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Resource Access Management:RAM authorization

Last Updated:Mar 11, 2024
Resource Access Management (RAM) is a service provided by Alibaba Cloud to manage user identities and resource access permissions. You can use RAM to prevent RAM users from sharing the AccessKey pairs of your Alibaba Cloud account. You can also use RAM to grant minimum permissions to RAM users. RAM uses policies to define permissions.
This topic describes the elements, such as Action, Resource, and Condition, which are defined by RAM. You can use the elements to create policies in RAM. The code (RamCode) in RAM that is used to indicate RAM is ram,sts. You can grant permissions on RAM at the RESOURCE.

General structure of a policy

Policies can be stored as JSON files. The following code provides an example on the general structure of a policy:
{
  "Version": "1",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "<Effect>",
      "Action": "<Action>",
      "Resource": "<Resource>",
      "Condition": {
        "<Condition_operator>": {
          "<Condition_key>": [
            "<Condition_value>"
          ]
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}
The following list describes the fields in the policy:
  • Effect: specifies the authorization effect. Valid values: Allow, Deny.
  • Action: specifies one or more API operations that are allowed or denied. For more information, see the Action section of this topic.
  • Resource: specifies one or more resources to which the policy applies. You can use an Alibaba Cloud Resource Name (ARN) to specify a resource. For more information, see the Resource section of this topic.
  • Condition: specifies one or more conditions that are required for the policy to take effect. This is an optional field. For more information, see the Condition section of this topic.
    • Condition_operator: specifies the conditional operators. Different types of conditions support different conditional operators. For more information, see Policy elements.
    • Condition_key: specifies the condition keys.
    • Condition_value: specifies the condition values.

Action

RAM defines the values that you can use in the Action element of a policy statement. The following table describes the values.
  • Operation: the value that you can use in the Action element to specify the operation on a resource.
  • API operation: the API operation that you can call to perform the operation.
  • Access level: the access level of each operation. The levels are read, write, and list.
  • Resource type: the type of the resource on which you can authorize the RAM user or the RAM role to perform the operation. Take note of the following items:
    • The required resource types are displayed in bold characters.
    • If the permissions cannot be granted at the resource level, All Resources is used in the Resource type column of the operation.
  • Condition key: the condition keys that are defined by the Alibaba Cloud service. The Condition key column does not list the common condition keys that are defined by Alibaba Cloud. For more information about the common condition keys, see Generic Condition Keyword.
  • Associated operation: other operations that the RAM user or the RAM role must have permissions to perform to complete the operation. To complete the operation, the RAM user or the RAM role must have the permissions to perform the associated operations.
ActionsAPI operationAccess levelResource typeCondition keyAssociated operation
ram:AddUserToGroupAddUserToGroupWrite
Group
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:group/{#GroupName}
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/{#UserName}
NoneNone
ram:AttachPolicyToGroupAttachPolicyToGroupWrite
Group
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:group/{#GroupName}
Policy
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:policy/{#PolicyName}
Policy
acs:ram:*:system:policy/{#PolicyName}
NoneNone
ram:AttachPolicyToRoleAttachPolicyToRoleWrite
Policy
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:policy/{#PolicyName}
Role
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:role/{#RoleName}
Policy
acs:ram:*:system:policy/{#PolicyName}
ram:TrustedPrincipalTypes
ram:ServiceNames
None
ram:AttachPolicyToUserAttachPolicyToUserWrite
Policy
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:policy/{#PolicyName}
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/{#UserName}
Policy
acs:ram:*:system:policy/{#PolicyName}
NoneNone
ram:BindMFADeviceBindMFADeviceWrite
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/{#UserName}
NoneNone
ram:ChangePasswordChangePasswordWrite
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/{#UserName}
NoneNone
ram:ClearAccountAliasClearAccountAliasWrite
All Resources
*
NoneNone
ram:CreateAccessKeyCreateAccessKeyWrite
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/{#UserName}
NoneNone
ram:CreateGroupCreateGroupWrite
Group
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:group/*
NoneNone
ram:CreateLoginProfileCreateLoginProfileWrite
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/{#UserName}
NoneNone
ram:CreatePolicyCreatePolicyWrite
Policy
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:policy/{#PolicyName}
NoneNone
ram:CreatePolicyVersionCreatePolicyVersionWrite
Policy
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:policy/{#PolicyName}
NoneNone
ram:CreateRoleCreateRoleWrite
Role
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:role/{#RoleName}
ram:TrustedPrincipalTypes
ram:ServiceNames
None
ram:CreateUserCreateUserWrite
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/*
NoneNone
ram:CreateVirtualMFADeviceCreateVirtualMFADeviceWrite
MFADevice
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:mfa/*
NoneNone
ram:DecodeDiagnosticMessageDecodeDiagnosticMessageRead
All Resources
*
NoneNone
ram:DeleteAccessKeyDeleteAccessKeyWrite
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/{#UserName}
NoneNone
ram:DeleteGroupDeleteGroupWrite
Group
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:group/{#GroupName}
NoneNone
ram:DeleteLoginProfileDeleteLoginProfileWrite
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/{#UserName}
NoneNone
ram:DeletePolicyDeletePolicyWrite
Policy
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:policy/{#PolicyName}
NoneNone
ram:DeletePolicyVersionDeletePolicyVersionWrite
Policy
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:policy/{#PolicyName}
NoneNone
ram:DeleteRoleDeleteRoleWrite
Role
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:role/{#RoleName}
ram:TrustedPrincipalTypes
ram:ServiceNames
None
ram:DeleteUserDeleteUserWrite
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/{#UserName}
NoneNone
ram:DeleteVirtualMFADeviceDeleteVirtualMFADeviceWrite
All Resources
*
NoneNone
ram:DetachPolicyFromGroupDetachPolicyFromGroupWrite
Group
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:group/{#GroupName}
Policy
acs:ram:*:system:policy/{#PolicyName}
Policy
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:policy/{#PolicyName}
NoneNone
ram:DetachPolicyFromRoleDetachPolicyFromRoleWrite
Policy
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:policy/{#PolicyName}
Role
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:role/{#RoleName}
Policy
acs:ram:*:system:policy/{#PolicyName}
ram:TrustedPrincipalTypes
ram:ServiceNames
None
ram:DetachPolicyFromUserDetachPolicyFromUserWrite
Policy
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:policy/{#PolicyName}
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/{#UserName}
Policy
acs:ram:*:system:policy/{#PolicyName}
NoneNone
ram:GetAccountAliasGetAccountAliasRead
All Resources
*
NoneNone
ram:GetGroupGetGroupRead
Group
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:group/{#GroupName}
NoneNone
ram:GetLoginProfileGetLoginProfileRead
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/{#UserName}
NoneNone
ram:GetPasswordPolicyGetPasswordPolicyRead
All Resources
*
NoneNone
ram:GetPolicyGetPolicyRead
Policy
acs:ram:*:system:policy/{#PolicyName}
Policy
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:policy/{#PolicyName}
NoneNone
ram:GetPolicyVersionGetPolicyVersionRead
Policy
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:policy/{#PolicyName}
Policy
acs:ram:*:system:policy/{#PolicyName}
NoneNone
ram:GetRoleGetRoleRead
Role
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:role/{#RoleName}
NoneNone
ram:GetSecurityPreferenceGetSecurityPreferenceRead
All Resources
*
NoneNone
ram:GetUserGetUserRead
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/{#UserName}
NoneNone
ram:GetUserMFAInfoGetUserMFAInfoRead
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/{#UserName}
NoneNone
ram:ListAccessKeysListAccessKeysList
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/{#UserName}
NoneNone
ram:ListEntitiesForPolicyListEntitiesForPolicyList
Policy
acs:ram:*:system:policy/{#PolicyName}
Policy
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:policy/{#PolicyName}
NoneNone
ram:ListGroupsListGroupsList
Group
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:group/*
NoneNone
ram:ListGroupsForUserListGroupsForUserList
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/{#UserName}
NoneNone
ram:ListPoliciesListPoliciesList
Policy
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:policy/*
NoneNone
ram:ListPoliciesForGroupListPoliciesForGroupList
Group
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:group/{#GroupName}
NoneNone
ram:ListPoliciesForRoleListPoliciesForRoleList
Role
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:role/{#RoleName}
NoneNone
ram:ListPoliciesForUserListPoliciesForUserList
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/{#UserName}
NoneNone
ram:ListPolicyVersionsListPolicyVersionsList
Policy
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:policy/{#PolicyName}
Policy
acs:ram:*:system:policy/{#PolicyName}
NoneNone
ram:ListRolesListRolesList
Role
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:role/*
NoneNone
ram:ListUsersListUsersList
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/*
NoneNone
ram:ListUsersForGroupListUsersForGroupList
Group
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:group/{#GroupName}
NoneNone
ram:ListVirtualMFADevicesListVirtualMFADevicesList
MFADevice
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:mfa/*
NoneNone
ram:RemoveUserFromGroupRemoveUserFromGroupWrite
Group
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:group/{#GroupName}
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/{#UserName}
NoneNone
ram:SetAccountAliasSetAccountAliasWrite
All Resources
*
NoneNone
ram:SetDefaultPolicyVersionSetDefaultPolicyVersionWrite
Policy
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:policy/{#PolicyName}
NoneNone
ram:SetPasswordPolicySetPasswordPolicyWrite
All Resources
*
NoneNone
ram:SetSecurityPreferenceSetSecurityPreferenceWrite
All Resources
*
NoneNone
ram:UnbindMFADeviceUnbindMFADeviceWrite
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/{#UserName}
NoneNone
ram:UpdateAccessKeyUpdateAccessKeyWrite
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/{#UserName}
NoneNone
ram:UpdateGroupUpdateGroupWrite
Group
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:group/{#GroupName}
NoneNone
ram:UpdateLoginProfileUpdateLoginProfileWrite
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/{#UserName}
NoneNone
ram:UpdatePolicyDescriptionUpdatePolicyDescriptionWrite
Policy
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:policy/{#PolicyName}
NoneNone
ram:UpdateRoleUpdateRoleWrite
Role
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:role/{#RoleName}
ram:TrustedPrincipalTypes
ram:ServiceNames
None
ram:UpdateUserUpdateUserWrite
User
acs:ram:*:{#accountId}:user/{#UserName}
NoneNone

Resource

RAM defines the values that you can use in the Resource. You can attach the policy to a RAM user or a RAM role so that the RAM user or the RAM role can perform a specific operation on a specific resource. The ARN is the unique identifier of the resource on Alibaba Cloud. Take note of the following items:
  • {#}indicates a variable. {#} must be replaced with an actual value. For example, {#ramcode} must be replaced with the actual code of an Alibaba Cloud service in RAM.
  • An asterisk (*) is used as a wildcard. Examples:
    • {#resourceType} is set to *, all resources are specified.
    • {#regionId} is set to *, all regions are specified.
    • {#accountId} is set to *, all Alibaba Cloud accounts are specified.
Resource typeARN
Groupacs:ram::{#AccountId}:group/{#GroupName}
Useracs:ram::{#AccountId}:user/{#UserName}
Policyacs:ram::{#AccountId}:policy/{#PolicyName}
Roleacs:ram::{#AccountId}:role/{#RoleName}
MFADeviceacs:{#ramcode}:*:{#accountId}:mfadevice/{#SerialNumber}

Condition

RAM defines the values that you can use in the Condition element of a policy statement. The following table describes the values. The following table describes the service-specific condition keys. The common condition keys that are defined by Alibaba Cloud also apply to RAM. For more information about the common condition keys, see Generic Condition Keyword.
The data type determines the conditional operators that you can use to compare the value in a request with the value in a policy statement. You must use conditional operators that are supported by the data type. Otherwise, you cannot compare the value in the request with the value in the policy statement. In this case, the authorization is invalid. For more information about the conditional operators that are supported by each data type, see Policy elements.
Condition keyDescriptionData type
acs:ServiceString
ram:TrustedPrincipalTypesString
ram:ServiceNamesString

What to do next

You can create a custom policy and attach the policy to a RAM user, RAM user group, or RAM role. For more information, see the following topics: