Using roles to connect a Kubernetes cluster to Amazon EKS

Amazon EKS uses AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) service-linked roles. A service-linked role is a unique type of IAM role that is linked directly to Amazon EKS. Service-linked roles are predefined by Amazon EKS and include all the permissions that the service requires to call other AWS services on your behalf.

A service-linked role makes setting up Amazon EKS easier because you don’t have to manually add the necessary permissions. Amazon EKS defines the permissions of its service-linked roles, and unless defined otherwise, only Amazon EKS can assume its roles. The defined permissions include the trust policy and the permissions policy, and that permissions policy cannot be attached to any other IAM entity.

You can delete a service-linked role only after first deleting their related resources. This protects your Amazon EKS resources because you can’t inadvertently remove permission to access the resources.

For information about other services that support service-linked roles, see AWS services that work with IAM and look for the services that have Yes in the Service-linked role column. Choose a Yes with a link to view the service-linked role documentation for that service.

Service-linked role permissions for Amazon EKS

Amazon EKS uses the service-linked role named AWSServiceRoleForAmazonEKSConnector – The role allows Amazon EKS to connect Kubernetes clusters. The attached policies allow the role to manage necessary resources to connect to your registered Kubernetes cluster.

The AWSServiceRoleForAmazonEKSConnector service-linked role trusts the following services to assume the role:

The role permissions policy allows Amazon EKS to complete the following actions on the specified resources:

You must configure permissions to allow an IAM entity (such as a user, group, or role) to create, edit, or delete a service-linked role. For more information, see Service-linked role permissions in the IAM User Guide.

Creating a service-linked role for Amazon EKS

You don’t need to manually create a service-linked role to connect a cluster. When you connect a cluster in the AWS Management Console, the AWS CLI, eksctl, or the AWS API, Amazon EKS creates the service-linked role for you.

If you delete this service-linked role, and then need to create it again, you can use the same process to recreate the role in your account. When you connect a cluster, Amazon EKS creates the service-linked role for you again.

Editing a service-linked role for Amazon EKS

Amazon EKS does not allow you to edit the AWSServiceRoleForAmazonEKSConnector service-linked role. After you create a service-linked role, you cannot change the name of the role because various entities might reference the role. However, you can edit the description of the role using IAM. For more information, see Editing a service-linked role in the IAM User Guide.

Deleting a service-linked role for Amazon EKS

If you no longer need to use a feature or service that requires a service-linked role, we recommend that you delete that role. That way you don’t have an unused entity that is not actively monitored or maintained. However, you must clean up your service-linked role before you can manually delete it.

Cleaning up a service-linked role

Before you can use IAM to delete a service-linked role, you must first delete any resources used by the role.

Manually delete the service-linked role

Use the IAM console, the AWS CLI, or the AWS API to delete the AWSServiceRoleForAmazonEKSConnector service-linked role. For more information, see Deleting a service-linked role in the IAM User Guide.