Download presentation
Presentation is loading. Please wait.
1
User Account Management WeeSan Lee
2
Roadmap Add An Account Delete An Account /etc/{passwd,shadow} /etc/group How To Disable An Account? Root Account Q&A
3
Add An Account To create an account for user foo Create /home/foo $ cp -a /etc/skel/* /home/foo $ chown -R foo:users /home/foo $ chmod 711 /home/foo $ chmod u=rwx,g=x,o=x /home/foo Add foo into /etc/passwd and /etc/shadow $ vipw $ passwd foo Alternatively, use useradd $ useradd foo $ passwd foo
4
Delete An Account To remove the account foo Revert what we did before Or, use userdel $ userdel foo $ userdel -r foo Delete /home/foo as well To find files left behind $ find -nouser -xdev /
5
/etc/passwd A file that contains a list of users recognized by the system World readable Why? Each line represents one user, eg. foo:x:500:500:Foo Bar:/home/foo:/bin/bash 7 fields separated by colons Login name or username Encrypted passwd UID Default GID “GECOS” information: fullname, office, extension, phone # Home directory Login shell
6
/etc/passwd (cont) Login name 32 chars long 8 for NIS (Network Information Service) Case sensitive, usually lower case Usually used as email address Encrypted passwd See /etc/shadow UID 32-bit unsigned integers Start from 500. See /etc/logins.defs foo:x:500:500:Foo Bar:/home/foo:/bin/bash
7
/etc/passwd (cont) Login name 32 chars long 8 for NIS (Network Information Service) Case sensitive, usually lower case Usually used as email address Encrypted passwd See /etc/shadow UID 32-bit unsigned integers Start from 500. See /etc/logins.defs foo:x:500:500:Foo Bar:/home/foo:/bin/bash
8
/etc/passwd (cont) Login name 32 chars long 8 for NIS (Network Information Service) Case sensitive, usually lower case Usually used as email address Encrypted passwd See /etc/shadow UID 32-bit unsigned integers Start from 500. See /etc/logins.defs foo:x:500:500:Foo Bar:/home/foo:/bin/bash
9
/etc/passwd (cont) Default GID Defined in /etc/group GECOS field For personal information $ finger foo Home directory Cd to home directory after login Login shell Valid shells defined in /etc/shells foo:x:500:500:Foo Bar:/home/foo:/bin/bash
10
/etc/passwd (cont) Default GID Defined in /etc/group GECOS field For personal information $ finger foo Home directory Cd to home directory after login Login shell Valid shells defined in /etc/shells foo:x:500:500:Foo Bar:/home/foo:/bin/bash
11
/etc/passwd (cont) Default GID Defined in /etc/group GECOS field For personal information $ finger foo Home directory Cd to home directory after login Login shell Valid shells defined in /etc/shells foo:x:500:500:Foo Bar:/home/foo:/bin/bash
12
/etc/passwd (cont) Default GID Defined in /etc/group GECOS field For personal information $ finger foo Home directory Cd to home directory after login Login shell Valid shells defined in /etc/shells foo:x:500:500:Foo Bar:/home/foo:/bin/bash
13
/etc/shadow A file contains the encrypted passwd for the users Only readable by root or processes with root privilege Each line represents user, eg. foo:$1$naYPGQnr$2Xyp.Q1KrWSf//VFR.yBL0:13690:0:99999:7::: 9 fields separated by colons Login name or username Encrypted passwd Date of last passwd change Min. # of days between password changes Max # of days between password changes # of days in advance to warn users about passwd expiration # of days after passwd expiration that account is disabled Account expiration date A reserved field Usually login name and passwd are enough
14
/etc/shadow (cont) usermod $ usermod -e 2007-06-26
15
/etc/group A file contains the names of UNIX groups and a list of group’s members, eg. foo:x:500: installer:x:200:foo,bar Each line represents one group 4 fields separated by colons Group name (8 chars) Encrypted passwd or x for /etc/gshadow GID (starts from 500. see /etc/login.defs) List of members, separated by commas (no space)
16
How To Disable An Account? Append username with a ‘*’ in /etc/passwd $ usermod -L foo Put a ‘!’ in front of the encrypted passwd To undo: $ usermod -U foo usermod -e yyyy-mm-dd Replace login shell with /etc/false /sbin/nologin
17
Root Account Special and powerful account UID 0 Guard your root passwd “with your life!!!” At least 8 chars. long Don’t write it down Mix letters, numbers and punctuations Eg. Bambo0! Don’t login root as a normal user Use su when needed Don’t share your root passwd with others
18
Root Account (cont) Use sudo instead $ sudo /bin/bash /etc/sudoers All commands are logged To edit /etc/sudoers $ visudo foo ALL=(root) ALL User foo can run ALL commands on ALL machines as root Host_Alias CS=eon,orpheus Cmnd_Alias SNOOP=/usr/sbin/tcpdump,/usr/sbin/ethereal bar CS=SNOOP
19
References LAH Ch 3: Rootly Powers Ch 6: Adding New Users
Similar presentations
© 2025 SlidePlayer.com. Inc.
All rights reserved.