As a SysOps engineer, managing user accounts efficiently is crucial. In this article, we will discuss how to automate the creation of users and groups using a bash script (create_users.sh).

Introduction
The create_users.sh script automates the creation of user accounts based on input from a text file. It handles the setup of home directories, password generation, group management, and logging, making it ideal for scaling user management tasks. This script is a practical example of how to streamline user management processes while ensuring security and compliance.

Script Overview
Parsing Input
The script reads from a formatted text file where each line specifies a username and associated groups separated by semicolons. This approach allows for easy configuration and bulk user management.

User and Group Creation
The script checks if users and groups already exist, creates them if they don’t, and assigns appropriate permissions and ownerships. This ensures that new users are correctly set up and integrated into the system.

Password Security
Passwords are securely generated using OpenSSL’s base64 random generator and stored in /var/secure/user_passwords.txt, accessible only to the script owner. This step is crucial for maintaining the confidentiality of user credentials.

Error Handling
The script gracefully handles errors such as existing users or groups and logs these events to /var/log/user_management.log for audit purposes. This ensures transparency and accountability in user management.

Step-by-Step Implementation
Initialize Variables and Files
The script starts by defining log and password file paths and ensuring they exist with the correct permissions:

`#!/bin/bash

Ensure the secure directory exists

sudo mkdir -p /var/secure
sudo touch /var/secure/user_passwords.txt

LOG_FILE=”/var/log/user_management.log”
PASSWORD_FILE=”/var/secure/user_passwords.txt”

Ensure log and password files exist

sudo touch “$LOG_FILE”
sudo touch “$PASSWORD_FILE”

Set permissions to secure the password file

sudo chmod 600 “$PASSWORD_FILE”
`

Processing Each Line
The script processes each line of the input file, trimming whitespace and extracting usernames and groups:

`while IFS=’;’ read -r username groups || [ -n “$username” ]; do
username=$(echo “$username” | tr -d ‘[:space:]’)
groups=$(echo “$groups” | tr -d ‘[:space:]’)

`

User and Group Creation
It checks if users and groups already exist and creates them if necessary:

“` if id “$username” &>/dev/null; then
echo “$(date) – User ‘$username’ already exists. Skipping creation.” | sudo tee -a “$LOG_FILE”
continue
fi

done < “$1”

echo “$(date) – Script execution completed.” | sudo tee -a “$LOG_FILE”