Chapter 33. User and Group
Configuration
The User Manager allows you to view,
modify, add, and delete local users and groups.
To use the User Manager, you must be
running the X Window System, have root privileges, and have the
system-config-users RPM package
installed. To start the User Manager
from the desktop, go to (the
main menu on the panel) => => .
Or, type the command system-config-users
at a shell prompt (for example, in an XTerm or a GNOME
terminal).
To view a list of local users on the system, click the Users tab. To view a list of local groups on the
system, click the Groups tab.
To find a specific user or group, type the first few letters of
the name in the Search filter field. Press
[Enter] or click the Apply filter button. The filtered list is
displayed.
To sort the users or groups, click on the column name. The users
or groups are sorted by the value of that column.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux reserves user IDs below 500 for system
users. By default, User Manager does not
display system users. To view all users, including the system
users, uncheck =>
from the
pulldown menu.
To add a new user, click the Add User
button. A window as shown in Figure 33-2 appears.
Type the username and full name for the new user in the appropriate
fields. Type the user's password in the Password and Confirm
Password fields. The password must be at least six
characters.
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Tip |
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The longer the user's password, the more difficult it is for an
intruder to guess it and use it to access the user's account
without permission. It is also recommended that the password not be
based on a dictionary term as well as the password be a combination
of letters, numbers, and special characters.
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Select a login shell. If you are not sure which shell to select,
accept the default value of /bin/bash. The default home directory is
/home/username/. You can change the home
directory that is created for the user, or you can choose not to
create the home directory by unselecting Create
home directory.
If you select to create the home directory, default
configuration files are copied from the /etc/skel/ directory into the new home
directory.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux uses a user
private group (UPG) scheme. The UPG scheme does not add or
change anything in the standard UNIX way of handling groups; it
offers a new convention. Whenever you create a new user, by
default, a unique group with the same name as the user is created.
If you do not want to create this group, unselect Create a private group for the user.
To specify a user ID for the user, select Specify user ID manually. If the option is not
selected, the next available user ID starting with number 500 is
assigned to the new user. Red Hat Enterprise Linux reserves user
IDs below 500 for system users.
Click OK to create the user.
To configure more advanced user properties, such as password
expiration, modify the user's properties after adding the user.
Refer to Section 33.2
Modifying User Properties for more information.
To add the user to more user groups, click on the User tab, select the user, and click Properties. In the User
Properties window, select the Groups
tab. Select the groups that you want the user to be a member of,
select the primary group for the user, and click OK.
