System Administration Guide: Basic Administration

Creating the Primary Administrator Role

An administrator role is a special user account. Users who assume a role are permitted to perform a predefined set of administrative tasks.

The Primary Administrator role is permitted to perform all administrative functions, similar to superuser.

If you are superuser, or a user who is assuming the Primary Administrator role, you can define which tasks other administrators are permitted to perform. With the help of the Add Administrative Role wizard, you can create a role, grant rights to the role, and then specify which users are permitted to assume that role. A right is a named collection of commands, or authorizations, for using specific applications. A right enables you to perform specific functions within an application. The use of rights can be granted or denied by an administrator.

The following table describes the information that you are prompted for when you create the Primary Administrator role.

Table 2–2 Field Descriptions for Adding a Role by Using the Solaris Management Console

Field name 


Role name 

Selects the name an administrator uses to log in to a specific role. 

Full name 

Provides a full, descriptive name of this role. (Optional) 


Provides further description of this role. 

Role ID number 

Selects the identification number assigned to this role. This number is the same as the set of identifiers for UIDs. 

Role shell 

Selects the shell that runs when a user logs in to a terminal or console window and assumes a role in that window. 

Create a role mailing list 

Creates a mailing list with the same name as the role, if checked. You can use this list to send email to everyone assigned to the role. 

Role password and confirm Password 

Sets and confirms the role password. 

Available rights and granted Rights 

Assigns rights to this role by choosing from the list of Available Rights and adding them to the list of Granted Rights. 

Select a home directory 

Selects the home directory server where this role's private files will be stored. 

Assign users to this role 

Adds specific users to the role so that they can assume the role to perform specific tasks. 

For detailed information about RBAC and instructions on how to use roles to create a more secure environment, see Role-Based Access Control (Overview) in System Administration Guide: Security Services.