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Manage groups

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This article explains how admins create and manage Azure Databricks groups. For an overview of the Azure Databricks identity model, see Azure Databricks identities.

To manage access for groups, see Authentication and access control.

Overview of group management

Groups simplify identity management by making it easier to assign access to workspaces, data, and other securable objects. All Databricks identities can be assigned as members of groups.

Types of groups in Azure Databricks

Azure Databricks has four types of groups, categorized based on their source:

  • Account groups can be granted access to data in a Unity Catalog metastore, granted roles on service principals and groups, and permissions to identity federated workspaces.

  • Workspace-local groups are legacy groups that can only be used in the context of the workspace that they were created in. These groups cannot be assigned to additional workspaces, granted access to data in a Unity Catalog metastore, or granted account-level roles. Databricks recommends turning existing workspace-local groups into account groups. For more information on workspace-local groups, see Manage workspace-local groups (legacy).

  • External groups are groups that are created in Azure Databricks from Microsoft Entra ID. These groups are created using a SCIM provisioning connector and stay in sync with Microsoft Entra ID. By default, external group membership cannot be updated from the Azure Databricks account console or workspace admin settings page. External groups are account groups.

    Note

    To update external group membership from the Azure Databricks UI, an account admin can disable Immutable external groups preview in the account console preview page.

  • System groups are created and maintained by Azure Databricks. Each account has an account system group called account users, which includes all users. There are two workspace-level system groups in each workspace: users and admins. All members of the workspace belong to the users group, and workspace admins are also members of the admins group. System groups cannot be deleted.

Note

Users with a built-in Contributor or Owner role in Azure are automatically assigned to the workspace admins group. For more information, see Manage your subscription.

Who can manage account groups?

To create account groups in Azure Databricks, you must be an account admin or a workspace admin. Workspace admins must be in an identity-federated workspaces to create an account group.

To manage account groups in Azure Databricks, you must have the group manager role (Public Preview) on a group. Group managers can manage group membership and delete the group. They can also assign other users the group manager role. Account admins can manage group roles using the account console, and workspace admins can manage group roles using the workspace admin settings page. Group managers that are not workspace admins can manage group roles using the Accounts Access Control API.

Account admins have the group manager role on the account-level, which means they have the group manager role on all groups in the account. Workspace admins have the group manager role on account groups that they create.

Workspace admins can also create and manage workspace-local groups.

Sync groups to your Azure Databricks account from your Microsoft Entra ID tenant

You can sync groups from your Microsoft Entra ID tenant to your Azure Databricks account using a SCIM provisioning connector. For instructions, see Provision identities to your Azure Databricks account using Microsoft Entra ID.

Important

If you already have SCIM connectors that sync identities directly to your workspaces, you must disable those SCIM connectors when the account-level SCIM connector is enabled. See Migrate workspace-level SCIM provisioning to the account level.

Manage account groups using the account console

Account admins can add and manage groups in the Azure Databricks account using the account console. Workspace admins and group managers can manage groups using the workspace settings page and Databricks APIs. See Manage account groups using the workspace admin settings page and Manage account groups using the API.

Add groups to your account using the account console

To add a group to the account using the account console, do the following:

  1. As an account admin, log in to the account console.
  2. In the sidebar, click User management.
  3. On the Groups tab, click Add group.
  4. Enter a name for the group.
  5. Click Confirm.
  6. When prompted, add users, service principals, and groups to the group.

Add members to a group using the account console

To keep external groups in sync with Microsoft Entra ID, you cannot manage membership of external groups in the account console by default. To add users, service principals, and groups to a group using the account console, do the following:

  1. As an account admin, log in to the account console.
  2. In the sidebar, click User management.
  3. On the Groups tab, select the group you want to update.
  4. Click Add members.
  5. Search for the user, group, or service principal you want to add and select it.
  6. Click Add.

There is a delay of a few minutes between updating a group from an account and the group being updated in workspaces.

Manage roles on a group using the account console

Important

This feature is in Public Preview.

Account admins can grant roles on account groups in the account console.

  1. As an account admin, log in to the account console.
  2. In the sidebar, click User management.
  3. On the Groups tab, find and click the group name.
  4. Click the Permissions tab.
  5. Click Grant access.
  6. Search for and select the user, service principal, or group and choose the Group: Manager role.
  7. Click Save.

Change the name of a group

To keep external groups in sync with Microsoft Entra ID, you cannot update the name of an external groups in the account console by default. Account admins can update the name of account groups in using the account console:

  1. As an account admin, log in to the account console.
  2. In the sidebar, click User management.
  3. On the Groups tab, select the group you want to update.
  4. Click Group information.
  5. Under Name, update the name.
  6. Click Save.

Group managers cannot change name of a group using the account console. Instead, use the Account Groups API. For example:

curl --netrc -X PATCH \
https://${DATABRICKS_HOST}/api/2.1/accounts/{account_id}/scim/v2/Groups/{id} \
--header 'Content-type: application/scim+json' \
--data @update-group.json \
| jq .

update-group.json:

{
  "schemas": [ "urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:PatchOp" ],
  "Operations": [
    {
      {
          "op": "replace",
          "path": "displayName",
          "value": "<updated-name>"
      }
    }
  ]
}

For information on how to authenticate to Account Groups API, see Authenticate access to Azure Databricks resources.

Assign a group to a workspace using the account console

To add groups to a workspace using the account console, the workspace must be enabled for identity federation. Only account groups are assignable to workspaces.

  1. As an account admin, log in to the account console.
  2. In the sidebar, click Workspaces.
  3. Click your workspace name.
  4. On the Permissions tab, click Add permissions.
  5. Search for and select the group, assign the permission level (workspace User or Admin), and then click Save.

Remove a group from a workspace using the account console

To remove groups to a workspace using the account console, the workspace must be enabled for identity federation. Only account groups are removable from workspaces using the account console.

When an account group is removed from a workspace, group members can no longer access the workspace, however permissions are maintained on the group. If the group is later added back to a workspace, the group regains its previous permissions.

  1. As an account admin, log in to the account console.
  2. In the sidebar, click Workspaces.
  3. Click your workspace name.
  4. On the Permissions tab, find the group.
  5. Click the Kebab menu kebab menu at the far right of the group row and select Remove.
  6. On the confirmation dialog, click Remove.

Assign account admin roles to a group

You cannot assign the account admin or marketplace admin role to a group using the account console, but you can assign it to groups using the Account Groups API. For example:

curl --netrc -X PATCH \
https://${DATABRICKS_HOST}/api/2.1/accounts/{account_id}/scim/v2/Groups/{id} \
--header 'Content-type: application/scim+json' \
--data @update-group.json \
| jq .

update-group.json:

{
  "schemas": [ "urn:ietf:params:scim:api:messages:2.0:PatchOp" ],
  "Operations": [
    {
      "op": "add",
      "path": "roles",
      "value": [
        {
          "value": "account_admin"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

For information on how to authenticate to Account Groups API, see Authenticate access to Azure Databricks resources.

Remove groups from your Azure Databricks account

Account admins can remove groups from an Azure Databricks account. Group managers can also remove groups from the account using the Account Groups API, see Manage account groups using the API.

Important

When you remove a group, all users in that group are deleted from the account and lose access to any workspaces they had access to (unless they are members of another group or have been directly granted access to the account or any workspaces). Databricks recommends that you refrain from deleting account-level groups unless you want them to lose access to all workspaces in the account. Be aware of the following consequences of deleting users:

  • Applications or scripts that use the tokens generated by the user can no longer access Databricks APIs
  • Jobs owned by the user fail
  • Clusters owned by the user stop
  • Queries or dashboards created by the user and shared using the Run as Owner credential have to be assigned to a new owner to prevent sharing from failing

To remove a group using the account console, do the following:

  1. As an account admin, log in to the account console.
  2. In the sidebar, click User management.
  3. On the Groups tab, find the group you want to remove.
  4. Click the Kebab menu kebab menu at the far right of the user row and select Delete.
  5. In the confirmation dialog box, click Confirm delete.

If you remove a group using the account console, you must ensure that you also remove the group using any SCIM provisioning connectors or SCIM API applications that have been set up for the account. If you don’t, SCIM provisioning will simply add the group and its members back the next time it syncs. See Sync users and groups from Microsoft Entra ID.

To remove a group from an Azure Databricks account using the API, see Sync users and groups to your Azure Databricks account and the Account Groups API.

Manage account groups using the workspace admin settings page

Workspace admins can create and manage account groups in identity-federated workspaces using the workspace admin settings page.

Note

There is a delay of a few minutes between updating an account group from a workspace and the group being updated in the account.

For information about how to create workspace-local groups in workspaces, see Manage workspace-local groups (legacy).

Create or assign a group to a workspace using the workspace admin settings page

To assign or create an account group in a workspace using the workspace admin settings page, do the following:

  1. As a workspace admin, log in to the Azure Databricks workspace.

  2. Click your username in the top bar of the Azure Databricks workspace and select Settings.

  3. Click on the Identity and access tab.

  4. Next to Groups, click Manage.

  5. Click Add Group.

  6. Select an existing group to assign to the workspace or click Add new to create a new account group.

    Note

    If your workspace is not enabled for identity federation, you cannot assign existing account groups or add create account groups in your workspace. You must use workspace-local groups instead, see Manage workspace-local groups (legacy).

Add members to a group using the workspace admin settings page

You must be a workspace admin to add users, service principals, and groups to an account group using the workspace admin settings page. You can only manage members of a group that you have the group manager role on. To keep external groups in sync with Microsoft Entra ID, you cannot manage membership of external groups in the workspace admin settings page by default.

Note

You cannot add a child group to the admins group. You cannot add workspace-local groups or system groups as members of account groups.

Group managers that are not workspace admins must manage group membership using the Account Groups API.

  1. As a workspace admin, log in to the Azure Databricks workspace.
  2. Click your username in the top bar of the Azure Databricks workspace and select Settings.
  3. Click on the Identity and access tab.
  4. Next to Groups, click Manage.
  5. Select the group you want to update. You must have the group manager role on the group to update it.
  6. On the Members tab, click Add members.
  7. On the dialog, browse or search for the users, service principals, and groups you want to add and select them.
  8. Click Confirm.

Manage roles on an account group using the workspace admin settings page

Important

This feature is in Public Preview.

You can assign the group manager role to users, account groups, and service principals. Group managers can manage group membership. They can also assign the group manager role to other users.

You must be a workspace admin to manage group roles using the workspace admin settings page. Group managers that are not workspace admins can manage group roles using the Account Access Control API.

  1. As a workspace admin, log in to the Azure Databricks workspace.

  2. Click your username in the top bar of the Azure Databricks workspace and select Settings.

  3. Click on the Identity and access tab.

  4. Next to Groups, click Manage.

  5. Select the group you want to update. You must have the group manager role on the group to update it.

  6. Click the Permissions tab.

  7. Click Grant access.

  8. Search for and select the user, service principal, or group and choose the Group: Manager role.

    Note

    You cannot assign workspace-local groups or system groups roles on account groups.

  9. Click Save.

View parent groups

  1. As a workspace admin, log in to the Azure Databricks workspace.
  2. Click your username in the top bar of the Azure Databricks workspace and select Settings.
  3. Click on the Identity and access tab.
  4. Next to Groups, click Manage.
  5. Select the group you want to view.
  6. On the Parent group tab, view the parent groups for your group.

Remove a group from a workspace using the workspace admin settings page

Removing a group from a workspace does not delete the group in the account. When a group is removed from a workspace, group members can no longer access the workspace, however permissions are maintained on the group. If the group is later added back to the workspace, the group regains its previous permissions.

  1. As a workspace admin, log in to the Azure Databricks workspace.
  2. Click your username in the top bar of the Azure Databricks workspace and select Settings.
  3. Click on the Identity and access tab.
  4. Next to Groups, click Manage.
  5. Select the group and click x Delete
  6. Click Delete to confirm.

Manage account groups using the API

Account admins and workspace admins and group managers can add, delete, and manage groups in the Azure Databricks account using the Account Groups API. Account admins and workspace admins and group managers must invoke the API using a different endpoint URL:

  • Account admins use {account-domain}/api/2.1/accounts/{account_id}/scim/v2/.
  • Workspace admins and group managers use {workspace-domain}/api/2.0/account/scim/v2/.

For details, see the Account Groups API.

Assign a group to a workspace using the API

Account and workspace admins can use the Workspace Assignment API to assign groups to workspaces enabled for identity federation. The Workspace Assignment API is supported through the Azure Databricks account and workspaces.

  • Account admins use {account-domain}/api/2.1/accounts/{account_id}/workspaces/{workspace_id}/permissionassignments.
  • Workspace admins use {workspace-domain}/api/2.0/preview/permissionassignments/principals/{group_id}.

See Workspace Assignment API.

Manage roles for a group using the API

Important

This feature is in Public Preview.

Groups managers can manage group roles using the Accounts Access Control API. Account admins and workspace admins and group managers must invoke the API using a different endpoint URL:

  • Account admins use {account-domain}/api/2.0/preview/accounts/{account_id}/access-control/assignable-roles.
  • Workspace admins and group managers use {workspace-domain}/api/2.0/preview/accounts/access-control/assignable-roles.

See Account Access Control API and Accounts Access Control Workspace Proxy API.