[[mapping-roles]]
=== Mapping Users and Groups to Roles

If you authenticate users with the `native` or `file` realms, you can manage
role assignment user the <<managing-native-users, User Management APIs>> or the
<<managing-file-users, file-realm>> command-line tool respectively.

For other types of realms, you must create _role-mappings_ that define which
roles should be assigned to each user based on their username, groups, or
other metadata.

{security} allows role-mappings to be defined via an
<<mapping-roles-api, API>>, or managed through <<mapping-roles-file, files>>.
These two sources of role-mapping are combined inside of {security}, so it is
possible for a single user to have some roles that have been mapped through
the API, and other roles that are mapped through files.

When you use role-mappings, you assign existing roles to users.
The available roles should either be added using the
<<roles-management-api, Role Management APIs>> or defined in the
<<roles-management-file, roles file>>. Either role-mapping method can use
either role management method. For example, when you use the role mapping API,
you are able to map users to both API-managed roles and file-managed roles
(and likewise for file-based role-mappings).

[[mapping-roles-api]]
==== Using the Role Mapping API

You can define role-mappings through the
{ref}/security-api-role-mapping.html[role mapping API].

Each role-mapping has a distinct name which is used to interact with it via the
API. The name does not affect the behaviour of the mapping in any way, but it
is needed so that you can update or delete an existing mapping.

A mapping has _rules_ that determine which users should be matched by this
mapping, a list of _roles_ that will be granted to the users that match.

The rule is a logical condition that is expressed using a JSON DSL.
An mapping example with a simple rule is shown below:

[source, js]
------------------------------------------------------------
{
  "roles": [ "superuser" ],
  "enabled": true,
  "rules": {
    "any": [
      {
        "field": {
          "username": "esadmin"
        }
      },
      {
        "field": {
          "groups": "cn=admins,dc=example,dc=com"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}
------------------------------------------------------------
// NOTCONSOLE

This mapping matches any user where either of these conditions are met:

- the username is `esadmin`
- the user is in the `cn=admins,dc=example,dc=com` group


The rules can be more complex and include wildcard matching:
[source, js]
------------------------------------------------------------
{
  "roles": [ "superuser" ],
  "enabled": true,
  "rules": {
    "all": [
      {
        "any": [
          {
            "field": {
              "dn": "*,ou=admin,dc=example,dc=com"
            }
          },
          {
            "field": {
              "username": [ "es-admin", "es-system" ]
            }
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "field": {
          "groups": "cn=people,dc=example,dc=com"
        }
      },
      {
        "except": {
          "field": {
            "metadata.terminated_date": null
          }
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}
------------------------------------------------------------
// NOTCONSOLE

The mapping above matches any user where *all* of these conditions are met:

- the _Distinguished Name_ matches the pattern `*,ou=admin,dc=example,dc=com`,
  or the username is `es-admin`, or the username is `es-system`
- the user in in the `cn=people,dc=example,dc=com` group
- the user does not have a `terminated_date`

[float]
===== The Role Mapping DSL
The DSL supports the following rule types:

|=======================
| Type     | Value Type (child)         | Description

| `any`    | An array of rules          | Evaluates to `true` if *any* of its
                                          children are true
| `all`    | An array of rules          | Evaluates to `true` if *all* of its
                                          children are true
| `field`  | An object                  | <<mapping-roles-rule-field, See below>>
| `except` | A single rule as an object | Only valid as a child of an `all`
                                          rule, the `except` is `true` if its
                                          child is `false` (negation).
|=======================

[float]
[[mapping-roles-rule-field]]
===== The `field` Rule

The `field` rule is the primary building block for a role-mapping expression.
It takes a single object as value, and that object must contains a single
member with key _F_ and value _V_. The field rule looks up the value of _F_
within the user object and then tests whether the user-value _matches_ the
provided value _V_.

The value specified in the field rule may be one of the following types:
[cols="2,3m,5"]
|=======================
| Type               | Example                     | Description

| Simple String      | "esadmin"                   | Matches exactly the provided value
| Wildcard String    | "*,dc=example,dc=com"       | Matches the provided value using a wildcard
| Regular Expression | "/.\*-admin[0-9]*/"         | Matches the provided value using a
                                                     {ref}/query-dsl-regexp-query.html#regexp-syntax[Lucene regexp]
| Number             | 7                           | Matches an equivalent numerical value
| Null               | null                        | Matches a null, or missing value
| Array              | ["admin", "operator"]       | Tests each element in the  array in
                                                     accordance with the definitions above.
                                                     The match is successful if _any_ of elements match.
|=======================

===== Available User Fields

The _user object_ against which the rules are evaluated has the following fields:
[cols="1s,1,3"]
|=======================
| Name        | Type            | Description

| username    | string          | The username by which {security} knows this user.
| dn          | string          | The _Distinguished Name_ of the user.
| groups      | array-of-string | The groups to which the user belongs.
| metadata    | object          | Additional metadata for the user.
| realm       | object          | The realm that authenticated the user.
                                  The only field in this object is the realm name.
|=======================

Example:
[source, js]
------------------------------------------------------------
{
  "username": "jsmith",
  "dn"      : "cn=jsmith,ou=users,dc=example,dc=com",
  "groups"  : [ "cn=admin,ou=groups,dc=example,dc=com", "cn=esusers,ou=groups,dc=example,dc=com" ],
  "metadata": { "cn": "John Smith" },
  "realm"   : { "name": "ldap1" }
}
------------------------------------------------------------
// NOTCONSOLE

The `groups` field is multi-valued - a user may belong to many groups. When a
`field` rule is applied against a multi-valued field, it is considered to match
if _at least one_ of the member values matches. This means that the rule:

[source, js]
------------------------------------------------------------
{ "field" : { "groups" : "admin" } }
------------------------------------------------------------
// NOTCONSOLE

will match any user who is a member of the `admin` group, regardless of any
other groups they may belong to.

===== Role Mapping Examples

- Match *all users*
[source, js]
------------------------------------------------------------
{ "field" : { "username" : "*" } }
------------------------------------------------------------
// NOTCONSOLE

- Match users who authenticated against a *specific realm*:
[source, js]
------------------------------------------------------------
{ "field" : { "realm.name" : "ldap1" } }
------------------------------------------------------------
// NOTCONSOLE

- Match users within a particular *LDAP sub-tree*: +
[source, js]
------------------------------------------------------------
{ "field" : { "dn" : "*,ou=subtree,dc=example,dc=com" } }
------------------------------------------------------------
// NOTCONSOLE

- Match users within a particular *LDAP sub-tree* in a *specific realm*:
[source, js]
------------------------------------------------------------
{
  "all": [
    { "field" : { "dn" : "*,ou=subtree,dc=example,dc=com" } },
    { "field" : { "realm.name" : "ldap1" } }
  ]
}
------------------------------------------------------------
// NOTCONSOLE

[[mapping-roles-file]]
==== Using Role Mapping Files

To use file based role-mappings, you must configure the mappings in a
YAML file and copy it to each node in the cluster. Tools like Puppet or Chef can
help with this.

By default, role mappings are stored in `CONF_DIR/x-pack/role_mapping.yml`, where
`CONF_DIR` is `ES_HOME/config` (zip/tar installations) or `/etc/elasticsearch`
(package installations). To specify a different location, you configure the
`files.role_mapping` realm settings in `elasticsearch.yml`. This setting enable
you to use a different set of mappings for each realm type:

|=====
| `xpack.security.authc.ldap.files.role_mapping` | | | The location of the role mappings for LDAP realms.
| `xpack.security.authc.active_directory.files.role_mapping` | | | The location of the role mappings for Active Directory realms.
| `xpack.security.authc.pki.files.role_mapping` | | | The location of the role mappings for PKI realms.
|=====

Within the role mapping file, the security roles are keys and groups and users
are values. The mappings can have a many-to-many relationship. When you map roles
to groups, the roles of a user in that group are the combination of the roles
assigned to that group and the roles assigned to that user.

By default, {security} checks role mapping files for changes every 5 seconds.
You can change this default behavior by changing the
`resource.reload.interval.high` setting in the `elasticsearch.yml` file
(as this is a common setting in Elasticsearch, changing its value may effect
other schedules in the system).

==== Realm Specific Details
[float]
[[ldap-role-mapping]]
===== Active Directory and LDAP Realms
To specify users and groups in the role mappings, you use their
_Distinguished Names_ (DNs). A DN is a string that uniquely identifies the user
or group, for example `"cn=John Doe,cn=contractors,dc=example,dc=com"`.

NOTE: {security} only supports Active Directory security groups. You cannot map
      distribution groups to roles.

For example, the following snippet uses the file-based method to map the
`admins` group to the `monitoring` role and map the `John Doe` user, the
`users` group, and the `admins` group to the `user` role.

[source, yaml]
------------------------------------------------------------
monitoring: <1>
  - "cn=admins,dc=example,dc=com" <2>
user:
  - "cn=John Doe,cn=contractors,dc=example,dc=com" <3>
  - "cn=users,dc=example,dc=com"
  - "cn=admins,dc=example,dc=com"
------------------------------------------------------------
<1> The name of a {security} role.
<2> The distinguished name of an LDAP group or an Active Directory security group.
<3> The distinguished name of an LDAP or Active Directory user.

We can use the role-mapping API to define equivalent mappings as follows:
[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
PUT _xpack/security/role_mapping/admins
{
  "roles" : [ "monitoring", "user" ],
  "rules" : { "field" : { "groups" : "cn=admins,dc=example,dc=com" } },
  "enabled": true
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE
// TEST

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
PUT _xpack/security/role_mapping/basic_users
{
  "roles" : [ "user" ],
  "rules" : { "any" : [
      { "field" : { "dn" : "cn=John Doe,cn=contractors,dc=example,dc=com" } },
      { "field" : { "groups" : "cn=users,dc=example,dc=com" } }
  ] },
  "enabled": true
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE
// TEST

[float]
[[pki-role-mapping]]
===== PKI Realms
PKI realms support mapping users to roles, but you cannot map groups as
the PKI realm has no notion of a group.

This is an example using a file-based mapping:

[source, yaml]
------------------------------------------------------------
monitoring:
  - "cn=Admin,ou=example,o=com"
user:
  - "cn=John Doe,ou=example,o=com"
------------------------------------------------------------

And the equivalent mappings using the API:
[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
PUT _xpack/security/role_mapping/admin_user
{
  "roles" : [ "monitoring" ],
  "rules" : { "field" : { "dn" : "cn=Admin,ou=example,o=com" } },
  "enabled": true
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE
// TEST

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
PUT _xpack/security/role_mapping/basic_user
{
  "roles" : [ "user" ],
  "rules" : { "field" : { "dn" : "cn=John Doe,ou=example,o=com" } },
  "enabled": true
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE
// TEST
