Creating a new Linux User

Using the root user to run a Validator works. However, it is a good security practice to create a separate user with limited access to run the Chainflip binaries.

You can call the new user whatever you like. In the following commands we will call it flip.

Create the user

sudo useradd -s /bin/bash -d /home/flip/ -m -G sudo flip

This command does the following:

• Creates a user called flip
• Creates a home directory for the new user under/home/flip
• Sets the default shell for the new user to /bin/bash
• Adds the flip user to the sudo group which gives the user the required access and permissions to install and configure the required software.

Add a Password

It is recommended to add a password to your newly created user. You can do that by running:

sudo passwd flip

You'll then be prompted to enter a password then re-enter it for validation.

Congratulations, your new user is now protected with a password 🔐

Setup SSH Access

To be able to login over ssh using the new user we will need to set it up by running the following commands:

mkdir /home/flip/.ssh
sudo cp /root/.ssh/authorized_keys /home/flip/.ssh/authorized_keys
sudo chown -R flip:flip /home/flip/.ssh/
sudo chmod 0700 /home/flip/.ssh/

The commands above do the following:

• mkdir /home/flip/.ssh: creates a new directory called .ssh that holds the SSH config for flip user.
• sudo cp /root/.ssh/authorized_keys /home/flip/.ssh/authorized_keys: copies the public keys whose private keys are allowed to access the machine from the root to flip user.
• sudo chown -R flip:flip /home/flip/.ssh/: changes the ownership of the directory to flip user.
• sudo chmod 0700 /home/flip/.ssh/: changes the permissions of the .ssh directory.

Next time you want to SSH into your server using the user you created, you can run:

ssh flip@<YOUR_SERVER_PUBLIC_IP>

But for now you don't need to logout in order to switch users, you can do that simply by running:

su - flip