Linux Annoyances for Geeks

Chapter 10. User Management

One of the critical tasks of the Linux geek is user administration. It’s easy enough to add new users. But not all users are equal. You may need to set up space limits on home directories, security by service, and special groups for projects. And users leave the company all the time. What you do with such accounts depends on if and when they’re coming back, as well as any security policies that may apply.

Whatever you do, it is best to keep a set of standard written operating procedures, consistent with corporate policies and any applicable legal restrictions. It will help you explain your actions to supervisors, lawyers, and newer administrators.

Keeping users satisfied is often more than a full-time job. Your site may need multiple administrators, and not all Linux administrators are as skilled as you are. To limit your risks, you may want to limit the access of newer administrators. With the tools I describe in this chapter, you can manage access to the tools of your choice.

The Boss Wants to Set Up a Special Group of Users

When the boss wants to set up a group for a special set of users, such as managers or accountants, you need to know how to create the group, along with a directory accessible only to the user members of that group.

To understand what you need to do, it helps to know the baseline user and group settings on various Linux distributions. Then you’ll know exactly what you need to do to create a special group on your systems.

Linux distributions ...