Create or Change User Accounts

The Accounts page in the web console provides configurable properties that enable Cockpit administrators to manage user access on the host system. Upon accessing the Accounts page, a list of user accounts that are configured with management access appear. At a minimum, the root user account appears on the Accounts page.

What Do You Need?

The Cockpit web console must be installed and accessible.
For details, see these topics: Install and Enable Cockpit and Log in to the Cockpit Web Console.
For SSH authentication configurations only, the generated SSH key pair must be stored on the Cockpit system, the SSH key pair password must be known, and the file contents of the RSA key must be copied to the clipboard.

Note:
For more SSH key generation details, see Oracle Linux: Connecting to Remote Systems With OpenSSH.
Administrator privileges.

Steps

Using the Cockpit web console, follow these steps to manage user access on the host system.

Click Accounts in the Cockpit navigation pane.
The Accounts page appears.

In the Account page, perform one of the following:

Add a New User Account - In the Accounts page, click Create new account to access the Create new account dialog box. Enter the following account properties for the user and click Create.

Property	Description
Full name	The full name of the user.
User Name	The log in account name for the user.
Home directory	The path for the new user's home directory.
Shell	The path to the default shell for the user.
User ID	A unique number assigned to the user.
Authentication	The policy setting that either allows or prohibits the user from logging in to the host with a password. Select one of the following: Use password—The user is permitted to log in to the host using a password. Select Require password change on first login to force the user to reset the password the first time they log in to the system. Disallow password authentication—The user is prohibited from logging in to the host using a password.
Password and Confirm Password	The password used to log in to the user's account.

Edit an Existing User Account - In the Accounts page, click an existing account name and change any of the following properties as needed.

Property	Description
Full name	The full name of the user.
Groups	A list of groups the user account is assigned to. A group is an entity which ties together multiple user accounts for a common purpose, such as granting access to particular files. Select any group(s) you want to assign to the user account from the drop-down list, or remove access to any groups.
Options	Sets password access and account expiration: Disallow interactive password—Select the checkbox to prohibit the user from logging in using a password. Never expire account—Enabled by default. To set an expiration date for the account, click Edit, then select Expire account on YYYY-MM-DD and set a date in the date editor. This option is helpful when managing a temporary user.
Password	Sets the applicable Password properties: Set password—Change the current user password. Force change—Require the user to enter a new password at next sign in. Never expire password—Enabled by default. Click Edit to require the user to change the password within a defined number of days.
Shell	The path to the default shell for the user. Click Change to select a different shell.
Add key	Assigns authorized SSH public keys to the user account. Click Add key. Paste the contents of the public key file into the text field and click Add. The newly added public key assigned to the user account appears in the Authorized public SSH keys section of the Account page.