Add a new user account with admin access on Linux

H ow do I add a user account with admin (sudo) access on Ubuntu or CentOS Linux cloud server? How can I add a new user with admin account level access in Linux?

On the Linux operating system, one needs to use the sudo command to provide admin-level access. In other words, the sudo command grants admin privileges to ordinary users. This page shows how to create a new user with admin (sudo) access on both Ubuntu/Debian and CentOS/RHEL servers. Please note that the following commands will update/etc/passwd,/etc/group, and /etc/shadow

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Create a new user account with admin (sudo) access on Ubuntu or Debian Linux

Commands to add or create a sudo user (admin) on an Ubuntu or Debian Linux server:

• Open the terminal application
• For remote Ubuntu/Debian server use the ssh command and log in as the root user using either su or sudo.
• Create a new user named marlena , run: adduser marlena
• Make marlena user ‘sudo user’ (admin) run: usermod -aG sudo marlena
• Verify it by running the id marlena command
• Log in as marlena: su - marlena . Than run sudo command for verification. For example: sudo ls -l /etc/shadow

A note about granting sudo account for an existing Ubuntu/Debian Linux user

RHEL or CentOS create a new user account with admin (sudo) access

Procedure to add or create a sudo user (admin) on CentOS or RHEL:

• Open the terminal application
• For remote CentOS server use the ssh command and log in as the root user using either su or sudo.
• Create a new CentOS user named vivek , run: useradd vivek
• Set the password, execute: passwd vivek
• Make vivek user ‘sudo user’ on CentOS/RHEL, run : usermod -aG wheel vivek
• Verify it by running the id vivek command

How to grant sudo access for an existing RHEL/CentOS Linux user

Conclusion

You learned how to create a sudo (admin level access) user account on both Ubuntu/Debian and RHEL/CentOS Linux servers.