Assign custom admin roles using the Microsoft Graph API in Microsoft Entra ID

  • Article

You can automate how you assign roles to user accounts using the Microsoft Graph API. This article covers POST, GET, and DELETE operations on roleAssignments.

Prerequisites

  • Microsoft Entra ID P1 or P2 license
  • Privileged Role Administrator

For more information, see Prerequisites to use PowerShell.

POST Operations on RoleAssignment

Use the Create unifiedRoleAssignment API to assign the role.

Example 1: Create a role assignment between a user and a role definition

POST https://microsoftgraph.chinacloudapi.cn/v1.0/roleManagement/directory/roleAssignments
Content-type: application/json

Body

{
    "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.unifiedRoleAssignment",
    "principalId": "aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-1111-222222222222",
    "roleDefinitionId": "194ae4cb-b126-40b2-bd5b-6091b380977d",
    "directoryScopeId": "/"  // Don't use "resourceScope" attribute in Azure AD role assignments. It will be deprecated soon.
}

Response

HTTP/1.1 201 Created

Example 2: Create a role assignment where the principal or role definition does not exist

POST https://microsoftgraph.chinacloudapi.cn/v1.0/roleManagement/directory/roleAssignments

Body

{
    "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.unifiedRoleAssignment",
    "principalId": "aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-1111-2222222222229",
    "roleDefinitionId": "194ae4cb-b126-40b2-bd5b-6091b380977d",
    "directoryScopeId": "/"  //Don't use "resourceScope" attribute in Azure AD role assignments. It will be deprecated soon.
}

Response

HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found

Example 3: Create a role assignment on a single resource scope

POST https://microsoftgraph.chinacloudapi.cn/v1.0/roleManagement/directory/roleAssignments

Body

{
    "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.unifiedRoleAssignment",
    "principalId": "aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-1111-2222222222229",
    "roleDefinitionId": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000",    //role template ID of a custom role
    "directoryScopeId": "/13ff0c50-18e7-4071-8b52-a6f08e17c8cc"  //object ID of an application
}

Response

HTTP/1.1 201 Created

Example 4: Create an administrative unit scoped role assignment on a built-in role definition which is not supported

POST https://microsoftgraph.chinacloudapi.cn/v1.0/roleManagement/directory/roleAssignments

Body

{
    "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.unifiedRoleAssignment",
    "principalId": "aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-1111-222222222222",
    "roleDefinitionId": "29232cdf-9323-42fd-ade2-1d097af3e4de",    //role template ID of Exchange Administrator
    "directoryScopeId": "/administrativeUnits/13ff0c50-18e7-4071-8b52-a6f08e17c8cc"    //object ID of an administrative unit
}

Response

HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request
{
    "odata.error":
    {
        "code":"Request_BadRequest",
        "message":
        {
            "message":"The given built-in role is not supported to be assigned to a single resource scope."
        }
    }
}

Only a subset of built-in roles are enabled for Administrative Unit scoping. Refer to this documentation for the list of built-in roles supported over an administrative unit.

GET Operations on RoleAssignment

Use the List unifiedRoleAssignments API to get the role assignment.

Example 5: Get role assignments for a given principal

GET https://microsoftgraph.chinacloudapi.cn/v1.0/roleManagement/directory/roleAssignments?$filter=principalId+eq+'<object-id-of-principal>'

Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
{
"value":[
            { 
                "id": "A1bC2dE3fH4iJ5kL6mN7oP8qR9sT0uIiSDKQoTVJrLE9etXyrY0-1"
                "principalId": "aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-1111-222222222222",
                "roleDefinitionId": "10dae51f-b6af-4016-8d66-8c2a99b929b3",
                "directoryScopeId": "/"  
            } ,
            {
                "id": "C2dE3fH4iJ5kL6mN7oP8qR9sT0uV1wIiSDKQoTVJrLE9etXyrY0-1"
                "principalId": "aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-1111-222222222222",
                "roleDefinitionId": "fe930be7-5e62-47db-91af-98c3a49a38b1",
                "directoryScopeId": "/"
            }
        ]
}

Example 6: Get role assignments for a given role definition

GET https://microsoftgraph.chinacloudapi.cn/v1.0/roleManagement/directory/roleAssignments?$filter=roleDefinitionId+eq+'<object-id-or-template-id-of-role-definition>'

Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
{
"value":[
            {
                "id": "C2dE3fH4iJ5kL6mN7oP8qR9sT0uV1wIiSDKQoTVJrLE9etXyrY0-1"
                "principalId": "aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-1111-222222222222",
                "roleDefinitionId": "fe930be7-5e62-47db-91af-98c3a49a38b1",
                "directoryScopeId": "/"
            }
     ]
}

Example 7: Get a role assignment by ID

GET https://microsoftgraph.chinacloudapi.cn/v1.0/roleManagement/directory/roleAssignments/lAPpYvVpN0KRkAEhdxReEJC2sEqbR_9Hr48lds9SGHI-1

Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
{ 
    "id": "A1bC2dE3fH4iJ5kL6mN7oP8qR9sT0uIiSDKQoTVJrLE9etXyrY0-1",
    "principalId": "aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-1111-222222222222",
    "roleDefinitionId": "10dae51f-b6af-4016-8d66-8c2a99b929b3",
    "directoryScopeId": "/"
}

Example 8: Get role assignments for a given scope

GET https://microsoftgraph.chinacloudapi.cn/v1.0/roleManagement/directory/roleAssignments?$filter=directoryScopeId+eq+'/d23998b1-8853-4c87-b95f-be97d6c6b610'

Response

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
{
"value":[
            { 
                "id": "A1bC2dE3fH4iJ5kL6mN7oP8qR9sT0uIiSDKQoTVJrLE9etXyrY0-1"
                "principalId": "aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-1111-222222222222",
                "roleDefinitionId": "10dae51f-b6af-4016-8d66-8c2a99b929b3",
                "directoryScopeId": "/d23998b1-8853-4c87-b95f-be97d6c6b610"
            } ,
            {
                "id": "C2dE3fH4iJ5kL6mN7oP8qR9sT0uV1wIiSDKQoTVJrLE9etXyrY0-1"
                "principalId": "aaaaaaaa-bbbb-cccc-1111-222222222222",
                "roleDefinitionId": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000",
                "directoryScopeId": "/d23998b1-8853-4c87-b95f-be97d6c6b610"
            }
        ]
}

DELETE Operations on RoleAssignment

Use the Delete unifiedRoleAssignment API to delete the role assignment.

Example 9: Delete a role assignment between a user and a role definition.

DELETE https://microsoftgraph.chinacloudapi.cn/v1.0/roleManagement/directory/roleAssignments/lAPpYvVpN0KRkAEhdxReEJC2sEqbR_9Hr48lds9SGHI-1

Response

HTTP/1.1 204 No Content

Example 10: Delete a role assignment that no longer exists

DELETE https://microsoftgraph.chinacloudapi.cn/v1.0/roleManagement/directory/roleAssignments/lAPpYvVpN0KRkAEhdxReEJC2sEqbR_9Hr48lds9SGHI-1

Response

HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found

Example 11: Delete a role assignment between self and Global Administrator role definition

DELETE https://microsoftgraph.chinacloudapi.cn/v1.0/roleManagement/directory/roleAssignments/lAPpYvVpN0KRkAEhdxReEJC2sEqbR_9Hr48lds9SGHI-1

Response

HTTP/1.1 400 Bad Request
{
    "odata.error":
    {
        "code":"Request_BadRequest",
        "message":
        {
            "lang":"en",
            "value":"Removing self from Global Administrator built-in role is not allowed"},
            "values":null
        }
    }
}

We prevent users from deleting their own Global Administrator role to avoid a scenario where a tenant has zero Global Administrators. Removing other roles assigned to self is allowed.

Next steps