Policy Syntax

The overall syntax of a policy statement is as follows:

Allow <subject> to <verb> <resource-type> in <location> where <conditions>

Spare spaces or line breaks in the statement have no effect.

For limits on the number of policies and statements, see Service Limits.

Subject

Specify one or more comma-separated groups by name or OCID. Or specify any-user to cover all users in the tenancy.

Syntax: group <group_name> | group id <group_ocid> | dynamic-group <dynamic-group_name> | dynamic-group id<dynamic-group_ocid> | any-user

Examples:

  • To specify a single group by name:
    Allow 
    
    group A-Admins
    
     to manage all-resources in compartment Project-A
  • To specify multiple groups by name (a space after the comma is optional):
    Allow 
    
    group A-Admins, B-Admins
    
     to manage all-resources in compartment Projects-A-and-B
  • To specify a single group by OCID (the OCID is shortened for brevity):
    Allow group 
    
     id ocid1.group.oc1..aaaaaaaaqjihfhvxmum...awuc7i5xwe6s7qmnsbc6a 
    
    to manage all-resources in compartment Project-A
  • To specify multiple groups by OCID (the OCIDs are shortened for brevity):
    Allow group 
    
     id ocid1.group.oc1..aaaaaaaaqjihfhvxmumrl...wuc7i5xwe6s7qmnsbc6a,
     id ocid1.group.oc1..aaaaaaaavhea5mellwzb...66yfxvl462tdgx2oecyq 
    
    to manage all-resources in compartment Projects-A-and-B
  • To specify any user in the tenancy:
    Allow any-user to inspect users in tenancy

Verb

Specify a single verb. For a list of verbs, see Verbs. Example:

Allow group A-Admins to manage all-resources in compartment Project-A

Resource-Type

Specify a single resource-type, which can be one of the following:

  • An individual resource-type (e.g., vcns, subnets, instances, volumes, etc.)
  • A family resource-type (e.g., virtual-network-family, instance-family, volume-family, etc.)
  • all-resources: Covers all resources in the compartment (or tenancy).

A family resource-type covers a variety of components that are typically used together. This makes it easier to write a policy that gives someone access to work with various aspects of your cloud network.

For a list of the available resource-types, see Resource-Types.

Syntax: <resource_type> | all-resources

Examples:

  • To specify a single resource-type:
    Allow group HelpDesk to manage users in tenancy
  • To specify multiple resource-types, use separate statements:
    Allow group A-Users to manage instance-family in compartment Project-A
    
    Allow group A-Users to manage volume-family in compartment Project-A
    
  • To specify all resources in the compartment (or tenancy):
    Allow group A-Admins to manage all-resources in compartment Project-A

Location

Specify a single compartment or compartment path by name or OCID. Or simply specify tenancy to cover the entire tenancy. Remember that users, groups, and compartments reside in the tenancy. Policies can reside in (i.e., be attached to) either the tenancy or a child compartment.

Note

Granting Access to Specific Regions or availability domains

To create a policy that gives access to a specific region or availability domain, use the request.region or request.ad variable with a condition. See Conditions.

The location is required in the statement. If you want to attach a policy to a compartment, you must be in that compartment when you create the policy. For more information, see Policy Attachment.

To specify a compartment that is not a direct child of the compartment you are attaching the policy to, specify the path to the compartment, using the colon (:) as a separator. For more information, see Policies and Compartment Hierarchies.

Syntax: [ tenancy | compartment <compartment_name> | compartment id <compartment_ocid> ]

Examples:

  • To specify a compartment by name:
    Allow group A-Admins to manage all-resources in compartment Project-A
  • To specify a compartment by OCID:
    Allow group
     id ocid1.group.oc1..aaaaaaaaexampleocid to manage all-resources in compartment id ocid1.compartment.oc1..aaaaaaaaexampleocid
  • To specify multiple compartments, use separate statements:
    Allow group InstanceAdmins to manage instance-family in compartment Project-A
    
    Allow group InstanceAdmins to manage instance-family in compartment Project-B
    
    
  • To specify multiple compartments by OCID, use separate statements:
    Allow group id ocd1.group.oc1..aaaaaaaavheexampleocid to manage all-resources in compartment id ocid1.compartment.oc1..aaaaaaaayzexampleocid
    
    Allow group id ocd1.group.oc1..aaaaaaaaexampleocid to manage all-resources in compartment id ocid1.compartment.oc1..aaaaaexampledocid
  • To specify a compartment that is not a direct child of the compartment where you are attaching the policy, specify the path:

    Allow group InstanceAdmins to manage instance-family in compartment Project-A:Project-A2

Conditions

Specify one or more conditions. Use any or all with multiple conditions for a logical OR or AND, respectively.

Syntax for a single condition: variable =|!= value

Syntax for multiple conditions: any|all {<condition>,<condition>,...}

Additional operators can be used with time-based variables, see Restricting Access to Resources Based on Time Frame.

Important

Condition matching is case insensitive. This is important to remember when writing conditions for resource types that allow case-sensitive naming. For example, the Object Storage service allows you to create both a bucket named "BucketA" and a bucket named "bucketA" in the same compartment. If you write a condition that specifies "BucketA", it will apply also to "bucketA", because the condition matching is case insensitive.

For a list of variables supported by all the services, see General Variables for All Requests. Also see the details for each service in the Policy Reference. Here are the types of values you can use in conditions:

Type Examples
String

'johnsmith@example.com'

'ocid1.compartment.oc1..aaaaaaaaph...ctehnqg756a'

(single quotation marks are required around the value)

Pattern

/HR*/ (matches strings that start with "HR")

/*HR/ (matches strings that end with "HR")

/*HR*/ (matches strings that contain "HR")

Examples:

Note

In the following examples, the statements that specify the condition do not let GroupAdmins actually list all the users and groups, therefore statements including the inspect verb are added for completeness. To understand why this is required, see Variables that Aren't Applicable to a Request Result in a Declined Request.
  • A single condition.

    The following policy enables the GroupAdmins group to create, update, or delete any groups with names that start with "A-Users-":

    Allow group GroupAdmins to manage groups in tenancy where target.group.name = /A-Users-*/
    Allow group GroupAdmins to inspect groups in tenancy
    The following policy enables the NetworkAdmins group to manage cloud networks in any compartment except the one specified:
    Allow group NetworkAdmins to manage virtual-network-family in tenancy where target.compartment.id != 'ocid1.compartment.oc1..aaaaaaaaexampleocid'
  • Multiple conditions.

    The following policy lets GroupAdmins create, update, or delete any groups whose names start with "A-", except for the A-Admins group itself:

    Allow group GroupAdmins to manage groups in tenancy where all {target.group.name=/A-*/,target.group.name!='A-Admins'}
     
    Allow group GroupAdmins to inspect groups in tenancy