Using service-linked roles for AWS Service Catalog

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

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

AWS Service Catalog can use the service-linked role named AWSServiceRoleForServiceCatalogSync – This service-linked role is required for AWS Service Catalog to use CodeConnections and to create, update, and describe AWS Service Catalog Provisioning Artifacts for a product.

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

The role permissions policy named AWSServiceCatalogSyncServiceRolePolicy allows AWS Service Catalog to complete the following actions on the specified resources:

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 the AWSServiceRoleForServiceCatalogSync service-linked role

You do not need to manually create the AWSServiceRoleForServiceCatalogSync service-linked role. AWS Service Catalog creates the service-linked role for you automatically when you establish CodeConnections in the AWS Management Console, the AWS CLI, or the AWS API.

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 establish CodeConnections, AWS Service Catalog creates the service-linked role for you again.

You can also use the IAM console to create a service-linked role with the synced AWS Service Catalog Products use case. In the AWS CLI or the AWS API, create a service-linked role with the sync.servicecatalog.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.

Service-linked role permissions for AWSServiceRoleForServiceCatalogOrgsDataSync

AWS Service Catalog can use the service-linked role named AWSServiceRoleForServiceCatalogOrgsDataSync – This service-linked role is required for AWS Service Catalog organizations to stay in sync with AWS Organizations.

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

The AWSServiceRoleForServiceCatalogOrgsDataSync service-linked role requires that you use the following trust policy in addition to the AWSServiceCatalogOrgsDataSyncServiceRolePolicy managed policy:

{ 
  "Version": "2012-10-17", 
  "Statement": [ 
    { 
      "Effect": "Allow", 
      "Principal": { 
        "Service": "orgsdatasync.servicecatalog.amazonaws.com" 
      }, 
      "Action": "sts:AssumeRole" 
    } 
  ] 
}
      

The role permissions policy named AWSServiceCatalogOrgsDataSyncServiceRolePolicy allows AWS Service Catalog to complete the following actions on the specified resources:

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 the AWSServiceRoleForServiceCatalogOrgsDataSync service-linked role

You do not need to manually create the AWSServiceRoleForServiceCatalogOrgsDataSyncservice-linked role. AWS Service Catalog considers your action of enabling Sharing with AWS Organizations or Sharing a Portfolio as permission for AWS Service Catalog to create a SLR in the background on your behalf.

AWS Service Catalog creates the service-linked role for you automatically when you request EnableAWSOrganizationsAccess or CreatePortfolioShare in the AWS Management Console, the AWS CLI, or the AWS API.

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 request EnableAWSOrganizationsAccess or CreatePortfolioShare, AWS Service Catalog creates the service-linked role for you again.

Editing a service-linked role for AWS Service Catalog

AWS Service Catalog does not allow you to edit the AWSServiceRoleForServiceCatalogSync or AWSServiceRoleForServiceCatalogOrgsDataSync 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.

Deleting a service-linked role for AWS Service Catalog

You can use the IAM console, the AWS CLI, or the AWS API to manually delete the AWSServiceRoleForServiceCatalogSync or AWSServiceRoleForServiceCatalogOrgsDataSync SLR. To do this, you must first manually remove all resources that are using the service-linked role (for example, any AWS Service Catalog products that are synced to an external repository), and then the service-linked role can be manually deleted.

Supported regions for AWS Service Catalog service-linked roles

AWS Service Catalog supports using service-linked roles in all of the regions where the service is available. For more information, see AWS regions and endpoints.