> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/cortex-agentix/configure-cortex-agentix/users-and-roles-management/users-and-roles-in-cortex-agentix.md).
# Users, groups, and roles in Cortex AgentiX
Cortex uses role-based access control (RBAC) to manage roles with specific permissions for controlling user access. RBAC helps manage access to components, so that users, based on their roles, are granted the minimal access required to accomplish their tasks.
You can create or configure roles, users, and user groups in Cortex Gateway, the tenant, or both. For example, create a **Manager** role in Cortex Gateway, which enables you to maintain the Manager role in a central place with the same level of access for all tenants. If you are using SSO, you create a user group in the Cortex tenant that includes the **Manager** role, assign tenant users to this group, and map the user group to your SAML group.
Cortex Gateway and the tenant have different options and requirements.
| **Location** | **Details** |
| -------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Cortex Gateway | A centralized portal for managing roles, user groups, and users for all tenants. Any roles and user groups created in Cortex Gateway are available for all tenants.
Only users with the Account Admin role can manage roles, tenants, and user groups in Cortex Gateway.
|
| Cortex tenant | (Recommended) All permissions and roles are specific to the tenant and exist only at the tenant level. Advanced settings such as default dashboards, queries, and shift management can only be defined per role at the tenant level. Only user groups created on the tenant can be mapped to SAML groups when using SAML SSO.
You need the Account Admin or Instance Administrator role to manage roles, users, and user groups.
|
**Roles**
Roles enable you to define permissions for specific components, such as cases and issues, playbooks, scripts, and jobs. For example, you can create a role that allows users to edit cases and issues, but not edit playbooks. You can create new roles or customize out-of-the-box roles.
Roles can also be used to define permissions for integration commands. On the **Integration Permissions** page, you can assign roles to specific integration instances (all commands for that instance) or specific integration instance commands. For example, you could assign the **Generic Export Indicators Service** integration instance the Account Admin role, or you could restrict certain commands in the **Core Rest API** to a specific role. For more information, see [Integration Permissions](/cortex-agentix/configure-cortex-agentix/cortex-agentix-data-sources/administration-and-troubleshooting/integrations/configure-integration-permissions.md).
**User groups**
While roles can be assigned directly to users, we recommend creating user groups. Each user group has a single role associated with it, but each user group can contain multiple users, and user groups can be nested within each other, enabling you to further refine your RBAC requirements. Users can belong to several user groups.
**Nested roles**
Cortex AgentiX uses group nesting, where the group with higher permissions includes the permissions of the group with lower permissions, but as a subset of the group with lower permissions. For example, the Admin user group is included as a subset of the Analyst user group, as shown in the following graphic. The Admin role includes the permissions of the Analyst role.
For example, Content Developer and Analyst user groups include Employee user group permissions and are nested in the Employee user group.
**Dataset access permissions**
You can also set dataset access permissions using user roles or specific permissions using RBAC. Configuring administrative access depends on your organization's security requirements. Dataset permissions control dataset access for all components, while RBAC controls access to a specific component.
By default, when dataset access management is disabled, users have access to all datasets. If you enable dataset access management, you must configure access permissions for each dataset type and each user role. When a dataset component is enabled for a particular role, the Issues and Cases pages include information about datasets.
{% hint style="info" %}
### Note
You can only set dataset access permission for a user role in the tenant. These settings are disabled in Cortex Gateway
{% endhint %}
For more information on how to set dataset access permissions, see [Manage roles in the Cortex AgentiX tenant](/cortex-agentix/configure-cortex-agentix/users-and-roles-management/roles-management.md#UUID-57736719-a2de-71f0-763d-695c7bdf2226).
**Scope-Based Access Control (SBAC)**
SBAC enables you to assign users to specific tags of different types in your organization. By default, all users have management access to all tags in the tenant. However, after an administrator assigns a management scope to a user (non-administrator), the user is then able to manage only the specific tags and their associated entities that are predefined within that scope. For more information, see
**Authentication**
You can create users in the Customer Support Portal or by using SAML Single Sign-On (SSO) in the tenant. After you create users, they authenticate by doing the following:
* Authenticate through the Customer Support Portal
* Authenticate by using SAML Single Sign-On (SSO) in the Cortex tenant
**Manage users**
By default, users do not have roles assigned and do not automatically have access to tenant data until you assign them a role or add them as members of a user group that has an assigned role.
---
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