Create IAM Role for AWS Load Balancer Controller

In this section you will create an IAM role for the service account that AWS Load Balancer Controller will run with so that it has permissions to manage AWS resources for your Application Load Balancer.

Fast Forward

If you already have an IAM role for AWS Load Balancer Controller, expand this box to fast-forward.

  1. Go to your GitOps repository, inside your rok-tools management environment:

    root@rok-tools:~# cd ~/ops/deployments

  2. Restore the required context from previous sections:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# source <(cat deploy/env.{envvars-aws,eks-cluster})
    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION EKS_CLUSTER

  3. Specify the name of the IAM role for AWS Load Balancer Controller:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# export EKS_ALB_IAM_ALB_ROLE=<ROLE>

    Replace <ROLE> with the name of the IAM role for AWS Load Balancer Controller, for example:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# export EKS_ALB_IAM_ALB_ROLE=rok-\ > ${AWS_DEFAULT_REGION?}-${EKS_CLUSTER?}-alb

  4. Save your state:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# j2 deploy/env.eks-alb-iam-alb.j2 \ > -o deploy/env.eks-alb-iam-alb

  5. Commit your changes:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# git commit -am "Create IAM Role for AWS Load Balancer Controller"

  6. Proceed to the Verify section.

See also

Choose one of the following options to create an IAM role for AWS Load Balancer Controller:

Check Your Environment

To create this role, you are going to deploy a CloudFormation stack. When working with AWS CloudFormation stacks to manage resources, not only do you need sufficient permissions on AWS CloudFormation, but also on the underlying resources that are defined in the template.

In order to create an IAM role with proper IAM policies attached to it for the AWS Load Balancer Controller using AWS CloudFormation you need permissions for the following actions:

  • Deploy AWS CloudFormation stacks.
  • Create IAM policies.
  • Create IAM roles.

Note

If you do not have the above permissions, contact your AWS administrator to grant sufficient permissions to your IAM user or deploy the below AWS CloudFormation stack for you.

Option 1: Create IAM Role for AWS Load Balancer Controller Automatically (preferred)

Create an IAM role for AWS Load Balancer Controller by following the on-screen instructions on the rok-deploy user interface.

If rok-deploy is not already running, start it with:

root@rok-tools:~# rok-deploy --run-from eks-alb-iam-alb
../../../../_images/eks-alb-iam-alb.png

Proceed to the Summary section.

Option 2: Create IAM Role for AWS Load Balancer Controller Manually

If you want to create an IAM role for AWS Load Balancer Controller manually, follow the instructions below.

Procedure

  1. Go to your GitOps repository, inside your rok-tools management environment:

    root@rok-tools:~# cd ~/ops/deployments

  2. Restore the required context from previous sections:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# source <(cat deploy/env.{envvars-aws,eks-cluster,\ > eks-identity})
    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# export AWS_ACCOUNT_ID AWS_DEFAULT_REGION \ > EKS_CLUSTER EKS_CLUSTER_OIDC

  3. Specify the IAM policy name for AWS Load Balancer Controller:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# export EKS_ALB_IAM_ALB_POLICY=rok\ > -${AWS_DEFAULT_REGION?}-${EKS_CLUSTER?}-alb

  4. Verify that the IAM policy name you specified is not longer than 128 characters:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# [[ ${#EKS_ALB_IAM_ALB_POLICY} -le 128 ]] && echo OK || echo FAIL OK

    Troubleshooting

    The output of the command is FAIL

    Go back to step 3 and specify a shorter name. Ensure the new name is not already in use.

  5. Specify the IAM role name and description for AWS Load Balancer Controller:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# export EKS_ALB_IAM_ALB_ROLE=rok-\ > ${AWS_DEFAULT_REGION?}-${EKS_CLUSTER?}-alb
    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# export EKS_ALB_IAM_ALB_ROLE_DESC="AWS Load Balancer Controller"

  6. Verify that the IAM role name you specified is not longer than 64 characters:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# [[ ${#EKS_ALB_IAM_ALB_ROLE} -le 64 ]] && echo OK || echo FAIL OK

    Troubleshooting

    The output of the command is FAIL

    Go back to step 5 and specify a shorter name. Ensure the new name is not already in use.

  7. Specify the service account name and namespace that AWS Load Balancer Controller will run with:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# export EKS_ALB_IAM_ALB_SA_NAMESPACE=kube-system
    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# export EKS_ALB_IAM_ALB_SA_NAME=aws-load-balancer-controller

  8. Set the name of the CloudFormation stack you will deploy:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# export EKS_ALB_IAM_ALB_CF=rok-${AWS_DEFAULT_REGION?}\ > -${EKS_CLUSTER?}-alb

  9. Verify that the CloudFormation stack name you specified is not longer than 128 characters:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# [[ ${#EKS_ALB_IAM_ALB_CF} -le 128 ]] && echo OK || echo FAIL OK

    Troubleshooting

    The output of the command is FAIL

    Go back to step 8 and specify a shorter name. Ensure the new name is not already in use.

  10. Generate the AWS CloudFormation stack:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# j2 rok/eks/eks-alb-alb-resources.yaml.j2 \ > -o rok/eks/eks-alb-alb-resources.yaml

    Alternatively, download the eks-alb-alb-resources CloudFormation template provided below and use it locally.

    eks-alb-alb-resources.yaml.j2
    Download file
    1AWSTemplateFormatVersion: "2010-09-09"
    2
    3Description: Amazon EKS - AWS Load Balancer Controller IAM Role and Policy
    4-162
    4
    5Metadata:
    6 Rok::StackName: {{EKS_ALB_IAM_ALB_CF}}
    7
    8Resources:
    9 RokALBRole:
    10 Type: AWS::IAM::Role
    11 Properties:
    12 RoleName: {{EKS_ALB_IAM_ALB_ROLE}}
    13 AssumeRolePolicyDocument:
    14 Version: '2012-10-17'
    15 Statement:
    16 - Effect: Allow
    17 Action: sts:AssumeRoleWithWebIdentity
    18 Principal:
    19 Federated: arn:aws:iam::{{AWS_ACCOUNT_ID}}:oidc-provider/{{EKS_CLUSTER_OIDC}}
    20 Condition:
    21 StringEquals:
    22 {{EKS_CLUSTER_OIDC}}:sub: system:serviceaccount:{{EKS_ALB_IAM_ALB_SA_NAMESPACE}}:{{EKS_ALB_IAM_ALB_SA_NAME}}
    23 Description: {{EKS_ALB_IAM_ALB_ROLE_DESC}}
    24 ManagedPolicyArns:
    25 - Ref: RokALBPolicy
    26 RokALBPolicy:
    27 Type: AWS::IAM::ManagedPolicy
    28 Properties:
    29 ManagedPolicyName: {{EKS_ALB_IAM_ALB_POLICY}}
    30 PolicyDocument:
    31 Version: '2012-10-17'
    32 Statement:
    33 - Effect: Allow
    34 Action:
    35 - iam:CreateServiceLinkedRole
    36 - ec2:DescribeAccountAttributes
    37 - ec2:DescribeAddresses
    38 - ec2:DescribeInternetGateways
    39 - ec2:DescribeVpcs
    40 - ec2:DescribeSubnets
    41 - ec2:DescribeSecurityGroups
    42 - ec2:DescribeInstances
    43 - ec2:DescribeNetworkInterfaces
    44 - ec2:DescribeTags
    45 - elasticloadbalancing:DescribeLoadBalancers
    46 - elasticloadbalancing:DescribeLoadBalancerAttributes
    47 - elasticloadbalancing:DescribeListeners
    48 - elasticloadbalancing:DescribeListenerCertificates
    49 - elasticloadbalancing:DescribeSSLPolicies
    50 - elasticloadbalancing:DescribeRules
    51 - elasticloadbalancing:DescribeTargetGroups
    52 - elasticloadbalancing:DescribeTargetGroupAttributes
    53 - elasticloadbalancing:DescribeTargetHealth
    54 - elasticloadbalancing:DescribeTags
    55 Resource: "*"
    56 - Effect: Allow
    57 Action:
    58 - cognito-idp:DescribeUserPoolClient
    59 - acm:ListCertificates
    60 - acm:DescribeCertificate
    61 - iam:ListServerCertificates
    62 - iam:GetServerCertificate
    63 - waf-regional:GetWebACL
    64 - waf-regional:GetWebACLForResource
    65 - waf-regional:AssociateWebACL
    66 - waf-regional:DisassociateWebACL
    67 - wafv2:GetWebACL
    68 - wafv2:GetWebACLForResource
    69 - wafv2:AssociateWebACL
    70 - wafv2:DisassociateWebACL
    71 - shield:GetSubscriptionState
    72 - shield:DescribeProtection
    73 - shield:CreateProtection
    74 - shield:DeleteProtection
    75 Resource: "*"
    76 - Effect: Allow
    77 Action:
    78 - ec2:AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress
    79 - ec2:RevokeSecurityGroupIngress
    80 Resource: "*"
    81 - Effect: Allow
    82 Action:
    83 - ec2:CreateSecurityGroup
    84 Resource: "*"
    85 - Effect: Allow
    86 Action:
    87 - ec2:CreateTags
    88 Resource: arn:aws:ec2:*:*:security-group/*
    89 Condition:
    90 StringEquals:
    91 ec2:CreateAction: CreateSecurityGroup
    92 'Null':
    93 aws:RequestTag/elbv2.k8s.aws/cluster: 'false'
    94 - Effect: Allow
    95 Action:
    96 - ec2:CreateTags
    97 - ec2:DeleteTags
    98 Resource: arn:aws:ec2:*:*:security-group/*
    99 Condition:
    100 'Null':
    101 aws:RequestTag/elbv2.k8s.aws/cluster: 'true'
    102 aws:ResourceTag/elbv2.k8s.aws/cluster: 'false'
    103 - Effect: Allow
    104 Action:
    105 - ec2:AuthorizeSecurityGroupIngress
    106 - ec2:RevokeSecurityGroupIngress
    107 - ec2:DeleteSecurityGroup
    108 Resource: "*"
    109 Condition:
    110 'Null':
    111 aws:ResourceTag/elbv2.k8s.aws/cluster: 'false'
    112 - Effect: Allow
    113 Action:
    114 - elasticloadbalancing:CreateLoadBalancer
    115 - elasticloadbalancing:CreateTargetGroup
    116 Resource: "*"
    117 Condition:
    118 'Null':
    119 aws:RequestTag/elbv2.k8s.aws/cluster: 'false'
    120 - Effect: Allow
    121 Action:
    122 - elasticloadbalancing:CreateListener
    123 - elasticloadbalancing:DeleteListener
    124 - elasticloadbalancing:CreateRule
    125 - elasticloadbalancing:DeleteRule
    126 Resource: "*"
    127 - Effect: Allow
    128 Action:
    129 - elasticloadbalancing:AddTags
    130 - elasticloadbalancing:RemoveTags
    131 Resource:
    132 - arn:aws:elasticloadbalancing:*:*:targetgroup/*/*
    133 - arn:aws:elasticloadbalancing:*:*:loadbalancer/net/*/*
    134 - arn:aws:elasticloadbalancing:*:*:loadbalancer/app/*/*
    135 Condition:
    136 'Null':
    137 aws:RequestTag/elbv2.k8s.aws/cluster: 'true'
    138 aws:ResourceTag/elbv2.k8s.aws/cluster: 'false'
    139 - Effect: Allow
    140 Action:
    141 - elasticloadbalancing:ModifyLoadBalancerAttributes
    142 - elasticloadbalancing:SetIpAddressType
    143 - elasticloadbalancing:SetSecurityGroups
    144 - elasticloadbalancing:SetSubnets
    145 - elasticloadbalancing:DeleteLoadBalancer
    146 - elasticloadbalancing:ModifyTargetGroup
    147 - elasticloadbalancing:ModifyTargetGroupAttributes
    148 - elasticloadbalancing:DeleteTargetGroup
    149 Resource: "*"
    150 Condition:
    151 'Null':
    152 aws:ResourceTag/elbv2.k8s.aws/cluster: 'false'
    153 - Effect: Allow
    154 Action:
    155 - elasticloadbalancing:RegisterTargets
    156 - elasticloadbalancing:DeregisterTargets
    157 Resource: arn:aws:elasticloadbalancing:*:*:targetgroup/*/*
    158 - Effect: Allow
    159 Action:
    160 - elasticloadbalancing:SetWebAcl
    161 - elasticloadbalancing:ModifyListener
    162 - elasticloadbalancing:AddListenerCertificates
    163 - elasticloadbalancing:RemoveListenerCertificates
    164 - elasticloadbalancing:ModifyRule
    165 Resource: "*"

  11. Save your state:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# j2 deploy/env.eks-alb-iam-alb.j2 \ > -o deploy/env.eks-alb-iam-alb

  12. Commit your changes:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# git commit -am "Create IAM Role for AWS Load Balancer Controller"

  13. Mark your progress:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# export DATE=$(date -u "+%Y-%m-%dT%H.%M.%SZ")
    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# git tag \ > -a deploy/${DATE?}/release-1.5/eks-alb-iam-alb \ > -m "Create IAM Role for AWS Load Balancer Controller"

  14. Deploy the CloudFormation stack:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# aws cloudformation deploy \ > --stack-name ${EKS_ALB_IAM_ALB_CF?} \ > --template-file rok/eks/eks-alb-alb-resources.yaml \ > --capabilities CAPABILITY_NAMED_IAM Waiting for changeset to be created.. Waiting for stack create/update to complete Successfully created/updated stack - rok-us-west-2-arrikto-cluster-alb

    Troubleshooting

    AccessDenied

    If the above command fails with an error message similar to the following:

    An error occurred (AccessDenied) when calling the DescribeStacks operation: User: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/user is not authorized to perform: cloudformation:DescribeStacks on resource: arn:aws:cloudformation:us-west-2:123456789012:stack/rok-us-west-2-arrikto-cluster-alb

    it means that your IAM user does not have sufficient permissions to perform an action necessary to deploy an AWS CloudFormation stack.

    To proceed, Check Your Environment and contact your AWS administrator to grant sufficient permissions to your IAM user or deploy the AWS CloudFormation stack for you.

    Failed to create/update the stack

    If the above command fails with an error message similar to the following:

    Failed to create/update the stack. Run the following command to fetch the list of events leading up to the failure aws cloudformation describe-stack-events --stack-name rok-us-west-2-arrikto-cluster-alb

    describe the events of the CloudFormation stack to identify the root cause of the failure:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# aws cloudformation describe-stack-events --stack-name ${EKS_ALB_IAM_ALB_CF?}

    • A stack event like the following:

      { "StackId": "arn:aws:cloudformation:us-west-2:123456789012:stack/rok-us-west-2-arrikto-cluster-alb/599bc930-7b3f-11eb-ac1c-029efe3a90a0", "EventId": "RokALBRole-CREATE_FAILED-2021-03-02T10:09:27.457Z", "StackName": "rok-us-west-2-arrikto-cluster-alb", "LogicalResourceId": "RokALBRole", "PhysicalResourceId": "", "ResourceType": "AWS::IAM::Role", "Timestamp": "2021-03-02T10:09:27.457000+00:00", "ResourceStatus": "CREATE_FAILED", "ResourceStatusReason": "rok-us-west-2-arrikto-cluster-alb already exists", "ResourceProperties": "{\"ManagedPolicyArns\":[\"arn:aws:iam::123456789012:policy/rok-us-west-2-arrikto-cluster-alb\"],\"RoleName\":\"rok-us-west-2-arrikto-cluster-alb\",\"Description\":\"AWS Load Balancer Controller\",\"AssumeRolePolicyDocument\":{\"Version\":\"2012-10-17\",\"Statement\":[{\"Condition\":{\"StringEquals\":{\"oidc.eks.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/id/352A7999E682D224D5A47B738D375237:sub\":\"system:serviceaccount:kube-system:aws-load-balancer-controller\"}},\"Action\":\"sts:AssumeRoleWithWebIdentity\",\"Effect\":\"Allow\",\"Principal\":{\"Federated\":\"arn:aws:iam::123456789012:oidc-provider/oidc.eks.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/id/352A7999E682D224D5A47B738D375237\"}}]}}" }

      means that the IAM Role or the IAM Policy that the AWS CloudFormation stack defines already exist, leading to name conflicts.

      To proceed, go back to step 3, specify a different name for resources that already exist and follow the rest of the guide.

    • A stack event like the following:

      { "StackId": "arn:aws:cloudformation:us-west-2:123456789012:stack/rok-us-west-2-arrikto-cluster-alb/415eef80-7b46-11eb-b047-06980f530fec", "EventId": "RokALBRole-CREATE_FAILED-2021-03-02T10:58:54.216Z", "StackName": "rok-us-west-2-arrikto-cluster-alb", "LogicalResourceId": "RokALBRole", "PhysicalResourceId": "", "ResourceType": "AWS::IAM::Role", "Timestamp": "2021-03-02T10:58:54.216000+00:00", "ResourceStatus": "CREATE_FAILED", "ResourceStatusReason": "API: iam:CreateRole User: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/user is not authorized to perform: iam:CreateRole on resource: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:role/rok-us-west-2-arrikto-cluster-alb", "ResourceProperties": "{\"ManagedPolicyArns\":[\"arn:aws:iam::123456789012:policy/rok-us-west-2-arrikto-cluster-alb\"],\"RoleName\":\"rok-us-west-2-arrikto-cluster-alb\",\"Description\":\"AWS Load Balancer Controller\",\"AssumeRolePolicyDocument\":{\"Version\":\"2012-10-17\",\"Statement\":[{\"Condition\":{\"StringEquals\":{\"oidc.eks.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/id/352A7999E682D224D5A47B738D375237:sub\":\"system:serviceaccount:kube-system:aws-load-balancer-controller\"}},\"Action\":\"sts:AssumeRoleWithWebIdentity\",\"Effect\":\"Allow\",\"Principal\":{\"Federated\":\"arn:aws:iam::123456789012:oidc-provider/oidc.eks.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/id/352A7999E682D224D5A47B738D375237\"}}]}}" }

      means that your IAM user does not have sufficient permissions to create the resources that the AWS CloudFormation stack defines.

      To proceed, Check Your Environment and contact your AWS administrator to grant your IAM user sufficient permissions or deploy the AWS CloudFormation stack for you.

    ValidationError

    If the above command fails with an error message similar to the following:

    An error occurred (ValidationError) when calling the CreateChangeSet operation: Stack:arn:aws:cloudformation:us-west-2:123456789012:stack/rok-us-west-2-arrikto-cluster-alb/671606f0-eb2b-11eb-8afb-0217413c9ed2 is in ROLLBACK_COMPLETE state and can not be updated.

    delete the stack and deploy it again.

Upgrade from ALB Ingress Controller to AWS Load Balancer Controller

Note

In case you are upgrading from ALB Ingress Controller to AWS Load Balancer Controller, you have to assign some extra permissions to the IAM role so that the new controller will be able to manage existing AWS resources. To do so, follow the extra steps below.

  1. Create the extra policy to allow the AWS Load Balancer Controller pod to manage existing AWS resources created previously by ALB Ingress Controller:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# aws iam create-policy \ > --policy-name AWSLoadBalancerControllerExtraIAMPolicy \ > --policy-document file://rok/aws-load-balancer-controller/iam-policy-albv2-extra.json

    Alternatively, save the JSON policy document provided below or download iam-policy-albv2-extra.json and use it locally.

    + show: iam-policy-albv2-extra.json

    See also

  2. Attach the policy to the previously created IAM role:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# aws iam attach-role-policy \ > --role-name ${EKS_ALB_IAM_ALB_ROLE?} \ > --policy-arn=arn:aws:iam::${AWS_ACCOUNT_ID?}:policy/AWSLoadBalancerControllerExtraIAMPolicy

Verify

  1. Go to your GitOps repository, inside your rok-tools management environment:

    root@rok-tools:~# cd ~/ops/deployments

  2. Restore the required context from previous sections:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# source <(cat deploy/env.{envvars-aws,eks-alb-iam-alb})
    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# export AWS_ACCOUNT_ID EKS_ALB_IAM_ALB_ROLE

  3. Verify that the IAM role exists:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# aws iam get-role \ > --role-name ${EKS_ALB_IAM_ALB_ROLE?} \ > --query Role.RoleName \ > --output text && echo OK rok-us-west-2-arrikto-cluster-alb OK

  4. Verify that the role has the necessary permissions to manage AWS resources for your Application Load Balancer, that is, the output of the following commands is allowed:

    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# aws iam simulate-principal-policy \ > --cli-input-yaml "$(j2 rok/eks/can-i/eks-alb-iam-alb-all.yaml.j2)" | \ > jq -r '.EvaluationResults[].EvalDecision' | \ > sort -u allowed
    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# aws iam simulate-principal-policy \ > --cli-input-yaml "$(j2 rok/eks/can-i/eks-alb-iam-alb-ec2-createtags.yaml.j2)" | \ > jq -r '.EvaluationResults[].EvalDecision' | \ > sort -u allowed
    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# aws iam simulate-principal-policy \ > --cli-input-yaml "$(j2 rok/eks/can-i/eks-alb-iam-alb-ec2-createdeletetags.yaml.j2)" | \ > jq -r '.EvaluationResults[].EvalDecision' | \ > sort -u allowed
    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# aws iam simulate-principal-policy \ > --cli-input-yaml "$(j2 rok/eks/can-i/eks-alb-iam-alb-delete-secgroup.yaml.j2)" | \ > jq -r '.EvaluationResults[].EvalDecision' | \ > sort -u allowed
    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# aws iam simulate-principal-policy \ > --cli-input-yaml "$(j2 rok/eks/can-i/eks-alb-iam-alb-elb-create.yaml.j2)" | \ > jq -r '.EvaluationResults[].EvalDecision' | \ > sort -u allowed
    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# aws iam simulate-principal-policy \ > --cli-input-yaml "$(j2 rok/eks/can-i/eks-alb-iam-alb-elb-addremovetags.yaml.j2)" | \ > jq -r '.EvaluationResults[].EvalDecision' | \ > sort -u allowed
    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# aws iam simulate-principal-policy \ > --cli-input-yaml "$(j2 rok/eks/can-i/eks-alb-iam-alb-elb-modifytargetgroup.yaml.j2)" | \ > jq -r '.EvaluationResults[].EvalDecision' | \ > sort -u allowed
    root@rok-tools:~/ops/deployments# aws iam simulate-principal-policy \ > --cli-input-yaml "$(j2 rok/eks/can-i/eks-alb-iam-alb-elb-registertargets.yaml.j2)" | \ > jq -r '.EvaluationResults[].EvalDecision' | \ > sort -u allowed

    Troubleshooting

    Output contains ‘implicitDeny’ or ‘explicitDeny’

    If the output of simulate-principal-policy contains implicitDeny or explicitDeny, this means that the IAM role does not have sufficient permissions to manage AWS resources for your Application Load Balancer. To proceed, create an IAM role following the Procedure.

Summary

You have successfully created the IAM role for AWS Load Balancer Controller.

What’s Next

The next step is to deploy AWS Load Balancer Controller.