Managing permissions for multiple Amazon SageMaker notebook instances can become complex when handled individually. To centralize and streamline permission management, AWS recommends creating a single IAM role with the necessary permissions and attaching this role to each notebook instance used by the data science team.

Steps to Implement the Solution:

Create a Single IAM Role with Necessary Permissions:

Define an IAM role that encompasses all permissions required by the data scientists for their tasks. This includes permissions for SageMaker operations and any other AWS services they interact with.

AWS provides managed policies like AmazonSageMakerFullAccess that can be attached to the role to grant comprehensive SageMaker permissions.(IAM Policies for SageMaker)

Attach the IAM Role to Each Notebook Instance:

When creating or updating a SageMaker notebook instance, specify the IAM role created in the previous step. This ensures that all notebook instances operate under a consistent set of permissions.

In the SageMaker console, during the notebook instance setup, you can choose an existing IAM role to associate with the instance.(Creating SageMaker Workspaces)

Benefits of This Approach:

Centralized Permission Management:By using a single IAM role, you simplify the process of updating permissions. Changes to the role's policies automatically propagate to all associated notebook instances, ensuring consistent access control.

Adherence to Best Practices:AWS recommends using IAM roles to manage permissions for applications running on services like SageMaker. This approach avoids the need to manage individual user permissions separately.(IAM Best Practices for SageMaker)

Alternative Options and Their Drawbacks:

Option B:Creating a single IAM group and adding data scientists to it does not directly associate the group with notebook instances. IAM groups are used to manage user permissions, not to assign roles to AWS resources like notebook instances.

Option C:Using a single IAM user with the AdministratorAccess policy is not recommended due to security risks associated with granting broad permissions and the challenges in managing shared user credentials.

Option D:Associating an IAM group with a role and then with notebook instances is not a valid approach, as IAM groups cannot be directly associated with AWS resources.

Conclusion:Option A is the most effective solution to centralize and manage permissions for SageMaker notebook instances, aligning with AWS best practices for IAM role management.

References:

AWS Documentation: IAM Policies for SageMaker

AWS Documentation: Creating SageMaker Workspaces

AWS Documentation: IAM Best Practices for SageMaker