Automate User Management on Linux with a Bash Script

Emmanuel Nwokeocha — Wed, 03 Jul 2024 15:48:39 +0000

Automate User Management on Linux with a Bash Script

Managing users on a Linux system can be a tedious task, especially when dealing with multiple users and groups. Automation can greatly simplify this process. In this article, we'll walk through creating a bash script to automate user creation, group assignment, and password management, logging all actions for auditing purposes.

Overview

Our script, create_users.sh, will:

Read a text file containing usernames and group names.
Create users and assign them to specified groups.
Ensure each user has a personal group.
Set up home directories with appropriate permissions.
Generate random passwords for users.
Log all actions to /var/log/user_management.log.
Securely store generated passwords in /var/secure/user_passwords.csv.

Prerequisites

To follow along, you need:

A Linux system with sudo privileges.
openssl installed for generating random passwords.

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Prepare the User and Group Text File

First, create a text file that contains the usernames and group names. Each line should follow the format username; groups, where groups are separated by commas.

Example `user_groups.txt`:

alice; sudo,developers,web
bob; admin,devops
charlie; www-data
dave; sudo
eve; dev,admin,www-data

2. Write the Bash Script

Let's break down the script into major steps for clarity.

Step 1: Setting Up Logging and Password Storage

We start by defining the log file and password file locations and ensuring they exist with the appropriate permissions.

#!/bin/bash

# Log file location
LOG_FILE="/var/log/user_management.log"
PASSWORD_FILE="/var/secure/user_passwords.csv"

# Ensure the log file exists
touch $LOG_FILE
chmod 600 $LOG_FILE

# Ensure the password file exists and set appropriate permissions
mkdir -p /var/secure
touch $PASSWORD_FILE
chmod 600 $PASSWORD_FILE

Step 2: Helper Functions

Next, we define a function to generate random passwords and another to log messages.

# Function to generate random passwords
generate_password() {
    openssl rand -base64 12
}

# Log a message
log() {
    echo "$(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S') - $1" >> $LOG_FILE
}

Step 3: Reading the Input File

We read the input file line by line and process each user and their groups.

# Check if the script is run with an argument
if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
    echo "Usage: $0 <name-of-text-file>"
    exit 1
fi

# Read the file line by line
while IFS=';' read -r username groups; do
    # Remove leading/trailing whitespace from username and groups
    username=$(echo $username | xargs)
    groups=$(echo $groups | xargs)

Step 4: Creating Users and Groups

We create users, assign them to their personal groups, and handle group assignments.

    # Check if user already exists
    if id -u $username >/dev/null 2>&1; then
        log "User $username already exists. Skipping creation."
        continue
    fi

    # Create user with a personal group
    useradd -m -s /bin/bash $username
    log "User $username created."

    # Set up home directory permissions
    chmod 700 /home/$username
    chown $username:$username /home/$username
    log "Set up home directory for $username."

    # Generate random password and set it
    password=$(generate_password)
    echo "$username:$password" | chpasswd
    echo "$username,$password" >> $PASSWORD_FILE
    log "Password set for $username."

    # Add user to their own group
    usermod -aG $username $username
    log "User $username added to their personal group $username."

Step 5: Assigning Users to Additional Groups

We ensure users are added to any additional groups specified in the text file.

    # Assign user to additional groups
    if [ -n "$groups" ]; then
        IFS=',' read -r -a group_array <<< "$groups"
        for group in "${group_array[@]}"; do
            # Remove whitespace from group name
            group=$(echo $group | xargs)

            # Create group if it doesn't exist
            if ! getent group $group >/dev/null; then
                groupadd $group
                log "Group $group created."
            fi

            # Add user to group
            usermod -aG $group $username
            log "User $username added to group $group."
        done
    fi
done < "$1"

Step 6: Final Steps

Finally, we ensure the password file is only readable by the owner.

# Ensure password file is only readable by the owner
chmod 600 $PASSWORD_FILE

echo "User creation process completed. Check $LOG_FILE for details."

3. Make the Script Executable

Ensure the script is executable by running:

chmod +x create_users.sh

4. Run the Script

Run the script with your user and group file as an argument:

sudo bash create_users.sh user_groups.txt

5. Verify the Results

Log file: Check /var/log/user_management.log for the log of all actions performed.

sudo cat /var/log/user_management.log

Password file: Check /var/secure/user_passwords.csv to view the usernames and their generated passwords (only accessible by the root user).

sudo cat /var/secure/user_passwords.csv

6. Deleting Users

To delete a user along with their home directory and mail spool, use:

sudo userdel -r username

Replace username with the actual username you want to delete.

Conclusion

This script automates the tedious task of user management on a Linux system, ensuring users are created with the correct groups and home directory permissions, and passwords are securely managed. By logging actions and securely storing passwords, it also helps in maintaining a good audit trail and security practices. Automation like this can save valuable time and reduce the risk of manual errors, especially in larger environments.

Feel free to adapt this script to suit your specific requirements and extend its functionality as needed. Happy scripting!

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DEV Community: Emmanuel Nwokeocha

Automate User Management on Linux with a Bash Script