Linux System Administration

User Management

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Removing a User

Employee turnover in many organizations runs high. So, unless you run a small shop

with a stable user base, you need to learn how to clean up after an employee leaves.

Too many so-called system administrators do not understand the stakes involved

when they manage users. Disgruntled former employees can often cause significant

trouble for a company by gaining access to the network.

Removing a user isn’t a one-step process—you need to manage all of the user’s files,

mailboxes, mail aliases, print jobs, recurring (automatic) personal processes (such as

the backing up of data or remote syncing of directories), and other references to the

user. It is a good idea to first disable the user’s account in /etc/passwd; after that, you

can search for the user’s files and other references. Once all traces of the user have been

cleaned up, you can remove the user completely (if you remove the entry from /etc/

passwd while these other references exist, you have a harder time specifying them).

When you remove a user, it’s a good idea to follow a predetermined course of action

so you don’t forget any important steps; you may even want to make a checklist so

that you have a routine laid out.

The first task is to disable the user’s password, effectively locking him out. You can

do this with a command like the following:

# passwd -l tadelste

Sometimes it’s necessary to temporarily ...