# Identity and access management for AWS X-Ray
AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) is an AWS service that helps an administrator securely control access to AWS resources. IAM administrators control who can be *authenticated* (signed in) and *authorized* (have permissions) to use X-Ray resources. IAM is an AWS service that you can use with no additional charge.
**Topics**
+ [Audience](#security_iam_audience)
+ [Authenticating with identities](#security_iam_authentication)
+ [Managing access using policies](#security_iam_access-manage)
+ [How AWS X-Ray works with IAM](security_iam_service-with-iam.md)
+ [AWS X-Ray identity-based policy examples](security_iam_id-based-policy-examples.md)
+ [Troubleshooting AWS X-Ray identity and access](security_iam_troubleshoot.md)
## Audience
How you use AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) differs based on your role:
+ **Service user** - request permissions from your administrator if you cannot access features (see [Troubleshooting AWS X-Ray identity and access](security_iam_troubleshoot.md))
+ **Service administrator** - determine user access and submit permission requests (see [How AWS X-Ray works with IAM](security_iam_service-with-iam.md))
+ **IAM administrator** - write policies to manage access (see [AWS X-Ray identity-based policy examples](security_iam_id-based-policy-examples.md))
## Authenticating with identities
Authentication is how you sign in to AWS using your identity credentials. You must be authenticated as the AWS account root user, an IAM user, or by assuming an IAM role.
You can sign in as a federated identity using credentials from an identity source like AWS IAM Identity Center (IAM Identity Center), single sign-on authentication, or Google/Facebook credentials. For more information about signing in, see [How to sign in to your AWS account](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/signin/latest/userguide/how-to-sign-in.html) in the *AWS Sign-In User Guide*.
For programmatic access, AWS provides an SDK and CLI to cryptographically sign requests. For more information, see [AWS Signature Version 4 for API requests](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_sigv.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
### AWS account root user
When you create an AWS account, you begin with one sign-in identity called the AWS account *root user* that has complete access to all AWS services and resources. We strongly recommend that you don't use the root user for everyday tasks. For tasks that require root user credentials, see [Tasks that require root user credentials](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_root-user.html#root-user-tasks) in the *IAM User Guide*.
### IAM users and groups
An *[IAM user](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_users.html)* is an identity with specific permissions for a single person or application. We recommend using temporary credentials instead of IAM users with long-term credentials. For more information, see [Require human users to use federation with an identity provider to access AWS using temporary credentials](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/best-practices.html#bp-users-federation-idp) in the *IAM User Guide*.
An [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_groups.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_groups.html) specifies a collection of IAM users and makes permissions easier to manage for large sets of users. For more information, see [Use cases for IAM users](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/gs-identities-iam-users.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
### IAM roles
An *[IAM role](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_roles.html)* is an identity with specific permissions that provides temporary credentials. You can assume a role by [switching from a user to an IAM role (console)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_roles_use_switch-role-console.html) or by calling an AWS CLI or AWS API operation. For more information, see [Methods to assume a role](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_roles_manage-assume.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
IAM roles are useful for federated user access, temporary IAM user permissions, cross-account access, cross-service access, and applications running on Amazon EC2. For more information, see [Cross account resource access in IAM](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies-cross-account-resource-access.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
## Managing access using policies
You control access in AWS by creating policies and attaching them to AWS identities or resources. A policy defines permissions when associated with an identity or resource. AWS evaluates these policies when a principal makes a request. Most policies are stored in AWS as JSON documents. For more information about JSON policy documents, see [Overview of JSON policies](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies.html#access_policies-json) in the *IAM User Guide*.
Using policies, administrators specify who has access to what by defining which **principal** can perform **actions** on what **resources**, and under what **conditions**.
By default, users and roles have no permissions. An IAM administrator creates IAM policies and adds them to roles, which users can then assume. IAM policies define permissions regardless of the method used to perform the operation.
### Identity-based policies
Identity-based policies are JSON permissions policy documents that you attach to an identity (user, group, or role). These policies control what actions identities can perform, on which resources, and under what conditions. To learn how to create an identity-based policy, see [Define custom IAM permissions with customer managed policies](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies_create.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
Identity-based policies can be *inline policies* (embedded directly into a single identity) or *managed policies* (standalone policies attached to multiple identities). To learn how to choose between managed and inline policies, see [Choose between managed policies and inline policies](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies-choosing-managed-or-inline.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
### Resource-based policies
Resource-based policies are JSON policy documents that you attach to a resource. Examples include IAM *role trust policies* and Amazon S3 *bucket policies*. In services that support resource-based policies, service administrators can use them to control access to a specific resource. You must [specify a principal](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_policies_elements_principal.html) in a resource-based policy.
Resource-based policies are inline policies that are located in that service. You can't use AWS managed policies from IAM in a resource-based policy.
### Access control lists (ACLs)
Access control lists (ACLs) control which principals (account members, users, or roles) have permissions to access a resource. ACLs are similar to resource-based policies, although they do not use the JSON policy document format.
Amazon S3, AWS WAF, and Amazon VPC are examples of services that support ACLs. To learn more about ACLs, see [Access control list (ACL) overview](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/acl-overview.html) in the *Amazon Simple Storage Service Developer Guide*.
### Other policy types
AWS supports additional policy types that can set the maximum permissions granted by more common policy types:
+ **Permissions boundaries** – Set the maximum permissions that an identity-based policy can grant to an IAM entity. For more information, see [Permissions boundaries for IAM entities](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies_boundaries.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
+ **Service control policies (SCPs)** – Specify the maximum permissions for an organization or organizational unit in AWS Organizations. For more information, see [Service control policies](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/organizations/latest/userguide/orgs_manage_policies_scps.html) in the *AWS Organizations User Guide*.
+ **Resource control policies (RCPs)** – Set the maximum available permissions for resources in your accounts. For more information, see [Resource control policies (RCPs)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/organizations/latest/userguide/orgs_manage_policies_rcps.html) in the *AWS Organizations User Guide*.
+ **Session policies** – Advanced policies passed as a parameter when creating a temporary session for a role or federated user. For more information, see [Session policies](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies.html#policies_session) in the *IAM User Guide*.
### Multiple policy types
When multiple types of policies apply to a request, the resulting permissions are more complicated to understand. To learn how AWS determines whether to allow a request when multiple policy types are involved, see [Policy evaluation logic](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_policies_evaluation-logic.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
# How AWS X-Ray works with IAM
Before you use IAM to manage access to X-Ray, you should understand what IAM features are available to use with X-Ray. To get a high-level view of how X-Ray and other AWS services work with IAM, see [AWS services That Work with IAM](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_aws-services-that-work-with-iam.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
You can use AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) to grant X-Ray permissions to users and compute resources in your account. IAM controls access to the X-Ray service at the API level to enforce permissions uniformly, regardless of which client (console, AWS SDK, AWS CLI) your users employ.
To [use the X-Ray console](aws-xray-interface-console.md#xray-console) to view trace maps and segments, you only need read permissions. To enable console access, add the `AWSXrayReadOnlyAccess` [managed policy](security_iam_id-based-policy-examples.md#xray-permissions-managedpolicies) to your IAM user.
For [local development and testing](#xray-permissions-local), create an IAM role with read and write permissions. [Assume the role](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_roles_use.html) and store temporary credentials for the role. You can use these credentials with the X-Ray daemon, the AWS CLI, and the AWS SDK. See [using temporary security credentials with the AWS CLI](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_credentials_temp_use-resources.html#using-temp-creds-sdk-cli) for more information.
To [deploy your instrumented app to AWS](#xray-permissions-aws), create an IAM role with write permissions and assign it to the resources running your application. `AWSXRayDaemonWriteAccess` includes permission to upload traces, and some read permissions as well to support the use of [sampling rules](xray-console-sampling.md).
The read and write policies do not include permission to configure [encryption key settings](xray-console-encryption.md) and sampling rules. Use `AWSXrayFullAccess` to access these settings, or add [configuration APIs](xray-api-configuration.md) in a custom policy. For encryption and decryption with a customer managed key that you create, you also need [permission to use the key](#xray-permissions-encryption).
**Topics**
+ [X-Ray identity-based policies](#security_iam_service-with-iam-id-based-policies)
+ [X-Ray resource-based policies](#security_iam_service-with-iam-resource-based-policies)
+ [Authorization based on X-Ray tags](#security_iam_service-with-iam-tags)
+ [Running your application locally](#xray-permissions-local)
+ [Running your application in AWS](#xray-permissions-aws)
+ [User permissions for encryption](#xray-permissions-encryption)
## X-Ray identity-based policies
With IAM identity-based policies, you can specify allowed or denied actions and resources as well as the conditions under which actions are allowed or denied. X-Ray supports specific actions, resources, and condition keys. To learn about all of the elements that you use in a JSON policy, see [IAM JSON Policy Elements Reference](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_policies_elements.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
### Actions
Administrators can use AWS JSON policies to specify who has access to what. That is, which **principal** can perform **actions** on what **resources**, and under what **conditions**.
The `Action` element of a JSON policy describes the actions that you can use to allow or deny access in a policy. Include actions in a policy to grant permissions to perform the associated operation.
Policy actions in X-Ray use the following prefix before the action: `xray:`. For example, to grant someone permission to retrieve group resource details with the X-Ray `GetGroup` API operation, you include the `xray:GetGroup` action in their policy. Policy statements must include either an `Action` or `NotAction` element. X-Ray defines its own set of actions that describe tasks that you can perform with this service.
To specify multiple actions in a single statement, separate them with commas as follows:
```
"Action": [
"xray:action1",
"xray:action2"
```
You can specify multiple actions using wildcards (\$1). For example, to specify all actions that begin with the word `Get`, include the following action:
```
"Action": "xray:Get*"
```
To see a list of X-Ray actions, see [Actions Defined by AWS X-Ray](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/list_awsx-ray.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
### Resources
Administrators can use AWS JSON policies to specify who has access to what. That is, which **principal** can perform **actions** on what **resources**, and under what **conditions**.
The `Resource` JSON policy element specifies the object or objects to which the action applies. As a best practice, specify a resource using its [Amazon Resource Name (ARN)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference-arns.html). For actions that don't support resource-level permissions, use a wildcard (\$1) to indicate that the statement applies to all resources.
```
"Resource": "*"
```
You can control access to resources by using an IAM policy. For actions that support resource-level permissions, you use an Amazon Resource Name (ARN) to identify the resource that the policy applies to.
All X-Ray actions can be used in an IAM policy to grant or deny users permission to use that action. However, not all [X-Ray actions](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/xray/latest/api/API_Operations.html) support resource-level permissions, which enable you to specify the resources on which an action can be performed.
For actions that don't support resource-level permissions, you must use "`*`" as the resource.
The following X-Ray actions support resource-level permissions:
+ `CreateGroup`
+ `GetGroup`
+ `UpdateGroup`
+ `DeleteGroup`
+ `CreateSamplingRule`
+ `UpdateSamplingRule`
+ `DeleteSamplingRule`
The following is an example of an identity-based permissions policy for a `CreateGroup` action. The example shows the use of an ARN relating to Group name `local-users` with the unique ID as a wildcard. The unique ID is generated when the group is created, and so it can't be predicted in the policy in advance. When using `GetGroup`, `UpdateGroup`, or `DeleteGroup`, you can define this as either a wildcard or the exact ARN, including ID.
**Note**
The ARN of a sampling rule is defined by its name. Unlike group ARNs, sampling rules have no uniquely generated ID.
To see a list of X-Ray resource types and their ARNs, see [Resources Defined by AWS X-Ray](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/list_awsx-ray.html#awsx-ray-resources-for-iam-policies) in the *IAM User Guide*. To learn with which actions you can specify the ARN of each resource, see [Actions Defined by AWS X-Ray](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/list_awsx-ray.html).
### Condition keys
X-Ray does not provide any service-specific condition keys, but it does support using some global condition keys. To see all AWS global condition keys, see [AWS Global Condition Context Keys](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_policies_condition-keys.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
### Examples
To view examples of X-Ray identity-based policies, see [AWS X-Ray identity-based policy examples](security_iam_id-based-policy-examples.md).
## X-Ray resource-based policies
X-Ray supports resource-based policies for current and future AWS service integration, such as [Amazon SNS active tracing](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/sns/latest/dg/sns-active-tracing.html). X-Ray resource-based policies can be updated by other AWS Management Consoles, or through the AWS SDK or CLI. For example, the Amazon SNS console attempts to automatically configure resource-based policy for sending traces to X-Ray. The following policy document provides an example of manually configuring X-Ray resource-based policy.
**Example X-Ray resource-based policy for Amazon SNS active tracing**
This example policy document specifies the permissions that Amazon SNS needs to send trace data to X-Ray:
```
{
Version: "2012-10-17",
Statement: [
{
Sid: "SNSAccess",
Effect: Allow,
Principal: {
Service: "sns.amazonaws.com",
},
Action: [
"xray:PutTraceSegments",
"xray:GetSamplingRules",
"xray:GetSamplingTargets"
],
Resource: "*",
Condition: {
StringEquals: {
"aws:SourceAccount": "account-id"
},
StringLike: {
"aws:SourceArn": "arn:partition:sns:region:account-id:topic-name"
}
}
}
]
}
```
Use the CLI to create a resource-based policy that gives Amazon SNS permissions to send trace data to X-Ray:
```
aws xray put-resource-policy --policy-name MyResourcePolicy --policy-document '{ "Version": "2012-10-17", "Statement": [ { "Sid": "SNSAccess", "Effect": "Allow", "Principal": { "Service": "sns.amazonaws.com" }, "Action": [ "xray:PutTraceSegments", "xray:GetSamplingRules", "xray:GetSamplingTargets" ], "Resource": "*", "Condition": { "StringEquals": { "aws:SourceAccount": "account-id" }, "StringLike": { "aws:SourceArn": "arn:partition:sns:region:account-id:topic-name" } } } ] }'
```
To use these examples, replace *`partition`*, *`region`*, *`account-id`*, and *`topic-name`* with your specific AWS partition, region, account ID, and Amazon SNS topic name. To give all Amazon SNS topics permission to send trace data to X-Ray, replace the topic name with `*`.
## Authorization based on X-Ray tags
You can attach tags to X-Ray groups or sampling rules, or pass tags in a request to X-Ray. To control access based on tags, you provide tag information in the [condition element](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_policies_elements_condition.html) of a policy using the `xray:ResourceTag/key-name`, `aws:RequestTag/key-name`, or `aws:TagKeys` condition keys. For more information about tagging X-Ray resources, see [Tagging X-Ray sampling rules and groups](xray-tagging.md).
To view an example identity-based policy for limiting access to a resource based on the tags on that resource, see [Managing access to X-Ray groups and sampling rules based on tags](security_iam_id-based-policy-examples.md#security_iam_id-based-policy-examples-manage-sampling-tags).
## Running your application locally
Your instrumented application sends trace data to the X-Ray daemon. The daemon buffers segment documents and uploads them to the X-Ray service in batches. The daemon needs write permissions to upload trace data and telemetry to the X-Ray service.
When you [run the daemon locally](xray-daemon-local.md), create an IAM role, [assume the role](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_roles_use.html) and store temporary credentials in environment variables, or in a file named `credentials` within a folder named `.aws` in your user folder. See [using temporary security credentials with the AWS CLI](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_credentials_temp_use-resources.html#using-temp-creds-sdk-cli) for more information.
**Example \$1/.aws/credentials**
```
[default]
aws_access_key_id={access key ID}
aws_secret_access_key={access key}
aws_session_token={AWS session token}
```
If you already configured credentials for use with the AWS SDK or AWS CLI, the daemon can use those. If multiple profiles are available, the daemon uses the default profile.
## Running your application in AWS
When you run your application on AWS, use a role to grant permission to the Amazon EC2 instance or Lambda function that runs the daemon.
+ **Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2)** – Create an IAM role and attach it to the EC2 instance as an [instance profile](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/iam-roles-for-amazon-ec2.html).
+ **Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS)** – Create an IAM role and attach it to container instances as a [container instance IAM role](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonECS/latest/developerguide/instance_IAM_role.html).
+ **AWS Elastic Beanstalk (Elastic Beanstalk)** – Elastic Beanstalk includes X-Ray permissions in its [default instance profile](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/elasticbeanstalk/latest/dg/concepts-roles.html#concepts-roles-instance). You can use the default instance profile, or add write permissions to a custom instance profile.
+ **AWS Lambda (Lambda)** – Add write permissions to your function's execution role.
**To create a role for use with X-Ray**
1. Open the [IAM console](https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/home).
1. Choose **Roles**.
1. Choose **Create New Role**.
1. For **Role Name**, type **xray-application**. Choose **Next Step.**
1. For **Role Type**, choose **Amazon EC2**.
1. Attach the following managed policy to give your application access to AWS services:
+ **AWSXRayDaemonWriteAccess** – Gives the X-Ray daemon permission to upload trace data.
If your application uses the AWS SDK to access other services, add policies that grant access to those services.
1. Choose **Next Step**.
1. Choose **Create Role**.
## User permissions for encryption
X-Ray encrypts all trace data and by default, and you can [configure it to use a key that you manage](xray-console-encryption.md). If you choose a AWS Key Management Service customer managed key, you need to ensure that the key's access policy lets you grant permission to X-Ray to use it to encrypt. Other users in your account also need access to the key to view encrypted trace data in the X-Ray console.
For a customer managed key, configure your key with an access policy that allows the following actions:
+ User who configures the key in X-Ray has permission to call `kms:CreateGrant` and `kms:DescribeKey`.
+ Users who can access encrypted trace data have permission to call `kms:Decrypt`.
When you add a user to the **Key users** group in the key configuration section of the IAM console, they have permission for both of these operations. Permission only needs to be set on the key policy, so you don't need any AWS KMS permissions on your users, groups, or roles. For more information, see [Using Key Policies in the AWS KMS Developer Guide](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/kms/latest/developerguide/key-policies.html).
For default encryption, or if you choose the AWS managed CMK (`aws/xray`), permission is based on who has access to X-Ray APIs. Anyone with access to [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/xray/latest/api/API_PutEncryptionConfig.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/xray/latest/api/API_PutEncryptionConfig.html), included in `AWSXrayFullAccess`, can change the encryption configuration. To prevent a user from changing the encryption key, do not give them permission to use [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/xray/latest/api/API_PutEncryptionConfig.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/xray/latest/api/API_PutEncryptionConfig.html).
# AWS X-Ray identity-based policy examples
By default, users and roles don't have permission to create or modify X-Ray resources. They also can't perform tasks using the AWS Management Console, AWS CLI, or AWS API. An administrator must create IAM policies that grant users and roles permission to perform specific API operations on the specified resources they need. The administrator must then attach those policies to the users or groups that require those permissions.
To learn how to create an IAM identity-based policy using these example JSON policy documents, see [Creating Policies on the JSON Tab](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies_create.html#access_policies_create-json-editor) in the *IAM User Guide*.
**Topics**
+ [Policy best practices](#security_iam_service-with-iam-policy-best-practices)
+ [Using the X-Ray console](#security_iam_id-based-policy-examples-console)
+ [Allow users to view their own permissions](#security_iam_id-based-policy-examples-view-own-permissions)
+ [Managing access to X-Ray groups and sampling rules based on tags](#security_iam_id-based-policy-examples-manage-sampling-tags)
+ [IAM managed policies for X-Ray](#xray-permissions-managedpolicies)
+ [X-Ray updates to AWS managed policies](#xray-permissions-managedpolicies-history)
+ [Specifying a resource within an IAM policy](#xray-permissions-resources)
## Policy best practices
Identity-based policies determine whether someone can create, access, or delete X-Ray resources in your account. These actions can incur costs for your AWS account. When you create or edit identity-based policies, follow these guidelines and recommendations:
+ **Get started with AWS managed policies and move toward least-privilege permissions** – To get started granting permissions to your users and workloads, use the *AWS managed policies* that grant permissions for many common use cases. They are available in your AWS account. We recommend that you reduce permissions further by defining AWS customer managed policies that are specific to your use cases. For more information, see [AWS managed policies](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies_managed-vs-inline.html#aws-managed-policies) or [AWS managed policies for job functions](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies_job-functions.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
+ **Apply least-privilege permissions** – When you set permissions with IAM policies, grant only the permissions required to perform a task. You do this by defining the actions that can be taken on specific resources under specific conditions, also known as *least-privilege permissions*. For more information about using IAM to apply permissions, see [ Policies and permissions in IAM](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
+ **Use conditions in IAM policies to further restrict access** – You can add a condition to your policies to limit access to actions and resources. For example, you can write a policy condition to specify that all requests must be sent using SSL. You can also use conditions to grant access to service actions if they are used through a specific AWS service, such as CloudFormation. For more information, see [ IAM JSON policy elements: Condition](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_policies_elements_condition.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
+ **Use IAM Access Analyzer to validate your IAM policies to ensure secure and functional permissions** – IAM Access Analyzer validates new and existing policies so that the policies adhere to the IAM policy language (JSON) and IAM best practices. IAM Access Analyzer provides more than 100 policy checks and actionable recommendations to help you author secure and functional policies. For more information, see [Validate policies with IAM Access Analyzer](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access-analyzer-policy-validation.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
+ **Require multi-factor authentication (MFA)** – If you have a scenario that requires IAM users or a root user in your AWS account, turn on MFA for additional security. To require MFA when API operations are called, add MFA conditions to your policies. For more information, see [ Secure API access with MFA](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_credentials_mfa_configure-api-require.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
For more information about best practices in IAM, see [Security best practices in IAM](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/best-practices.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
## Using the X-Ray console
To access the AWS X-Ray console, you must have a minimum set of permissions. These permissions must allow you to list and view details about the X-Ray resources in your AWS account. If you create an identity-based policy that is more restrictive than the minimum required permissions, the console won't function as intended for entities (users or roles) with that policy.
To ensure that those entities can still use the X-Ray console, attach the `AWSXRayReadOnlyAccess` AWS managed policy to the entities. This policy is described in more detail in [IAM managed policies for X-Ray](#xray-permissions-managedpolicies). For more information, see [Adding Permissions to a User](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_users_change-permissions.html#users_change_permissions-add-console) in the *IAM User Guide*.
You don't need to allow minimum console permissions for users that are making calls only to the AWS CLI or the AWS API. Instead, allow access to only the actions that match the API operation that you're trying to perform.
## Allow users to view their own permissions
This example shows how you might create a policy that allows IAM users to view the inline and managed policies that are attached to their user identity. This policy includes permissions to complete this action on the console or programmatically using the AWS CLI or AWS API.
```
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Sid": "ViewOwnUserInfo",
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iam:GetUserPolicy",
"iam:ListGroupsForUser",
"iam:ListAttachedUserPolicies",
"iam:ListUserPolicies",
"iam:GetUser"
],
"Resource": ["arn:aws:iam::*:user/${aws:username}"]
},
{
"Sid": "NavigateInConsole",
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"iam:GetGroupPolicy",
"iam:GetPolicyVersion",
"iam:GetPolicy",
"iam:ListAttachedGroupPolicies",
"iam:ListGroupPolicies",
"iam:ListPolicyVersions",
"iam:ListPolicies",
"iam:ListUsers"
],
"Resource": "*"
}
]
}
```
## Managing access to X-Ray groups and sampling rules based on tags
You can use conditions in your identity-based policy to control access to X-Ray groups and sampling rules based on tags. The following example policy could be used to deny a user role the permissions to create, delete, or update groups with the tags `stage:prod` or `stage:preprod`. For more information about tagging X-Ray sampling rules and groups, see [Tagging X-Ray sampling rules and groups](xray-tagging.md).
To deny the creation of a sampling rule, use `aws:RequestTag` to indicate tags that cannot be passed as part of a creation request. To deny the update or deletion of a sampling rule, use `aws:ResourceTag` to deny actions based on the tags on those resources.
You can attach these policies (or combine them into a single policy, then attach the policy) to the users in your account. For the user to make changes to a group or sampling rule, the group or sampling rule must not be tagged `stage=prepod` or `stage=prod`. The condition tag key `Stage` matches both `Stage` and `stage` because condition key names are not case-sensitive. For more information about the condition block, see [IAM JSON Policy Elements: Condition](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_policies_elements_condition.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
A user with a role that has the following policy attached cannot add the tag `role:admin` to resources, and cannot remove tags from a resource that has `role:admin` associated with it.
------
#### [ JSON ]
****
```
{
"Version":"2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Sid": "AllowAllXRay",
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": "xray:*",
"Resource": "*"
},
{
"Sid": "DenyRequestTagAdmin",
"Effect": "Deny",
"Action": "xray:TagResource",
"Resource": "*",
"Condition": {
"StringEquals": {
"aws:RequestTag/role": "admin"
}
}
},
{
"Sid": "DenyResourceTagAdmin",
"Effect": "Deny",
"Action": "xray:UntagResource",
"Resource": "*",
"Condition": {
"StringEquals": {
"aws:ResourceTag/role": "admin"
}
}
}
]
}
```
------
## IAM managed policies for X-Ray
To make granting permissions easy, IAM supports **managed policies** for each service. A service can update these managed policies with new permissions when it releases new APIs. AWS X-Ray provides managed policies for read only, write only, and administrator use cases.
+ `AWSXrayReadOnlyAccess` – Read permissions for using the X-Ray console, AWS CLI, or AWS SDK to get trace data, trace maps, insights, and X-Ray configuration from the X-Ray API. Includes Observability Access Manager (OAM) `oam:ListSinks` and `oam:ListAttachedSinks` permissions to allow the console to view traces shared from source accounts as part of [CloudWatch cross-account observability](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonCloudWatch/latest/monitoring/CloudWatch-Unified-Cross-Account.html). The `BatchGetTraceSummaryById` and `GetDistinctTraceGraphs` API actions are not intended to be called by your code, and not included in the AWS CLI and AWS SDKs.
```
{
"Version": "2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"xray:GetSamplingRules",
"xray:GetSamplingTargets",
"xray:GetSamplingStatisticSummaries",
"xray:BatchGetTraces",
"xray:BatchGetTraceSummaryById",
"xray:GetDistinctTraceGraphs",
"xray:GetServiceGraph",
"xray:GetTraceGraph",
"xray:GetTraceSummaries",
"xray:GetGroups",
"xray:GetGroup",
"xray:ListTagsForResource",
"xray:ListResourcePolicies",
"xray:GetTimeSeriesServiceStatistics",
"xray:GetInsightSummaries",
"xray:GetInsight",
"xray:GetInsightEvents",
"xray:GetInsightImpactGraph",
"oam:ListSinks"
],
"Resource": [
"*"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"oam:ListAttachedLinks"
],
"Resource": "arn:aws:oam:*:*:sink/*"
}
}
```
+ `AWSXRayDaemonWriteAccess` – Write permissions for using the X-Ray daemon, AWS CLI, or AWS SDK to upload segment documents and telemetry to the X-Ray API. Includes read permissions to get [sampling rules](xray-console-sampling.md) and report sampling results.
------
#### [ JSON ]
****
```
{
"Version":"2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"xray:PutTraceSegments",
"xray:PutTelemetryRecords",
"xray:GetSamplingRules",
"xray:GetSamplingTargets",
"xray:GetSamplingStatisticSummaries"
],
"Resource": [
"*"
]
}
]
}
```
------
+ `AWSXrayCrossAccountSharingConfiguration` – Grants permissions to create, manage, and view Observability Access Manager links for sharing X-Ray resources between accounts. Used to enable [CloudWatch cross-account observability](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonCloudWatch/latest/monitoring/CloudWatch-Unified-Cross-Account.html) between source and monitoring accounts.
------
#### [ JSON ]
****
```
{
"Version":"2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"xray:Link",
"oam:ListLinks"
],
"Resource": "*"
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"oam:DeleteLink",
"oam:GetLink",
"oam:TagResource"
],
"Resource": "arn:aws:oam:*:*:link/*"
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"oam:CreateLink",
"oam:UpdateLink"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:oam:*:*:link/*",
"arn:aws:oam:*:*:sink/*"
]
}
]
}
```
------
+ `AWSXrayFullAccess` – Permission to use all X-Ray APIs, including read permissions, write permissions, and permission to configure encryption key settings and sampling rules. Includes Observability Access Manager (OAM) `oam:ListSinks` and `oam:ListAttachedSinks` permissions to allow the console to view traces shared from source accounts as part of [CloudWatch cross-account observability](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonCloudWatch/latest/monitoring/CloudWatch-Unified-Cross-Account.html).
------
#### [ JSON ]
****
```
{
"Version":"2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"xray:*",
"oam:ListSinks"
],
"Resource": [
"*"
]
},
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"oam:ListAttachedLinks"
],
"Resource": "arn:aws:oam:*:*:sink/*"
}
]
}
```
------
**To add a managed policy to an IAM user, group, or role**
1. Open the [IAM console](https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/home).
1. Open the role associated with your instance profile, an IAM user, or an IAM group.
1. Under **Permissions**, attach the managed policy.
## X-Ray updates to AWS managed policies
View details about updates to AWS managed policies for X-Ray since this service began tracking these changes. For automatic alerts about changes to this page, subscribe to the RSS feed on the X-Ray [Document history](document-history.md) page.
| Change | Description | Date |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [IAM managed policies for X-Ray](#xray-permissions-managedpolicies) – Added new `AWSXrayCrossAccountSharingConfiguration`, and updated `AWSXrayReadOnlyAccess` and `AWSXrayFullAccess` policies. | X-Ray added Observability Access Manager (OAM) permissions `oam:ListSinks` and `oam:ListAttachedSinks` to these policies to allow the console to view traces shared from source accounts as part of [CloudWatch cross-account observability](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonCloudWatch/latest/monitoring/CloudWatch-Unified-Cross-Account.html). | November 27, 2022 |
| [IAM managed policies for X-Ray](#xray-permissions-managedpolicies) – Update to `AWSXrayReadOnlyAccess` policy. | X-Ray added an API action, `ListResourcePolicies`. | November 15, 2022 |
| [Using the X-Ray console](#security_iam_id-based-policy-examples-console) – Update to `AWSXrayReadOnlyAccess` policy | X-Ray added two new API actions, `BatchGetTraceSummaryById` and `GetDistinctTraceGraphs`. These actions are not intended to be called by your code. Therefore, these API actions are not included in the AWS CLI and AWS SDKs. | November 11, 2022 |
## Specifying a resource within an IAM policy
You can control access to resources by using an IAM policy. For actions that support resource-level permissions, you use an Amazon Resource Name (ARN) to identify the resource that the policy applies to.
All X-Ray actions can be used in an IAM policy to grant or deny users permission to use that action. However, not all [X-Ray actions](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/xray/latest/api/API_Operations.html) support resource-level permissions, which enable you to specify the resources on which an action can be performed.
For actions that don't support resource-level permissions, you must use "`*`" as the resource.
The following X-Ray actions support resource-level permissions:
+ `CreateGroup`
+ `GetGroup`
+ `UpdateGroup`
+ `DeleteGroup`
+ `CreateSamplingRule`
+ `UpdateSamplingRule`
+ `DeleteSamplingRule`
The following is an example of an identity-based permissions policy for a `CreateGroup` action. The example shows the use of an ARN relating to Group name `local-users` with the unique ID as a wildcard. The unique ID is generated when the group is created, and so it can't be predicted in the policy in advance. When using `GetGroup`, `UpdateGroup`, or `DeleteGroup`, you can define this as either a wildcard or the exact ARN, including ID.
------
#### [ JSON ]
****
```
{
"Version":"2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"xray:CreateGroup"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:xray:eu-west-1:123456789012:group/local-users/*"
]
}
]
}
```
------
The following is an example of an identity-based permissions policy for a `CreateSamplingRule` action.
------
#### [ JSON ]
****
```
{
"Version":"2012-10-17",
"Statement": [
{
"Effect": "Allow",
"Action": [
"xray:CreateSamplingRule"
],
"Resource": [
"arn:aws:xray:eu-west-1:123456789012:sampling-rule/base-scorekeep"
]
}
]
}
```
------
**Note**
The ARN of a sampling rule is defined by its name. Unlike group ARNs, sampling rules have no uniquely generated ID.
# Troubleshooting AWS X-Ray identity and access
Use the following information to help you diagnose and fix common issues that you might encounter when working with X-Ray and IAM.
**Topics**
+ [I Am not authorized to perform an action in X-Ray](#security_iam_troubleshoot-no-permissions)
+ [I Am not authorized to perform iam:PassRole](#security_iam_troubleshoot-passrole)
+ [I'm an administrator and want to allow others to access X-Ray](#security_iam_troubleshoot-admin-delegate)
+ [I want to allow people outside of my AWS account to access my X-Ray resources](#security_iam_troubleshoot-cross-account-access)
## I Am not authorized to perform an action in X-Ray
If the AWS Management Console tells you that you're not authorized to perform an action, then you must contact your administrator for assistance. Your administrator is the person that provided you with your sign-in credentials.
The following example error occurs when the `mateojackson` user tries to use the console to view details about a sampling rule but does not have `xray:GetSamplingRules` permissions.
```
User: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/mateojackson is not authorized to perform: xray:GetSamplingRules on resource: arn:${Partition}:xray:${Region}:${Account}:sampling-rule/${SamplingRuleName}
```
In this case, Mateo asks his administrator to update his policies to allow him to access the sampling rule resource using the `xray:GetSamplingRules` action.
## I Am not authorized to perform iam:PassRole
If you receive an error that you're not authorized to perform the `iam:PassRole` action, your policies must be updated to allow you to pass a role to X-Ray.
Some AWS services allow you to pass an existing role to that service instead of creating a new service role or service-linked role. To do this, you must have permissions to pass the role to the service.
The following example error occurs when an IAM user named `marymajor` tries to use the console to perform an action in X-Ray. However, the action requires the service to have permissions that are granted by a service role. Mary does not have permissions to pass the role to the service.
```
User: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/marymajor is not authorized to perform: iam:PassRole
```
In this case, Mary's policies must be updated to allow her to perform the `iam:PassRole` action.
If you need help, contact your AWS administrator. Your administrator is the person who provided you with your sign-in credentials.
## I'm an administrator and want to allow others to access X-Ray
To allow others to access X-Ray, you must grant permission to the people or applications that need access. If you are using AWS IAM Identity Center to manage people and applications, you assign permission sets to users or groups to define their level of access. Permission sets automatically create and assign IAM policies to IAM roles that are associated with the person or application. For more information, see [Permission sets](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/singlesignon/latest/userguide/permissionsetsconcept.html) in the *AWS IAM Identity Center User Guide*.
If you are not using IAM Identity Center, you must create IAM entities (users or roles) for the people or applications that need access. You must then attach a policy to the entity that grants them the correct permissions in X-Ray. After the permissions are granted, provide the credentials to the user or application developer. They will use those credentials to access AWS. To learn more about creating IAM users, groups, policies, and permissions, see [IAM Identities](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id.html) and [Policies and permissions in IAM](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
## I want to allow people outside of my AWS account to access my X-Ray resources
You can create a role that users in other accounts or people outside of your organization can use to access your resources. You can specify who is trusted to assume the role. For services that support resource-based policies or access control lists (ACLs), you can use those policies to grant people access to your resources.
To learn more, consult the following:
+ To learn whether X-Ray supports these features, see [How AWS X-Ray works with IAM](security_iam_service-with-iam.md).
+ To learn how to provide access to your resources across AWS accounts that you own, see [Providing access to an IAM user in another AWS account that you own](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_roles_common-scenarios_aws-accounts.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
+ To learn how to provide access to your resources to third-party AWS accounts, see [Providing access to AWS accounts owned by third parties](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_roles_common-scenarios_third-party.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
+ To learn how to provide access through identity federation, see [Providing access to externally authenticated users (identity federation)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_roles_common-scenarios_federated-users.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.
+ To learn the difference between using roles and resource-based policies for cross-account access, see [Cross account resource access in IAM](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies-cross-account-resource-access.html) in the *IAM User Guide*.