Today, Linux is considered one of the most powerful operating systems, since has excellent prospects for the future. This, mainly, it is characterized by being a free software, as well as a multi-user and multi-tasking system that offers a command interface and a graphical interface. What’s more, is distinguished by being robust, independent, safe and easily adaptable.
Among other peculiarities, Linux has captured the attention of millions of people for its powerful user and group permission management. Taking into account that, by default, this operating system focuses on sectioning each user depending on the group to which it belongs, in order to grant free access to certain directories, files, peripherals, etc.
For this reason, user management in Linux it is an essential factor both when adding, changing or delete users, as well as to manage these correctly in order to ensure safety. But luckily, to simplify user management, the OS provides numerous commands that are useful and here, you will know what they are.
What are Linux user management commands and what are they for?
Basically, Linux commands are defined as an instruction that tells the operating system what task to perform. Therefore, they consist of certain commands that Linux uses to execute certain actions through the command line or from a terminal. Whereas, said interface or terminal is a program that allows you to easily execute commands.
Now, the commands for Linux user management refer to all those actions that are executed with the aim of creating, modifying or deleting users. As for create, change or delete groups and add or remove users from a certain group. Apart from that, they are essential when changing the password of a certain user. For its part, this administration is so important because Linux identifies various types of users, according to the group to which they belong.
That is why, it is worth knowing which are the user classes that this operating system distinguishes and, below, we detail each of them:
Root user
It is also known as “administrator” or “Super user” and it stands out for being the only user account that has privileges throughout the entire system. Default, his “User ID” is zero (0). Under this feature, the root user has the ability to perform maintenance tasks on the system, control the account management of other users, enter all directories and files regardless of permissions and owners. Like, install software on the system, modify drivers, stop the system, etc..
Special users
They are called “System accounts” and they assume some root privileges, depending on the account. These are usually assigned a User ID no way from 1 to 100 and it is created at the time of Linux installation, automatically. By default, special Linux users do not have passwords because they are accounts that are not specially designed to log in with. In view of this, They are also known as “nologin” or “no login” accounts..
Normal users
All individual users make use of this type of user account in the system. From her, each person you can have your own working directory Plus, you have the option to customize your work environment just the way you want.
Regarding their privileges, we highlight that these users they only have full permissions on their working directory and in effect, they cannot take any action on the accounts of other people. In that sense, in current Linux distros, normal users a User ID greater than 500 is established.
Know the best commands that exist to manage users in LinuX
Even if Linux supports manual ways to create and manage users on the system, the truth is that it is more effective to carry it out via commands run on the Linux console. Through these commands, it will be simpler to create, change or delete users, as well as manage your options and other actions of interest.
Next, we list these essential commands to manage users in Linux: