An access control list (ACL) is a resource-level permission model that grants specific operations to individual identities or groups. In Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2, POSIX-style ACLs provide filesystem-like control over who may read, write, or execute files and directories. section 5.4.5
ACLs extend the basic Unix owner/group/other permission model when access requirements differ across users or teams. In cloud storage, Azure Active Directory supplies managed identities and groups while ACLs enforce granular permissions at the filesystem level. section 5.4.5
Use ACLs when storage governance requires:
- File- or directory-level restrictions beyond broad role assignments. section 5.4.5
- Different visibility or modification rights for users and groups sharing an analytics environment. section 5.5.2
- Tightly controlled access to regulated data, alongside encryption and retained audit trails. section 5.5.2
Healthcare lakehouse
A healthcare analytics firm stores patient and clinical-trial data in Iceberg tables on ADLS. Azure AD identities and file-level ACLs restrict access, while encryption and access auditing support regulatory controls. section 5.5.2
