Understand the roles required to perform common tasks in Synapse

This article will help you understand which Synapse RBAC (role-based access control) or Azure RBAC roles you need to get work done in Synapse Studio.

Synapse Studio access control and workflow summary

Accessing Synapse Studio and viewing its content

  • You can open Synapse Studio and view details of the workspace and list any of its Azure resources (SQL pools, Spark pools, or Integration runtimes) if you've been assigned any Synapse RBAC role or have the Azure Owner, Contributor, or Reader role on the workspace.

Resource management

  • You can create SQL pools, Apache Spark pools, and Integration runtimes if you're an Azure Owner or Contributor on the workspace.
  • You can pause or scale a dedicated SQL pool, configure a Spark pool or an integration runtime if you're an Azure Owner or Contributor on the workspace or that resource.

Viewing and editing code artifacts

  • With access to Synapse Studio, you can create new code artifacts, such as SQL scripts, notebooks, spark jobs, linked services, pipelines, dataflows, triggers, and credentials. (These artifacts can be published or saved with additional permissions.)
  • If you're a Synapse Artifact User, Synapse Artifact Publisher, Synapse Contributor, or Synapse Administrator you can list, open, and edit already published code artifacts.

Executing your code

  • You can execute SQL scripts on SQL pools if you have the necessary SQL permissions defined in the SQL pools.
  • You can run notebooks and Spark jobs if you have Synapse Compute Operator permissions on the workspace or specific Apache Spark pools.
  • With Compute Operator permissions on the workspace or specific integration runtimes, and appropriate credential permissions you can execute pipelines.

Monitoring and managing execution

  • You can review the status of running notebooks and jobs in Apache Spark pools if you're a Synapse User.
  • You can review logs and cancel running jobs and pipelines if you're a Synapse Compute Operator at the workspace or for a specific Spark pool or pipeline.

Publishing and saving your code

  • You can publish new or updated code artifacts to the service if you're a Synapse Artifact Publisher, Synapse Contributor, or Synapse Administrator.
  • You can commit code artifacts to a working branch of a Git repository if the workspace is Git-enabled and you have Git permissions. With Git enabled, publishing is only allowed from the collaboration branch.
  • If you close Synapse Studio without publishing or committing changes to code artifacts, then those changes will be lost.

Tasks and required roles

The table below lists common tasks and for each task, the Synapse RBAC, or Azure RBAC roles required.

Note

  • Synapse Administrator is not listed for each task unless it is the only role that provides the necessary permission. A Synapse Administrator can perform all tasks enabled by other Synapse RBAC roles.
  • The minimum Synapse RBAC role required is shown.
  • All Synapse RBAC roles at any scope provide you Synapse User permissions at the workspace
  • All Synapse RBAC permissions/actions shown in the table are prefixed Microsoft/Synapse/workspaces/...
Task (I want to...) Role (I need to be...) Synapse RBAC permission/action
Open Synapse Studio on a workspace Synapse User, or read
Azure Owner, Contributor, or Reader on the workspace none
List SQL pools, Apache Spark pools, Integration runtimes and access their configuration details Synapse User, or read
Azure Owner, Contributor, or Reader on the workspace none
List linked services, credentials, managed private endpoints Synapse User read
SQL POOLS
Create a dedicated SQL pool or a serverless SQL pool Azure Owner or Contributor on the workspace none
Manage (pause, scale, or delete) a dedicated SQL pool Azure Owner or Contributor on the SQL pool or workspace none
Create a SQL script
 Synapse User, or
Azure Owner or Contributor on the workspace,
Additional SQL permissions are required to run a SQL script, publish, or commit changes.
List and open any published SQL script Synapse Artifact User, Artifact Publisher, Synapse Contributor artifacts/read
Run a SQL script on a serverless SQL pool SQL permissions on the pool (granted automatically to a Synapse Administrator) none
Run a SQL script on a dedicated SQL pool SQL permissions on the pool none
Publish a new, updated, or deleted SQL script Synapse Artifact Publisher, Synapse Contributor sqlScripts/write, delete
Commit changes to a SQL script to the Git repo Requires Git permissions on the repo
Assign Active Directory Admin on the workspace (via workspace properties in the Azure Portal) Azure Owner or Contributor on the workspace
APACHE SPARK POOLS
Create an Apache Spark pool Azure Owner or Contributor on the workspace
Monitor Apache Spark applications Synapse User read
View the logs for notebook and job execution Synapse Compute Operator
Cancel any notebook or Spark job running on an Apache Spark pool Synapse Compute Operator on the Apache Spark pool. bigDataPools/useCompute
Create a notebook or job definition Synapse User, or
Azure Owner, Contributor, or Reader on the workspace
Additional permissions are required to run, publish, or commit changes		 read
List and open a published notebook or job definition, including reviewing saved outputs Synapse Artifact User, Synapse Artifact Publisher, Synapse Contributor on the workspace artifacts/read
Run a notebook and review its output, or submit a Spark job Synapse Apache Spark Administrator, Synapse Compute Operator on the selected Apache Spark pool bigDataPools/useCompute
Publish or delete a notebook or job definition (including output) to the service Artifact Publisher on the workspace, Synapse Apache Spark Administrator notebooks/write, delete
Commit changes to a notebook or job definition to the Git repo Git permissions none
PIPELINES, INTEGRATION RUNTIMES, DATAFLOWS, DATASETS & TRIGGERS
Create, update, or delete an Integration runtime Azure Owner or Contributor on the workspace
Monitor Integration runtime status Synapse User read, pipelines/viewOutputs
Review pipeline runs Synapse Artifact Publisher/Synapse Contributor read, pipelines/viewOutputs
Create a pipeline Synapse User
Additional Synapse permissions are required to debug, add triggers, publish, or commit changes		 read
Create a dataflow or dataset Synapse User
Additional Synapse permissions are required to publish, or commit changes		 read
List and open a published pipeline Synapse Artifact User artifacts/read
Preview dataset data Synapse User + Synapse Credential User on the WorkspaceSystemIdentity
Debug a pipeline using the default Integration runtime Synapse User + Synapse Credential User on the WorkspaceSystemIdentity credential read,
credentials/useSecret
Create a trigger, including trigger now (requires permission to execute the pipeline) Synapse User + Synapse Credential User on the WorkspaceSystemIdentity read, credentials/useSecret/action
Execute/run a pipeline Synapse User + Synapse Credential User on the WorkspaceSystemIdentity read, credentials/useSecret/action
Copy data using the Copy Data tool Synapse User + Synapse Credential User on the Workspace System Identity read, credentials/useSecret/action
Ingest data (using a schedule) Synapse Author + Synapse Credential User on the Workspace System Identity read, credentials/useSecret/action
Publish a new, updated, or deleted pipeline, dataflow, or trigger to the service Synapse Artifact Publisher on the workspace pipelines/write, delete
dataflows/write, delete
triggers/write, delete
Commit changes to pipelines, dataflows, datasets, or triggers to the Git repo Git permissions none
LINKED SERVICES
Create a linked service (includes assigning a credential) Synapse User
Additional permissions are required to use a linked service with credentials, or to publish, or commit changes		 read
List and open a published linked service Synapse Artifact User linkedServices/write, delete
Test connection on a linked service secured by a credential Synapse User + Synapse Credential User credentials/useSecret/action
Publish a linked service Synapse Artifact Publisher, Synapse Linked Data Manager linkedServices/write, delete
Commit linked service definitions to the Git repo Git permissions none
ACCESS MANAGEMENT
Review Synapse RBAC role assignments at any scope Synapse User read
Assign and remove Synapse RBAC role assignments for users, groups, and service principals Synapse Administrator at the workspace or at a specific workspace item scope roleAssignments/write, delete

Note

Guest users from another tenant are not able to review, add, or change role assignments regardless of the role they have been assigned.

Next steps

Learn how to review Synapse RBAC role assignments

Learn how to manage Synapse RBAC role assignments.