AIX User and Group Administration

There are three ways to administer users and groups in AIX

• Using Smit
  • Using Smit for user administration
  • Using Smit for group administration
• Using command line
  • User administration via command line
  • Group administration via command line in AIX
• Using vi editor. It can be done, but you really need to understand what you are doing.

Before going into the commands to create, modify, and maintain users and groups in AIX, it is important that you know what is happening behind the scenes. For example, you should understand the files and what they mean.

Look at the some of the files that affect the user itself:

• /etc/passwd
• /etc/security/.profile
• /etc/security/limits
• /etc/security/passwd
• /etc/security/user
• /usr/lib/security/mkuser.default

/etc/passwd

The file /etc/passwd contains the basics of a user and is probably the best-known file to UNIX® and Linux® users for user administration.

	
root:!:0:0::/:/usr/bin/ksh
daemon:!:1:1::/etc:
bin:!:2:2::/bin:
sys:!:3:3::/usr/sys:
adm:!:4:4::/var/adm:
uucp:!:5:5::/usr/lib/uucp:
guest:!:100:100::/home/guest:
nobody:!:4294967294:4294967294::/:
lpd:!:9:4294967294::/:
lp:*:11:11::/var/spool/lp:/bin/false
invscout:*:6:12::/var/adm/invscout:/usr/bin/ksh
snapp:*:200:13:snapp login user:/usr/sbin/snapp:/usr/sbin/snappd
ipsec:*:201:1::/etc/ipsec:/usr/bin/ksh
nuucp:*:7:5:uucp login user:/var/spool/uucppublic:/usr/sbin/uucp/uucico
pconsole:*:8:0::/var/adm/pconsole:/usr/bin/ksh
esaadmin:*:10:0::/var/esa:/usr/bin/ksh
sshd:*:206:201::/var/empty:/usr/bin/ksh
atc:!:8000:400:Adam Cormany,Sr UNIX Admin:/home/atc:/bin/ksh
amdc:!:8001:401:AMDC:/home/amdc:/bin/ksh
pac:!:8002:400:PAC,Jr UNIX Admin:/home/pac:/bin/ksh
atc2:!:8003:402:ATCv2:/home/atc2:/bin/ksh

Username : Password Flag : UID : GID : GECOS : Home : Shell/Command

• Username. This is the login/user name associated with the account.
• Password Flag. This field varies slightly in different flavors of UNIX and Linux. In AIX, the second field can contain one of two characters, either ! or *. If the ! is displayed, a password has been set for the user. If no password has been set, * appears. The passwords themselves are stored in /etc/security/passwd.
• UID. The User Identifier (UID) is a numeric identifier to a user.
• GID. The Group Identifier (GID) is similar to the UID but is associated with groups. The GIDs are defined in /etc/group.
• GECOS. The General Electric Comprehensive Operating System (GECOS) information is stored in the fifth field. The user's name, phone numbers, and other generic personal information are stored here.
• Home. This is the user's home directory.
• Shell/Command. Typically, the seventh and final field contains the shell that is started at the user's login. Administrators can also change this field to execute other commands instead of shells to limit access (for example, /bin/false).

/etc/security/.profile

The file /etc/security/.profile can really save you some valuable time and ease frustration. When you create a user using the mkuser command, the script /usr/lib/security/mkuser.sys is executed. This script creates the user's directory, sets the correct permissions, and "creates" the user's .profile. The mkuser.sys script actually copies the /etc/security/.profile file into the user's new home directory.

If you are building a new system, or maybe a new division of 100 people needs accounts on a system, make sure you make your changes to the /etc/security/.profile file before creating all the users' accounts. If you create the accounts and then realize that you need to make a simple change in a variable or modify another setting, you're going to have to manually make the change to everyone's profile. It could be scripted out easily, but life would have been much simpler if you would have just changed the /etc/security/.profile.

PATH=/usr/bin:/etc:/usr/sbin:/usr/ucb:$HOME/bin:/usr/bin/X11:/sbin:.

export PATH

if [ -s "$MAIL" ]           # This is at Shell startup.  In normal
then echo "$MAILMSG"        # operation, the Shell checks
fi                          # periodically.

/etc/security/limits

The /etc/security/limits file contains all the ulimits, or users' system resource limitations. The fields in the /etc/security/limits file: 

What's the difference between soft and hard limits? A soft limit is a value that a user or application can change on the fly up to the maximum (the hard limit). The hard limit is just that -- the maximum value a parameter can be set to. If setting the parameter to a numeric value is too difficult (for example, if a developer has no idea how much memory his or her program is going to take or the number of files it will need to open), you can set the parameter to -1, which translates to unlimited.

It isn't imperative that you set individual ulimits for each and every user, however. The /etc/security/limits file contains a section called default that defines a template of standard values for each user unless that user has set custom values. If the default section doesn't exist, IBM kindly set predetermined limits just in case.

The IBM default values are:

*   Attribute        Value
*   ==========    ============
*   fsize_hard    set to fsize
*   cpu_hard      set to cpu
*   core_hard         -1
*   data_hard         -1
*   stack_hard      8388608
*   rss_hard          -1
*   nofiles_hard      -1

	
default:
        fsize = 4194303
        core = 16384
        cpu = -1
        data = 262144
        rss = 65536
        stack = 65536

pac:
        fsize = 131072
        fsize_hard = 262144
        core = 262144

Considering that user "pac" is a junior UNIX administrator, his fsize soft value was reduced from the default section's 4,194,303 to 131,072; however, you were nice enough to allow the user to increase his value to 262,144, if needed. Also, pac is notorious for finding ways to break his own programs. As a result, you've increased his core ulimit to 262,144.

/etc/security/passwd

The /etc/security/passwd file contains the AIX user's password information. The file contains three fields per user:

• password. Encrypted password.

  Note: If this field contains only an asterisk (*), the account is locked until a password has been set.

• lastupdate. Number of seconds since epoch when the password was last updated.
• flags. Restrictions to changing the user's password. You can set three different flags:
  • ADMIN. If set, only the root user can change the user's password.
  • ADMCHG. If set, the user is prompted to change his or her password on the next login/su.
  • NOCHECK. If set, any additional restrictions in /etc/security/user are ignored.

Listing 4 provides an example of a /etc/security/password file.

	
amdc:
        password = oBQaUkPkUryCY
        lastupdate = 1243972006
        flags = ADMCHG

In this example, user "amdc" has a password that was set on Tue. Jun. 2 15:46:46 EDT 2009. The next time the user logs in or sus to amdc, he or she will be prompted to change the password.

To convert the seconds from epoch to timestamp you can use Perl one-kliner:

# perl -e 'use POSIX; print strftime("%c\n", localtime(1243972006));'
Tue Jun  2 15:46:46 EDT 2009

/etc/security/user

Now you're getting into the meat of AIX user administration. The /etc/security/user file contains the most important settings, outside of the basics in /etc/passwd, for a user:
 

For a full listing of all parameters, look in your AIX system under /etc/security/user, or see AIX Information Center. Like /etc/security/limits, a default section sets all the fields if not specified by the individual account.

/usr/lib/security/mkuser.default

The /usr/lib/security/mkuser.default file contains values used when creating a new AIX user through mkuser.

	
user:
        pgrp = staff
        groups = staff
        shell = /usr/bin/ksh
        home = /home/$USER

admin:
        pgrp = system
        groups = system
        shell = /usr/bin/ksh
        home = /home/$USER

More parameters can be defined in this file. To view the full list, look at man chuser.

Recommended Links

AIX user and group administration by Adam Cormany

• getconf: See IBM's man page for the getconf command.
• /etc/security/limits: See IBM's System Information Center Web page for /etc/security/limits.
• /etc/security/user: See IBM's System Information Center Web page for /etc/security/user.
• /usr/lib/security/mkuser.default: See IBM's System Information Center Web page for /usr/lib/security/mkuser.default.
   
• chuser: See IBM's System Information Center Web page for the chuser command.
• /etc/group: See IBM's System Information Center Web page for /etc/group.
• /etc/security/group: See IBM's System Information Center Web page for /etc/security/group.
• The AIX and UNIX developerWorks zone provides a wealth of information relating to all aspects of AIX systems administration and expanding your UNIX skills.New to AIX and UNIX? Visit the New to AIX and UNIX page to learn more.
• Browse the technology bookstore for books on this and other technical topics.

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Last modified: March 12, 2019