amazon.aws.iam_role module – Manage AWS IAM roles

Note

This module is part of the amazon.aws collection (version 8.2.1).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install amazon.aws. You need further requirements to be able to use this module, see Requirements for details.

To use it in a playbook, specify: amazon.aws.iam_role.

New in community.aws 1.0.0

Synopsis

  • Manage AWS IAM roles.

Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

  • python >= 3.6

  • boto3 >= 1.26.0

  • botocore >= 1.29.0

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

access_key

aliases: aws_access_key_id, aws_access_key, ec2_access_key

string

AWS access key ID.

See the AWS documentation for more information about access tokens https://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/aws-sec-cred-types.html#access-keys-and-secret-access-keys.

The AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID, AWS_ACCESS_KEY or EC2_ACCESS_KEY environment variables may also be used in decreasing order of preference.

The aws_access_key and profile options are mutually exclusive.

The aws_access_key_id alias was added in release 5.1.0 for consistency with the AWS botocore SDK.

The ec2_access_key alias has been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2024-12-01.

Support for the EC2_ACCESS_KEY environment variable has been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2024-12-01.

assume_role_policy_document

json

The trust relationship policy document that grants an entity permission to assume the role.

This parameter is required when state=present.

aws_ca_bundle

path

The location of a CA Bundle to use when validating SSL certificates.

The AWS_CA_BUNDLE environment variable may also be used.

aws_config

dictionary

A dictionary to modify the botocore configuration.

Parameters can be found in the AWS documentation https://botocore.amazonaws.com/v1/documentation/api/latest/reference/config.html#botocore.config.Config.

boundary

aliases: boundary_policy_arn

string

The ARN of an IAM managed policy to use to restrict the permissions this role can pass on to IAM roles/users that it creates.

Boundaries cannot be set on Instance Profiles, as such if this option is specified then create_instance_profile must be false.

This is intended for roles/users that have permissions to create new IAM objects.

For more information on boundaries, see https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/access_policies_boundaries.html.

create_instance_profile

boolean

If no IAM instance profile with the same name exists, setting create_instance_profile=True will create an IAM instance profile along with the role.

This option has been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2026-05-01. The amazon.aws.iam_instance_profile module can be used to manage instance profiles.

Defaults to True

Choices:

  • false

  • true

debug_botocore_endpoint_logs

boolean

Use a botocore.endpoint logger to parse the unique (rather than total) "resource:action" API calls made during a task, outputing the set to the resource_actions key in the task results. Use the aws_resource_action callback to output to total list made during a playbook.

The ANSIBLE_DEBUG_BOTOCORE_LOGS environment variable may also be used.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

delete_instance_profile

boolean

When delete_instance_profile=true and state=absent deleting a role will also delete an instance profile with the same name as the role, but only if the instance profile is associated with the role.

Only applies when state=absent.

This option has been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2026-05-01. The amazon.aws.iam_instance_profile module can be used to manage instance profiles.

Defaults to False

Choices:

  • false

  • true

description

string

Provides a description of the role.

endpoint_url

aliases: ec2_url, aws_endpoint_url, s3_url

string

URL to connect to instead of the default AWS endpoints. While this can be used to connection to other AWS-compatible services the amazon.aws and community.aws collections are only tested against AWS.

The AWS_URL or EC2_URL environment variables may also be used, in decreasing order of preference.

The ec2_url and s3_url aliases have been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2024-12-01.

Support for the EC2_URL environment variable has been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2024-12-01.

managed_policies

aliases: managed_policy

list / elements=string

A list of managed policy ARNs, or friendly names.

To remove all policies set purge_policies=true and managed_policies=[].

To embed an inline policy, use amazon.aws.iam_policy.

max_session_duration

integer

The maximum duration (in seconds) of a session when assuming the role.

Valid values are between 1 and 12 hours (3600 and 43200 seconds).

name

aliases: role_name

string / required

The name of the role.

Note: Role names are unique within an account. Paths (path) do not affect the uniqueness requirements of name. For example it is not permitted to have both /Path1/MyRole and /Path2/MyRole in the same account.

role_name was added as an alias in release 7.2.0.

path

aliases: prefix, path_prefix

string

The path of the role.

For more information about IAM paths, see the AWS IAM identifiers documentation https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/reference_identifiers.html.

Updating the path on an existing role is not currently supported and will result in a warning.

path_prefix and prefix were added as aliases in release 7.2.0.

profile

aliases: aws_profile

string

A named AWS profile to use for authentication.

See the AWS documentation for more information about named profiles https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-configure-profiles.html.

The AWS_PROFILE environment variable may also be used.

The profile option is mutually exclusive with the aws_access_key, aws_secret_key and security_token options.

purge_policies

aliases: purge_policy, purge_managed_policies

boolean

When purge_policies=true any managed policies not listed in managed_policies will be detatched.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

purge_tags

boolean

If purge_tags=true and tags is set, existing tags will be purged from the resource to match exactly what is defined by tags parameter.

If the tags parameter is not set then tags will not be modified, even if purge_tags=True.

Tag keys beginning with aws: are reserved by Amazon and can not be modified. As such they will be ignored for the purposes of the purge_tags parameter. See the Amazon documentation for more information https://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/aws_tagging.html#tag-conventions.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

region

aliases: aws_region, ec2_region

string

The AWS region to use.

For global services such as IAM, Route53 and CloudFront, region is ignored.

The AWS_REGION or EC2_REGION environment variables may also be used.

See the Amazon AWS documentation for more information http://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/rande.html#ec2_region.

The ec2_region alias has been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2024-12-01

Support for the EC2_REGION environment variable has been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2024-12-01.

secret_key

aliases: aws_secret_access_key, aws_secret_key, ec2_secret_key

string

AWS secret access key.

See the AWS documentation for more information about access tokens https://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/aws-sec-cred-types.html#access-keys-and-secret-access-keys.

The AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY, AWS_SECRET_KEY, or EC2_SECRET_KEY environment variables may also be used in decreasing order of preference.

The secret_key and profile options are mutually exclusive.

The aws_secret_access_key alias was added in release 5.1.0 for consistency with the AWS botocore SDK.

The ec2_secret_key alias has been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2024-12-01.

Support for the EC2_SECRET_KEY environment variable has been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2024-12-01.

session_token

aliases: aws_session_token, security_token, aws_security_token, access_token

string

AWS STS session token for use with temporary credentials.

See the AWS documentation for more information about access tokens https://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/aws-sec-cred-types.html#access-keys-and-secret-access-keys.

The AWS_SESSION_TOKEN, AWS_SECURITY_TOKEN or EC2_SECURITY_TOKEN environment variables may also be used in decreasing order of preference.

The security_token and profile options are mutually exclusive.

Aliases aws_session_token and session_token were added in release 3.2.0, with the parameter being renamed from security_token to session_token in release 6.0.0.

The security_token, aws_security_token, and access_token aliases have been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2024-12-01.

Support for the EC2_SECRET_KEY and AWS_SECURITY_TOKEN environment variables has been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2024-12-01.

state

string

Create or remove the IAM role.

Choices:

  • "present" ← (default)

  • "absent"

tags

aliases: resource_tags

dictionary

A dictionary representing the tags to be applied to the resource.

If the tags parameter is not set then tags will not be modified.

validate_certs

boolean

When set to false, SSL certificates will not be validated for communication with the AWS APIs.

Setting validate_certs=false is strongly discouraged, as an alternative, consider setting aws_ca_bundle instead.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

wait

boolean

When wait=True the module will wait for up to wait_timeout seconds for IAM role creation before returning.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

wait_timeout

integer

How long (in seconds) to wait for creation / update to complete.

Default: 120

Notes

Note

  • Caution: For modules, environment variables and configuration files are read from the Ansible ‘host’ context and not the ‘controller’ context. As such, files may need to be explicitly copied to the ‘host’. For lookup and connection plugins, environment variables and configuration files are read from the Ansible ‘controller’ context and not the ‘host’ context.

  • The AWS SDK (boto3) that Ansible uses may also read defaults for credentials and other settings, such as the region, from its configuration files in the Ansible ‘host’ context (typically ~/.aws/credentials). See https://boto3.amazonaws.com/v1/documentation/api/latest/guide/credentials.html for more information.

Examples

# Note: These examples do not set authentication details, see the AWS Guide for details.

- name: Create a role with description and tags
  amazon.aws.iam_role:
    name: mynewrole
    assume_role_policy_document: "{{ lookup('file','policy.json') }}"
    description: This is My New Role
    tags:
      env: dev

- name: "Create a role and attach a managed policy called 'PowerUserAccess'"
  amazon.aws.iam_role:
    name: mynewrole
    assume_role_policy_document: "{{ lookup('file','policy.json') }}"
    managed_policies:
      - arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/PowerUserAccess

- name: Keep the role created above but remove all managed policies
  amazon.aws.iam_role:
    name: mynewrole
    assume_role_policy_document: "{{ lookup('file','policy.json') }}"
    managed_policies: []

- name: Delete the role
  amazon.aws.iam_role:
    name: mynewrole
    assume_role_policy_document: "{{ lookup('file', 'policy.json') }}"
    state: absent

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key

Description

iam_role

complex

Dictionary containing the IAM Role data.

Returned: success

arn

string

The Amazon Resource Name (ARN) specifying the role.

Returned: always

Sample: "arn:aws:iam::1234567890:role/mynewrole"

assume_role_policy_document

dictionary

The policy that grants an entity permission to assume the role.

Note: the case of keys in this dictionary are no longer converted from CamelCase to snake_case. This behaviour changed in release 8.0.0.

Returned: always

Sample: {"statement": [{"action": "sts:AssumeRole", "effect": "Allow", "principal": {"service": "ec2.amazonaws.com"}, "sid": ""}], "version": "2012-10-17"}

assume_role_policy_document_raw

dictionary

added in amazon.aws 5.3.0

Note: this return value has been deprecated and will be removed in a release after 2026-05-01. iam_role.assume_role_policy_document and iam_role.assume_role_policy_document_raw now use the same format.

Returned: always

Sample: {"statement": [{"action": "sts:AssumeRole", "effect": "Allow", "principal": {"service": "ec2.amazonaws.com"}, "sid": ""}], "version": "2012-10-17"}

attached_policies

list / elements=dictionary

A list of dicts containing the name and ARN of the managed IAM policies attached to the role.

Returned: always

Sample: [{"policy_arn": "arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/PowerUserAccess", "policy_name": "PowerUserAccess"}]

policy_arn

string

The Amazon Resource Name (ARN) specifying the managed policy.

Returned: success

Sample: "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:policy/test_policy"

policy_name

string

The friendly name that identifies the policy.

Returned: success

Sample: "test_policy"

create_date

string

The date and time, in ISO 8601 date-time format, when the role was created.

Returned: always

Sample: "2016-08-14T04:36:28+00:00"

description

string

A description of the role.

Returned: always

Sample: "This is My New Role"

max_session_duration

integer

The maximum duration (in seconds) of a session when assuming the role.

Returned: always

Sample: 3600

path

string

The path to the role.

Returned: always

Sample: "/"

role_id

string

The stable and unique string identifying the role.

Returned: always

Sample: "ABCDEFF4EZ4ABCDEFV4ZC"

role_last_used

dictionary

Contains information about the last time that an IAM role was used.

Returned: always

Sample: {"last_used_date": "2023-11-22T21:54:29+00:00", "region": "us-east-2"}

last_used_date

string

The date and time, in ISO 8601 date-time format that the role was last used.

Returned: always

region

string

The name of the Amazon Web Services Region in which the role was last used.

Returned: always

role_name

string

The friendly name that identifies the role.

Returned: always

Sample: "myrole"

tags

dictionary

role tags

Returned: always

Sample: {"Env": "Prod"}

Authors

  • Rob White (@wimnat)