Creating Cluster-level ACLs

A cluster-level Access Control List (ACL) determines who has access to a cluster and which actions they are allowed to perform. ACLs on a secure HPE Ezmeral Data Fabric cluster are predicated on a locally managed OS registry.

Important: Before you create an ACL that applies to a particular group, you must create that group and assign users to it.

For example, the Red Hat Linux commands for creating a group called developers and adding a user named jsmith on a locally managed OS registry are:

groupadd developers
useradd -g developers jsmith

Once users and groups have been defined, an administrator can create a cluster-level ACL using the Control System and the CLI.

Parent topic: Managing Access Control Lists

Creating an ACL from the Control System

  1. Click Admin > User Settings > Permissions.
  2. Follow steps for Adding Cluster Permissions.

    Each allowed action has a permission code associated with it. The codes are explained below.

    Permission Code Allowed Action
    login Log in to the MapR Control System, use the API and command-line interface, read access on cluster and volumes.
    Note: Read access allows you to only view the MapR objects that already exist. You cannot create volumes, policies, schedules, snapshots, nor any other MapR objects.
    ss Start/stop services
    cv Create volumes
    cp Create security policies
    a Administrative access to cluster ACLs. Grants no other permissions.
    fc Full control over the cluster. This enables all cluster-related administrative options with the exception of changing the cluster ACLs.

Creating an ACL from the Command Line

To create an ACL at the command line, use the acl set command. Include spaces between multiple entries, such as a list of usernames and their associated permission levels (or actions).

The syntax is:

maprcli acl set -type volume -name <volume name> 
               [-group <groupname>:<action> -user <username>:<action>]
Note: The acl set command removes previously set permissions if they are not explicitly called out in the command line.

Other ACL commands include:

  • acl edit - to modify permissions in an ACL (use this command instead of acl set to change some permissions while leaving others intact)
  • acl show - to display permissions in an ACL

Example

To create an ACL for a cluster named my.cluster.com that allows administration of cluster ACLs to user root and control over all other aspects of the cluster to all users in the developers group, enter this command:

maprcli acl set -type cluster -cluster my.cluster.com -user root:a -group developers:fc

Now suppose you want to change the developers group permissions so they can only log in and start or stop services. Use the acl edit command as shown:

maprcli acl edit -type cluster -cluster my.cluster.com -group developers:login,ss

Note that only the developers group's permissions change, while the user named root retains control over the cluster's ACL settings.