Lesson 3 Managing Users

Introduction

Lesson 3 presents the commands associated with the following user-related tasks:

You have logged on to the system and started an interactive session. Previously, you used SHOWJOB to look at some of the users on the system.

You will now learn more commands to help you manage and monitor those users.

The SHOWME command displays the account, group, and user information associated with your session. You can also display information about other users on the system or in your account with the LISTUSER command. You can use the online MPE/iX help facility to learn more about this command and other related account management commands.

Online help

As you know, an online help facility is a quick and easy way to obtain information about a command without referring to a reference manual; however, if you need in-depth information, the actual hard copy manual should be used, since the online help information is sometimes abbreviated.

To use online help, enter:

   HELP

You should now get a "table of contents" of MPE/iX topics. Enter the appropriate topic to give you a listing of all of the classes of commands available, CLASS.

Now enter the correct class to get a listing of all resource management commands, namely, RESOURCES.

Command Syntax and the LISTUSER Command

You should now see a listing of resource management commands. examine the commands and find listuser. at the help prompt (>), you can enter individual command names.

Do so now to get information about LISTUSER.

Have you found a display of the syntax for LISTUSER? According to syntax convention, the command name and any other required keywords are displayed in CAPITAL letters. You may enter these words at your terminal in either uppercase or lowercase. All parameter names are displayed in lowercase letters. If the parameters are required (no brackets), you must replace them by actual values.

Optional parameters are shown surrounded by brackets [ ]. You do not have to specify values for such parameters. If you do not specify an optional parameter in a command line, a default value(s) is assigned. When the syntax shows that a comma is associated with an optional parameter, you must omit that comma, too, when you omit the parameter. Omitted, optional parameters default to some specified value (as dictated by the syntax).

Figure 2-4 LISTUSER Command

Here is a simple example of command syntax:

   LISTUSER [userset][,listfile][;PASS]

Here is an example of the corresponding command:

   LISTUSER @.MYACCT

	NOTE: More than likely, you will want to stop the LISTUSER listing occasionally to study the resulting terminal display. To do so, use the STOP key, if your keyboard has one -- pressing STOP another time to let the display continue. Or you may use CTRL S to stop the display and CTRL Q to resume the display.

To get more information about parameters, their use, and examples associated with a specific command, simply type PARMS, OPERATION, or EXAMPLE at the help prompt.

To return to the original syntax display, enter the command again at the help prompt.

User Capabilities

Notice the type of information that is displayed for LISTUSER. Pay particular attention to the CAP information. The capabilities of the user are shown by two-letter capability codes.

ALTUSER Command

The ALTUSER command changes a user's capabilities or passwords. This command is useful for increasing security so that other people logging on to your account must check with you for the current user password.

Users who wish to change their own user password may do so by using the PASSWORD command. (Refer to module 4, lesson 5, "Changing User Passwords," in Fundamental Skills).

The basic syntax of this command is

   ALTUSER username;CAP=capabilities;PASS=password

If you change the capabilities or password of a user in your

account, the changes do not go into effect until the specified user logs off and logs on again.

Use the HELP command to answer the following questions about ALTUSER:

Now change your own password to MYPASSX (X=user number). To do so, enter this:

   ALTUSER USERx;PASS=MYPASSX

Use LISTUSER with the PASS option to verify that the change has occurred. Then change your password back to your original password. Verify the current password again:

   LISTUSER USERx;PASS

NEWUSER Command

As account manager, besides changing an existing user's password or capability, you may also create a brand new user in an account. The NEWUSER command does this. Use the HELP command or the MPE/iX Commands Reference Manual Volumes 1 and 2 (32650-90003 and 32650-90364) to determine the syntax for the NEWUSER command.

Notice that the syntax is the same for both ALTUSER and NEWUSER. Also, the required and optional parameters are the same.

Create a new user, USERxA (where X =your user number), in your account (ACCTx), with a home group of CLASS. Let its capabilities default. The password for this user will be UPASSxA.

   NEWUSER USERxA.ACCTx;PASS=UPASSxA;HOME=CLASS

Create another new user in your account, USERxB (where X= your user number). Give this user the same capabilities as USERxA, plus the capability to create volumes and do process handling. Let the home group be PUB. The password for this user will be UPASSxB.

   NEWUSER USERxB.ACCTx;PASS=UPASSxB;CAP=ND,SF,CV,PH,BA,IA;HOME=PUB

You now have an account with three users, each of whom has slightly different capabilities:

Figure 2-5 User Capabilities in One Account

As long as the users' capabilities do not exceed the account capability, an account may have multiple users who have different capabilities. This provides a way to implement a security scheme that controls the capabilities of individual users within the same account. In this way, people can log on as one user to do more proprietary work (they must know the user password) or log on as another user to do more general work (perhaps no user password is necessary).

PURGEUSER Command

You can also remove the users that you create in your account by using the PURGEUSER command.

At this point, remove USERxB from your account. To do so, enter:

   PURGEUSER USERxB

Your account should now have two users associated with it, USERx and USERxA. In future lessons, please continue to log on as USERx until told otherwise.