Using service-linked roles for Amazon Q Business

Amazon Q Business 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 Q Business. Service-linked roles are predefined by Amazon Q Business 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 Q Business easier because you don’t have to manually add the necessary permissions. Amazon Q Business defines the permissions of its service-linked roles, and unless defined otherwise, only Amazon Q Business 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 Q Business 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 roles column. Choose a Yes with a link to view the service-linked role documentation for that service.

Service-linked role permissions for Amazon Q Business

Amazon Q Business uses one service-linked role named AWSServiceRoleForQBusiness that performs certain actions in your account. Examples of these actions include allowing CloudWatch to publish metrics and logs to your AWS account.

QBusinessServiceRolePolicy permissions details

The QBusinessServiceRolePolicy allows Amazon Q Business to complete the following administrative actions on the user's behalf on all applicable AWS resources:

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Sid": "QBusinessPutMetricDataPermission",
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "cloudwatch:PutMetricData"
            ],
            "Resource": "*",
            "Condition": {
                "StringEquals": {
                    "cloudwatch:namespace": "AWS/QBusiness"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "Sid": "QBusinessCreateLogGroupPermission",
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "logs:CreateLogGroup"
            ],
            "Resource": [
                "arn:aws:logs:*:*:log-group:/aws/qbusiness/*"
            ],
            "Condition": {
                "StringEquals": {
                    "aws:ResourceAccount": "${aws:PrincipalAccount}"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "Sid": "QBusinessDescribeLogGroupsPermission",
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "logs:DescribeLogGroups"
            ],
            "Resource": "*",
            "Condition": {
                "StringEquals": {
                    "aws:ResourceAccount": "${aws:PrincipalAccount}"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "Sid": "QBusinessLogStreamPermission",
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "logs:DescribeLogStreams",
                "logs:CreateLogStream",
                "logs:PutLogEvents"
            ],
            "Resource": [
                "arn:aws:logs:*:*:log-group:/aws/qbusiness/*:log-stream:*"
            ],
            "Condition": {
                "StringEquals": {
                    "aws:ResourceAccount": "${aws:PrincipalAccount}"
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

Any updates to this policy are described in Amazon Q Business updates to AWS managed policies.

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 Q Business

You don't need to manually create a service-linked role. When you create an Amazon Q Business application in the AWS Management Console, the AWS CLI, or the AWS API, Amazon Q Business 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 create a new application, Amazon Q Business creates the service-linked role for you again.

You can also use the IAM console to create a service-linked role. In the IAM CLI or the IAM API, create a service-linked role with the qbusiness.amazonaws.com service name. For more information, see Creating a service-linked role in the IAM User Guide. If you delete this service-linked role, you can use this same process to create the role again.

You can also choose to create an Amazon Q Business application with a service role instead of a service-linked role. However, using a service-linked role is recommended.

For Amazon Q Business applications created before April 2024

If your Amazon Q Business application was created before April 2024, it uses a service role instead of a service-linked role.

To migrate your existing application from a service role to a service-linked role, create a service-linked role with the qbusiness.amazonaws.com service name. Then, if you use the console, select to use the newly created service-linked role when you update your application. If you use the API, provide the ARN of the service-linked role as the roleArn parameter when you use the UpdateApplication API action.

For more information, see Creating a service-linked role in the IAM User Guide.

Editing a service-linked role for Amazon Q Business

Amazon Q Business does not allow you to edit service-linked roles. 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.

Changing between a service-role and a service-linked role for Amazon Q Business

You can choose to update the service-linked role you are using when you update an application.

For an application using a service role, you can update the role to a service-linked role.

For an application already using a service-linked role, you can update the role to a service role.

You can also choose to continue using a service role, or update an existing service role with a new one.

For more information on how to update your application, see Updating an application.

Deleting a service-linked role for Amazon Q Business

You can manually delete your AWSServiceRoleForQBusiness role. 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 delete your application before you can manually delete the service-linked role associated with it.

To manually delete the service-linked role using IAM

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

Supported regions for Amazon Q Business service-linked roles

Amazon Q Business supports using service-linked roles in all of the regions where the service is available. For more information, see Amazon Q Business endpoints and quotas.