Red Hat Summit Red Hat SummitSupportConsoleDevelopersStart a trialContact

Access control

Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.10

Access control

Abstract

Ensure users have access to resources that are required to perform specific roles.

Chapter 1. Access control
Copy link

Access control might need to manually be created and managed. You must configure authentication service requirements for Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes to onboard workloads to Identity and Access Management (IAM). For more information see, Understanding authentication in the OpenShift Container Platform documentation.

Role-based access control and authentication identifies the user associated roles and cluster credentials. See the following documentation for information about access and credentials.

Required access: Cluster administrator

1.1. Role-based access control
Copy link

Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes supports role-based access control (RBAC). Your role determines the actions that you can perform. RBAC is based on the authorization mechanisms in Kubernetes, similar to Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform. For more information about RBAC, see the OpenShift RBAC overview in the OpenShift Container Platform documentation.

Note: Action buttons are disabled from the console if the user-role access is impermissible.

1.1.1. Overview of roles
Copy link

Some product resources are cluster-wide and some are namespace-scoped. You must apply cluster role bindings and namespace role bindings to your users for consistent access controls. View the table list of the following role definitions that are supported in Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes:

Expand
Table 1.1. Role definition table

Role

Definition

cluster-admin

This is an OpenShift Container Platform default role. A user with cluster binding to the cluster-admin role is an OpenShift Container Platform super user, who has all access.

open-cluster-management:cluster-manager-admin

A user with cluster binding to the open-cluster-management:cluster-manager-admin role is a Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes super user, who has all access. This role allows the user to create a ManagedCluster resource.

open-cluster-management:admin:<managed_cluster_name>

A user with cluster binding to the open-cluster-management:admin:<managed_cluster_name> role has administrator access to the ManagedCluster resource named, <managed_cluster_name>. When a user has a managed cluster, this role is automatically created.

open-cluster-management:view:<managed_cluster_name>

A user with cluster binding to the open-cluster-management:view:<managed_cluster_name> role has view access to the ManagedCluster resource named, <managed_cluster_name>.

open-cluster-management:managedclusterset:admin:<managed_clusterset_name>

A user with cluster binding to the open-cluster-management:managedclusterset:admin:<managed_clusterset_name> role has administrator access to ManagedCluster resource named <managed_clusterset_name>. The user also has administrator access to managedcluster.cluster.open-cluster-management.io, clusterclaim.hive.openshift.io, clusterdeployment.hive.openshift.io, and clusterpool.hive.openshift.io resources, which has the managed cluster set label: cluster.open-cluster-management.io/clusterset=<managed_clusterset_name>. A role binding is automatically generated when you are using a cluster set. See Creating a ManagedClusterSet to learn how to manage the resource.

open-cluster-management:managedclusterset:view:<managed_clusterset_name>

A user with cluster binding to the open-cluster-management:managedclusterset:view:<managed_clusterset_name> role has view access to the ManagedCluster resource named, <managed_clusterset_name>`. The user also has view access to managedcluster.cluster.open-cluster-management.io, clusterclaim.hive.openshift.io, clusterdeployment.hive.openshift.io, and clusterpool.hive.openshift.io resources, which has the managed cluster set labels: cluster.open-cluster-management.io, clusterset=<managed_clusterset_name>. For more details on how to manage managed cluster set resources, see Creating a ManagedClusterSet.

open-cluster-management:subscription-admin

A user with the open-cluster-management:subscription-admin role can create Git subscriptions that deploy resources to multiple namespaces. The resources are specified in Kubernetes resource YAML files in the subscribed Git repository. Note: When a non-subscription-admin user creates a subscription, all resources are deployed into the subscription namespace regardless of specified namespaces in the resources. For more information, see the Application lifecycle RBAC section.

admin, edit, view

Admin, edit, and view are OpenShift Container Platform default roles. A user with a namespace-scoped binding to these roles has access to open-cluster-management resources in a specific namespace, while cluster-wide binding to the same roles gives access to all of the open-cluster-management resources cluster-wide.

open-cluster-management:managedclusterset:bind:<managed_clusterset_name>

A user with the open-cluster-management:managedclusterset:bind:<managed_clusterset_name> role has view access to the managed cluster resource called <managed_clusterset_name>. The user can bind <managed_clusterset_name> to a namespace. The user also has view access to managedcluster.cluster.open-cluster-management.io, clusterclaim.hive.openshift.io, clusterdeployment.hive.openshift.io, and clusterpool.hive.openshift.io resources, which have the following managed cluster set label: cluster.open-cluster-management.io/clusterset=<managed_clusterset_name>. See Creating a ManagedClusterSet to learn how to manage the resource.

Important:

  • Any user can create projects from OpenShift Container Platform, which gives administrator role permissions for the namespace.
  • If a user does not have role access to a cluster, the cluster name is not displayed. The cluster name might be displayed with the following symbol: -.

See Implementing role-based access control for more details.

1.2. Implementing role-based access control
Copy link

Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes RBAC is validated at the console level and at the API level. Actions in the console can be enabled or disabled based on user access role permissions.

The multicluster engine operator is a prerequisite and the cluster lifecycle function of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management. To manage RBAC for clusters with the multicluster engine operator, use the RBAC guidance from the cluster lifecycle multicluster engine for Kubernetes operator Role-based access control documentation.

View the following sections for more information on RBAC for specific lifecycles for Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management:

1.2.1. Application lifecycle RBAC
Copy link

When you create an application, the subscription namespace is created and the configuration map is created in the subscription namespace. You must also have access to the channel namespace. When you want to apply a subscription, you must be a subscription administrator. For more information on managing applications, see Creating an allow and deny list as subscription administrator.

View the following application lifecycle RBAC operations:

  • Create and administer applications on all managed clusters with a user named username. You must create a cluster role binding and bind it to username. Run the following command: 

    oc create clusterrolebinding <role-binding-name> --clusterrole=open-cluster-management:cluster-manager-admin --user=<username>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    This role is a super user, which has access to all resources and actions. You can create the namespace for the application and all application resources in the namespace with this role.

  • Create applications that deploy resources to multiple namespaces. You must create a cluster role binding to the open-cluster-management:subscription-admin cluster role, and bind it to a user named username. Run the following command: 

    oc create clusterrolebinding <role-binding-name> --clusterrole=open-cluster-management:subscription-admin --user=<username>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  • Create and administer applications in the cluster-name managed cluster, with the username user. You must create a cluster role binding to the open-cluster-management:admin:<cluster-name> cluster role and bind it to username by entering the following command: 

    oc create clusterrolebinding <role-binding-name> --clusterrole=open-cluster-management:admin:<cluster-name> --user=<username>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    This role has read and write access to all application resources on the managed cluster, cluster-name. Repeat this if access for other managed clusters is required.

  • Create a namespace role binding to the application namespace using the admin role and bind it to username by entering the following command: 

    oc create rolebinding <role-binding-name> -n <application-namespace> --clusterrole=admin --user=<username>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    This role has read and write access to all application resources in the application namspace. Repeat this if access for other applications is required or if the application deploys to multiple namespaces.

  • You can create applications that deploy resources to multiple namespaces. Create a cluster role binding to the open-cluster-management:subscription-admin cluster role and bind it to username by entering the following command: 

    oc create clusterrolebinding <role-binding-name> --clusterrole=open-cluster-management:subscription-admin --user=<username>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  • To view an application on a managed cluster named cluster-name with the user named username, create a cluster role binding to the open-cluster-management:view: cluster role and bind it to username. Enter the following command: 

    oc create clusterrolebinding <role-binding-name> --clusterrole=open-cluster-management:view:<cluster-name> --user=<username>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    This role has read access to all application resources on the managed cluster, cluster-name. Repeat this if access for other managed clusters is required.

  • Create a namespace role binding to the application namespace using the view role and bind it to username. Enter the following command: 

    oc create rolebinding <role-binding-name> -n <application-namespace> --clusterrole=view --user=<username>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    This role has read access to all application resources in the application namspace. Repeat this if access for other applications is required.

View the following console and API RBAC tables for Application lifecycle:

Expand
Table 1.2. Console RBAC table for application lifecycle
ResourceAdminEditView

Application

create, read, update, delete

create, read, update, delete

read

Channel

create, read, update, delete

create, read, update, delete

read

Subscription

create, read, update, delete

create, read, update, delete

read

Expand
Table 1.3. API RBAC table for application lifecycle
APIAdminEditView

applications.app.k8s.io

create, read, update, delete

create, read, update, delete

read

channels.apps.open-cluster-management.io

create, read, update, delete

create, read, update, delete

read

deployables.apps.open-cluster-management.io

create, read, update, delete

create, read, update, delete

read

helmreleases.apps.open-cluster-management.io

create, read, update, delete

create, read, update, delete

read

placements.apps.open-cluster-management.io

create, read, update, delete

create, read, update, delete

read

placementrules.apps.open-cluster-management.io (Deprecated)

create, read, update, delete

create, read, update, delete

read

subscriptions.apps.open-cluster-management.io

create, read, update, delete

create, read, update, delete

read

configmaps

create, read, update, delete

create, read, update, delete

read

secrets

create, read, update, delete

create, read, update, delete

read

namespaces

create, read, update, delete

create, read, update, delete

read

1.2.2. Governance lifecycle RBAC
Copy link

To perform governance lifecycle operations, you need access to the namespace where the policy is created, along with access to the managed cluster where the policy is applied. The managed cluster must also be part of a ManagedClusterSet that is bound to the namespace. To continue to learn about ManagedClusterSet, see ManagedClusterSets Introduction.

After you select a namespace, such as rhacm-policies, with one or more bound ManagedClusterSets, and after you have access to create Placement objects in the namespace, view the following operations:

  • To create a ClusterRole named rhacm-edit-policy with Policy, PlacementBinding, and PolicyAutomation edit access, run the following command: 

    oc create clusterrole rhacm-edit-policy --resource=policies.policy.open-cluster-management.io,placementbindings.policy.open-cluster-management.io,policyautomations.policy.open-cluster-management.io,policysets.policy.open-cluster-management.io --verb=create,delete,get,list,patch,update,watch
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  • To create a policy in the rhacm-policies namespace, create a namespace RoleBinding, such as rhacm-edit-policy, to the rhacm-policies namespace using the ClusterRole created previously. Run the following command: 

    oc create rolebinding rhacm-edit-policy -n rhacm-policies --clusterrole=rhacm-edit-policy --user=<username>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  • To view policy status of a managed cluster, you need permission to view policies in the managed cluster namespace on the hub cluster. If you do not have view access, such as through the OpenShift view ClusterRole, create a ClusterRole, such as rhacm-view-policy, with view access to policies with the following command: 

    oc create clusterrole rhacm-view-policy --resource=policies.policy.open-cluster-management.io --verb=get,list,watch
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  • To bind the new ClusterRole to the managed cluster namespace, run the following command to create a namespace RoleBinding: 

    oc create rolebinding rhacm-view-policy -n <cluster name> --clusterrole=rhacm-view-policy --user=<username>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

View the following console and API RBAC tables for governance lifecycle:

Expand
Table 1.4. Console RBAC table for governance lifecycle
ResourceAdminEditView

Policies

create, read, update, delete

read, update

read

PlacementBindings

create, read, update, delete

read, update

read

Placements

create, read, update, delete

read, update

read

PlacementRules (deprecated)

create, read, update, delete

read, update

read

PolicyAutomations

create, read, update, delete

read, update

read

Expand
Table 1.5. API RBAC table for governance lifecycle
APIAdminEditView

policies.policy.open-cluster-management.io

create, read, update, delete

read, update

read

placementbindings.policy.open-cluster-management.io

create, read, update, delete

read, update

read

policyautomations.policy.open-cluster-management.io

create, read, update, delete

read, update

read

Continue to learn about securing your cluster, see Security overview.

1.2.3. Observability RBAC
Copy link

To view the observability metrics for a managed cluster, you must have view access to that managed cluster on the hub cluster. View the following list of observability features:

  • Access managed cluster metrics.

    Users are denied access to managed cluster metrics, if they are not assigned to the view role for the managed cluster on the hub cluster. Run the following command to verify if a user has the authority to create a managedClusterView role in the managed cluster namespace: 

    oc auth can-i create ManagedClusterView -n <managedClusterName> --as=<user>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    As a cluster administrator, create a managedClusterView role in the managed cluster namespace. Run the following command: 

    oc create role create-managedclusterview --verb=create --resource=managedclusterviews -n <managedClusterName>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    Then apply and bind the role to a user by creating a role bind. Run the following command: 

    oc create rolebinding user-create-managedclusterview-binding --role=create-managedclusterview --user=<user>  -n <managedClusterName>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  • Search for resources.

    To verify if a user has access to resource types, use the following command: 

    oc auth can-i list <resource-type> -n <namespace> --as=<rbac-user>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    Note: <resource-type> must be plural.

  • To view observability data in Grafana, you must have a RoleBinding resource in the same namespace of the managed cluster.

    View the following RoleBinding example: 

    kind: RoleBinding
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
 name: <replace-with-name-of-rolebinding>
 namespace: <replace-with-name-of-managedcluster-namespace>
subjects:
 - kind: <replace with User|Group|ServiceAccount>
   apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
   name: <replace with name of User|Group|ServiceAccount>
roleRef:
 apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
 kind: ClusterRole
 name: view
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

See Role binding policy for more information. See Customizing observability to configure observability.

To manage components of observability, view the following API RBAC table:

Expand
Table 1.6. API RBAC table for observability

API

Admin

Edit

View

multiclusterobservabilities.observability.open-cluster-management.io

create, read, update, and delete

read, update

read

searchcustomizations.search.open-cluster-management.io

create, get, list, watch, update, delete, patch

-

-

policyreports.wgpolicyk8s.io

get, list, watch

get, list, watch

get, list, watch

When you install Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes, only Certificate Authority (CA) certificates for observability are provided by default. If you do not want to use the default observability CA certificates generated by Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management, you can choose to bring your own observability CA certificates before you enable observability.

Observability requires two CA certificates, one for the server-side and the other is for the client-side.

  • Generate your CA RSA private keys with the following commands: 

    openssl genrsa -out serverCAKey.pem 2048
openssl genrsa -out clientCAKey.pem 2048
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  • Generate the self-signed CA certificates using the private keys. Run the following commands: 

    openssl req -x509 -sha256 -new -nodes -key serverCAKey.pem -days 1825 -out serverCACert.pem
openssl req -x509 -sha256 -new -nodes -key clientCAKey.pem -days 1825 -out clientCACert.pem
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

Complete the following steps to create the secrets:

  1. Create the observability-server-ca-certs secret by using your certificate and private key. Run the following command: 

    oc -n open-cluster-management-observability create secret tls observability-server-ca-certs --cert ./serverCACert.pem --key ./serverCAKey.pem
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. Create the observability-client-ca-certs secret by using your certificate and private key. Run the following command: 

    oc -n open-cluster-management-observability create secret tls observability-client-ca-certs --cert ./clientCACert.pem --key ./clientCAKey.pem
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

1.3.3. Additional resources
Copy link

Legal Notice
Copy link

Copyright © 2025 Red Hat, Inc.
The text of and illustrations in this document are licensed by Red Hat under a Creative Commons Attribution–Share Alike 3.0 Unported license ("CC-BY-SA"). An explanation of CC-BY-SA is available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/. In accordance with CC-BY-SA, if you distribute this document or an adaptation of it, you must provide the URL for the original version.
Red Hat, as the licensor of this document, waives the right to enforce, and agrees not to assert, Section 4d of CC-BY-SA to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.
Red Hat, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the Shadowman logo, the Red Hat logo, JBoss, OpenShift, Fedora, the Infinity logo, and RHCE are trademarks of Red Hat, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries.
Linux® is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States and other countries.
Java® is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
XFS® is a trademark of Silicon Graphics International Corp. or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries.
MySQL® is a registered trademark of MySQL AB in the United States, the European Union and other countries.
Node.js® is an official trademark of Joyent. Red Hat is not formally related to or endorsed by the official Joyent Node.js open source or commercial project.
The OpenStack® Word Mark and OpenStack logo are either registered trademarks/service marks or trademarks/service marks of the OpenStack Foundation, in the United States and other countries and are used with the OpenStack Foundation's permission. We are not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by the OpenStack Foundation, or the OpenStack community.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Back to top
Red Hat logoGithubredditYoutubeTwitter

Learn

Try, buy, & sell

Communities

About Red Hat Documentation

We help Red Hat users innovate and achieve their goals with our products and services with content they can trust. Explore our recent updates.

Making open source more inclusive

Red Hat is committed to replacing problematic language in our code, documentation, and web properties. For more details, see the Red Hat Blog.

About Red Hat

We deliver hardened solutions that make it easier for enterprises to work across platforms and environments, from the core datacenter to the network edge.

Theme

© 2025 Red Hat