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Chapter 30. Delegating permissions to user groups to manage users using Ansible playbooks

Delegation is one of the access control methods in IdM, along with self-service rules and role-based access control (RBAC). You can use delegation to assign permissions to one group of users to manage entries for another group of users.

For details about delegation rules general information, see Delegation rules section.

30.1. Using Ansible to ensure that a delegation rule is present

The following procedure describes how to use an Ansible playbook to define privileges for a new IdM delegation rule and ensure its presence. In the example, the new basic manager attributes delegation rule grants the managers group the ability to read and write the following attributes for members of the employees group:

  • businesscategory
  • departmentnumber
  • employeenumber
  • employeetype

Prerequisites

  • On the control node:

    • You are using Ansible version 2.15 or later.
    • You have installed the freeipa.ansible_freeipa collection.
    • The example assumes that in the ~/MyPlaybooks/ directory, you have created an Ansible inventory file with the fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) of the IdM server.
    • The example assumes that the secret.yml Ansible vault stores your ipaadmin_password and that you have access to a file that stores the password protecting the secret.yml file.
  • The target node, that is the node on which the freeipa.ansible_freeipa module is executed, is part of the IdM domain as an IdM client, server or replica.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the ~/MyPlaybooks/ directory: 

    $ cd ~/MyPlaybooks/
    Copy to Clipboard

  2. Make a copy of the delegation-present.yml file located in the /usr/share/ansible/collections/ansible_collections/freeipa/ansible_freeipa/playbooks/delegation/ directory: 

    $ cp /usr/share/ansible/collections/ansible_collections/freeipa/ansible_freeipa/playbooks/delegation/delegation-present.yml delegation-present-copy.yml
    Copy to Clipboard
  3. Open the delegation-present-copy.yml Ansible playbook file for editing.

  4. Adapt the file by setting the following variables in the freeipa.ansible_freeipa.ipadelegation task section:

    • Set the name variable to the name of the new delegation rule.
    • Set the permission variable to a comma-separated list of permissions to grant: read and write.
    • Set the attribute variable to a list of attributes the delegated user group can manage: businesscategory, departmentnumber, employeenumber, and employeetype.
    • Set the group variable to the name of the group that is being given access to view or modify attributes.
    • Set the membergroup variable to the name of the group whose attributes can be viewed or modified.

    This is the modified Ansible playbook file for the current example: 

    ---
- name: Playbook to manage a delegation rule
  hosts: ipaserver

  vars_files:
  - /home/user_name/MyPlaybooks/secret.yml
  tasks:
  - name: Ensure delegation "basic manager attributes" is present
    freeipa.ansible_freeipa.ipadelegation:
      ipaadmin_password: "{{ ipaadmin_password }}"
      name: "basic manager attributes"
      permission: read, write
      attribute:
      - businesscategory
      - departmentnumber
      - employeenumber
      - employeetype
      group: managers
      membergroup: employees
    Copy to Clipboard
  5. Save the file.

  6. Run the Ansible playbook. Specify the playbook file, the file storing the password protecting the secret.yml file, and the inventory file: 

    $ ansible-playbook --vault-password-file=password_file -v -i ~/MyPlaybooks/inventory delegation-present-copy.yml
    Copy to Clipboard

30.2. Using Ansible to ensure that a delegation rule is absent

The following procedure describes how to use an Ansible playbook to ensure a specified delegation rule is absent from your IdM configuration. The example below describes how to make sure the custom basic manager attributes delegation rule does not exist in IdM.

Prerequisites

  • On the control node:

    • You are using Ansible version 2.15 or later.
    • You have installed the freeipa.ansible_freeipa collection.
    • The example assumes that in the ~/MyPlaybooks/ directory, you have created an Ansible inventory file with the fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) of the IdM server.
    • The example assumes that the secret.yml Ansible vault stores your ipaadmin_password and that you have access to a file that stores the password protecting the secret.yml file.
  • The target node, that is the node on which the freeipa.ansible_freeipa module is executed, is part of the IdM domain as an IdM client, server or replica.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the ~/MyPlaybooks/ directory: 

    $ cd ~/MyPlaybooks>/
    Copy to Clipboard

  2. Make a copy of the delegation-absent.yml file located in the /usr/share/ansible/collections/ansible_collections/freeipa/ansible_freeipa/playbooks/delegation/ directory: 

    $ cp /usr/share/ansible/collections/ansible_collections/freeipa/ansible_freeipa/playbooks/delegation/delegation-present.yml delegation-absent-copy.yml
    Copy to Clipboard
  3. Open the delegation-absent-copy.yml Ansible playbook file for editing.

  4. Adapt the file by setting the following variables in the freeipa.ansible_freeipa.ipadelegation task section:

    • Set the name variable to the name of the delegation rule.
    • Set the state variable to absent.

    This is the modified Ansible playbook file for the current example: 

    ---
- name: Delegation absent
  hosts: ipaserver

  vars_files:
  - /home/user_name/MyPlaybooks/secret.yml
  tasks:
  - name: Ensure delegation "basic manager attributes" is absent
    freeipa.ansible_freeipa.ipadelegation:
      ipaadmin_password: "{{ ipaadmin_password }}"
      name: "basic manager attributes"
      state: absent
    Copy to Clipboard
  5. Save the file.

  6. Run the Ansible playbook. Specify the playbook file, the file storing the password protecting the secret.yml file, and the inventory file: 

    $ ansible-playbook --vault-password-file=password_file -v -i ~/MyPlaybooks/inventory delegation-absent-copy.yml
    Copy to Clipboard

30.3. Using Ansible to ensure that a delegation rule has specific attributes

The following procedure describes how to use an Ansible playbook to ensure that a delegation rule has specific settings. You can use this playbook to modify a delegation role you have previously created. In the example, you ensure the basic manager attributes delegation rule only has the departmentnumber member attribute.

Prerequisites

  • On the control node:

    • You are using Ansible version 2.15 or later.
    • You have installed the freeipa.ansible_freeipa collection.
    • The example assumes that in the ~/MyPlaybooks/ directory, you have created an Ansible inventory file with the fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) of the IdM server.
    • The example assumes that the secret.yml Ansible vault stores your ipaadmin_password and that you have access to a file that stores the password protecting the secret.yml file.
  • The target node, that is the node on which the freeipa.ansible_freeipa module is executed, is part of the IdM domain as an IdM client, server or replica.
  • The basic manager attributes delegation rule exists in IdM.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the ~/MyPlaybooks/ directory: 

    $ cd ~/MyPlaybooks/
    Copy to Clipboard

  2. Make a copy of the delegation-member-present.yml file located in the /usr/share/ansible/collections/ansible_collections/freeipa/ansible_freeipa/playbooks/delegation/ directory: 

    $ cp /usr/share/ansible/collections/ansible_collections/freeipa/ansible_freeipa/playbooks/delegation/delegation-member-present.yml delegation-member-present-copy.yml
    Copy to Clipboard
  3. Open the delegation-member-present-copy.yml Ansible playbook file for editing.

  4. Adapt the file by setting the following variables in the freeipa.ansible_freeipa.ipadelegation task section:

    • Set the name variable to the name of the delegation rule to modify.
    • Set the attribute variable to departmentnumber.
    • Set the action variable to member.

    This is the modified Ansible playbook file for the current example: 

    ---
- name: Delegation member present
  hosts: ipaserver

  vars_files:
  - /home/user_name/MyPlaybooks/secret.yml
  tasks:
  - name: Ensure delegation "basic manager attributes" member attribute departmentnumber is present
    freeipa.ansible_freeipa.ipadelegation:
      ipaadmin_password: "{{ ipaadmin_password }}"
      name: "basic manager attributes"
      attribute:
      - departmentnumber
      action: member
    Copy to Clipboard
  5. Save the file.

  6. Run the Ansible playbook. Specify the playbook file, the file storing the password protecting the secret.yml file, and the inventory file: 

    $ ansible-playbook --vault-password-file=password_file -v -i ~/MyPlaybooks/inventory delegation-member-present-copy.yml
    Copy to Clipboard

30.4. Using Ansible to ensure that a delegation rule does not have specific attributes

The following procedure describes how to use an Ansible playbook to ensure that a delegation rule does not have specific settings. You can use this playbook to make sure a delegation role does not grant undesired access. In the example, you ensure the basic manager attributes delegation rule does not have the employeenumber and employeetype member attributes.

Prerequisites

  • On the control node:

    • You are using Ansible version 2.15 or later.
    • You have installed the freeipa.ansible_freeipa collection.
    • The example assumes that in the ~/MyPlaybooks/ directory, you have created an Ansible inventory file with the fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) of the IdM server.
    • The example assumes that the secret.yml Ansible vault stores your ipaadmin_password and that you have access to a file that stores the password protecting the secret.yml file.
  • The target node, that is the node on which the freeipa.ansible_freeipa module is executed, is part of the IdM domain as an IdM client, server or replica.
  • The basic manager attributes delegation rule exists in IdM.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the ~/MyPlaybooks/ directory: 

    $ cd ~/MyPlaybooks/
    Copy to Clipboard

  2. Make a copy of the delegation-member-absent.yml file located in the /usr/share/ansible/collections/ansible_collections/freeipa/ansible_freeipa/playbooks/delegation/ directory: 

    $ cp /usr/share/ansible/collections/ansible_collections/freeipa/ansible_freeipa/playbooks/delegation/delegation-member-absent.yml delegation-member-absent-copy.yml
    Copy to Clipboard
  3. Open the delegation-member-absent-copy.yml Ansible playbook file for editing.

  4. Adapt the file by setting the following variables in the freeipa.ansible_freeipa.ipadelegation task section:

    • Set the name variable to the name of the delegation rule to modify.
    • Set the attribute variable to employeenumber and employeetype.
    • Set the action variable to member.
    • Set the state variable to absent.

    This is the modified Ansible playbook file for the current example: 

    ---
- name: Delegation member absent
  hosts: ipaserver

  vars_files:
  - /home/user_name/MyPlaybooks/secret.yml
  tasks:
  - name: Ensure delegation "basic manager attributes" member attributes employeenumber and employeetype are absent
    freeipa.ansible_freeipa.ipadelegation:
      ipaadmin_password: "{{ ipaadmin_password }}"
      name: "basic manager attributes"
      attribute:
      - employeenumber
      - employeetype
      action: member
      state: absent
    Copy to Clipboard
  5. Save the file.

  6. Run the Ansible playbook. Specify the playbook file, the file storing the password protecting the secret.yml file, and the inventory file: 

    $ ansible-playbook --vault-password-file=password_file -v -i ~/MyPlaybooks/inventory delegation-member-absent-copy.yml
    Copy to Clipboard
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