IAM and RBAC Requirements for Multi-Cloud Deployment

Last Updated: 2025-11-02 Applies To: GCP GKE, AWS EKS, Azure AKS Purpose: Comprehensive IAM/RBAC permissions required for CI/CD deployments

Overview

This document defines all required IAM roles, permissions, and RBAC policies needed to deploy MCP Server LangGraph to Kubernetes across all three major cloud providers.

Principle: Least Privilege

All permissions follow the principle of least privilege - granting only the minimum permissions necessary for each operation.

GCP (Google Kubernetes Engine)

Service Account: `mcp-staging-sa@PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com`

Required IAM Roles

Role	Permission	Purpose	Required For
`roles/artifactregistry.writer`	CRITICAL	Push Docker images to Artifact Registry	Docker build & push
`roles/container.developer`	CRITICAL	Deploy to GKE, manage workloads	kubectl apply, rollout
`roles/logging.logWriter`	Standard	Write application logs	Runtime logging
`roles/monitoring.metricWriter`	Standard	Write metrics and traces	Observability
`roles/secretmanager.secretAccessor`	Standard	Access application secrets	Runtime configuration
`roles/cloudsql.client`	Optional	Connect to Cloud SQL databases	Database access

Grant Commands

PROJECT_ID="your-project-id"
SERVICE_ACCOUNT="mcp-staging-sa@${PROJECT_ID}.iam.gserviceaccount.com"

# CRITICAL: Artifact Registry Writer
gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding $PROJECT_ID \
  --member="serviceAccount:${SERVICE_ACCOUNT}" \
  --role="roles/artifactregistry.writer"

# CRITICAL: Container Developer
gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding $PROJECT_ID \
  --member="serviceAccount:${SERVICE_ACCOUNT}" \
  --role="roles/container.developer"

# Standard: Logging
gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding $PROJECT_ID \
  --member="serviceAccount:${SERVICE_ACCOUNT}" \
  --role="roles/logging.logWriter"

# Standard: Monitoring
gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding $PROJECT_ID \
  --member="serviceAccount:${SERVICE_ACCOUNT}" \
  --role="roles/monitoring.metricWriter"

# Standard: Secrets
gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding $PROJECT_ID \
  --member="serviceAccount:${SERVICE_ACCOUNT}" \
  --role="roles/secretmanager.secretAccessor"

# Optional: Cloud SQL (if using managed PostgreSQL)
gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding $PROJECT_ID \
  --member="serviceAccount:${SERVICE_ACCOUNT}" \
  --role="roles/cloudsql.client"

Workload Identity Federation (GitHub Actions)

Pool: github-actions-pool Provider: github-provider

# Allow GitHub Actions to impersonate service account
gcloud iam service-accounts add-iam-policy-binding \
  "${SERVICE_ACCOUNT}" \
  --role="roles/iam.workloadIdentityUser" \
  --member="principalSet://iam.googleapis.com/projects/${PROJECT_NUMBER}/locations/global/workloadIdentityPools/github-actions-pool/attribute.repository/${GITHUB_REPO}"

Kubernetes RBAC (In-Cluster)

Service Account: mcp-server-langgraph (in namespace)

apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  name: mcp-server-langgraph
  namespace: staging-mcp-server-langgraph
  annotations:
    iam.gke.io/gcp-service-account: mcp-staging-sa@PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com

Verification

# Check all IAM roles
gcloud projects get-iam-policy $PROJECT_ID \
  --flatten="bindings[].members" \
  --filter="bindings.members:${SERVICE_ACCOUNT}" \
  --format="table(bindings.role)"

# Expected output:
# roles/artifactregistry.writer     ✓
# roles/container.developer         ✓
# roles/logging.logWriter           ✓
# roles/monitoring.metricWriter     ✓
# roles/secretmanager.secretAccessor ✓
# roles/cloudsql.client             ✓

AWS (Elastic Kubernetes Service)

IAM Role: `mcp-eks-deployment-role`

Required IAM Policies

Policy	Type	Purpose	Required For
`AmazonEKSClusterPolicy`	AWS Managed	EKS cluster management	Cluster operations
`AmazonEKSServicePolicy`	AWS Managed	EKS service linking	Service integration
`AmazonEKSVPCResourceController`	AWS Managed	VPC resource management	Network policies
Custom: ECR Push/Pull	Custom	Push/pull container images	Docker build & push
Custom: EKS Deploy	Custom	Deploy to EKS workloads	kubectl apply
Custom: CloudWatch Logs	Custom	Write application logs	Logging
Custom: CloudWatch Metrics	Custom	Publish metrics	Observability
Custom: Secrets Manager	Custom	Access secrets	Runtime config

Custom IAM Policy: ECR Access

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Sid": "ECRPushPull",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "ecr:GetAuthorizationToken",
        "ecr:BatchCheckLayerAvailability",
        "ecr:GetDownloadUrlForLayer",
        "ecr:PutImage",
        "ecr:InitiateLayerUpload",
        "ecr:UploadLayerPart",
        "ecr:CompleteLayerUpload",
        "ecr:BatchGetImage"
      ],
      "Resource": "*"
    }
  ]
}

Custom IAM Policy: EKS Deployment

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Sid": "EKSDeploy",
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Action": [
        "eks:DescribeCluster",
        "eks:ListClusters",
        "eks:DescribeNodegroup",
        "eks:ListNodegroups"
      ],
      "Resource": "arn:aws:eks:*:ACCOUNT_ID:cluster/mcp-*"
    }
  ]
}

IRSA (IAM Roles for Service Accounts)

Service Account Annotation:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  name: mcp-server-langgraph
  namespace: mcp-server-langgraph
  annotations:
    eks.amazonaws.com/role-arn: arn:aws:iam::ACCOUNT_ID:role/mcp-eks-pod-role

Trust Policy:

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [
    {
      "Effect": "Allow",
      "Principal": {
        "Federated": "arn:aws:iam::ACCOUNT_ID:oidc-provider/oidc.eks.REGION.amazonaws.com/id/CLUSTER_ID"
      },
      "Action": "sts:AssumeRoleWithWebIdentity",
      "Condition": {
        "StringEquals": {
          "oidc.eks.REGION.amazonaws.com/id/CLUSTER_ID:sub": "system:serviceaccount:mcp-server-langgraph:mcp-server-langgraph"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Grant Commands (AWS CLI)

# Create IAM role for EKS deployment
aws iam create-role \
  --role-name mcp-eks-deployment-role \
  --assume-role-policy-document file://trust-policy.json

# Attach AWS managed policies
aws iam attach-role-policy \
  --role-name mcp-eks-deployment-role \
  --policy-arn arn:aws:iam::aws:policy/AmazonEKSClusterPolicy

# Create and attach custom ECR policy
aws iam put-role-policy \
  --role-name mcp-eks-deployment-role \
  --policy-name ECRAccess \
  --policy-document file://ecr-policy.json

Azure (Azure Kubernetes Service)

Service Principal / Managed Identity: `mcp-aks-sp`

Required Azure RBAC Roles

Role	Scope	Purpose	Required For
`Azure Kubernetes Service Cluster User Role`	AKS Cluster	Access cluster credentials	kubectl access
`AcrPush`	Container Registry	Push container images	Docker build & push
`AcrPull`	Container Registry	Pull container images	Deployment
`Contributor` (limited scope)	Resource Group	Manage AKS resources	Deployment updates
`Monitoring Metrics Publisher`	Subscription	Publish metrics	Observability
`Key Vault Secrets User`	Key Vault	Access secrets	Runtime config

Grant Commands (Azure CLI)

RESOURCE_GROUP="mcp-production-rg"
CLUSTER_NAME="mcp-production"
ACR_NAME="mcpcontainerregistry"
SUBSCRIPTION_ID=$(az account show --query id -o tsv)

# Create service principal
SP_INFO=$(az ad sp create-for-rbac \
  --name mcp-aks-sp \
  --role "Azure Kubernetes Service Cluster User Role" \
  --scopes /subscriptions/$SUBSCRIPTION_ID/resourceGroups/$RESOURCE_GROUP)

SP_OBJECT_ID=$(echo $SP_INFO | jq -r '.appId')

# Grant ACR Push role
az role assignment create \
  --assignee $SP_OBJECT_ID \
  --role AcrPush \
  --scope /subscriptions/$SUBSCRIPTION_ID/resourceGroups/$RESOURCE_GROUP/providers/Microsoft.ContainerRegistry/registries/$ACR_NAME

# Grant ACR Pull role
az role assignment create \
  --assignee $SP_OBJECT_ID \
  --role AcrPull \
  --scope /subscriptions/$SUBSCRIPTION_ID/resourceGroups/$RESOURCE_GROUP/providers/Microsoft.ContainerRegistry/registries/$ACR_NAME

# Grant Contributor (scoped to resource group)
az role assignment create \
  --assignee $SP_OBJECT_ID \
  --role Contributor \
  --scope /subscriptions/$SUBSCRIPTION_ID/resourceGroups/$RESOURCE_GROUP

# Grant Monitoring Metrics Publisher
az role assignment create \
  --assignee $SP_OBJECT_ID \
  --role "Monitoring Metrics Publisher" \
  --scope /subscriptions/$SUBSCRIPTION_ID

Workload Identity (Azure AD Pod Identity)

Pod Identity:

apiVersion: "aadpodidentity.k8s.io/v1"
kind: AzureIdentity
metadata:
  name: mcp-identity
  namespace: mcp-server-langgraph
spec:
  type: 0  # User-assigned managed identity
  resourceID: /subscriptions/SUBSCRIPTION_ID/resourcegroups/RESOURCE_GROUP/providers/Microsoft.ManagedIdentity/userAssignedIdentities/mcp-identity
  clientID: CLIENT_ID

Pod Identity Binding:

apiVersion: "aadpodidentity.k8s.io/v1"
kind: AzureIdentityBinding
metadata:
  name: mcp-identity-binding
  namespace: mcp-server-langgraph
spec:
  azureIdentity: mcp-identity
  selector: mcp-server-langgraph

Kubernetes RBAC (Common to All Platforms)

Namespace-Level Permissions

ServiceAccount

apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  name: mcp-server-langgraph
  namespace: mcp-server-langgraph

Role

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: Role
metadata:
  name: mcp-server-langgraph
  namespace: mcp-server-langgraph
rules:
  # Allow reading ConfigMaps
  - apiGroups: [""]
    resources: ["configmaps"]
    verbs: ["get", "list", "watch"]

  # Allow reading Secrets
  - apiGroups: [""]
    resources: ["secrets"]
    verbs: ["get", "list"]

  # Allow reading Services
  - apiGroups: [""]
    resources: ["services"]
    verbs: ["get", "list"]

  # Allow creating Events
  - apiGroups: [""]
    resources: ["events"]
    verbs: ["create", "patch"]

RoleBinding

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: RoleBinding
metadata:
  name: mcp-server-langgraph
  namespace: mcp-server-langgraph
subjects:
  - kind: ServiceAccount
    name: mcp-server-langgraph
    namespace: mcp-server-langgraph
roleRef:
  kind: Role
  name: mcp-server-langgraph
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io

CI/CD Service Account Permissions

GitHub Actions (All Platforms)

Required Permissions:

Pull from source repository - GitHub token (automatic)
Authenticate to cloud provider - Workload Identity Federation / OIDC
Push container images - Container registry write access
Deploy to Kubernetes - Cluster access with deployment permissions

Deployment Pipeline Permissions

# GitHub Actions workflow permissions
permissions:
  contents: read        # Read repository contents
  id-token: write       # Request OIDC tokens for cloud auth
  packages: write       # Push to GitHub Container Registry (optional)
  deployments: write    # Create deployment statuses

Validation Scripts

GCP Validation

#!/bin/bash
# validate-gcp-permissions.sh

SERVICE_ACCOUNT="mcp-staging-sa@PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com"

REQUIRED_ROLES=(
  "roles/artifactregistry.writer"
  "roles/container.developer"
  "roles/logging.logWriter"
  "roles/monitoring.metricWriter"
  "roles/secretmanager.secretAccessor"
)

echo "Validating GCP IAM roles..."
GRANTED_ROLES=$(gcloud projects get-iam-policy $PROJECT_ID \
  --flatten="bindings[].members" \
  --filter="bindings.members:${SERVICE_ACCOUNT}" \
  --format="value(bindings.role)")

for role in "${REQUIRED_ROLES[@]}"; do
  if echo "$GRANTED_ROLES" | grep -q "$role"; then
    echo "✓ $role"
  else
    echo "✗ $role (MISSING)"
    exit 1
  fi
done

echo "✓ All required IAM roles present"

AWS Validation

#!/bin/bash
# validate-aws-permissions.sh

ROLE_NAME="mcp-eks-deployment-role"

echo "Validating AWS IAM policies..."
aws iam list-attached-role-policies --role-name $ROLE_NAME
aws iam list-role-policies --role-name $ROLE_NAME

echo "✓ IAM policies validated"

Azure Validation

#!/bin/bash
# validate-azure-permissions.sh

SP_OBJECT_ID="your-service-principal-id"
RESOURCE_GROUP="mcp-production-rg"

echo "Validating Azure RBAC roles..."
az role assignment list --assignee $SP_OBJECT_ID --resource-group $RESOURCE_GROUP

echo "✓ RBAC roles validated"

Troubleshooting

Common Permission Errors

GCP: “Permission denied on Artifact Registry”

Error:

denied: Permission "artifactregistry.repositories.uploadArtifacts" denied

Fix:

gcloud projects add-iam-policy-binding $PROJECT_ID \
  --member="serviceAccount:${SERVICE_ACCOUNT}" \
  --role="roles/artifactregistry.writer"

AWS: “AccessDenied ECR”

Error:

denied: User: arn:aws:sts::ACCOUNT:assumed-role/... is not authorized to perform: ecr:PutImage

Fix: Apply ECR custom policy (see above)

Azure: “Authorization failed for ACR”

Error:

unauthorized: authentication required

Fix:

az role assignment create \
  --assignee $SP_OBJECT_ID \
  --role AcrPush \
  --scope /subscriptions/$SUBSCRIPTION_ID/resourceGroups/$RESOURCE_GROUP/providers/Microsoft.ContainerRegistry/registries/$ACR_NAME

Security Best Practices

1. Use Workload Identity / IRSA

✅ Do: Use platform-native workload identity (GCP Workload Identity, AWS IRSA, Azure Pod Identity)
❌ Don’t: Use long-lived service account keys

2. Principle of Least Privilege

✅ Do: Grant only required permissions
❌ Don’t: Grant Owner, Editor, or Admin roles

3. Scope Permissions Narrowly

✅ Do: Scope to specific resources (namespace, resource group, etc.)
❌ Don’t: Grant organization-wide or subscription-wide permissions

4. Regular Audits

✅ Do: Regularly review and audit permissions
❌ Don’t: Set-and-forget permissions

5. Use Resource-Level Permissions

✅ Do: Grant access to specific container registries, clusters
❌ Don’t: Grant wildcard (*) resource access

References

Documentation

GCP: GCP Configuration Guide
AWS: AWS EKS Configuration (see scripts and Terraform modules below)
Azure: Azure AKS Configuration (see scripts and Terraform modules below)

AWS EKS and Azure AKS deployment documentation is available via deployment scripts and Terraform modules. Dedicated configuration guides are planned for future releases.

Scripts

GCP Setup: scripts/gcp/setup-staging-infrastructure.sh
AWS Setup: scripts/deploy-aws-eks.sh
Azure Setup: scripts/deploy-azure-aks.sh

Terraform Modules

GCP: terraform/modules/gke/
AWS: terraform/modules/eks/
Azure: terraform/modules/aks/

Maintained By: DevOps Team Last Reviewed: 2025-11-02 Next Review: 2025-12-01

​IAM and RBAC Requirements for Multi-Cloud Deployment

​Overview

​Principle: Least Privilege

​GCP (Google Kubernetes Engine)

​Service Account: mcp-staging-sa@PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com

​Required IAM Roles

​Grant Commands

​Workload Identity Federation (GitHub Actions)

​Kubernetes RBAC (In-Cluster)

​Verification

​AWS (Elastic Kubernetes Service)

​IAM Role: mcp-eks-deployment-role

​Required IAM Policies

​Custom IAM Policy: ECR Access

​Custom IAM Policy: EKS Deployment

​IRSA (IAM Roles for Service Accounts)

​Grant Commands (AWS CLI)

​Azure (Azure Kubernetes Service)

​Service Principal / Managed Identity: mcp-aks-sp

​Required Azure RBAC Roles

​Grant Commands (Azure CLI)

​Workload Identity (Azure AD Pod Identity)

​Kubernetes RBAC (Common to All Platforms)

​Namespace-Level Permissions

​ServiceAccount

​Role

​RoleBinding

​CI/CD Service Account Permissions

​GitHub Actions (All Platforms)

​Deployment Pipeline Permissions

​Validation Scripts

​GCP Validation

​AWS Validation

​Azure Validation

​Troubleshooting

​Common Permission Errors

​GCP: “Permission denied on Artifact Registry”

​AWS: “AccessDenied ECR”

​Azure: “Authorization failed for ACR”

​Security Best Practices

​1. Use Workload Identity / IRSA

​2. Principle of Least Privilege

​3. Scope Permissions Narrowly

​4. Regular Audits

​5. Use Resource-Level Permissions

​References

​Documentation

​Scripts

​Terraform Modules

IAM and RBAC Requirements for Multi-Cloud Deployment

Overview

Principle: Least Privilege

GCP (Google Kubernetes Engine)

Service Account: `mcp-staging-sa@PROJECT_ID.iam.gserviceaccount.com`

Required IAM Roles

Grant Commands

Workload Identity Federation (GitHub Actions)

Kubernetes RBAC (In-Cluster)

Verification

AWS (Elastic Kubernetes Service)

IAM Role: `mcp-eks-deployment-role`

Required IAM Policies

Custom IAM Policy: ECR Access

Custom IAM Policy: EKS Deployment

IRSA (IAM Roles for Service Accounts)

Grant Commands (AWS CLI)

Azure (Azure Kubernetes Service)

Service Principal / Managed Identity: `mcp-aks-sp`

Required Azure RBAC Roles

Grant Commands (Azure CLI)

Workload Identity (Azure AD Pod Identity)

Kubernetes RBAC (Common to All Platforms)

Namespace-Level Permissions

ServiceAccount

Role

RoleBinding

CI/CD Service Account Permissions

GitHub Actions (All Platforms)

Deployment Pipeline Permissions

Validation Scripts

GCP Validation

AWS Validation

Azure Validation

Troubleshooting

Common Permission Errors

GCP: “Permission denied on Artifact Registry”

AWS: “AccessDenied ECR”

Azure: “Authorization failed for ACR”

Security Best Practices

1. Use Workload Identity / IRSA

2. Principle of Least Privilege

3. Scope Permissions Narrowly

4. Regular Audits

5. Use Resource-Level Permissions

References

Documentation

Scripts

Terraform Modules