Project 1: Simplified Linux Administration: User Management and Backup with Shell Scripts 🚀

Introduction

Are you ready to streamline user management and backup tasks on your Linux system? In this guide, we'll walk you through creating shell scripts to automate these processes. By the end, you'll have powerful tools at your fingertips and a deeper understanding of shell scripting.

Prerequisites:

Before we begin, ensure you have:

• 🐧Access to a Linux distribution (e.g., Ubuntu, Fedora)

• 💻Basic knowledge of the command line interface

• 📝Familiarity with text editors like Nano or Vim

Step 1: Understanding the Project

Our goal is to develop two shell scripts:

1. User Management Script: Adds, deletes, and modifies user accounts.

2. Backup Script: Performs secure backups of specified directories.

Step 2: Creating the User Management Script

1. Open Your Text Editor: Create a new file named user_management.sh.

   

2. Define Functions: Add functions for adding, deleting, and modifying users.

    #!/bin/bash
   
    # Description: This script automates user management tasks in Linux.
   
    # Function to add a new user
    add_user() {
        username=$1
        useradd $username
        if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
            echo "User $username added successfully."
        else
            echo "Error: Failed to add user $username."
        fi
    }
   
    # Function to modify an existing user
    modify_user() {
        old_username=$1
        new_username=$2
        usermod -l $new_username $old_username
        if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
            echo "User $old_username modified to $new_username successfully."
        else
            echo "Error: Failed to modify user $old_username."
        fi
    }
   
    # Function to delete an existing user
    delete_user() {
        username=$1
        userdel -r $username
        if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
            echo "User $username deleted successfully."
        else
            echo "Error: Failed to delete user $username."
        fi
    }
   

   Taking User Input: Parse command-line arguments to determine the action to perform.

    # Main script
    if [ $# -lt 2 ]; then
        echo "Usage: $0 [add|modify|delete] username [new_username]"
        exit 1
    fi
   
    case $1 in
        "add") add_user $2 ;;
        "modify") modify_user $2 $3 ;;
        "delete") delete_user $2 ;;
        *) echo "Invalid option" ;;
    esac
   
    exit 0
   

3. Set Execution Permission: Run the following command to add execution permission to the script:

    chmod +x User_Management.sh
   

   

4. Testing the Script: Execute the script with different options to verify functionality.

    sudo ./User_Management.sh add supriya
   

   

   

    sudo ./User_Management.sh modify supriya supriyasurkar
   

   

    sudo ./User_Management.sh delete supriyasurkar
   

   

Step 3: Developing the Backup Script

1. Create a New File: Open a new file named backup.sh in your text editor.

   

2. Define Backup Function: Write a function to compress and archive specified directories.

    #!/bin/bash
   
    # Description: This script performs backup tasks in Linux.
   
    # Hardcoded source directory
    source_directory="/home/ubuntu/Linux-Project"
   
    # Destination backup directory
    backup_directory="/home/ubuntu/Backups"
   
    # Function to perform backup of a directory
    backup_directory() {
        # Format the date in a human-readable format (YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS)
        backup_date=$(date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S)
        backup_file="$backup_directory/backup_$backup_date.tar.gz"
        tar -czf "$backup_file" "$source_directory"
        echo "Backup of $source_directory created: $backup_file"
    }
   

   Parsing User Input: Take command-line arguments to specify the directory for backup.

    # Main script
    if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
        echo "Usage: $0 directory_to_backup"
        exit 1
    fi
   
    backup_directory "$1"
   
    exit 0
   

3. Set Execution Permission: Run the following command to add execution permission to the script:

    chmod +x backup.sh
   

   

4. Testing the Script: Execute the script to ensure it creates backups as expected.

    ./backup.sh /path/to/directory_to_backup
   

   

   These steps ensure that the shell scripts are executable and can be run to perform user management and backup tasks efficiently.

Step 4: Sharing Your Project on GitHub

1. Create a GitHub Repository: Sign in to GitHub and create a new repository.

   

2. Initialize Git: In your project directory, initialize a Git repository.

   

3. Add Remote Repository: Link your local repository to the remote GitHub repository.

   

4. Add and Commit Changes: Add your shell scripts to the staging area and commit changes.

   

5. Push Changes to GitHub: Push the committed changes to your GitHub repository.

   

   

Conclusion:

🎉Congratulations! You've created powerful shell scripts to automate user management and backup tasks in Linux.

Thanks for reading! 💚 Enjoy your learning journey!