Creating custom IAM policy statements to access data in Amazon Neptune - Amazon Neptune
Using query actions

Creating custom IAM policy statements to access data in Amazon Neptune

Neptune data-access policy statements use data-access actions, resources, and condition keys, all of which are preceded by a neptune-db: prefix.

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Using query actions in Neptune data-access policy statements

There are three Neptune query actions that can be used in data-access policy statements, namely ReadDataViaQuery, WriteDataViaQuery, and DeleteDataViaQuery. A particular query may need permissions to perform more than one of these actions, and it may not always be obvious what combination of these actions must be permitted in order to run a query.

Before running a query, Neptune determines the permissions needed to run each step of the query, and combines these into the full set of permissions that the query requires. Note that this full set of permissions includes all actions that the query might perform, which is not necessarily the set of actions that the query actually will perform when it runs over your data.

This means that to permit a given query to run, you must provide permissions for every action that the query could possibly perform, whether or not it actually performs them.

Here are some sample Gremlin queries where this is explained in more detail:

  • g.V().count()

    g.V() and count() only require read access, so the query as a whole only requires ReadDataViaQuery access.

  • g.addV()

    addV() needs to check whether a vertex with a given ID exists or not before inserting a new one. This means that it requires both ReadDataViaQuery and WriteDataViaQuery access.

  • g.V('1').as('a').out('created').addE('createdBy').to('a')

    g.V('1').as('a') and out('created') only require read access, but addE().from('a') requires both read and write access because addE() needs to read the from and to vertices and check whether an edge with the same ID already exists before adding a new one. The query as a whole therefore needs both ReadDataViaQuery and WriteDataViaQuery access.

  • g.V().drop()

    g.V() only requires read access. drop() needs both read and delete access because it needs to read a vertex or edge before deleting it, so the query as a whole requires both ReadDataViaQuery and DeleteDataViaQuery access.

  • g.V('1').property(single, 'key1', 'value1')

    g.V('1') only requires read access, but property(single, 'key1', 'value1') requires read, write, and delete access. Here, the property() step inserts the key and value if they do not already exist in the vertex, but if they do already exist, it deletes the existing property value and inserts a new value in its place. Therefore, the query as a whole requires ReadDataViaQuery, WriteDataViaQuery, and DeleteDataViaQuery access.

    Any query that contains a property() step will need ReadDataViaQuery, WriteDataViaQuery, and DeleteDataViaQuery permissions.

Here are some openCypher examples:

  • MATCH (n)
RETURN n

    This query reads all nodes in the database and returns them, which only requires ReadDataViaQuery access.

  • MATCH (n:Person)
SET n.dept = 'AWS'

    This query requires ReadDataViaQuery, WriteDataViaQuery, and DeleteDataViaQuery access. It reads all nodes with the label 'Person' and either adds a new property with the key dept and value AWS to them, or if the dept property already exists, it deletes the old value and inserts AWS instead. Also, if the value to be set is null, SET deletes the property altogether.

    Because the SET clause may in some cases need to delete an existing value, it always needs DeleteDataViaQuery permissions as well as ReadDataViaQuery and WriteDataViaQuery permissions.

  • MATCH (n:Person)
DETACH DELETE n

    This query needs ReadDataViaQuery and DeleteDataViaQuery permissions. It finds all the nodes with The label Person and deletes them along with the edges connected to those nodes and any associated labels and properties.

  • MERGE (n:Person {name: 'John'})-[:knows]->(:Person {name: 'Peter'})
RETURN n

    This query needs ReadDataViaQuery and WriteDataViaQuery permissions. The MERGE clause either matches a specified pattern or creates it. Since, a write can occur if the pattern is not matched, write permissions are needed as well as read permissions.