Delegated administrator for AWS Organizations - AWS Organizations
Create or update a resource-based delegation policyView a resource-based delegation policyDelete a resource-based delegation policy

Delegated administrator for AWS Organizations

We recommend that you use the AWS Organizations management account and its users and roles only for tasks that must be performed by that account. We also recommend that you store your AWS resources in other member accounts in the organization and keep them out of the management account. This is because security features like Organizations service control policies (SCPs) do not restrict users or roles in the management account.

From the organization's management account, you can delegate policy management for Organizations to specified member accounts to perform policy actions that are by default available only to the management account.

Create or update a resource-based delegation policy

From the management account, create or update a resource-based delegation policy for your organization and add a statement that specifies which member accounts can perform actions on policies. You can add multiple statements in the policy to denote a different set of permissions to member accounts.

Minimum permissions

To create or update the resource-based delegation policy, you need permissions to run the following actions:

  • organizations:PutResourcePolicy

  • organizations:DescribeResourcePolicy

Additionally, you must grant roles and users in the delegated administrator account the corresponding IAM permissions to the required actions. Without IAM permissions, it is assumed that the calling principal doesn’t have the required permissions to manage AWS Organizations policies.

AWS Management Console

Add statements to the resource-based delegation policy in the AWS Management Console using one of the following methods:

  • JSON policy – Paste and customize an example resource-based delegation policy to use in your account, or type your own JSON policy document in the JSON editor.

  • Visual editor – Construct a new delegation policy in the visual editor, which guides you in creating a delegation policy without having to write JSON syntax.

Use the JSON policy editor to create or update a delegation policy

  1. Sign in to the AWS Organizations console. You must sign in as an IAM user, assume an IAM role, or sign in as the root user (not recommended) in the organization’s management account.

  2. Choose Settings.

  3. In the Delegated administrator for AWS Organizations section, choose Delegate to create the Organizations delegation policy. To update an existing delegation policy, choose Edit.

  4. Type or paste a JSON policy document. For details about the IAM policy language, see IAM JSON policy reference.

  5. Resolve any security warnings, errors, or general warnings generated during policy validation, and then choose Create policy to save your work.

Use the visual editor to create or update a delegation policy

  1. Sign in to the AWS Organizations console. You must sign in as an IAM user, assume an IAM role, or sign in as the root user (not recommended) in the organization’s management account.

  2. Choose Settings.

  3. In the Delegated administrator for AWS Organizations section, choose Delegate to create the Organizations delegation policy. To update an existing delegation policy, choose Edit.

  4. On the Create Delegation policy page, choose Add new statement.

  5. Set Effect to Allow.

  6. Add Principal to define the member accounts to which you want to delegate. For details about syntax, see the Example resource-based delegation policies.

  7. From the list of Actions, choose the actions you want to delegate. You can use Filter actions to narrow down the choices.

  8. To specify if the delegated member account can attach policies to the organization root or organizational units (OUs), set Resources. You must also select policy as a resource type. For additional details, see the Example resource-based delegation policies. You can specify resources in the following ways:

    • Choose Add a resource and construct the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) by following the prompts in the dialog box.

    • List resource ARNs manually in the editor. For more information about ARN syntax, see Amazon Resource Name (ARN) in the AWS General Reference Guide. For information about using ARNs in the resource element of a policy, see IAM JSON policy elements: Resource.

  9. Choose Add a condition to specify other conditions, including the policy type you want to delegate. Choose the condition's Condition key, Tag key, Qualifier, and Operator, and then type a Value. For additional details, see Example resource-based delegation policies. When you're finished, choose Add condition. For more information about the Condition element, see IAM JSON policy elements: Condition in the IAM JSON policy reference.

  10. To add more permission blocks, choose Add new statement. For each block, repeat steps 5 through 9.

  11. Resolve any security warnings, errors, or general warnings generated during policy validation, and then choose Create policy to save your work.

AWS CLI & AWS SDKs
Create or update a delegation policy

You can use the following command to create or update a delegation policy:

  • AWS CLI: put-resource-policy

    The following example creates or updates the delegation policy.

    $ aws organizations put-resource-policy --content
{
    "Version": "2012-10-17",
    "Statement": [
        {
            "Sid": "Fully_manage_backup_policies",
            "Effect": "Allow",
            "Principal": {
                "AWS": "135791357913"
            },
            "Action": [
                "organizations:DescribeOrganization",
                "organizations:ListAccounts",
                "organizations:CreatePolicy",
                "organizations:DescribePolicy",
                "organizations:UpdatePolicy",
                "organizations:DeletePolicy",
                "organizations:AttachPolicy",
                "organizations:DetachPolicy"
            ],
            "Resource": [
                "arn:aws:organizations::246802468024:root/o-abcdef/r-pqrstu",
                "arn:aws:organizations::246802468024:ou/o-abcdef/*",
                "arn:aws:organizations::246802468024:account/o-abcdef/*",
                "arn:aws:organizations::246802468024:organization/policy/backup_policy/*",
            ],
            "Condition": {
                "StringLikeIfExists": {
                    "organizations:PolicyType": [
                        "BACKUP_POLICY"
                    ]
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}
Supported delegation policy actions

The following actions are supported for delegation policy:

  • AttachPolicy

  • CreatePolicy

  • DeletePolicy

  • DescribeAccount

  • DescribeCreateAccountStatus

  • DescribeEffectivePolicy

  • DescribeHandshake

  • DescribeOrganization

  • DescribeOrganizationalUnit

  • DescribePolicy

  • DescribeResourcePolicy

  • DetachPolicy

  • DisablePolicyType

  • EnablePolicyType

  • ListAccounts

  • ListAccountsForParent

  • ListAWSServiceAccessForOrganization

  • ListChildren

  • ListCreateAccountStatus

  • ListDelegatedAdministrators

  • ListDelegatedServicesForAccount

  • ListHandshakesForAccount

  • ListHandshakesForOrganization

  • ListOrganizationalUnitsForParent

  • ListParents

  • ListPolicies

  • ListPoliciesForTarget

  • ListRoots

  • ListTagsForResource

  • ListTargetsForPolicy

  • TagResource

  • UntagResource

  • UpdatePolicy

Supported condition keys

Only condition keys supported by AWS Organizations can be used for delegation policy. For more information, see Condition keys for AWS Organizations in the Service Authorization Reference.

View a resource-based delegation policy

From the management account, view your organization’s resource-based delegation policy to understand which delegated administrators have access to manage which policy types.

Minimum permissions

To view the resource-based delegation policy, you need permissions to run the following action: organizations:DescribeResourcePolicy.

AWS Management Console
To view a delegation policy

  1. Sign in to the AWS Organizations console. You must sign in as an IAM user, assume an IAM role, or sign in as the root user (not recommended) in the organization’s management account.

  2. Choose Settings.

  3. In the Delegated administrator for AWS Organizations section, scroll to view the full delegation policy.

AWS CLI & AWS SDKs
View a delegation policy

You can use the following command to view a delegation policy:

  • AWS CLI: describe-resource-policy

    The following example retrieves the policy.

    $ aws organizations describe-resource-policy

Delete a resource-based delegation policy

When you no longer need to delegate the management of policies in your organization, you can delete the resource-based delegation policy from the organization's management account.

Important

If you delete your resource-based delegation policy, you can't recover it.

Minimum permissions

To delete the resource-based delegation policy, you need permissions to run the following action: organizations:DeleteResourcePolicy.

AWS Management Console
To delete a delegation policy

  1. Sign in to the AWS Organizations console. You must sign in as an IAM user, assume an IAM role, or sign in as the root user (not recommended) in the organization’s management account.

  2. Choose Settings.

  3. In the Delegated administrator for AWS Organizations section, choose Delete.

  4. In the Delete policy confirmation dialog box, type delete. Then, choose Delete policy.

AWS CLI & AWS SDKs
Delete a delegation policy

You can use the following command to delete a delegation policy:

  • AWS CLI: delete-resource-policy

    The following example deletes the policy.

    $ aws organizations delete-resource-policy