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User Management Task: Creating and Removing Users Securely

Goal

Ensure users are added or removed in a consistent, auditable, and secure way.

Creating Users

useradd -m -s /bin/bash -G wheel username
passwd username

Add SSH Key

mkdir -p /home/username/.ssh
echo "ssh-rsa AAAA..." > /home/username/.ssh/authorized_keys
chown -R username:username /home/username/.ssh
chmod 700 /home/username/.ssh
chmod 600 /home/username/.ssh/authorized_keys

Removing Users

userdel -r username
  • Check crontabs: crontab -u username -l
  • Remove sudo if applicable

Best Practices

  • Disable before deleting (usermod -L)
  • Backup home directory if needed

Tools

  • useradd, passwd, userdel, usermod, sudo