Table of Contents
In this article, we’re going to show you how you can create sudo users on your Ubuntu Cloud Server. We’ll also discuss:
This article refers to an older version of Ubuntu, please refer to the full guide on how to create a sudo user in Ubuntu 20.
Why You Should Create Sudo Users
Your cloud server account lets you instantly log in as the most powerful user: root. This allows you the option of using the root user for setting up your VPS environment to your individual specifications. But, using the root user can be hazardous: one wrong command can destroy your account. For this reason, it is generally considered a best practice to use a unique user account with “superuser”, or, sudo privileges instead of the root account for your regular maintenance and admin tasks.
Below, we will walk you through the whole process of creating the user, adding the necessary privileges, and locking up your root user in the hopes of preventing unwarranted access.
How to Create a New User on Ubuntu
Note: the first step is completed on your local computer. If you’ve added your SSH key to your account this login will succeed without a password. Where necessary below substitute username with the username you want to use on your account.
- Log into your server as the root user, replacing “example.com” with your primary domain:
- Run this command as the root user to create the user account
- Fill in a secure password and you can skip the other prompts if you want
- To add the new user to the “sudo” group, run this command as the root user
We have now created a user account we can use for every day administrative tasks.
But, in order to access higher level commands, you will need to add the word sudo at the beginning of your command line, for example:
How to Log in with SSH Keys
Password authentication is automatically disabled to protect your cloud server from brute force password-based cyber attacks. Because of this, you must use SSH keys to gain access to your cloud server. We have full guides on how to create SSH keys you can install on your account for the root user, but adding an SSH key for the user we just created requires a few more steps.
- Switch to new user (which is still logged in from above)
- Edit the SSH configuration file
- Add sudo to the line that begins with AllowGroups:
- Add sudo to the line that begins with PermitRootLogin:
- Change directory to home
- Make .ssh directory
- Change into .ssh directory and create authorized_keys file
- Paste your public key into the authorized_keys file
- Change permissions for the .ssh directory
- Change permissions for the authorized_keys file
- Make sure to restart your SSH service:
You will now be able to log into your Ubuntu server with your new user account, and root user logins through SSH are no longer permitted. However, before closing out of this terminal session, let’s test out what we’ve done. Leave the current session open just in case there’s an issue with the user you’ve created. Open a new terminal window and test your login with:
If you are logged into your system without a problem then you’ve completed this tutorial perfectly. Let us know below if you have any questions or comments about this task or the Ubuntu distro.
Learn more with our Cloud Server Hosting Product Guide.
With our Cloud Server Hosting, you can deploy a lightning-fast, reliable cloud platform with built-in redundancy – ensuring the availability of your environment!
The language in Step 4 is odd – it states “Add sudo to the line that begins with PermitRootLogin”, but there’s no reference to sudo; just that you eliminate root logins.
Hello Shortmort37 – thanks for your comment! I will have this article reviewed for accuracy per your note. If the article requires an update, then it will be edited and updated to clarify the information provided.