100 Days of DevOps – Day 2: Creating a Temporary User with Expiry Date

ask for the Day

Today’s challenge was about User Management in Linux.
I had to create a temporary user named anita on App Server 1 in the Stratos Datacenter. The special condition was that this user should expire automatically on 2023-12-07.

This ensures security and smooth access management, especially when developers or external people need access for a limited time.

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Steps I Followed

1. Logged in to App Server 1

First, I connected to the jump host and from there accessed App Server 1. and password : Ir0nM@n .

#ssh user@appserver1
ssh tony@stapp01.stratos.xfusioncorp.com

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2. Created User with Expiry Date

To create a user with expiry, Linux provides the -e flag in the useradd command.

sudo useradd -e 2023-12-07 anita

Here:

• -e 2023-12-07 → Sets the expiry date.

• anita → Username in lowercase as per standard protocol.

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3. Verified the User Expiry

I used the chage command to confirm if the expiry was set correctly:

sudo chage -l anita

Output showed:

Account expires : Dec 07, 2023

✅ Perfect!

Learnings from Day 2

• Learned how to create Linux users with expiry dates.

• Understood the importance of temporary access in real-world DevOps & system administration.

• Practiced using useradd and chage commands.

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🔮 What’s Next?

Tomorrow Day 3: Secure Root SSH Access

Stay tuned for the 100 Days of DevOps Challenge.