Fine-grained access control usage scenarios

Fine-grained access control usage scenarios

This guide contains several examples and usage scenarios of using fine-grained roles and permissions for controlling access to Grafana resources.

Before you get started, make sure to enable fine-grained access control.

Check all built-in role assignments

You can use the Fine-grained access control HTTP API to see all available built-in role assignments. The response contains a mapping between one of the organization roles (Viewer, Editor, Admin) or Grafana Admin to the custom or fixed roles.

Example request:

curl --location --request GET '<grafana_url>/api/access-control/builtin-roles' --header 'Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46cGFzc3dvcmQ='

Example response:

{
    "Admin": [
        ...
        {
            "version": 2,
            "uid": "qQui_LCMk",
            "name": "fixed:users:org:edit",
            "description": "Allows every read action for user organizations and in addition allows to administer user organizations.",
            "global": true,
            "updated": "2021-05-17T20:49:18+02:00",
            "created": "2021-05-13T16:24:26+02:00"
        },       
        {
            "version": 1,
            "uid": "Kz9m_YjGz",
            "name": "fixed:reporting:admin:edit",
            "description": "Gives access to edit any report or the organization's general reporting settings.",
            "global": true,
            "updated": "2021-05-13T16:24:26+02:00",
            "created": "2021-05-13T16:24:26+02:00"
        }
        ...
    ],
    "Grafana Admin": [
        ...
        {
            "version": 2,
            "uid": "qQui_LCMk",
            "name": "fixed:users:org:edit",
            "description": "Allows every read action for user organizations and in addition allows to administer user organizations.",
            "global": true,
            "updated": "2021-05-17T20:49:18+02:00",
            "created": "2021-05-13T16:24:26+02:00"
        },               
        {
            "version": 2,
            "uid": "ajum_YjGk",
            "name": "fixed:users:admin:read",
            "description": "Allows to list and get users and related information.",
            "global": true,
            "updated": "2021-05-17T20:49:17+02:00",
            "created": "2021-05-13T16:24:26+02:00"
        },
        {
            "version": 2,
            "uid": "K3um_LCMk",
            "name": "fixed:users:admin:edit",
            "description": "Allows every read action for users and in addition allows to administer users.",
            "global": true,
            "updated": "2021-05-17T20:49:17+02:00",
            "created": "2021-05-13T16:24:26+02:00"
        },        
        ... 
    ]
}

To see what permissions each of the assigned roles have, you can a Get a role by using an HTTP API.

Example request:

curl --location --request GET '<grafana_url>/api/access-control/roles/qQui_LCMk' --header 'Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46cGFzc3dvcmQ='

Example response:

{
    "version": 2,
    "uid": "qQui_LCMk",
    "name": "fixed:users:org:edit",
    "description": "Allows every read action for user organizations and in addition allows to administer user organizations.",
    "global": true,
    "permissions": [
        {
            "action": "org.users:add",
            "scope": "users:*",
            "updated": "2021-05-17T20:49:18+02:00",
            "created": "2021-05-17T20:49:18+02:00"
        },
        {
            "action": "org.users:read",
            "scope": "users:*",
            "updated": "2021-05-17T20:49:18+02:00",
            "created": "2021-05-17T20:49:18+02:00"
        },
        {
            "action": "org.users:remove",
            "scope": "users:*",
            "updated": "2021-05-17T20:49:18+02:00",
            "created": "2021-05-17T20:49:18+02:00"
        },
        {
            "action": "org.users.role:update",
            "scope": "users:*",
            "updated": "2021-05-17T20:49:18+02:00",
            "created": "2021-05-17T20:49:18+02:00"
        }
    ],
    "updated": "2021-05-17T20:49:18+02:00",
    "created": "2021-05-13T16:24:26+02:00"
}

Create your first custom role

You can create your custom role by either using an HTTP API or by using Grafana provisioning. You can take a look at actions and scopes to decide what permissions would you like to map to your role.

Example HTTP request:

curl --location --request POST '<grafana_url>/api/access-control/roles/' \
--header 'Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46cGFzc3dvcmQ=' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
    "version": 1,
    "uid": "jZrmlLCkGksdka",
    "name": "custom:users:admin",
    "description": "My custom role which gives users permissions to create users",
    "global": true,
    "permissions": [
        {
            "action": "users:create"
        }
    ]
}'

Example response:

{
    "version": 1,
    "uid": "jZrmlLCkGksdka",
    "name": "custom:users:admin",
    "description": "My custom role which gives users permissions to create users",
    "global": true,
    "permissions": [
        {
            "action": "users:create"            
            "updated": "2021-05-17T22:07:31.569936+02:00",
            "created": "2021-05-17T22:07:31.569935+02:00"
        }
    ],
    "updated": "2021-05-17T22:07:31.564403+02:00",
    "created": "2021-05-17T22:07:31.564403+02:00"
}

Once the custom role is created, you can create a built-in role assignment by using an HTTP API. If you created your role using Grafana provisioning, you can also create the assignment with it.

Example HTTP request:

curl --location --request POST '<grafana_url>/api/access-control/builtin-roles' \
--header 'Authorization: Basic YWRtaW46cGFzc3dvcmQ=' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data-raw '{
    "roleUid": "jZrmlLCkGksdka",
    "builtinRole": "Viewer",
    "global": true
}'

Example response:

{
    "message": "Built-in role grant added"
}

Allow Viewers to create reports

In order to create reports, you would need to have reports.admin:write permission. By default, Grafana Admin’s or organization Admin can create reports as there is a built-in role assignment which comes with reports.admin:write permission.

If you want your users who have Viewer organization role to create reports, you have two options:

First option is to create a built-in role assignment and map fixed:reporting:admin:edit fixed role to the Viewer built-in role. Note that fixed:reporting:admin:edit fixed role allows doing more than creating reports. Refer to fixed roles for full list of permission assignments.
Second option is to create a custom role with reports.admin:write permission, and create a built-in role assignment for Viewer organization role.

Prevent Grafana Admin from creating and inviting users

In order to create users, you would need to have users:create permission. By default, user with Grafana Admin role can create users as there is a built-in role assignment which comes with users:create permission.

If you want to prevent Grafana Admin from creating users, you can do the following:

Check all built-in role assignments to see what built-in role assignments are available.
From built-in role assignments, find the role which gives users:create permission. Refer to fixed roles for full list of permission assignments.
Remove the built-in role assignment by using an Fine-grained access control HTTP API or by using Grafana provisioning.

Allow Editors to create new custom roles

By default, Grafana Server Admin is the only user who can create and manage custom roles. If you want your users to do the same, you have two options:

First option is to create a built-in role assignment and map fixed:permissions:admin:edit and fixed:permissions:admin:read fixed roles to the Editor built-in role.
Second option is to create a custom role with roles.builtin:add and roles:write permissions, and create a built-in role assignment for Editor organization role.

Note that in any scenario, your Editor would be able to create and manage roles only with the permissions they have, or with a subset of them.