Managing the user accounts on a Linux system is a crucial task for system administrators.

It involves creating, deleting, resetting passwords and listing user accounts efficiently.

Let's start:

Script Overview: The purpose of user_management.sh script is it provides command-line interface for performing various user management tasks:

#!/bin/bash

# Function to display usage information and available options
function display_usage {
    echo "Usage: $0 [OPTIONS]"
    echo "options:"
    echo "  -c, --create  Create a new user account."
    echo "  -d, --delete  Delete an existing user account."
    echo "  -r, --reset   Reset password for an existing user account."
    echo "  -l, --list    List all user accounts on the system."
    echo "  -h, --help    Display this help and exit."
}

1. Creating a New User Account: The create_user function guides the administrator through the process of creating a new user account. It prompts the administrator to enter a new username and password.

    # Function to create a new user account
    function create_user {
        read -p "Enter the new username: " username
   
        # Check if the user name already exists
        if id "$username" &>/dev/null; then
            echo "Error: The username '$username' already exists. Please choose a different username."
            return 1
        fi
   
        # Prompt for password (Note: you might want to use 'read -s' to hide the password input)
        read -p "Enter the password for $username: " password
   
        # Create the user account using sudo
        if sudo useradd -m -p "$password" "$username"; then
            echo "User account '$username' created successfully."
        else
            echo "Error: Failed to create user account '$username'."
            return 1
        fi
    }
   

   2. Deleting an Existing User Account: The delete_user function facilitates the deletion of an existing user account. It asks the administrator to enter the username of the account to be deleted. If the username exists, it utilizes sudo userdel -r to delete the user account along with their home directory and mailbox. Otherwise, it displays an error message indicating that the username doesn't exist.

       # Function to delete an existing user account
       function delete_user {
           read -p "Enter the username to delete: " username
      
           # Check if the username exists
           if id "$username" &>/dev/null; then
               if sudo userdel -r "$username" 2>/dev/null; then # Redirect stderr to /dev/null
                   echo "User account '$username' deleted Successfully."
               else
                   echo "Error: Failed to delete user account '$username'."
                   return 1
               fi
           else
               echo "Error: The username '$username' does not exist. Please enter a valid username."
               return 1
           fi
       }
      

      3. Resetting Password for an Existing User Account: The reset_password function enables the admin to reset the password for an existing user account. It prompts the administrator to enter the username for which the password needs to be reset. After verifying the username's existence, it set the new password using echo username:password | chpasswd

          # Function to reset the password for an existing user account
          function reset_password {
              read -p "Enter the username to reset password: " username
         
              # Check if the username exists
              if id "$username" &>/dev/null; then
                  # Prompt for password (Note: you might want to use 'read -s' to hide the password input)
                  read -p "Enter the new password for $username: " password
         
                  # Set the new password
                  echo "$username:$password" | sudo chpasswd
         
                  echo "Password for user '$username' reset successfully."
              else
                  echo "Error: The username '$username' does not exist. Please enter a valid username."
              fi
          }
         

         4. Listing All User Accounts: The list_users function provides a simple way to view all user accounts present on the system. It reads the etc/passwd file and formats the output to display a list of usernames along with their corresponding user IDs.

             # Function to list all user accounts on the system
             function list_users {
                 echo "User accounts on the system:"
                 cat /etc/passwd | awk -F: '{print "- " $1 " (UID: " $3 ")"}'
             }
            

            Conclusion: By using Bash scripting, system admin can automate and simplify user management tasks on Linux systems.

            GitHub Repository Link:

            https://github.com/itztejal/user-management

Happy Learning!!

Thanks For Reading 🙂