Matt-Audu/HNG-Project-2

Mbarimam Audu

Cloud Infrastructure Architect

DevOps Engineer

Video Editor

AWS

Bash

Visual Studio Code

Automating User Management in linux

Overview

This script automates the process of creating user accounts on a Linux system. It reads a specified file containing user information, creates user accounts with home directories, sets up personal and additional groups, generates random passwords, and logs the process.

https://github.com/Matt-Audu/HNG-Project-2

Prerequisites

The script must be run with root privileges to create user accounts and modify system files.

The employee file must be provided as an argument when running the script.

The employee file must be present in the same directory of the script.

Use a linux server (Ubuntu machine).

Script Usage

Employee File Format

The employee file should be a text file where each line represents a user and their groups. The format for each line is:

username: The name of the user to be created.

group1,group2,group3: A comma-separated list of additional groups the user should be added to.

Script Details

1. Initialization

EMPLOYEE_FILE: The first argument passed to the script, which should be the path to the employee file.

LOG_FILE: The path to the log file where script activity will be recorded.

PASSWORD_FILE: The path to the file where user passwords will be securely stored.

2. File Setup

Ensures the log and password files exist.

Sets permissions on the password file to be readable and writable only by the owner.

3. Logging Function

A function to log messages with timestamps to both the console and the log file.

4. File Existence Checks

Checks if the employee file exists and exits if it does not.

5. Processsing User Entries

Reads each line in the employee file, splitting the username and groups.

6. User Creation and Setup

Checks if the user already exists and skips if they do.

Creates the user with a home directory and Bash shell.

7. Primary Group Setup

Creates a personal group for the user with the same username if it doesn't already exist and assigns the user to this group.

8. Additional Groups

Adds the user to any additional groups specified in the employee.txt file.

9. Password Generation and Assignment

Generates a random password for the user and sets it.

10. Securely Store Passwords

Stores the password in "/var/secure/user_passwords.txt"

11. Setting Home Directory Permissions

Sets appropriate permissions on the user's home directory.

12. Completion Log

Logs the completion of the user creation process.

Logging and Security

Log File: /var/log/user_management.log records the script's activity.

Password File: /var/secure/user_passwords.txt stores the generated passwords securely, with permissions set to allow access only by the owner.

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Posted Aug 12, 2024

Automating Linux User Creation Using Bash Script. This bash script creates user accounts, set up user groups, generate random passwords and logs process.

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