Getting Started with Role Based Access Control

Learn how to control user access and permissions in LogScale

Workflow 1

New to RBAC?

Start with the foundation

Begin with RBAC concepts, understand permission scopes and hierarchy, learn how users, groups, and roles work together, and build a strong foundation before configuring access controls. Perfect for those new to role-based access control.

  • What is RBAC?
  • Permission Scopes and Hierarchy
  • Users, Groups, and Roles
  • Authorization Model
Start Here Workflow 2

Ready to Configure RBAC?

I know RBAC basics - show me how to set it up

You understand RBAC concepts and are ready to configure access controls. Jump into creating roles, managing groups, assigning permissions, and implementing best practices for real-world scenarios.

  • Creating Roles and Groups
  • Assigning Permissions
  • Identity Provider Integration
  • Troubleshooting Access Issues
Get Started

Workflow 1: New to RBAC?

Learn the fundamentals of role-based access control step by step. Understanding these concepts makes configuring permissions intuitive and secure.

1

Understanding the Foundation

Grasp the RBAC model and how authorization works in LogScale

What is RBAC?

conceptbeginner

Understand the difference between authentication (who you are) and authorization (what you can do). Learn about the four permission scopes: Cluster, Organization, Repository/View, and Asset.

The Building Blocks

guideintermediate

Understand Users (individual people), Groups (collections of users), Roles (named sets of permissions), and Permissions (specific capabilities).
2

Understand Permission Levels

Learn about cluster, orgnaization, and repository permissions and the differences between them

Organization and Cluster Permissions

guideintermediate

Learn how organization-level and cluster-level permissions work. Cluster permissions apply only to self-hosted environments.

Repository and View Permissions

guideintermediate

Understand repository and view permissions. Learn about the four permission levels and how permissions are NOT inherited between scopes.

Permission Strategy Patterns

guideintermediate

Apply the principle of least privilege, choose between group-based versus direct assignment strategies, establish role naming conventions, and plan for multi-tenant scenarios.
3

How Asset Permissions Work

Learn how to share dashboards, queries, alerts, and other assets

Asset Sharing Permissions

guideintermediate

Control who can view, edit, and delete dashboards. Manage saved query permissions, alert and action permissions, and scheduled report access control.
4

Troubleshooting and Reference

Resources to diagnose and fix permission issues

Permissions by Functionality

guideintermediate

Reference guide showing which permissions are needed for specific LogScale functionality.

Permissions by Name

guideintermediate

Alphabetical reference of all available permissions and what they grant access to.

Audit Log for User Activity

troubleshootingintermediate

Use the humio-audit repository to track user actions, role changes, group modifications, and permission grants. Essential for security auditing and troubleshooting access issues.

Workflow 2: Ready to Configure RBAC?

Implement role-based access control in this logical progression from creating components to troubleshooting issues.

1

RBAC Quick Start

Get a rapid overview and jump into configuration

RBAC Overview

conceptintermediate

Quick reference: permission scopes, default roles, and the relationship between users, groups, and roles.

RBAC Building Blocks

guideintermediate

Understand users, groups, roles, and permissions before you configure them.

Permission Strategy Patterns

guideintermediate

Apply the principle of least privilege, choose group-based versus direct assignment, establish role naming conventions, and plan for multi-tenant scenarios.
2

Creating Roles

Build custom and default roles with specific permissions

Manage Roles

guideintermediate

Create custom roles, and assign granular permissions.

Edit Role Permissions

guideintermediate

Modify permissions for existing roles to match your organization's needs.

Default Roles

guideintermediate

Learn about Reader, Admin, Member, and Deleter default roles and their predefined permissions.
3

Managing Groups

Create and manage groups for organizing users, and connect roles to groups with default permissions and exceptions

Manage Groups

guideintermediate

Create groups manually, configure group properties, and establish naming conventions.

Add Users to Groups

guideintermediate

Manually add users to groups to grant them the group's permissions.

Query Prefix

guideintermediate

Automatically prepend filters to user queries based on group membership to restrict data access.

Repository Exceptions

guideintermediate

Create exceptions where a group has different roles in specific repositories.
4

Managing Users

Add and configure user accounts, and directly assign roles to individual users when needed

Manage Users

guideintermediate

Add users manually, configure auto-creation settings, and edit user properties.

Assign Roles to Users

guideintermediate

Directly assign roles to individual users when group-based assignment is not appropriate. Understand when to use direct assignment versus group membership.

Aggregate Permissions

guideintermediate

View all permissions a user has across multiple assigned roles to understand their total access.
5

Sharing Assets

Grant access to dashboards, queries, alerts, and actions

Grant User Access to Assets

guideintermediate

Share specific assets (dashboards, queries, alerts) with individual users.

Grant Group Access to Assets

guideintermediate

Share specific assets with groups to simplify permission management.
6

Identity Provider Integration

Automate user and group management

Group Memberships

guideintermediate

Understand how group membership works with manual assignment and identity provider synchronization.

Group Synchronization

guideintermediate

Automate group membership based on identity provider group membership. Configure one-to-many group mapping strategies for SAML and LDAP.
7

Reference and Troubleshooting

Find permissions and diagnose issues

Repository and View Permissions

guideintermediate

Complete reference of all repository and view permissions with descriptions.

Organization Permissions

guideintermediate

Complete reference of all organization-level permissions with descriptions.

Cluster Permissions

guideintermediate

For self-hosted: Complete reference of all cluster-level permissions with descriptions.

Permissions by Functionality

guideintermediate

Find which permissions are needed for specific LogScale features and functionality.

Permissions by Name

guideintermediate

Alphabetical reference of all available permissions and what they control.

Audit Log for User Activity

troubleshootingintermediate

Use the humio-audit repository to track user actions, role changes, group modifications, and permission grants. Essential for security auditing and troubleshooting access issues.