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The local super user (LSU), or root, is a special user account used for system administration and has all
rights or permissions. In XenServer, the local super user is the default account at installation. The LSU
is authenticated via XenServer and not external authentication service, so if the external authentication
service fails, the LSU can still log in and manage the system. The LSU can always access the XenServer
physical host via SSH.
RBAC process
This is the standard process for implementing RBAC and assigning a user or group a role:
1. Join the domain. See Enabling external authentication on a pool
2. Add an Active Directory user or group to the pool. This becomes a subject. See the section called “To
add a subject to RBAC”.
3. Assign (or modify) the subject's RBAC role. See the section called “To assign an RBAC role to a created
subject”.
Roles
XenServer is shipped with the following six, pre-established roles:
• Pool Administrator (Pool Admin) – the same as being the local root. Can perform all operations.
Note:
The local super user (root) will always have the "Pool Admin" role. The Pool Admin role has the same
permissions as the local root.
• Pool Operator (Pool Operator) – can do everything apart from adding/removing users and modifying their
roles. This role is focused mainly on host and pool management (i.e.. creating storage, making pools,
managing the hosts etc.)
• Virtual Machine Power Administrator (VM Power Admin) – creates and manages Virtual Machines. This
role is focused on provisioning VMs for use by a VM operator.
• Virtual Machine Administrator (VM Admin) – similar to a VM Power Admin, but cannot migrate VMs or
perform snapshots.
• Virtual Machine Operator (VM Operator) – similar to VM Admin, but cannot create/destroy VMs – but can
perform start/stop lifecycle operations.
• Read-only (Read Only) – can view resource pool and performance data.
Note:
You cannot add, remove or modify roles in this version of XenServer.
Warning:
You can not assign the role of pool-admin to an AD group which has more than 500 members, if you want
users of the AD group to have SSH access.
For a summary of the permissions available for each role and more detailed information on the operations
available for each permission, see the section called “Definitions of RBAC roles and permissions”.
All XenServer users need to be allocated to an appropriate role. By default, all new users will be allocated
to the Pool Administrator role. It is possible for a user to be assigned to multiple roles; in that scenario, the
user will have the union of all the permissions of all their assigned roles.
