User & Groups Security

Published on: 22nd Apr 2014

Updated on: 17th Jan 2025

Overview

Here's the commands that you need to do the basic user and group management.

To add user, run the following command and it will create user record and an user directory in /home,
```
sudo useradd ftpuser
```
12.Jan.2023 - alternatively, you may use the high level command call adduser which creates the user home directory, ask for password and the user contact information.
```
sudo adduser ftpuser
```
To set password for the given user (in this case, 'ftpuser'), run the following command and then key in the password,
```
sudo passwd ftpuser
```
To view the user who is connected to server, execute one of the following command,
```
who
w
users
```
To view the user groups of the current session in the OS,
```
groups
```
To view all groups in the server,
```
sudo cat /etc/group
```
To add new group,
```
sudo groupadd public
```
To add user to a group,
```
sudo usermod -G public -a ftpuser
```
To check the 'ftpuser' (user ID) belongs to which group,
```
id ftpuser
```
To check my user ID
```
whoami
```

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Lau Hon Wan, software developer.