{"id":64855,"date":"2024-08-29T20:16:42","date_gmt":"2024-08-29T14:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/blog\/?p=64855"},"modified":"2025-09-05T15:52:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T10:22:08","slug":"setting-up-role-based-authorization-strategy-in-jenkins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tothenew.com\/blog\/setting-up-role-based-authorization-strategy-in-jenkins\/","title":{"rendered":"From Chaos to Control: Managing Jenkins Permissions with Role-Based Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/h2>\n

Managing user permissions on a busy Jenkins server can be a headache. With a bunch of teams needing different levels of access, it\u2019s easy for someone to end up with too much power, and that\u2019s a risk. One stray click can knock over a prod pipeline.<\/p>\n

To fix this, you need a clear access control setup in Jenkins. The Role-Based Authorization Strategy plugin is a solid pick. It lets you define roles with specific permissions and then assign those roles to users or groups.<\/p>\n

This guide walks through a real-world example of using that plugin to go from a messy setup to something clean, secure, and easier to manage.<\/p>\n

Our use case \/ Problem statement<\/h2>\n

Here\u2019s the use case: a multi-team setup. We\u2019ve got jobs named by environment (-dev, -uat, -prod) and by purpose (-helper). We need to sort access for a few teams:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Onshore developers<\/strong>: work directly for the client.<\/li>\n
  2. Offshore developers<\/strong>: work for a partner company.<\/li>\n
  3. DevOps team<\/strong>: manages the CI\/CD process.<\/li>\n
  4. Support team<\/strong>: handles monitoring and logs.<\/li>\n
  5. Admins<\/strong>: need full control.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The goal is to lock this down so that:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • Onshore developers can work on all pipelines but can\u2019t delete or create new ones.<\/li>\n
    • Offshore developers can only see and work on -dev and -uat pipelines.<\/li>\n
    • The DevOps Team can manage everything except jobs ending in -prod.<\/li>\n
    • The Support Team can only view and build jobs ending in -helper.<\/li>\n
    • Admins have unlimited power.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      The Tool for the Job: Role-Based Strategy
      \n<\/strong>Jenkins offers a few ways to manage security, but “Matrix-Based Security” can become a huge, unreadable table with many users.<\/p>\n

      The Role-Based Authorization Strategy plugin gives us more wiggle room. Its real strength is using name patterns to control who can touch which jobs, like a rule for everything ending in -dev.<\/p>\n

      Time to set it all up<\/h2>\n

      1. Check and Install the plugin if not done already<\/h3>\n

      If you don’t see the “Role-Based Authorization Strategy”\u00a0 under Authorization in Configure Global Security then,<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Go to Manage Jenkins > Plugins.<\/li>\n
      2. Click the Available tab and search for “Role-Based Authorization Strategy”.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Install it and restart Jenkins if it asks.<\/p>\n

        2. Next, we enable it in security.<\/h3>\n

        Go to Manage Jenkins > Global Security.
        \nIn the Authorization section, select Role-Based Strategy and save it<\/p>\n

        We are now able to see Manage and Assign Roles under Manage Jenkins.<\/p>\n

        Overview of Role management.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

        1. Manage Roles : <\/strong><\/h3>\n

        You create and manage roles here.<\/p>\n

        \"ManageRoles

        Manage Roles<\/p><\/div>\n

        2. Assign Roles<\/h3>\n

        This section is used to assign predefined roles to specific users.<\/p>\n

        \"Assign

        Assign role – global role<\/p><\/div>\n

         <\/p>\n

        \"Assign

        Assign role – Item role<\/p><\/div>\n

        Planning, Managing and Assigning Roles<\/h2>\n

        1. Planning the Roles<\/h3>\n

        Before we start actually doing it, a simple plan can save us a lot of time.<\/p>\n

        As you can see we need two kinds of roles:<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Global roles<\/strong>: More Broad things and control fall under it. We need to make sure that we only assign the least permission possible in the Global role for any user, then use item roles for the detailed permissions.<\/li>\n
        2. Item roles<\/strong>: Control access to specific jobs using patterns that match job names, and more fine-tuned permission is assign using Item roles<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          2. Roles and Permissions for Users<\/h3>\n

          Here\u2019s what we are aiming for:<\/p>\n

            \n
          1. User Category: Onshore Developers<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n