Chapter 7

Working with Users, Groups, and Permissions

Topics covered in this chapter:

  • Managing Users and Groups
  • Using Graphical Tools for User and Group Management
  • Using External Authentication Sources
  • Understanding the Authentication Process
  • Understanding nsswitch
  • Managing Permissions

Managing Users and Groups

To create users from a command-line environment, you can use the useradd command. Alternatively, it is possible to add users to the relevant configuration files manually. The latter may be useful in an environment where users are added from a custom-made shell script, but normally it is not recommended. The reason for this is obvious—an error in the main user configuration files might cause problems for all users on your server.

In this ...

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