Using constraints

This guide explains how to create an organization policy with a particular constraint. The constraints used in the examples on this page will not be actual constraints, but generalized samples for educational purposes.

For more information on constraints and the problems they solve, review the list of all Organization Policy Service constraints.

Before you begin

Read the Introduction to the Organization Policy Service page to learn how organization policy works.
Read the Understanding hierarchy evaluation page to learn about policy inheritance.

Required roles

To get the permissions that you need to manage organization policies, ask your administrator to grant you the Organization policy administrator (roles/orgpolicy.policyAdmin) IAM role on the organization. For more information about granting roles, see Manage access to projects, folders, and organizations.

You might also be able to get the required permissions through custom roles or other predefined roles.

Use list constraints with an organization policy

You can set an organization policy on your organization resource that uses a list constraint to deny access to a particular service. The following process describes how to set an organization policy using the Google Cloud CLI. For instructions on how to view and set organization policies using the Google Cloud console, see Creating and Managing Policies.

Organization policies using list constraints cannot have more than 500 individual allowed or denied values, and cannot be more than 32 KB. If an organization policy is created or updated to have more than 500 values, or be greater than 32 KB in size, it can't save successfully, and the request will return an error.

Set up enforcement on the organization resource

To set up enforcement on an organization using gcloud CLI, follow these steps:

Get the current policy on the organization resource using the describe command. This command returns the policy directly applied to this resource:
```
gcloud org-policies describe \
  LIST_CONSTRAINT --organization=ORGANIZATION_ID
```
Replace the following:
- ORGANIZATION_ID: a unique identifier for the organization resource. Organization ID is formatted as decimal numbers, and cannot have leading zeros.
- LIST_CONSTRAINT: the list constraint for the service that you want to enforce. For example, the constraints/gcp.restrictNonCmekServices constraint restricts which services can create resources without customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK).
You can also apply the organization policy to a folder or a project with the --folder or the --project flags, and the folder ID and project ID, respectively.

The response returns the current organization policy, if one exists. For example:
```
name: projects/841166443394/policies/gcp.resourceLocations
spec:
  etag: BwW5P5cEOGs=
  inheritFromParent: true
  rules:
  - condition:
      expression: resource.matchTagId("tagKeys/1111", "tagValues/2222")
    values:
      allowedValues:
      - in:us-east1-locations
  - condition:
      expression: resource.matchTag("123/env", "prod")
    values:
      allowedValues:
      - in:us-west1-locations
  - values:
      deniedValues:
      - in:asia-south1-locations
  updateTime: '2021-01-19T12:00:51.095Z'
```
If a policy isn't set, this will return a NOT_FOUND error:
```
ERROR: (gcloud.org-policies.describe) NOT_FOUND: Requested entity was not found.
```

Set the policy on the organization using the set-policy command. This overwrites any policy attached to the resource.

Create a temporary file /tmp/policy.yaml to store the policy:

name: organizations/ORGANIZATION_ID/policies/LIST_CONSTRAINT
spec:
  rules:
  - values:
      deniedValues:
      - VALUE_A

Run the set-policy command:

gcloud org-policies set-policy /tmp/policy.yaml

View the current effective policy using describe --effective. This returns the organization policy as it is evaluated at this point in the resource hierarchy with inheritance included.
```
gcloud org-policies describe \
  LIST_CONSTRAINT --effective \
  --organization=ORGANIZATION_ID
```
The output of the command will be:
```
name: organizations/ORGANIZATION_ID/policies/LIST_CONSTRAINT
spec:
  etag: BwVJi0OOESU=
  rules:
  - values:
      deniedValues:
      - VALUE_A
```
Because this organization policy was set at the organization level, it will be inherited by all child resources that allow inheritance.

Changes to organization policies can take up to 15 minutes to be fully enforced.

Set up enforcement against a hierarchy subtree

List constraints take explicitly defined values to determine which resources should be allowed or denied. Some constraints can also accept values that use the prefix under:, which specifies a subtree with that resource as the root. Using the under: prefix on an allowed or denied value causes the organization policy to act on that resource and all of its children. For information about the constraints that allow using the under: prefix, see the Organization policy constraints page.

A value that uses the under: prefix is called a hierarchy subtree string. A hierarchy subtree string specifies the type of resource it applies to. For example, using a subtree string of projects/PROJECT_ID when setting the constraints/compute.storageResourceUseRestrictions constraint will allow or deny the use of Compute Engine storage for PROJECT_ID and all of its children.

Get the current policy on the organization resource using the describe command:
```
gcloud org-policies describe \
  LIST_CONSTRAINT \
  --organization=ORGANIZATION_ID
```
Replace the following:
- ORGANIZATION_ID is a unique identifier for the organization resource.
- LIST_CONSTRAINT is the list constraint for the service that you want to enforce.
You can also apply the organization policy to a folder or a project with the --folder or the --project flags, and the folder ID and project ID, respectively.

If a policy isn't set, this will return a NOT_FOUND error:
```
ERROR: (gcloud.org-policies.describe) NOT_FOUND: Requested entity was not found.
```
Set the policy on the project using the set-policy command. The under: prefix sets the constraint to deny the named resource and all of its child resources.
1. Create a temporary file /tmp/policy.yaml to store the policy:
```
name: organizations/ORGANIZATION_ID/policies/LIST_CONSTRAINT
spec:
  rules:
  - values:
      deniedValues:
      - under:folders/VALUE_A
```
2. Run the set-policy command:
```
gcloud org-policies set-policy /tmp/policy.yaml
```
Where:
- under: is a prefix that signifies what follows is a subtree string.
- folders/VALUE_A is the folder ID of the root resource you want to deny. This resource and all of its children in the resource hierarchy will be denied.
You can also apply the under: prefix to organizations and projects, as in the following examples:
- under:organizations/VALUE_X
- under:projects/VALUE_Y

View the current effective policy using describe --effective.

gcloud org-policies describe \
  LIST_CONSTRAINT --effective \
  --organization=ORGANIZATION_ID

The output of the command will be:

name: organizations/ORGANIZATION_ID/policies/LIST_CONSTRAINT
spec:
  rules:
  - values:
      deniedValues:
      - under:folders/VALUE_A

The policy now evaluates to deny the folder VALUE_A and all of its child resources.

Changes to organization policies can take up to 15 minutes to be fully enforced.

Merge the organization policy on a project

You can set an organization policy on a resource, which will merge with any policy inherited from its parent resource. This merged policy will then be evaluated to create a new effective policy based on the rules of inheritance.

Get the current policy on the resource using the describe command:
```
gcloud org-policies describe \
  LIST_CONSTRAINT \
  --project=PROJECT_ID
```
Replace the following:
- PROJECT_ID: the unique identifier of your project.
- LIST_CONSTRAINT: the list constraint for the service that you want to enforce.
If a policy isn't set, this will return a NOT_FOUND error:
```
ERROR: (gcloud.org-policies.describe) NOT_FOUND: Requested entity was not found.
```

Display the current effective policy using the describe --effective command:

gcloud org-policies describe \
  LIST_CONSTRAINT --effective \
  --project=PROJECT_ID

The output of the command will include a denied value that it inherits from the organization resource:

name: projects/PROJECT_ID/policies/LIST_CONSTRAINT
spec:
  rules:
  - values:
      deniedValues:
      - VALUE_A

Set the policy on the project using the set-policy command.

Create a temporary file /tmp/policy.yaml to store the policy:

name: projects/PROJECT_ID/policies/LIST_CONSTRAINT
spec:
  inheritFromParent: true
  rules:
  - values:
      deniedValues:
      - VALUE_B
      - VALUE_C

Run the set-policy command:

gcloud org-policies set-policy /tmp/policy.yaml

Use the describe --effective command again to display the updated policy:

gcloud org-policies describe \
  LIST_CONSTRAINT --effective \
  --project=PROJECT_ID

The output of the command will include the effective result of merging the policy from the resource and from the parent:

name: projects/PROJECT_ID/policies/LIST_CONSTRAINT
spec:
  rules:
  - values:
      deniedValues:
        - VALUE_A
        - VALUE_B
        - VALUE_C

Changes to organization policies can take up to 15 minutes to be fully enforced.

Restore default constraint behavior

You can use the reset command to reset the policy to use the constraint's default behavior. For a list of all available constraints and their default values, see Organization policy constraints.The following example assumes that the default constraint behavior is to allow all values.

Get the effective policy on the project to show the current merged policy:

gcloud org-policies describe \
  LIST_CONSTRAINT --effective \
  --project=PROJECT_ID

Replace PROJECT_ID with the unique identifier of your project. The output of the command will be:

name: projects/PROJECT_ID/policies/LIST_CONSTRAINT
spec:
  rules:
  - values:
      deniedValues:
      - VALUE_A
      - VALUE_B
      - VALUE_C

Reset the organization policy using the reset command.

gcloud org-policies reset LIST_CONSTRAINT \
    --project=PROJECT_ID

Get the effective policy to verify the default behavior:

gcloud org-policies describe \
  LIST_CONSTRAINT --effective \
  --project=PROJECT_ID

The output of the command will allow all values:

name: projects/PROJECT_ID/policies/LIST_CONSTRAINT
spec:
  rules:
  - allowAll: true

Changes to organization policies can take up to 15 minutes to be fully enforced.

Delete an organization policy

You can delete an organization policy from a resource. A resource without an organization policy set will inherit any policy of its parent resource. If you delete the organization policy on the organization resource, the effective policy will be the constraint's default behavior.

The following steps describe how to delete an organization policy on an organization.

Delete the policy on the organization resource using the delete command:
```
gcloud org-policies delete \
  LIST_CONSTRAINT \
  --organization=ORGANIZATION_ID
```
Replace ORGANIZATION_ID with the unique identifier for the organization resource. The output of the command will be:
```
Deleted policy
[organizations/ORGANIZATION_ID/policies/LIST_CONSTRAINT].
{}
```

Get the effective policy on the organization to verify it's not enforced:

gcloud org-policies describe \
  LIST_CONSTRAINT --effective \
  --organization=ORGANIZATION_ID

The output of the command will be:

name: organizations/ORGANIZATION_ID/policies/LIST_CONSTRAINT
spec:
  rules:
  - allowAll: true

The following steps describe how to delete an organization policy on a project:

Delete the policy on a project using the delete command:

gcloud org-policies delete \
  LIST_CONSTRAINT \
  --project=PROJECT_ID

Where PROJECT_ID is the unique identifier of your project. The output of the command will be:

Deleted policy
[projects/PROJECT_ID/policies/LIST_CONSTRAINT].
{}

Get the effective policy on the project to verify it's not enforced:

gcloud org-policies describe \
  LIST_CONSTRAINT --effective \
  --project=PROJECT_ID

The output of the command will be:

name: projects/PROJECT_ID/policies/LIST_CONSTRAINT
spec:
  rules:
  - allowAll: true

Changes to organization policies can take up to 15 minutes to be fully enforced.

Using boolean constraints in organization policy

Set up enforcement on the organization resource

You can set an organization policy on your organization resource to enforce a boolean constraint. The following process describes how to set an organization policy using the Google Cloud CLI. For instructions on how to view and set organization policies using the Google Cloud console, see Creating and Managing Policies.

Get the current policy on the organization resource by using the describe command:
```
gcloud org-policies describe \
  BOOLEAN_CONSTRAINT \
  --organization=ORGANIZATION_ID
```
Replace ORGANIZATION_ID with the unique identifier for the organization resource. You can also apply the organization policy to a folder or a project with the --folder or the --project flags, and the folder ID and project ID, respectively.

If a policy isn't set, this will return a NOT_FOUND error:
```
ERROR: (gcloud.org-policies.describe) NOT_FOUND: Requested entity was not found.
```

Set the policy on the project using the set-policy command.

Create a temporary file /tmp/policy.yaml to store the policy:

name: organizations/ORGANIZATION_ID/policies/BOOLEAN_CONSTRAINT
spec:
  rules:
  - enforce: true

Run the set-policy command:

gcloud org-policies set-policy /tmp/policy.yaml

View the current effective policy using describe --effective:

gcloud org-policies describe \
  BOOLEAN_CONSTRAINT --effective \
  --organization=ORGANIZATION_ID

The output of the command will be:

name: organizations/ORGANIZATION_ID/policies/BOOLEAN_POLICY
spec:
  rules:
  - enforce: true

Changes to organization policies can take up to 15 minutes to be fully enforced.

Override the organization policy for a project

To override the organization policy for a project, set a policy that disables enforcement of the boolean constraint to all resources in the hierarchy below the project.

Get the current policy on the resource to show it's empty.

gcloud org-policies describe \
  BOOLEAN_CONSTRAINT \
  --project=PROJECT_ID

Where PROJECT_ID is the unique identifier of your project.

If a policy isn't set, this will return a NOT_FOUND error:

ERROR: (gcloud.org-policies.describe) NOT_FOUND: Requested entity was not found.

Get the effective policy on the project, which confirms that the constraint is being enforced at this project.

gcloud org-policies describe \
  BOOLEAN_CONSTRAINT --effective \
  --project=PROJECT_ID

The output of the command will be:

name: projects/PROJECT_ID/policies/BOOLEAN_POLICY
spec:
  rules:
  - enforce: true

Set the policy on the project using the set-policy command.

Create a temporary file /tmp/policy.yaml to store the policy:

name: projects/PROJECT_ID/policies/BOOLEAN_CONSTRAINT
spec:
  rules:
  - enforce: false

Run the set-policy command:

gcloud org-policies set-policy /tmp/policy.yaml

Get the effective policy to show that it is no longer enforced on the project.

gcloud org-policies describe \
  BOOLEAN_CONSTRAINT --effective \
  --project=PROJECT_ID

The output of the command will be:

name: organizations/ORGANIZATION_ID/policies/BOOLEAN_POLICY
spec:
  rules:
  - enforce: false

Changes to organization policies can take up to 15 minutes to be fully enforced.

Delete an organization policy

The following steps describe how to delete an organization policy on an organization and a project.

Delete the policy from the organization resource using the delete command:
```
gcloud org-policies delete \
  BOOLEAN_CONSTRAINT \
  --organization=ORGANIZATION_ID
```
Replace ORGANIZATION_ID with a unique identifier for the organization resource. The output of the command will be:
```
Deleted policy
[organizations/ORGANIZATION_ID/policies/BOOLEAN_CONSTRAINT].
{}
```

Get the effective policy on the organization to verify it's not enforced:

gcloud org-policies describe \
  BOOLEAN_CONSTRAINT --effective \
  --organization=ORGANIZATION_ID

If a policy isn't set, this will return a NOT_FOUND error:

ERROR: (gcloud.org-policies.describe) NOT_FOUND: Requested entity was not found.

Delete the organization policy from the project using the delete command:

gcloud org-policies delete \
  BOOLEAN_CONSTRAINT \
  --project=PROJECT_ID

The output of the command will be:

Deleted policy
[organizations/ORGANIZATION_ID/policies/BOOLEAN_CONSTRAINT].
{}

Get the effective policy on the project to verify it's not enforced:

gcloud org-policies describe \
  BOOLEAN_CONSTRAINT --effective \
  --project=PROJECT_ID

Replace PROJECT_ID with the unique identifier of your project.

If a policy isn't set, this will return a NOT_FOUND error:

ERROR: (gcloud.org-policies.describe) NOT_FOUND: Requested entity was not found.

Changes to organization policies can take up to 15 minutes to be fully enforced.

Using managed constraints in an organization policy

Managed constraints are predefined constraints that have been built on the custom organization policy platform. They can be used in a similar way as predefined constraints, but can use Policy Simulator for Organization Policy Service and dry-run organization policies to more safely deploy policy changes.

View and identify managed constraints

To see the available managed constraints for your organization, do the following:

Console

In the Google Cloud console, go to the Organization policies page.

Go to Organization policies
From the project picker, select the project, folder, or organization for which you want to view organization policies. The Organization policies page that appears displays a list of organization policy constraints that are available for this resource.
You can filter or sort the list of organization policies by constraint type to find managed constraints. Select the managed constraint you want to view details for from the list. On the Policy details page that appears, you can see the source of this organization policy, the effective policy evaluation on this resource, the current configuration of the organization policy on this resource, details about the constraint, and the default parameters of constraints that use them.

gcloud

To list the managed and custom constraints enforced in organization policies on an organization, use the org-policies list-custom-constraints command.

gcloud org-policies list-custom-constraints \
  --organization=ORGANIZATION_ID

Replace ORGANIZATION_ID with the ID of your organization.

To get details on a particular managed constraint for a resource, use the org-policies describe-custom-constraint command.

gcloud org-policies describe-custom-constraint CONSTRAINT_NAME \
    --organization=ORGANIZATION_ID

Replace the following:

CONSTRAINT_NAME: the name of the managed constraint you want to get details on. For example, iam.managed.disableServiceAccountKeyUpload.
ORGANIZATION_ID: the ID of your organization.

REST

To list the managed and custom constraints set in organization policies on an organization, use the organizations.customConstraints.list method.

  GET https://orgpolicy.googleapis.com/v2/{parent=organizations/ORGANIZATION_ID}/customConstraints

Replace ORGANIZATION_ID with the ID of your organization.

Creating and updating managed constraints

Organization policies are defined by the configuration of the constraint. They can be set on a resource, inherited from a parent resource, or reset to the Google-managed default behavior.

To create or update an organization policy based on a managed constraint, do the following:

Console

In the Google Cloud console, go to the Organization policies page.

Go to Organization policies

From the project picker, select the project, folder, or organization for which you want to edit the organization policy. The Organization policies page that appears displays a filterable list of organization policy constraints that are available for this resource.
Select the managed constraint for which you want to update the organization policy from the list.
To update the organization policy for this resource, click Manage policy.
On the Edit policy page, select Override parent's policy.
Select Add a rule.
Under Enforcement, select whether enforcement of this organization policy should be on or off.
Optionally, to make the organization policy conditional on a tag, click Add condition. If you add a conditional rule to an organization policy, you must add at least one unconditional rule or the policy cannot be saved. For more details, see Setting an organization policy with tags.
If this constraint supports parameters, they appear under Parameters with the configured values displayed. If the parameters have not been configured, the Google-managed default values appear instead.

To change a parameter, select Edit.
1. Under Values, select Default to reset this constraint to use and display the Google-managed default values.
Select User-defined to configure the parameter.
1. For parameters that accept a list of values, enter a value to allow or deny into the field. Select Add a value to add more fields.
The Common Expression Language (CEL) expression used to validate the parameter values is described under Valid values expression. All user-defined values must satisfy that expression.
1. For parameters that are boolean, determine whether the parameter should be applied or not by selecting True or False.
2. Click Save.
Optionally, to preview the impact of your organization policy change before it is enforced, click Test changes. For more information about testing organization policy changes, see Test organization policy changes with Policy Simulator.
To enforce the organization policy in dry-run mode, click Set dry run policy. For more information, see Create an organization policy in dry-run mode.
After you verify that the organization policy in dry-run mode works as intended, set the live policy by clicking Set policy.

gcloud

Create a YAML file to define the organization policy. If this constraint doesn't support parameters, omit the parameters block under rules.
```
name: RESOURCE_TYPE/RESOURCE_ID/policies/CONSTRAINT_NAME
spec:
rules:
    - enforce: ENFORCEMENT_STATE
    - parameters:
        LIST_PARAMETER:
           - LIST_VALUE_1
           - LIST_VALUE_2
        BOOLEAN_PARAMETER: BOOLEAN_VALUE

dryRunSpec:
  rules:
  - enforce: ENFORCEMENT_STATE
  - parameters:
      LIST_PARAMETER:
         - LIST_VALUE_1
         - LIST_VALUE_2
      BOOLEAN_PARAMETER: BOOLEAN_VALUE
```
Replace the following:
- RESOURCE_TYPE with organizations, folders, or projects.
- RESOURCE_ID with your organization ID, folder ID, project ID, or project number, depending on the type of resource specified in RESOURCE_TYPE.
- CONSTRAINT_NAME with the name of the constraint you want to set.
- ENFORCEMENT_STATE with true to enforce this organization policy when set, or false to disable it when set.
- LIST_PARAMETER with the name of the list parameter to configure. See the constraint description for a list of available parameters.
- LIST_VALUE_1, LIST_VALUE_2, and other list values with a list of values to allow or deny, based on the configuration of this parameter. See the constraint description for details on acceptable values.
- BOOLEAN_PARAMETER with the name of the boolean parameter to configure. See the constraint description for a list of available parameters.
- BOOLEAN_VALUE with True or False.
Optionally, to make the organization policy conditional on a tag, add a condition block to the rules. If you add a conditional rule to an organization policy, you must add at least one unconditional rule or the policy cannot be saved. For more details, see Setting an organization policy with tags.
Run the org-policies set-policy command with the dryRunSpec flag to set the organization policy in dry-run mode:
```
 gcloud org-policies set-policy POLICY_PATH \
   --update-mask=dryRunSpec
```
Replace POLICY_PATH with the full path to your organization policy YAML file.

For more information about dry-run organization policies, see Create an organization policy in dry-run mode.
Use the policy-intelligence simulate orgpolicy command to preview the impact of your organization policy change before it is enforced:
```
gcloud policy-intelligence simulate orgpolicy \
  --organization=ORGANIZATION_ID \
  --policies=POLICY_PATH
```
Replace the following:
- ORGANIZATION_ID with your organization ID, such as 1234567890123. Simulating changes over multiple organizations is not supported.
- POLICY_PATH with the full path to your organization policy YAML file.
For more information about testing organization policy changes, see Test organization policy changes with Policy Simulator.
After you verify that the organization policy in dry-run mode works as intended, set the live policy with the org-policies set-policy command and the spec flag:
```
gcloud org-policies set-policy POLICY_PATH \
  --update-mask=spec
```
Replace POLICY_PATH with the full path to your organization policy YAML file.

REST

To set the organization policy, use the organizations.policies.create method.

POST https://orgpolicy.googleapis.com/v2/{parent=organizations/ORGANIZATION_ID}/policies

The request JSON body contains the definition of an organization policy. If this constraint doesn't support parameters, omit the parameters block under rules.

{
  "name": "RESOURCE_TYPE/RESOURCE_ID/policies/CONSTRAINT_NAME",
  "spec": {
    "rules": [
      {
        "enforce": ["ENFORCEMENT_STATE"],
        "parameters": {
          "LIST_PARAMETER": [
            "LIST_VALUE_1",
            "LIST_VALUE_2"
          ],
          BOOLEAN_PARAMETER: BOOLEAN_VALUE
        }
      }
    ]
  }
  "dryRunSpec": {
    "rules": [
      {
        "enforce": ["ENFORCEMENT_STATE"],
        "parameters": {
          "LIST_PARAMETER": [
            "LIST_VALUE_1",
            "LIST_VALUE_2"
          ],
          BOOLEAN_PARAMETER: BOOLEAN_VALUE
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Replace the following:

RESOURCE_TYPE with organizations, folders, or projects.
RESOURCE_ID with your organization ID, folder ID, project ID, or project number, depending on the type of resource specified in RESOURCE_TYPE.
CONSTRAINT_NAME with the name of the constraint you want to set.
ENFORCEMENT_STATE with true to enforce this organization policy when set, or false to disable it when set.
LIST_PARAMETER with the name of the list parameter to configure. See the constraint description for a list of available parameters.
LIST_VALUE_1, LIST_VALUE_2, and other list values with a list of values to allow or deny, based on the configuration of this parameter. See the constraint description for details on acceptable values.
BOOLEAN_PARAMETER with the name of the boolean parameter to configure. See the constraint description for a list of available parameters.
BOOLEAN_VALUE with True or False.

Optionally, to make the organization policy conditional on a tag, add a condition block to the rules. If you add a conditional rule to an organization policy, you must add at least one unconditional rule or the policy cannot be saved. For more details, see Setting an organization policy with tags.

For more information about dry-run organization policies, see Create an organization policy in dry-run mode.

Changes to organization policies can take up to 15 minutes to be fully enforced.