> Source: https://www.vultr.com/docs/create-a-sudo-user-on-ubuntu-best-practices

### Introduction

Performing server administration as a non-root user is a best practice for security. After launching your Vultr VPS, your first task as root should be to set up a non-root user with sudo access.

This guide applies to the following versions:

- Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
- Ubuntu 19.10
- Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
- Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

### 1. Add a New User Account

Create a new user account with the `adduser` command. Use a strong password for the new user. You can enter values for the user information, or press `ENTER` to leave those fields blank.

```sh
# adduser example_user
```

### 2. Add the User to the Sudo Group

Add the new user to the sudo group with usermod.

```sh
# usermod -aG sudo example_user
```

### 3. Test

Switch to the new user.

```sh
# su - example_user
```

Verify you are the new user with whoami, then test sudo access with sudo whoami, which should return root.

```sh
$ whoami
example_user
$ sudo whoami
[sudo] password for example_user:
root
```