Automating User Management with Bash: A Streamlined Approach

Purpose
For SysOps engineers, managing user accounts on linux systems can be a repetitive and time consuming process. The create_users.sh script addresses this challenge by automating user and group creation, home directory configuration, secure password generation, and comprehensive action logging. This script streamlines the onboarding process for new developers while ensuring consistency and security in user account management.

Implementation Details:Streamlined User Onboarding
The create_users.sh script facilitates efficient user onboarding by leveraging a text file for configuration. Here’s a breakdown of the process:

1.User Input:The script accepts a text file as input. Each line follows the format username;groups, defining the username and associated groups for each new user. The script parses this file line by line, extracting the necessary details.

2.User and Group Management:

• User Creation:The script verifies whether a user already exists. If not, it creates the user account along with a dedicated home directory.

• Group Assignment:Each user is assigned a primary group with the same name as their username. The script also creates any additional groups specified in the input file (if they don’t exist) and adds the user to those groups.

3.Secure Password Generation:For each user, a random and robust password is generated utilizing the tr command and /dev/urandom for enhanced security. The chpasswd command then sets this password for the user.

4.Comprehensive Logging:To maintain transparency and facilitate troubleshooting, the script meticulously logs all actions.This includes user and group creation, group assignments, password configuration, and any errors encountered during the process. Logs are saved to /var/log/user_management.log for easy reference.

5.Secure Password Storage:Generated passwords are not in plain text. Instead, they are saved in /var/secure/user_passwords.txt with stringent permissions. Only the root user has read and write
access to this file, ensuring password confidentiality.

Maintaining User Security

1.Robust Password Generation:The script employs a secure approach to password creation.It leverages tr and /dev/urandom to generate highly random and complex passwords containing a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, with a minimum length of 12 characters.

2.Secure Password Storage:Generated passwords are never stored in plain text. Instead, they are written to /var/secure/user_passwords.txt with extremely restrictive permissions (chmod 600). This ensures only the root user has access to this file, mitigating the risk of unauthorized password exposure.

3.Detailed Logging:The script maintains a comprehensive log file at /var/log/user_management.log.This log meticulously tracks all user and group management actions, password assignments, and any potential errors encountered. This detailed audit trail facilitates monitoring and troubleshooting, promoting overall security.

Error Handling
The create_users.sh script incorporates robust error handling mechanisms to ensure continued functionality:

1.Existing Users:If a user already exists, the script logs a message and skips the creation of that user.

2.Group Creation:If a specified group does not exist, the script creates it before adding the user to it.

3.Command Failures:If any command fails, the script logs an error message and continues processing the next user.This ensures that one failure does not halt the entire script.

Conclusion
SysOps engineers may improve security, guarantee consistency, and expedite the user management process on Linux systems by utilizing this script. Time savings and a decreased chance of human error make this an invaluable addition to any SysOps toolbox.
This project is part of the HNG Internship program, which aims to train and nurture aspiring tech professionals. To learn more about the HNG Internship, visit the following links: