Users and Groups

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The following document contains a description of the user and group requirements that will need to be considered during the configuration and maintenance of users.

USERS AND GROUPS

• All files and directories have one owner and one user group assignment.
• User Groups may contain multiple users.
• Users may be members of multiple groups.

Files and Directories

• Files stored by inode number not by name.
• File and directory permissions are controlled by the User ID number (UID) and the Group ID number (GID), not the user name and group name.
• User name is simply a reference to the UID.
• Group name is simply a reference to the GID.

User Names

• Each user will have an Enterprise wide unique user name assigned to them. As per the AIX MSB.
• The user name structure will be the first letter of the first name, followed by a maximum of the first four letters of the last name, followed by a two digit number which will ensure the user name is unique.

For example:

• jdoe00 - John Doe
• hbear00 - Harry Bear
• mchri00 - Mary Christmas

User ID's

• The UID is generated from the standard UNIX command "sum" by piping the username into the "sum -r" command. The syntax of generating a UID using the "sum" command is:

$ echo zzzzz99 | sum -r | awk '{ print $1 $2 }'
195381
$ 

• Or if you prefer usernames containing 4 letters and three digits:

$ echo zzzz999 | sum -r | awk '{ print $1 $2 }'
113381
$ 

• I recommend the entire result value from the "sum" command be used, including the trailing "1".

Administrative Users

There is be a requirement for administrative users to be created during the course of installing software packages on the AIX systems. The Unix Administration group should to create and maintain the administrative users.

Example Administrative Users:
• ecs
• controlm
• mqm
• informix
• dcoms
• cduser

Groups and GID's

The Unix Administration group should continue to create and maintain the group names and GID's. This a necessary part of performing software installs.

Example Groups:
• ecs
• controlm
• mqm
• informix