Create batch accounts of user automated way

I wrote a little and mundane script long time back to solve my purpose to create bunch of user accounts on specific host.

Here is the script:

#!/bin/bash
# This script is meant to run when we create a bunch of user account of any specified host.
#Backup important file before doing anything.
# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2,
# or at your option any later version, as published by the
# Free Software Foundation
#
# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
# GNU General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
# Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.


PASSWDFILE="/etc/password"

GROUPFILE="/etc/group"

SHADOWFILE="/etc/shadow"

DATE=`date`

USERFILE="THis file should have the form of password file like username:password:UID:GID:gecos:shell"

cd /etc ;pwd

cp -v $PASSWDFILE $PASSWDFILE.$DATE

echo " Password file backed up.."

cp -v $GROUPFILE $GROUPFILE.$DATE

echo " group file backed up.."

cp -v $SHADOWFILE $SHADOWFILE.$DATE

echo "shadow file backed .."


/usr/sbin/newusers $USERFILE

echo " Done"

echo " Forcing user to change their password upon first login.."

for i in $USERFILE

do

/usr/sbin/chage -d 0

echo $i

done

If you feel ,you can suggest me the enhancement.

Hope this will help.

Cheers!
Bhaskar