         system:deployers
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  openshift.io/description:
                Allows deploymentconfigs in this namespace to rollout pods in
                this namespace.  It is auto-managed by a controller; remove
                subjects to disa...
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  system:deployer
Subjects:
  Kind            Name      Namespace
  ----            ----      ---------
  ServiceAccount  deployer  joe-project


Name:         system:image-builders
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  openshift.io/description:
                Allows builds in this namespace to push images to this
                namespace.  It is auto-managed by a controller; remove subjects
                to disable.
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  system:image-builder
Subjects:
  Kind            Name     Namespace
  ----            ----     ---------
  ServiceAccount  builder  joe-project


Name:         system:image-pullers
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  openshift.io/description:
                Allows all pods in this namespace to pull images from this
                namespace.  It is auto-managed by a controller; remove subjects
                to disable.
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  system:image-puller
Subjects:
  Kind   Name                                Namespace
  ----   ----                                ---------
  Group  system:serviceaccounts:joe-project

Adding roles to users

You can use the oc adm administrator CLI to manage the roles and bindings.

Binding, or adding, a role to users or groups gives the user or group the access that is granted by the role. You can add and remove roles to and from users and groups using oc adm policy commands.

You can bind any of the default cluster roles to local users or groups in your project.

Procedure

  1. Add a role to a user in a specific project:

    $ oc adm policy add-role-to-user <role> <user> -n <project>

    For example, you can add the admin role to the alice user in joe project by running:

    $ oc adm policy add-role-to-user admin alice -n joe

    You can alternatively apply the following YAML to add the role to the user:

    apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: RoleBinding
metadata:
  name: admin-0
  namespace: joe
roleRef:
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: ClusterRole
  name: admin
subjects:
- apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: User
  name: alice

  2. View the local role bindings and verify the addition in the output:

    $ oc describe rolebinding.rbac -n <project>

    For example, to view the local role bindings for the joe project:

    $ oc describe rolebinding.rbac -n joe
    Example output
    
Name:         admin
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  <none>
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  admin
Subjects:
  Kind  Name        Namespace
  ----  ----        ---------
  User  kube:admin


Name:         admin-0
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  <none>
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  admin
Subjects:
  Kind  Name   Namespace
  ----  ----   ---------
  User  alice (1)


Name:         system:deployers
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  openshift.io/description:
                Allows deploymentconfigs in this namespace to rollout pods in
                this namespace.  It is auto-managed by a controller; remove
                subjects to disa...
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  system:deployer
Subjects:
  Kind            Name      Namespace
  ----            ----      ---------
  ServiceAccount  deployer  joe


Name:         system:image-builders
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  openshift.io/description:
                Allows builds in this namespace to push images to this
                namespace.  It is auto-managed by a controller; remove subjects
                to disable.
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  system:image-builder
Subjects:
  Kind            Name     Namespace
  ----            ----     ---------
  ServiceAccount  builder  joe


Name:         system:image-pullers
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  openshift.io/description:
                Allows all pods in this namespace to pull images from this
                namespace.  It is auto-managed by a controller; remove subjects
                to disable.
Role:
  Kind:  ClusterRole
  Name:  system:image-puller
Subjects:
  Kind   Name                                Namespace
  ----   ----                                ---------
  Group  system:serviceaccounts:joe
    1 The alice user has been added to the admins RoleBinding.

Creating a local role

You can create a local role for a project and then bind it to a user.

Procedure

  1. To create a local role for a project, run the following command:

    $ oc create role <name> --verb=<verb> --resource=<resource> -n <project>

    In this command, specify:

    • <name>, the local role’s name

    • <verb>, a comma-separated list of the verbs to apply to the role

    • <resource>, the resources that the role applies to

    • <project>, the project name

    For example, to create a local role that allows a user to view pods in the blue project, run the following command:

    $ oc create role podview --verb=get --resource=pod -n blue

  2. To bind the new role to a user, run the following command:

    $ oc adm policy add-role-to-user podview user2 --role-namespace=blue -n blue

Creating a cluster role

You can create a cluster role.

Procedure

  1. To create a cluster role, run the following command:

    $ oc create clusterrole <name> --verb=<verb> --resource=<resource>

    In this command, specify:

    • <name>, the local role’s name

    • <verb>, a comma-separated list of the verbs to apply to the role

    • <resource>, the resources that the role applies to

    For example, to create a cluster role that allows a user to view pods, run the following command:

    $ oc create clusterrole podviewonly --verb=get --resource=pod

Local role binding commands

When you manage a user or group’s associated roles for local role bindings using the following operations, a project may be specified with the -n flag. If it is not specified, then the current project is used.

You can use the following commands for local RBAC management.

Table 1. Local role binding operations
Command Description

$ oc adm policy who-can <verb> <resource>

Indicates which users can perform an action on a resource.

$ oc adm policy add-role-to-user <role> <username>

Binds a specified role to specified users in the current project.

$ oc adm policy remove-role-from-user <role> <username>

Removes a given role from specified users in the current project.

$ oc adm policy remove-user <username>

Removes specified users and all of their roles in the current project.

$ oc adm policy add-role-to-group <role> <groupname>

Binds a given role to specified groups in the current project.

$ oc adm policy remove-role-from-group <role> <groupname>

Removes a given role from specified groups in the current project.

$ oc adm policy remove-group <groupname>

Removes specified groups and all of their roles in the current project.

Cluster role binding commands

You can also manage cluster role bindings using the following operations. The -n flag is not used for these operations because cluster role bindings use non-namespaced resources.

Table 2. Cluster role binding operations
Command Description

$ oc adm policy add-cluster-role-to-user <role> <username>

Binds a given role to specified users for all projects in the cluster.

$ oc adm policy remove-cluster-role-from-user <role> <username>

Removes a given role from specified users for all projects in the cluster.

$ oc adm policy add-cluster-role-to-group <role> <groupname>

Binds a given role to specified groups for all projects in the cluster.

$ oc adm policy remove-cluster-role-from-group <role> <groupname>

Removes a given role from specified groups for all projects in the cluster.

Creating a cluster admin

The cluster-admin role is required to perform administrator level tasks on the OpenShift Container Platform cluster, such as modifying cluster resources.

Prerequisites

  • You must have created a user to define as the cluster admin.

Procedure

  • Define the user as a cluster admin:

    $ oc adm policy add-cluster-role-to-user cluster-admin <user>