Using service-linked roles for Amazon WorkSpaces Instances

Amazon WorkSpaces Instances 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 WorkSpaces Instances. Service-linked roles are predefined by WorkSpaces Instances and include all the permissions that the service requires to call other AWS services on your behalf.

A service-linked role makes setting up WorkSpaces Instances easier because you don’t have to manually add the necessary permissions. WorkSpaces Instances defines the permissions of its service-linked roles, and unless defined otherwise, only WorkSpaces Instances 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 WorkSpaces Instances 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 WorkSpaces Instances

WorkSpaces Instances uses the service-linked role named AWSServiceRoleForWorkSpacesInstances – This service linked role provides administrative access to Amazon WorkSpaces to manage EC2 instances in your AWS account.

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

• workspaces-instances.amazonaws.com

It uses the following policy:

{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "ec2:DescribeInstances",
                "ec2:DescribeInstanceStatus",
                "ec2:DescribeVolumes"
            ],
            "Resource": "*"
        },
        {
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Action": [
                "ec2:TerminateInstances",
                "ec2:DeleteVolume",
                "ec2:StopInstances",
                "ec2:StartInstances"
            ],
            "Resource": "*",
            "Condition": {
                "StringLike": {
                    "ec2:ManagedResourceOperator": "workspaces-instances.amazonaws.com"
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

The role permissions policy named AWSServiceRolePolicyForWorkspacesInstances allows WorkSpaces Instances to complete the following actions on the specified resources:

• For monitoring your resources: ec2:DescribeInstances, ec2:DescribeInstanceStatus, and ec2:DescribeVolumes.

• For managing the ec2 instances which workspaces-instances.amazonaws.com operate: ec2:TerminateInstances, ec2:DeleteVolume, ec2:StopInstances, and ec2:StartInstances.

You must configure permissions to allow your users, groups, or roles 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 WorkSpaces Instances

You can use either the IAM or WorkSpaces console to create a service-linked role with the Workspaces instances use case.

If you are using either the AWS CLI or the AWS API, create a service-linked role with the workspaces-instances.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.

Editing a service-linked role for WorkSpaces Instances

WorkSpaces Instances does not allow you to edit the AWSServiceRoleForWorkSpacesInstances 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 WorkSpaces Instances

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 the resources for your service-linked role before you can manually delete it.

Note

If the WorkSpaces Instances service is using the role when you try to delete the resources, then the deletion might fail. If that happens, wait for a few minutes and try the operation again.

To remove WorkSpaces Instances resources used by the AWSServiceRoleForWorkSpacesInstances

1. Use the ec2 console or api to list all the volumes with the operator.principal being workspaces-instances.amazonaws.com.

2. Delete all those volumes using the console or api of workspaces-instances service.

3. Delete all WorkSpaces instances in your account.

To manually delete the service-linked role using IAM

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

Supported Regions for WorkSpaces Instances service-linked roles

WorkSpaces Instances supports using service-linked roles in all of the Regions where the service is available. For more information, see AWS Regions and endpoints.