createRole¶

On this page

Definition
Behavior
Required Access
Example

Definition¶

createRole¶

Creates a role and specifies its privileges. The role applies to the database on which you run the command. The createRole command returns a duplicate role error if the role already exists in the database.

The createRole command uses the following syntax:

{ createRole: "<new role>",
  privileges: [
    { resource: { <resource> }, actions: [ "<action>", ... ] },
    ...
  ],
  roles: [
    { role: "<role>", db: "<database>" } | "<role>",
    ...
  ],
  writeConcern: <write concern document>
}

The createRole command has the following fields:

Field	Type	Description
`createRole`	string	The name of the new role.
`privileges`	array	The privileges to grant the role. A privilege consists of a resource and permitted actions. For the syntax of a privilege, see the `privileges` array. You must include the `privileges` field. Use an empty array to specify no privileges.
`roles`	array	An array of roles from which this role inherits privileges. You must include the `roles` field. Use an empty array to specify no roles to inherit from.
`writeConcern`	document	Optional. The level of write concern to apply to this operation. The `writeConcern` document uses the same fields as the `getLastError` command.

In the roles field, you can specify both built-in roles and user-defined role.

To specify a role that exists in the same database where createRole runs, you can either specify the role with the name of the role:

"readWrite"

Or you can specify the role with a document, as in:

{ role: "<role>", db: "<database>" }

To specify a role that exists in a different database, specify the role with a document.

Behavior¶

A role’s privileges apply to the database where the role is created. The role can inherit privileges from other roles in its database. A role created on the admin database can include privileges that apply to all databases or to the cluster and can inherit privileges from roles in other databases.

Required Access¶

To create a role in a database, you must have:

the createRole action on that database resource.
the grantRole action on that database to specify privileges for the new role as well as to specify roles to inherit from.

Built-in roles userAdmin and userAdminAnyDatabase provide createRole and grantRole actions on their respective resources.

Example¶

The following createRole command creates the myClusterwideAdmin role on the admin database:

use admin
db.runCommand({ createRole: "myClusterwideAdmin",
  privileges: [
    { resource: { cluster: true }, actions: [ "addShard" ] },
    { resource: { db: "config", collection: "" }, actions: [ "find", "update", "insert", "remove" ] },
    { resource: { db: "users", collection: "usersCollection" }, actions: [ "update", "insert", "remove" ] },
    { resource: { db: "", collection: "" }, actions: [ "find" ] }
  ],
  roles: [
    { role: "read", db: "admin" }
  ],
  writeConcern: { w: "majority" , wtimeout: 5000 }
})

← Role Management Commands updateRole →