In Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), Users and Groups are the building blocks of Identity and Access Management (IAM). They define who can access your cloud and what they are allowed to do.

Think of it like a Company Office Building:

1. Users (The Individuals)

A User is an individual person or an application that needs to log in to OCI.

Each user has their own credentials (password or API keys).

Important: In OCI, a user has zero permissions by default. Just because they have an ID card doesn't mean they can enter any room.

2. Groups (The Teams)

A Group is a collection of users who all need the same type of access.

Instead of giving permissions to every person one by one, you put them into a "bucket" or "team."

For example, you might have a group called Network_Admins and another called Storage_Users.

How They Work Together In OCI, you don't give permissions directly to a User. Instead, you follow this flow:

Create Users: Add "ABC" and "XYZ" as users.

Create a Group: Create a group called Cloud_Architects.

Add Users to Group: Put "ABC" and "XYZ" into the Cloud_Architects group.

Apply a Policy: Write a rule (Policy) that says: "Allow group Cloud_Architects to manage all resources in the tenancy."

Analogy Users:-An individual employee. Groups:-A specific department (HR, IT, Finance).

Part 1: Steps to Create a Group

In OCI, you should always create the Group first so you have a place to put your User.

Log in to your OCI Console.

Open the Navigation Menu (top-left) and go to Identity & Security.

Under Identity, click on Domains.

Click on your domain name (usually Default).

Click on User management tab.

Click the Create group button.

Fill in the details:

Name: Give it a clear, functional name (e.g., Storage_Admins or App_Developers).

Description: (Optional) Briefly explain what this group will do.

Add Users (Optional but recommended): You can search for and select the users you want to add to this group right now, or you can skip this and add them later.

Click Create.

I have edited the group name so after editing the name click on save button.

Part 2: Steps to Create a User

Now, create the individual identity.

Open the Navigation Menu (top-left) and go to Identity & Security.

Under the Identity section, click on Domains.

You will likely see a domain named Default. Click on the name Default.

click on the user management tab.

Click the Create button under Users.

Enter the First name, Last name and emailid of user.

Click Create.

Part 3: Adding the User to the Group

Note: In Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), users can be added to a group during the initial user creation process or at any time afterward. To update a user's membership later, you simply modify the user settings and assign them to the desired group.

Steps to Assign a User to a Group after user creation

Log in to the OCI Console.

Open the burger Menu (the three horizontal lines in the top-left corner).

Go to Identity & Security and select Domains.

Select the Domain where the user is located (usually the "Default" domain).

Click on User management tab and scroll down to the Groups section and select the user you want to assign in a group.

Now click on the groups tab.

Click on Assign user to group.

select the group and click on Assign user.