CHAPTER 7
Administering User Accounts and Groups

Tools for Adding and Administering User Accounts

Adding User Accounts

The Admintool: User Window

Administering User Accounts

Setting Up and Administering Groups

Solaris User Registration

THIS CHAPTER DESCRIBES HOW TO SET UP AND ADMINISTER USER ACCOUNTS AND groups by using Admintool. You can use Admintool to edit only files in the local /etc directory. Functionality that enabled you to edit NIS+ databases and view NIS maps from Admintool has been moved into the unbundled Solstice AdminSuite product.

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NOTE:  Solaris 2.x provides the following SVR4 useradd commands: useradd, userdel, usermod, groupadd, groupmod, and groupdel. Because these commands are only minimally network-aware, they are not described in this chapter. If you want to use these commands to administer user accounts on standalone systems, refer to the appropriate manual pages.

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Tools for Adding and Administering User Accounts

Table 7-1 lists the recommended tools for adding and administering user accounts on systems with a graphics monitor running an X Window system such as CDE or OpenWindows.

You can add and administer user accounts from the command line if you choose not to use Admintool or the Solstice AdminSuite. Table 7-2 lists the Solaris commands you can use to administer user accounts.

The following sections describe how to use Admintool to add and delete user accounts.

You may find it useful to create a form from the following checklist to ensure that you have all the needed information about a user account before you create it:

•  User name

•  UID

•  Primary group

•  Secondary groups

•  Comment

•  Default shell

•  Password status and aging

•  Home directory server name

•  Home directory path name

•  Mounting method

•  Permissions on home directory

•  Mail server

•  Department name

•  Department administrator

•  Manager

•  Employee name

•  Employee title

•  Employee status

•  Employee number

•  Start date

Adding User Accounts

Before you add users to the network, the users' systems must be installed and configured. When appropriate, NIS+ or NIS software should be installed and running on the network. (Only 4.x systems can be NIS servers. You can have either 4. x or 5. x systems installed as NIS clients.)

Adding users so that they can log in and start working has two steps: setting up the user account and providing the user with a working environment.

When you set up a user account, you

•  Edit the /etc/passwd file

•  Define the user's group(s)

•  Create a home directory

•  Define the user's environment

•  Create a password

The next sections provide background information and describe how to do these tasks.