In Ambari 2.2 and earlier, the only roles available were Operator and Read-only. To enhance the granularity of permissions that can be granted to Ambari users, the following new, cluster-level roles are available:

Cluster User

Users assigned to the Cluster User role can view information about the cluster and its services, including configurations, service status, and health alerts. In Ambari 2.2 and earlier, this user was referred to as the Read-only user. Effectively, the cluster user is a view-only user.

Service Operator

Users assigned to the Service Operator role have control over service life cycles, such as starting and stopping services, performing service checks, and performing service-specific tasks such as rebalancing HDFS and refreshing the YARN Capacity Scheduler.

Service Administrator

Users assigned to the Service Administrator role have the same permissions as users assigned to the Service Operator role but have the added ability to configure services. This includes the ability to manage configuration groups, move service masters, and enable HA.

Cluster Operator

Users assigned to the Cluster Operator role have the same permissions as users assigned to the Service Administrator role but have the added ability to perform host-level tasks such as adding and removing hosts and components.

Cluster Administrator

Users assigned to the Cluster Administrators role have control over the relevant cluster, its hosts, and services. In Ambari 2.2 and earlier, this user was referred to as the Operator user.

Ambari Administrator

Ambari Administrator users have full control over all aspects of Ambari. This includes the ability to create clusters, change cluster names, register new versions of cluster software, and fully control all clusters managed by the Ambari instance.

​The following chart compares these cluster roles:

	Cluster User	Service Operator	Service Administrator	Cluster Operator	Cluster Administrator	Ambari Administrator
Service-Level Authorizations
View metrics
View status information
View configurations
Compare configurations
View service alerts
Start, stop, or restart service
Decommission or recommission
Run service checks
Turn maintenance mode on or off
Perform service-specific tasks
Modify configurations
Manage configuration groups
Move to another host
Enable HA
Enable or disable service alerts
Add service to cluster
Host-Level Authorizations
View metrics
View status information
View configuration
Turn maintenance mode on or off
Install components
Add or delete hosts
Cluster-Level Authorizations
View metrics
View status information
View configuration
View stack version details
View alerts
Enable or disable alerts
Enable or disable Kerberos
Upgrade orLdowngrade stack
Ambari-level Authorizations
Create new clusters
Set service users and groups
Rename clusters
Manage users
Manage groups
Manage Ambari Views
Assign permission and roles
Manage stack versions
Edit stack repository URLs