Services or capabilities described in Amazon Web Services documentation might vary by Region. To see the differences applicable to the China Regions, see Getting Started with Amazon Web Services in China (PDF).

Using Service-Linked Roles for Amazon Config

Service-Linked Role Permissions for Amazon Config

Amazon Config uses the service-linked role named AwsServiceRoleForConfig – Amazon Config uses this service-linked role to call other Amazon services on your behalf. To view the latest updates, see Amazon Config updates to Amazon managed policies.

The AwsServiceRoleForConfig service-linked role trusts the following services to assume the role:

The role permissions policy named AWSConfigServiceRolePolicy allows Amazon Config to complete the following actions on the specified resources:

To view the managed policy for AwsServiceRoleForConfig, see Amazon managed policies for Amazon Config.

You must configure permissions to allow an IAM entity (such as a user, group, or role) to create, edit, or delete a service-linked role. For more information, see Service-Linked Role Permissions in the IAM User Guide.

To use a service-linked role with Amazon Config, you must configure permissions on your Amazon S3 bucket and Amazon SNS topic. For more information, see Required Permissions for the Amazon S3 Bucket When Using Service-Linked Roles, Required Permissions for the Amazon KMS Key When Using Service-Linked Roles (S3 Bucket Delivery), and Required Permissions for the Amazon SNS Topic When Using Service-Linked Roles.

Creating a Service-Linked Role for Amazon Config

In the IAM CLI or the IAM API, create a service-linked role with the config.amazonaws.com service name. For more information, see Creating a Service-Linked Role in the IAM User Guide. If you delete this service-linked role, you can use this same process to create the role again.

Editing a Service-Linked Role for Amazon Config

Amazon Config does not allow you to edit the AwsServiceRoleForConfig service-linked role. After you create a service-linked role, you cannot change the name of the role because various entities might reference the role. However, you can edit the description of the role using IAM. For more information, see Editing a Service-Linked Role in the IAM User Guide.

Deleting a Service-Linked Role for Amazon Config

If you no longer need to use a feature or service that requires a service-linked role, we recommend that you delete that role. That way you don't have an unused entity that is not actively monitored or maintained. However, you must clean up the resources for your service-linked role before you can manually delete it.

To delete Amazon Config resources used by the AwsServiceRoleForConfig

Ensure that you do not have ConfigurationRecorders using the service-linked role. You can use the Amazon Config console to stop the configuration recorder. To stop recording, under Recording is on, choose Turn off.

You can delete the ConfigurationRecorder using the Amazon Config API:

$ aws configservice delete-configuration-recorder --configuration-recorder-name default

To manually delete the service-linked role using IAM

Use the IAM console, the IAM CLI, or the IAM API to delete the AwsServiceRoleForConfig service-linked role. For more information, see Deleting a Service-Linked Role in the IAM User Guide.

Supported Regions for Amazon Config Service-Linked Roles

Amazon Config supports using the AwsServiceRoleForConfig role in all of the Regions where the service is available. For more information, see Amazon Regions and Endpoints.