RHCSA Practical Lab Series – Creating a Collaborative Directory

🔍 Lab 6: Configuring a Shared Directory with Group Ownership

📌 Objective

In this lab, you will:

✔ Create a collaborative directory /home/team
✔ Assign group ownership to the directory
✔ Set appropriate permissions to control access
✔ Ensure all files created inside inherit the group ownership

📌 Step 1: Create the Shared Directory

🔹 Use mkdir to create the directory /home/team:

[root@node1 ~]# mkdir /home/team

📌 Explanation:

• mkdir /home/team → Creates the /home/team directory for collaborative work.

📌 Step 2: Set Group Ownership

🔹 Change the directory’s group to teamgroup:

[root@node1 ~]# chgrp teamgroup /home/team

📌 Explanation:

• chgrp teamgroup /home/team → Assigns group ownership of /home/team to teamgroup.
• This ensures that only members of teamgroup can access the directory.

🔹 Verify group ownership:

[root@node1 ~]# ls -ld /home/team

🔹 Expected Output:

drwxr-xr-x 2 root teamgroup 4096 Mar 28 10:00 /home/team

✅ If teamgroup appears in the output, the group ownership is set correctly.

📌 Step 3: Configure Group Permissions

🔹 Set permissions to allow group members to create, edit, and delete files:

[root@node1 ~]# chmod 2770 /home/team

📌 Explanation:

• chmod 2770 /home/team → Grants:
  • 2 (SetGID bit) → Ensures all files inside inherit the teamgroup group ownership.
  • 7 (rwx for owner) → Full access for the directory owner (root).
  • 7 (rwx for group) → Full access for teamgroup members.
  • 0 (no access for others) → No access for non-group users.

🔹 Verify permissions:

[root@node1 ~]# ls -ld /home/team

🔹 Expected Output:

drwxrws--- 2 root teamgroup 4096 Mar 28 10:00 /home/team

✅ The s in drwxrws--- confirms that the SetGID bit is active.

📌 Step 4: Verify SELinux Context (Optional but Recommended)

🔹 Check the SELinux context for /home/team:

[root@node1 ~]# ls -Z /home

📌 Expected Output (partial):

drwxrws---  root teamgroup system_u:object_r:home_root_t:s0 team

✅ If the SELinux context is home_root_t, it is correct.

📌 Troubleshooting:

If SELinux prevents access, restore the default context:

[root@node1 ~]# restorecon -Rv /home/team

✅ Final Summary

✔ Created a shared directory /home/team
✔ Set group ownership to teamgroup
✔ Configured permissions with the SetGID bit
✔ Verified SELinux context to ensure smooth access

📌 Next Lab: Setting Up an NTP Client Using Chrony

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