7.7. Removing users

When a user leaves your organization, that user’s login account and files should be removed from the system. This procedure involves the removal of all references to the login name that were added by you or your useradd program. If you remove a user by hand, you may want to use the following checklist:

• Remove the user from any local user databases or phone lists.

• Remove the user from the aliases file or add a forwarding address.

• Remove the user’s crontab file and any pending at jobs or print jobs.

• Kill any of the user’s processes that are still running.

• Remove the user from the passwd, shadow,^[11] group, and gshadow files.

  ^[11] /etc/security/{passwd,group} on AIX

• Remove the user’s home directory.

• Remove the user’s mail spool.

• Clean up entries on shared calendars, room reservation systems, etc.

• Delete or transfer ownership of any mailing lists run by the deleted user.