Documentation

user - Manage user accounts

Synopsis

Manage user accounts and user attributes.

Requirements (on host that executes module)

  • useradd
  • userdel
  • usermod

Options

parameter required default choices comments
append
 no no
  • yes
  • no
If yes, will only add groups, not set them to just the list in groups.
comment
 no
    Optionally sets the description (aka GECOS) of user account.
    createhome
    		 no yes
    • yes
    • no
    Unless set to no, a home directory will be made for the user when the account is created or if the home directory does not exist.
    expires
    (added in 1.9)
    		 no None
      An expiry time for the user in epoch, it will be ignored on platforms that do not support this. Currently supported on Linux and FreeBSD.
      force
      		 no no
      • yes
      • no
      When used with state=absent, behavior is as with userdel --force.
      generate_ssh_key
      		 no no
      • yes
      • no
      Whether to generate a SSH key for the user in question. This will not overwrite an existing SSH key.
      group
      		 no
        Optionally sets the user's primary group (takes a group name).
        groups
        		 no
          Puts the user in this comma-delimited list of groups. When set to the empty string ('groups='), the user is removed from all groups except the primary group.
          home
          		 no
            Optionally set the user's home directory.
            login_class
            		 no
              Optionally sets the user's login class for FreeBSD, OpenBSD and NetBSD systems.
              move_home
              		 no no
              • yes
              • no
              If set to yes when used with home=, attempt to move the user's home directory to the specified directory if it isn't there already.
              name
              		 yes
                Name of the user to create, remove or modify.

                aliases: user
                non_unique
                		 no no
                • yes
                • no
                Optionally when used with the -u option, this option allows to change the user ID to a non-unique value.
                password
                		 no
                  Optionally set the user's password to this crypted value. See the user example in the github examples directory for what this looks like in a playbook. See http://docs.ansible.com/ansible/faq.html#how-do-i-generate-crypted-passwords-for-the-user-module for details on various ways to generate these password values. Note on Darwin system, this value has to be cleartext. Beware of security issues.
                  remove
                  		 no no
                  • yes
                  • no
                  When used with state=absent, behavior is as with userdel --remove.
                  seuser
                  (added in 2.1)
                  		 no
                    Optionally sets the seuser type (user_u) on selinux enabled systems.
                    shell
                    		 no
                      Optionally set the user's shell.
                      skeleton
                      (added in 2.0)
                      		 no
                        Optionally set a home skeleton directory. Requires createhome option!
                        ssh_key_bits
                        		 no 2048
                          Optionally specify number of bits in SSH key to create.
                          ssh_key_comment
                          		 no ansible-generated on $HOSTNAME
                            Optionally define the comment for the SSH key.
                            ssh_key_file
                            		 no .ssh/id_rsa
                              Optionally specify the SSH key filename. If this is a relative filename then it will be relative to the user's home directory.
                              ssh_key_passphrase
                              		 no
                                Set a passphrase for the SSH key. If no passphrase is provided, the SSH key will default to having no passphrase.
                                ssh_key_type
                                		 no rsa
                                  Optionally specify the type of SSH key to generate. Available SSH key types will depend on implementation present on target host.
                                  state
                                  		 no present
                                  • present
                                  • absent
                                  Whether the account should exist or not, taking action if the state is different from what is stated.
                                  system
                                  		 no no
                                  • yes
                                  • no
                                  When creating an account, setting this to yes makes the user a system account. This setting cannot be changed on existing users.
                                  uid
                                  		 no
                                    Optionally sets the UID of the user.
                                    update_password
                                    (added in 1.3)
                                    		 no always
                                    • always
                                    • on_create
                                    always will update passwords if they differ. on_create will only set the password for newly created users.

                                    Examples

                                    # Add the user 'johnd' with a specific uid and a primary group of 'admin'
- user: name=johnd comment="John Doe" uid=1040 group=admin

# Add the user 'james' with a bash shell, appending the group 'admins' and 'developers' to the user's groups
- user: name=james shell=/bin/bash groups=admins,developers append=yes

# Remove the user 'johnd'
- user: name=johnd state=absent remove=yes

# Create a 2048-bit SSH key for user jsmith in ~jsmith/.ssh/id_rsa
- user: name=jsmith generate_ssh_key=yes ssh_key_bits=2048 ssh_key_file=.ssh/id_rsa

# added a consultant whose account you want to expire
- user: name=james18 shell=/bin/zsh groups=developers expires=1422403387

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