Managing Ubuntu Linux Users and Groups

Linux is a multi-user operating system. This means that more than one user can be actively logged and and using the system at any one time. Obviously, it makes sense for each user to have their own user account and home directory, and for different users to have different privileges.

Users are further divided into groups for the purposes of easier administration and those groups can have different levels of privileges. For example, you may have a group of users who work in the Accounting department. In such an environment you may wish to create an accounts group and assign all the the Accounting department to that group.

In this chapter we will cover the steps to add, remove and manage users and groups on an Ubuntu Linux system.