Setting Up User Accounts

In Oracle Solaris 11, user accounts are created as Oracle Solaris ZFS file systems. As an administrator, when you create user accounts, you are creating more than a home directory. You are giving users their own file system and their own ZFS dataset. Every home directory that is created by using the useradd and roleadd commands places the home directory of the user on the /export/home file system as an individual ZFS file system. As a result, users have the ability to back up their home directories, create ZFS snapshots of their home directories, and replace files in their current home directory from the ZFS snapshots that they created.

The useradd command relies on the automount service, svc:/system/filesystem/autofs to mount a user's home directory, so this service should not be disabled. Each home directory entry for a user in the passwd database is of the form /home/username, which is an autofs trigger that is resolved by the automounter through the auto_home map.

The useradd command automatically creates entries in the auto_home map that correspond to the pathname that is specified by using the -d option. If the pathname includes a remote host specification, for example, foobar:/export/home/jdoe, then the home directory for jdoe must be created on the system foobar. The default pathname is localhost:/export/home/user.

Because this file system is a ZFS dataset, the user's home directory is created as a child ZFS dataset, with the ZFS permission to take snapshots delegated to the user. If a pathname is specified that does not correspond to a ZFS dataset, then a regular directory is created. If the -S ldap option is specified, then the auto_home map entry is updated on the LDAP server instead of the local auto_home map.

Gathering User Information

When setting up user accounts you can create a form similar to the following form to gather information about users before adding their accounts.

Item	Description
User Name:
Role Name:
Profiles or Authorizations:
UID:
Primary Group:
Secondary Groups:
Comment:
Default Shell:
Password Status and Aging:
Home Directory Path Name:
Mounting Method:
Permissions on Home Directory:
Mail Server:
Department Name:
Department Administrator:
Manager:
Employee Name:
Employee Title:
Employee Status:
Employee Number:
Start Date:
Add to These Mail Aliases:
Desktop System Name:

How to Customize User Initialization Files

Become the root role.
```
$ su -
Password: 
#
```
Note - This method works whether root is a user account or a role.
Create a skeleton directory for each type of user.
```
# mkdir /shared-dir/skel/user-type
```
shared-dir

The name of a directory that is available to other systems on the network.

user-type

The name of a directory to store initialization files for a type of user.
Copy the default user initialization files into the directories that you created for different types of users.
Edit the user initialization files for each user type and customize them based on your site's needs.
For a detailed description on the ways to customize the user initialization files, see Customizing a User's Work Environment.
Set the permissions for the user initialization files.
```
# chmod 744 /shared-dir/skel/user-type/.*
```
Verify that the permissions for the user initialization files are correct.
```
# ls -la /shared-dir/skel/*
```

How to Change Account Defaults For All Roles

In the following procedure, the administrator has customized a roles directory . The administrator changes the default home directory and skeleton directory for all roles.

Become the root role.

Create a custom roles directory. For example:

# roleadd -D
group=other,1  project=default,3  basedir=/home  
skel=/etc/skel  shell=/bin/pfsh  inactive=0  
expire=  auths=  profiles=All  limitpriv=  
defaultpriv=  lock_after_retries=

Change the default home directory and skeleton directory for all roles. For example:

# roleadd -D -b /export/home -k /etc/skel/roles
# roleadd -D
group=staff,10  project=default,3  basedir=/export/home  
skel=/etc/skel/roles  shell=/bin/sh  inactive=0  
expire=  auths=  profiles=  roles=  limitpriv=  
defaultpriv=  lock_after_retries=

Future uses of the roleadd command create home directories in /export/home, and populate the roles' environment from the /etc/skel/roles directory.

How to Add a User

In Oracle Solaris 11, user accounts are created as Oracle Solaris ZFS file systems. Every home directory that is created by using the useradd and roleadd commands places the home directory of the user on the /export/home file system as an individual ZFS file system.

Become the root role.
Create a local user.
By default, the user is created locally. With the -S ldap option, the user is created in an existing LDAP repository.
```
# useradd -m username
```
useradd

Creates an account for the specified user.

-m

Creates a local home directory on the system for the specified user.

Note - The account is locked until you assign the user a password.
Assign the user a password.
```
$ passwd username
New password: Type user password
Re-enter new password: Retype password
```
For more command options, see the useradd(1M) and passwd(1) man pages.

How to Delete a User

Become the root role.
```
$ su -
Password: 
#
```
Note - This method works whether root is a user account or a role.
Archive the user's home directory.
Run one of the following commands:
- If the user has a local home directory, delete the user and the home directory.
```
# userdel -r username
```
  usesrdel
  
  Deletes the account of the specified user.
  
  -r
  
  Removes the account from the system.
  Because user home directories are now ZFS datasets, the preferred method for removing a local home directory for a deleted user is to specify the -r option with the userdel command.
- Otherwise, delete the user only.
```
# userdel username
```
  You must manually delete the user's home directory on the remote server.
For a full list of command options, see the userdel(1M) man page.

Next Steps

Additional cleanup might be required if the user that you deleted had administrative responsibilities, for example creating cron jobs, or if the user had additional accounts in non-global zones.

How to Add a Group

Become the root role.
List the existing groups.
```
# cat /etc/group
```
Create a new group.
```
$ groupadd -g 18 exadata
```
groupadd

Creates a new group definition on the system by adding the appropriate entry to the /etc/group file.

-g

Assigns the group ID for the new group.

For more information, see the groupadd(1M) man page.

Example 3-1 Adding a Group and User With the groupadd and useradd Commands

The following example shows how to use the groupadd and useradd commands to add the group scutters and the user scutter1 to files on the local system.

# groupadd -g 102 scutters
# useradd -u 1003 -g 102 -d /export/home/scutter1 -s /bin/csh \ -c "Scutter 1" -m -k /etc/skel scutter1
64 blocks

For more information, see the groupadd(1M) and useradd(1M) man pages.

How to Share Home Directories That Are Created as ZFS File Systems

An NFS or a Server Message Block (SMB) share of a ZFS file system is created and then the share is published.

The two-step process is as follows:

The file system share is created by using zfs set share command. At this time, specific share properties can be defined. If share properties are not defined, the default property values are used for the share.
The NFS or SMB share is published by setting the sharenfs or sharesmb property. The share is published permanently until the property is set to off.

Note that you must be the root user to perform the following procedure.

Before You Begin

Create a separate pool for the user home directories. For example:

# zpool create users mirror c1t1d0 c1t2d0 mirror c2t1d0 c2t2d0

Then, create a container for the home directories:

# zfs create /users/home

Become the root role.
Create the share and set the sharenfs or sharesmb properties. For example, to create an NFS share and set the sharenfs property, type the following commands:
```
# zfs set share=name=users,path=/users/home,prot=nfs users/home name=users,path=/users/home,prot=nfs
# zfs set sharenfs=on users/home
```

Create the individual file systems that will inherit the share property options and the sharenfs or sharesmb property.

# zfs create users/home/username1
# zfs create users/home/username2
# zfs create users/home/username3

For example:

# zfs create users/home/alice
# zfs create users/home/bob
# zfs create users/home/carl

Determine whether the ZFS file system shares are published.
```
# zfs get -r sharenfs users/home
```
The -r option displays all of the descendent file systems.

Manually Mounting a User's Home Directory.

User accounts that are created as ZFS file systems do not typically need to be manually mounted. With ZFS, file systems are automounted when they are created and then mounted at boot time from the SMF local file system service.

When creating user accounts, make sure home directories are set up as they are in the name service, at /home/username. Then, make sure that the auto_home map indicates the NFS path to the user's home directory. For task-related information, see Task Overview for Autofs Administration in Oracle Solaris Administration: Network Services.

If you need to manually mount a user's home directory, use the zfs mount command. For example:

# zfs mount users/home/alice

Note - Make sure that the user's home directory is shared. For more information, see How to Share Home Directories That Are Created as ZFS File Systems.

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