Working with Linux Directory Permissions

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Working with Linux Directory Permissions

In this lab, we'll be working with directory permissions on a Linux host. We'll start by creating some groups and directories, and then set up permissions to only allow each group to access its own directory.

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Lab Info

Level

Beginner

Last updated

Apr 06, 2025

Duration

30m

Challenge

Create user groups.
1. There are four groups to be created:
  
  accounting
  
  engineering
  
  management
  
  hr
2. Use the sudo groupadd -g #### [groupname] command:
  
  sudo groupadd -g 1111 accounting
  
  sudo groupadd -g 2222 engineering
  
  sudo groupadd -g 3333 management
  
  sudo groupadd -g 4444 hr
Challenge

Create directories.
1. There are four directories to be created:
  
  accounting
  
  engineering
  
  management
  
  hr
2. Create each group using the sudo mkdir /directoryname command:
  
  sudo mkdir /accounting
  
  sudo mkdir /engineering
  
  sudo mkdir /management
  
  sudo mkdir /hr
Challenge

Add each of the newly created directories to its associated group.
1. Use the command sudo chgrp groupname /directoryname to add each of the newly created directories to its associated group:
  
  sudo chgrp accounting /accounting
  
  sudo chgrp engineering /engineering
  
  sudo chgrp management /management
  
  sudo chgrp hr /hr
Challenge

Set group permissions on each of the newly created directories.
1. For each of the newly created directories, use the command sudo chmod g+rwx /directoryname to give the group owner read, write, and execute permissions to the directory:
  
  sudo chmod g+rwx /accounting
  
  sudo chmod g+rwx /engineering
  
  sudo chmod g+rwx /management
  
  sudo chmod g+rwx /hr
Challenge

Prevent non-group members from accessing files.
1. In order to prevent other non-group members from reading and executing files in each of the newly created directories, use sudo chmod o-rx /directoryname command:
  
  sudo chmod o-rx /accounting
  
  sudo chmod o-rx /engineering
  
  sudo chmod o-rx /management
  
  sudo chmod o-rx /hr

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