the-littlest-jupyterhub/docs/howto/admin/admin-users.rst

.. _howto/admin/admin-users:

========================
Add / Remove admin users
========================

Admin users in TLJH have the following powers:

#. Full root access to the server with passwordless ``sudo``.
   This lets them do literally whatever they want in the server
#. Access servers / home directories of all other users
#. Install new packages for everyone with ``conda``, ``pip`` or ``apt``
#. Change configuration of TLJH

This is a lot of power, so make sure you know who you are giving it
to. Admin users should have decent passwords / secure logni mechanisms,
so attackers can not easily gain control of the system.

.. important::

   You should make sure an admin user is present when you **install** TLJH
   the very first time. The ``:ref:`--admin <topic/customizing-installer/admin>```
   flag passed to the installer does this. If you had forgotten to do so, the
   easiest way to fix this is to run the installer again.

Adding admin users from the JupyterHub interface
================================================

There are two primary user interfaces for doing work on your JupyterHub. By
default, this is the Notebook Interface, and will be used in this section.
If you are using JupyterLab, you can access the Notebook Interface by replacing
``/lab`` with ``/tree`` in your URL.

#. First, navigate to the Jupyter Notebook interface home page. You can do this
   by going to the URL ``<my-hub-url>/user/<my-username>/tree``.

#. Open the **Control Panel** by clicking the control panel button on the top
   right of your JupyterHub.

   .. image:: ../../images/control-panel-button.png
      :alt: Control panel button in notebook, top right

#. In the control panel, open the **Admin** link in the top left.

   .. image:: ../../images/admin/admin-access-button.png
      :alt: Admin button in control panel, top left

   This opens up the JupyterHub admin page, where you can add / delete users,
   start / stop peoples' servers and see who is online.

#. Click the **Add Users** button.

   .. image:: ../../images/admin/add-users-button.png
      :alt: Add Users button in the admin page

   A **Add Users** dialog box opens up.

#. Type the names of users you want to add to this JupyterHub in the dialog box,
   one per line. **Make sure to tick the Admin checkbox**.

   .. image:: ../../images/admin/add-users-dialog.png
      :alt: Adding users with add users dialog

#. Click the **Add Users** button in the dialog box. Your users are now added
   to the JupyterHub with administrator privileges!

Adding admin users from the command line
========================================

Sometimes it is easier to add or remove admin users from the command line (for
example, if you forgot to add an admin user when first setting up your JupyterHub).

Adding new admin users
----------------------

New admin users can be added by executing the following commands on an
admin terminal:

.. code-block:: bash

   sudo -E tljh-config add-item users.admin <username>
   sudo -E tljh-config reload

If the user is already using the JupyterHub, they might have to stop and
start their server from the control panel to gain new powers.

Removing admin users
--------------------

You can remove an existing admin user by executing the following commands in
an admin terminal:

.. code-block:: bash

   sudo -E tljh-config remove-item users.admin <username>
   sudo -E tljh-config reload

If the user is already using the JupyterHub, they will continue to have
some of their admin powers until their server is stopped. Another admin
can force their server to stop by clicking 'Stop Server' in the admin
panel.