Configuring RAM role for cross-account access to Alicloud services

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

To enable cross-account access with AliCloud RAM roles, you will need to create a Resource Access Management (RAM) role and define the policy that controls what actions can be performed with the role. Customers can assume the RAM role within their account or cross-account access if they have the right permissions.

Below is a TypeScript program that creates a RAM role and attaches a policy document that specifies the permissions. It's worth mentioning that policies are defined in JSON format, and you need to replace the placeholder `"POLICY_DOCUMENT_IN_JSON"` with an actual policy statement that grants the desired permissions.

Additionally, you should replace `"ACCOUNT_ID"` with the target Alibaba Cloud account ID that you want to grant cross-account access to. This is not necessarily required if you're not using it for cross-account purposes, but it's included here as an example of how to configure it for cross-account access.

Here's how to configure a RAM role for cross-account access to Alicloud services:

```typescript
import * as pulumi from "@pulumi/pulumi";
import * as alicloud from "@pulumi/alicloud";

// Replace with the Alibaba Cloud account ID that will assume this role.
const accountId = "ACCOUNT_ID";
// Replace with the policy document in JSON format.
const policyDocument = `POLICY_DOCUMENT_IN_JSON`;

const ramRole = new alicloud.ram.Role("myCrossAccountRole", {
    // The RAM role name
    name: "CrossAccountAccessRole",

// Policy document that grants permissions
    document: policyDocument,

// Optional description of the role
    description: "This role allows cross-account access from another Alibaba Cloud account",

// Role session duration (in seconds)
    maxSessionDuration: 3600,
});

// Creating a RAM role policy attachment
const rolePolicyAttachment = new alicloud.ram.RolePolicyAttachment("myRolePolicyAttachment", {
    roleName: ramRole.name,
    policyName: "ReadOnlyAccess", // Replace with the actual policy name you want to attach
    policyType: "System", // This can be 'System' or 'Custom' depending on the policy
});

// Export the RAM role ARN which will be used to assume the role from another Alibaba account
export const ramRoleArn = ramRole.arn;
```
This Pulumi program sets up a RAM role designed for cross-account access with a default maximum session duration of one hour (3600 seconds). The `ramRole` resource defines the role itself and the permissions associated with it, written in JSON format within the `document` field.

The `rolePolicyAttachment` resource then attaches a system policy with read-only access to the role. It's used here for demonstration purposes, and in practice, you would use a policy that fits your specific use case.

You can learn more about each of these resources and their configurable options in the Pulumi documentation:
- [`alicloud.ram.Role`](https://www.pulumi.com/registry/packages/alicloud/api-docs/ram/role/)
- [`alicloud.ram.RolePolicyAttachment`](https://www.pulumi.com/registry/packages/alicloud/api-docs/ram/rolepolicyattachment/)

Remember, you will need to have the Alibaba Cloud provider configured for Pulumi, which typically involves setting up the necessary credentials in either environment variables or through the Pulumi configuration system.

To run this Pulumi program, you would typically execute `pulumi up` in the CLI while in the directory of this program, which will prompt Pulumi to perform the creation of resources as per the defined program.