Using Service-Linked Roles for Amazon Config

Amazon Config uses Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM) service-linked roles. A service-linked role is a unique type of IAM role that is linked directly to Amazon Config. Service-linked roles are predefined by Amazon Config and include all the permissions that the service requires to call other Amazon services on your behalf.

A service-linked role makes setting up Amazon Config easier because you don't have to manually add the necessary permissions. Amazon Config defines the permissions of its service-linked roles, and unless defined otherwise, only Amazon Config can assume its roles. The defined permissions include the trust policy and the permissions policy, and that permissions policy cannot be attached to any other IAM entity.

You can delete a service-linked role only after first deleting its related resources. This protects your Amazon Config resources because you can't inadvertently remove permission to access the resources.

For information about other services that support service-linked roles, see Amazon Services That Work with IAM and look for the services that have Yes in the Service-Linked Role column. Choose a Yes with a link to view the service-linked role documentation for that service.