Hack 70. Create a new user

by Ramesh

Add a new user – Basic method

Specify only the user name.

# useradd jsmith

Add a new user with additional Parameter

You can also specify the following parameter to the useradd

• -c : Description about the user.
• -e : expiry date of the user in mm/dd/yy format

# adduser -c "John Smith - Oracle Developer" -e 12/31/09 jsmith

Verify that the user got added successfully.

# grep jsmith /etc/passwd
jsmith:x:510:510:John Smith - Oracle Developer:/home/jsmith:/bin/bash

Change the user password.

# passwd jsmith
 
Changing password for user jsmith.
New UNIX password:
BAD PASSWORD: it is based on a dictionary word
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.

How to identify the default values used by useradd?

Following are the default values that will be used when an user is created.

# useradd –D
 
GROUP=100
HOME=/home
INACTIVE=-1
EXPIRE=
SHELL=/bin/bash
SKEL=/etc/skel