Table of Contents
Adding and Deleting Users
Adding users can be done using two convenience scripts. (See below for deleting users.)
AddUser DelUser
Both of these scripts can operate in either text or graphical mode. In text mode, they must be started in a terminal window as the root or administrative user on the administrative machine (machine name “limulus”). (See Becoming The Administrative User.)
To add users in either text of graphical mode you will need the following information:
- A Username (possibly the same as their campus username)
- Their First Name
- Their Last Name
- Their Email Address in case they need to be notified about a cluster issue.
In addition, the registration process will ask if you want to provide HDFS (Hadoop Distributed File System) access to the user. It is recommend that only those users that specifically need HDFS access be approved for this option.
The options for the scripts can be shown by using the -h option.
# AddUser -h
Basic script usage: AddUser [-h] [-g] [-u user-file]
-h for this help
-g to use GUI menus, otherwise terminal version is used
-u "filename" to use a file with a list of users. The file format must be
tab separated, with the following fields:
user-login <tab> first-name <tab> last-name <tab> email-address
A confirmation of each user is required.
# DelUser -h
Basic script usage: DelUser [-h] [-g]
-h for this help
-g to use GUI menus, otherwise terminal version is used
Graphic Mode Operation
There are also entries for GUI versions of “User Add” and “User Delete” in the Applications/System Tools menu (only visible to the root user). An example menu is shown below.
The “User Add” and “User Delete” scripts can be started from the GUI or run from the command line as root in a terminal window.
# AddUser -g
And a graphical window will open.
Enter the appropriate fields and click OK. The process is straightforward and most inputs are checked.
Text Mode Operation
In text mode, you will be guided through the operations from the terminal. This option can be used when you don't have full graphics (X Window System) to the administrative system (i.e. when you are doing this from a remote location). To use the text mode, simply type the following in a terminal on the administrative node (as the root user):
# AddUser Enter the new users login name:
The script will continue with the same questions found in the graphic version.
Using A List of Users
When using the -u “filename” option with AddUser, a file can be used to add multiple users in one step. The file format must be tab-separated, with the following fields:
user-login <tab> first-name <tab> last-name <tab> email-address
A confirmation of each user is required so that incomplete or wrong information can be skipped.
Deleting Users
Similar to the AddUser program, DelUser will remove a user. A confirmation will be given before the deletion takes place and the user's home directory will be archived. You can run it in the graphic mode:
# DelUser -g
Or, it can be run in text mode:
# DelUser Enter the name of the user to be DELETED:
