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Linux User Management: Modifying User Settings and Removing Groups

Managing users and groups is an essential part of administering a Linux system. Users and groups are responsible for managing all activity on the server from `root`, to service accounts, to regular user accounts. In this lab, students will practice changing user settings such as the user shell, home directory, and group.

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Path Info

Level
Clock icon Beginner
Duration
Clock icon 15m
Last updated
Clock icon Aug 23, 2025

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Table of Contents

  1. Challenge

    Use sudo to Gain root Access 

    # sudo -i

  2. Challenge

    Change the dbadmin User's Default Shell to Prevent the User from Logging In 

    # usermod -s /sbin/nologin dbadmin

  3. Challenge

    Check to See If the dba Group Exists. If It Does Not Exist, Create the dba Group. Change the dbadmin User's Primary Group to dba 

    # grep dbadmin /etc/group
# groupadd dba
# usermod -g dba dbadmin

  4. Challenge

    Set /dba as the Users Home Directory. If the Directory Does Not Exist, Create It 

    # ls -al /
# mkdir /dba
# chown dbadmin:dba /dba
# chmod 740 /dba
# cp /home/dbadmin/.bash* /dba
# usermod -d /dba dbadmin

  5. Challenge

    Verify the New User Settings: For User dbadmin, the Group Should Be Set to dba, the Home Directory Should Be Set to /dba, and the Shell Should Be Set to /sbin/nologin 

    # grep dbadmin /etc/passwd
# grep <GID for dbadmin from /etc/passwd> /etc/group

  6. Challenge

    Remove the Old Home Directory, /home/dbadmin. Check to See If Any Users Are Still Members of the Old Group, dbadmin. If Not, Remove the Old Group 

    # rm -R /home/dbadmin
# grep dbadmin /etc/group
# grep 1004 /etc/passwd
# groupdel dbadmin
Pluralsight Skills - Labs - Pluralsight
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Pluralsight Skills

Pluralsight Skills gives leaders confidence they have the skills needed to execute technology strategy. Technology teams can benchmark expertise across roles, speed up release cycles and build reliable, secure products. By leveraging our expert content, skill assessments and one-of-a-kind analytics, keep up with the pace of change, put the right people on the right projects and boost productivity. It's the most effective path to developing tech skills at scale.

What's a lab?

Hands-on Labs are real environments created by industry experts to help you learn. These environments help you gain knowledge and experience, practice without compromising your system, test without risk, destroy without fear, and let you learn from your mistakes. Hands-on Labs: practice your skills before delivering in the real world.

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Follow along with the author’s guided walkthrough and build something new in your provided environment!

Did you know?

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