Adding A New User - Red Hat ENTERPRISE LINUX 4 System Administration Manual

Chapter 32. Users and Groups
To sort the users or groups, click on the column name. The users or groups are sorted according to
the value of that column.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux reserves user IDs below 500 for system users. By default, User Manager
does not display system users. To view all users, including the system users, go to Edit =>
Preferences and uncheck Hide system users and groups from the dialog box.

32.1.1. Adding a New User

To add a new user, click the Add User button. A window as shown in
appears. Type the username and full name for the new user in the appropriate fields. Type the
user's password in the Password and Confirm Password fields. The password must be at least six
characters.
Tip
It is advisable to use a much longer password, as this makes it more difficult for an
intruder to guess it and access the account without permission. It is also recommended
that the password not be based on a dictionary term; use a combination of letters,
numbers and special characters.
Select a login shell. If you are not sure which shell to select, accept the default value of /bin/bash.
The default home directory is /home/<username>/. You can change the home directory that is
created for the user, or you can choose not to create the home directory by unselecting Create home
directory.
If you select to create the home directory, default configuration files are copied from the /etc/skel/
directory into the new home directory.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux uses a user private group (UPG) scheme. The UPG scheme does not add or
change anything in the standard UNIX way of handling groups; it offers a new convention. Whenever
you create a new user, by default, a unique group with the same name as the user is created. If you
do not want to create this group, unselect Create a private group for the user.
To specify a user ID for the user, select Specify user ID manually. If the option is not selected, the
next available user ID above 500 is assigned to the new user. Because Red Hat Enterprise Linux
reserves user IDs below 500 for system users, it is not advisable to manually assign user IDs 1-499.
Click OK to create the user.
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Figure 32.2, "New User"