Solaris Systems Administrator’s Guide, Second Edition:Administering User Accounts and Groups

Identifying Default UNIX User Groups

By default, all SunOS 5. x workstations and servers have these groups:

root::Ø:root
other::1:
bin::2:root,bin,daemon
sys::3:root,bin,sys,adm
adm::4:root,adm,daemon
uucp::5:root,uucp
mail::6:root
tty::7:root,tty,adm
lp::8:root,lp,adm
nuucp::9:root,nuucp
staff::10:
daemon::12:root,daemon
sysadmin::14:
nobody::6ØØØ1:
noaccess::6ØØØ2:
nogroup::65534

NOTE: The sysadmin group with a GID of 14 is now part of the default set of groups. This group specifies the users who have access to all functions of Admintool.

Creating New Groups

As a system administrator, you will frequently create new group accounts. You must create a group and assign it a GID before you can assign users to it.

Use Admintool to create and maintain local groups. You must be a member of the sysadmin group (GID 14) before you can use Admintool to create or edit group accounts.

You need this information to create a new group:

• Login names of users who will belong to the group

• UIDs of users who will belong to the group

• Group name

• GID

Follow these steps to add groups to a local /etc/group file:

1. Start Admintool (if necessary) by typing admintool& and pressing Return.

2. From the Browse menu, choose Groups. The Admintool: Groups window is displayed, as shown in Figure 7-10.

Figure 7-10 The Admintool: Groups window.

3. From the Edit menu, choose Add. The Admintool: Add Group window is displayed, as shown in Figure 7-11.

Figure 7-11 The Admintool: Add Group window.

4. Type the name of the group, the new group number, and the members of the group. Members of a group are defined as a comma-separated list of login names. Spaces are not allowed. If you need help in determining the format for any of the fields, click on the Help button. A help window is displayed, as shown in Figure 7-12.

Figure 7-12 The Admintool: Help window.

5. When the information is complete, click on the OK button. The group is created and added to the local /etc/group file.

Modifying or Deleting Groups

Membership in group accounts can change frequently as new employees are hired and other employees change job responsibilities. Consequently, you have to modify existing group accounts to add or remove users. If you choose to have a user belong to secondary groups, you have to modify those groups to add the user to the user lists. When adding groups, you may make a mistake. The ability to delete groups helps you correct such mistakes.

NOTE: When projects finish, groups set up for them may no longer be needed, and these groups can be deleted. You should be careful to avoid conflicts if you reuse the GIDs from deleted groups.

Modifying a Group

Follow these steps to modify a group entry:

1. Start Admintool (if necessary).

2. From the Browse menu, choose Groups. The Admintool: Groups window is displayed.

3. Click on the group you want to modify. The item is highlighted.

4. From the Edit menu, choose Modify. The Admintool: Modify Group window is displayed.

5. Make the changes to the group.

6. When the changes are complete, click on the OK button. The changes are made to the local /etc/group file.

Deleting a Group

If a group account is no longer needed, you can delete it. Follow these steps to delete a group:

1. Click on the group you want to delete. The item is highlighted.

2. From the Edit menu, choose Delete. An alert window is displayed asking if you want to delete the group.

3. Click on the Delete button. The group is deleted from the /etc/group file and is removed from the list in the Admintool: Groups window. If you want to retain the group, click on the Cancel button.

Solaris User Registration

Solaris User Registration is a tool for gathering information about new Solaris releases, upgrade offers, and promotions. This tool automatically starts when a user first logs in to the desktop. The Solaris User Registration tool enables a user to register now, later, or never. The registration process provides Sun with the user's Solaris version, survey type, platform, hardware, and locale.

NOTE: Solaris User Registration is not started when a user is logged in as root or superuser.

If the user chooses to register, a copy of the completed form is stored in $HOME/.solregis/uprops. If the user chooses to never register, he can always start User Registration in one of the following ways:

• By typing solregis at any command line prompt.

• By clicking on the Registration icon in the Application Manager's desktop tools folder in the CDE environment.

For more information, refer to the solregis(1) manual page.

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