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2.21 LTS
2.21 LTS
  • Welcome
  • What's new in version 2.21
  • Release Notes
  • Getting Started
    • Introduction
    • Portainer architecture
    • Lifecycle policy
    • Requirements and prerequisites
    • Install Portainer BE
      • Set up a new Portainer BE Server installation
        • Docker Standalone
          • Install Portainer BE with Docker on Linux
          • Install Portainer BE with Docker on WSL / Docker Desktop
          • Install Portainer BE with Docker on Windows Container Service
        • Docker Swarm
          • Install Portainer BE with Docker Swarm on Linux
          • Install Portainer BE with Docker Swarm on WSL / Docker Desktop
          • Install Portainer BE with Docker Swarm on Windows Container Service
        • Kubernetes
          • Install Portainer BE on your Kubernetes environment
          • Install Portainer BE with Kubernetes on WSL / Docker Desktop
        • Initial setup
    • Install Portainer CE
      • Set up a new Portainer CE Server installation
        • Docker Standalone
          • Install Portainer CE with Docker on Linux
          • Install Portainer CE with Docker on WSL / Docker Desktop
          • Install Portainer CE with Docker on Windows Container Service
        • Docker Swarm
          • Install Portainer CE with Docker Swarm on Linux
          • Install Portainer CE with Docker Swarm on WSL / Docker Desktop
          • Install Portainer CE with Docker Swarm on Windows Container Service
        • Kubernetes
          • Install Portainer CE on your Kubernetes environment
          • Install Portainer CE with Kubernetes on WSL / Docker Desktop
        • Initial setup
    • Add an environment to an existing installation
    • Updating Portainer
      • Updating on Docker Standalone
      • Updating on Docker Swarm
      • Updating on Kubernetes
      • Updating on Nomad
      • Updating the Edge Agent
      • Updating from Portainer 1.x
      • Switching to Portainer Business Edition
        • Upgrade to Business Edition from within Portainer Community Edition
        • Docker Standalone
        • Docker Swarm
        • Kubernetes
        • Upgrading Agent-only deployments
  • Using Portainer
    • Home
      • Snapshot browsing
      • OpenAMT
    • Docker/Swarm
      • Dashboard
      • Templates
        • Application
        • Custom templates
        • Deploy a stack
        • Deploy a container
      • Stacks
        • Add a new stack
        • Inspect or edit a stack
        • Create a template from a deployed stack
        • Webhooks
        • Migrate or duplicate a stack
        • Remove a stack
      • Services
        • Add a new service
        • Configure service options
        • Scale a service
        • View the status of a service task
        • View service logs
        • Roll back a service
        • Webhooks
      • Containers
        • Add a new container
        • View a container's details
        • Inspect a container
        • Edit or duplicate a container
        • Advanced container settings
        • Webhooks
        • Attach a volume to a container
        • View container logs
        • View container statistics
        • Access a container's console
        • Change container ownership
        • Remove a container
      • Images
        • Pull an image
        • Build a new image
        • Import an image
        • Export an image
      • Networks
        • Add a new network
        • Remove a network
      • Volumes
        • Add a new volume
        • Browse a volume
        • Remove a volume
      • Configs
        • Add a new config
        • Remove a config
      • Secrets
        • Add a new secret
        • Remove a secret
      • Events
      • Host
        • Details
        • Setup
        • Registries
      • Swarm
        • Details
        • Cluster visualizer
        • Setup
        • Registries
    • Kubernetes
      • Dashboard
      • kubectl shell
      • Kubeconfig
      • Custom Templates
        • Add a new custom template
        • Edit a custom template
        • Remove a custom template
      • Namespaces
        • Add a new namespace
        • Manage a namespace
        • Manage access to a namespace
        • Remove a namespace
      • Helm
      • Applications
        • Add a new application using a form
        • Add a new application using a manifest
        • Inspect an application
        • Inspect a Helm application
        • Edit an application
        • Webhooks
        • Detach a volume from an application
        • Remove an application
      • Networking
        • Services
        • Ingresses
          • Add an Ingress manually
          • Add an Ingress using a manifest
          • Remove an Ingress
      • ConfigMaps & Secrets
        • Add a ConfigMap
        • Add a Secret
      • Volumes
        • Inspect a volume
        • Remove a volume
      • More Resources
        • Service Accounts
        • Cluster Roles
        • Roles
      • Cluster
        • Details
        • Inspect a node
        • Setup
        • Security constraints
        • Registries
    • Azure ACI
      • Dashboard
      • Container instances
        • Add a new container
        • Remove a container
    • Nomad
    • Edge Compute
      • Edge Groups
      • Edge Stacks
        • Add a new Edge Stack
      • Edge Jobs
      • Edge Configurations
      • Waiting Room
      • Edge Templates
        • Application
        • Custom
    • Account settings
  • Administering Portainer
    • User-related
      • Users
      • Add a new user
      • Turn a user into an administrator
      • Reset a user's password
      • Teams
        • Add a new team
        • Add a user to a team
      • Roles
    • Environment-related
      • Environments
      • Add a new environment
        • Add a local environment
        • Add a Docker Standalone environment
          • Install Portainer Agent on Docker Standalone
          • Connect to the Docker API
          • Connect to the Docker Socket
          • Install Edge Agent Standard on Docker Standalone
          • Install Edge Agent Async on Docker Standalone
        • Add a Docker Swarm environment
          • Install Portainer Agent on Docker Swarm
          • Connect to the Docker API
          • Connect to the Docker Socket
          • Install Edge Agent Standard on Docker Swarm
          • Install Edge Agent Async on Docker Swarm
        • Add a Kubernetes environment
          • Install Portainer Agent on your Kubernetes environment
          • Install Edge Agent Standard on Kubernetes
          • Install Edge Agent Async on Kubernetes
          • Import an existing Kubernetes environment
        • Add an ACI environment
        • Add a Nomad environment
        • Provision KaaS Cluster
          • Civo
          • Akamai Connected Cloud
          • DigitalOcean
          • Google Cloud
          • AWS
          • Azure
        • Create a Kubernetes cluster
          • MicroK8s
            • Offline installation
        • Add an environment via the Portainer API
      • Auto onboarding
      • Groups
      • Tags
      • Manage access to environments
      • Manage access to environment groups
      • Update & Rollback
    • Registries
      • Add a new registry
        • Add a DockerHub account
        • Add an AWS ECR registry
        • Add a Quay.io registry
        • Add a ProGet registry
        • Add an Azure registry
        • Add a Gitlab registry
        • Add a GitHub registry
        • Add a custom registry
      • Browse a registry
      • Manage a registry
    • Licenses
    • Logs
      • Authentication
      • Activity
    • Notifications
    • Settings
      • General
      • Authentication
        • Authenticate via LDAP
        • Authenticate via Active Directory
        • Authenticate via OAuth
      • Shared credentials
        • Add Civo credentials
        • Add Akamai Connected Cloud credentials
        • Add DigitalOcean credentials
        • Add Google Cloud credentials
        • Add AWS credentials
        • Add Azure credentials
        • Add SSH credentials
      • Edge Compute
  • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Portainer Concepts
    • Installing
    • Upgrading
    • Troubleshooting
    • Contributing
  • Advanced Topics
    • CLI configuration options
    • App templates
      • Build and host your own app templates
      • App template JSON format
    • The Portainer Edge Agent
    • Access control
    • Reset the admin user's password
    • Security and compliance
    • Encrypting the Portainer database
    • Using your own SSL certificate with Portainer
    • Using mTLS with Portainer
    • Stream auth and activity logs to an external provider
    • Using Portainer with reverse proxies
      • Deploying Portainer behind Traefik Proxy
      • Deploying Portainer behind nginx reverse proxy
    • How Relative Path Support works in Portainer
    • Helm chart configuration options
    • Docker roles and permissions
    • Kubernetes roles and bindings
    • Deprecated and removed features
  • API
    • Accessing the Portainer API
    • API documentation
    • API usage examples
  • Get More Help
    • Knowledge Base
    • Portainer Academy
    • YouTube
    • GitHub
    • Slack
    • Discord
    • Open a support request
  • Contribute to Portainer
    • Contribute
    • Build instructions
      • Set up a macOS build environment
      • Set up a Linux build environment
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On this page
  • Role Allocations
  • Cluster Roles
  • portainer-basic
  • portainer-helpdesk
  • portainer-operator
  • Namespace Roles
  • portainer-edit
  • portainer-view
  • Portainer Access Restrictions
  • Community Edition
  • portainer-cr-user

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  1. Advanced Topics

Kubernetes roles and bindings

PreviousDocker roles and permissionsNextDeprecated and removed features

Last updated 9 months ago

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Role-Based Access Control is only available in Portainer Business Edition.

When managing a Kubernetes environment with Portainer, the Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) configuration is based on two components:

  • Kubernetes' cluster roles and namespace roles (which restrict access to Kubernetes itself)

  • Portainer's authorization flags (which to Portainer's functionality)

The following tables provide a reference for how our Portainer roles map to capabilities within Kubernetes.

Role Allocations

Portainer Role
Cluster Role Binding
Namespace Role Binding

Environment Administrator

cluster-admin (k8s system)

N/A

Operator

User

Helpdesk

Read-Only

Cluster Roles

portainer-basic

API Group
Resources
Verbs

(Empty)

namespaces, nodes

get, list

storage.k8s.io

storageclasses

list

metrics.k8s.io

namespaces, pods, nodes

get, list

networking.k8s.io

ingressclasses

list

portainer-helpdesk

API Group
Resources
Verbs

(Empty)

componentstatuses, endpoints, events, namespaces, nodes

get, list, watch

storage.k8s.io

storageclasses

get, list, watch

networking.k8s.io

ingresses

get, watch

networking.k8s.io

ingressclasses

list

metrics.k8s.io

pods, nodes, nodes/stats, namespace

get, list, watch

portainer-operator

API Group
Resources
Verbs

(Empty)

configmaps

update

(Empty)

pods

delete

apps

daemonsets, deployments, statefulsets

patch

metrics.k8s.io

pods, nodes, nodes/stats, namespaces

get, list, watch

Namespace Roles

portainer-edit

API Group
Resources
Verbs

(Empty)

configmaps, endpoints, persistentvolumeclaims, pods, pods/attach, pods/exec, pods/portforward, pods/proxy, replicationcontrollers, replicationcontrollers/scale, secrets, serviceaccounts, services, services/proxy

create, delete, deletecollection, patch, update

(Empty)

pods/attach, pods/exec, pods/portforward, pods/proxy, secrets, services/proxy

get, list, watch

apps

daemonsets, deployments, deployments/rollback, deployments/scale, replicasets, replicasets/scale, statefulsets, statefulsets/scale

create, delete, deletecollection, patch, update

autoscaling

horizontalpodautoscalers

create, delete, deletecollection, patch, update

batch

cronjobs, jobs

create, delete, deletecollection, patch, update

extensions

daemonsets, deployments, deployments/rollback, deployments/scale, ingresses, networkpolicies, replicasets, replicasets/scale, replicationcontrollers/scale

create, delete, deletecollection, patch, update

networking.k8s.io

ingresses, networkpolicies

create, delete, deletecollection, patch, update

policy

poddisruptionbudgets

create, delete, deletecollection, patch, update

portainer-view

API Group
Resources
Verbs

(Empty)

bindings, componentstatuses, configmaps, endpoints, events, limitranges, namespaces, namespaces/status, persistentvolumeclaims, persistentvolumeclaims/status, pods, pods/log, pods/status, replicationcontrollers, replicationcontrollers/scale, replicationcontrollers/status, resourcequotas, resourcequotas/status, secrets, serviceaccounts, services, services/status

get, list, watch

apps

controllerrevisions, daemonsets, daemonsets/status, deployments, deployments/scale, deployments/status, replicasets, replicasets/scale, replicasets/status, statefulsets, statefulsets/scale, statefulsets/status

get, list, watch

autoscaling

horizontalpodautoscalers, horizontalpodautoscalers/status

get, list, watch

batch

cronjobs, cronjobs/status, jobs, jobs/status

get, list, watch

extensions

daemonsets, daemonsets/status, deployments, deployments/scale, deployments/status, ingresses, ingresses/status, networkpolicies, replicasets, replicasets/scale, replicasets/status, replicationcontrollers/scale

get, list, watch

networking.k8s.io

ingresses, ingresses/status, networkpolicies

get, list, watch

policy

poddisruptionbudgets, poddisruptionbudgets/status

get, list, watch

Portainer Access Restrictions

Function
Endpoint admin
Operator
Helpdesk
Standard User
Read-only User

Namespace Scope

All

All, EXCEPT System

All, EXCEPT System

Default + Assigned

Default + Assigned

Namespaces

RW

R

R

R

R

Namespace Details

RW

R

R

R

R

Namespace Access Management

RW

Applications

RW

R

R

RW

R

Application Details

RW

R

R

RW

R

Pod Delete

Yes

Yes

Application Console

RW

RW

Advanced Deployment

RW

RW

ConfigMaps & Secrets

RW

R

R

RW

R

ConfigMap & Secret Details

RW

RW

R

RW

R

Volumes

RW

R

R

RW

R

Volume Details

RW

R

R

RW

R

Cluster

RW

R

R

Cluster Node View

RW

R

R

Cluster Setup

RW

Application Error Details

R

R

R

Storage Class Disabled

R

R

R

Community Edition

The following tables cover the two roles available in Portainer Community Edition (CE). Note there is no Portainer access restriction in Portainer CE.

Portainer Role
Cluster Role Binding
Namespace Role Binding

Admin

(no restriction)

(no restriction)

User

edit (default k8s role, only assigned namespaces)

portainer-cr-user

API Group
Resources
Verbs

(Empty)

namespaces, nodes

list

storage.k8s.io

storageclasses

list

networking.k8s.io

ingresses

list

,

(all non-system namespaces)

, (only assigned namespaces)

(all non-system namespaces)

(only assigned namespaces)

restrict access
portainer-operator
portainer-helpdesk
portainer-view
portainer-basic
portainer-edit
portainer-view
portainer-helpdesk
portainer-view
portainer-basic
portainer-view
portainer-cr-user