openssh - run as another user

[Dan Mahoney, System Admin]

On Fri, 27 Aug 2010, Phillip Wu wrote:

> For security, many systems are configured so you cannot log directly as root via the initial authentication in openssh.
>
> What is usually done is that you log onto as your normal login and once you get a interactive shell you su to root to
> run the command that requires root.
>
> Does openssh have a more elegant way of exec'ing a command as root so I can run the command
> non-interactively?  I know:
> Normal userid
> Normal userid password
> Root's password

I'm not sure why you're sending this to the "dev" list, it's hardly a 
development matter.

However, typically, if you're root on the system, and you need to run root 
commands remotely, you would change the default authorization.  You can 
for example set "permitrootlogin yes" in your config file, but that's 
dangerous.

What perhaps makes more sense is to set "permitrootlogin without-password" 
(and use pubkey auth) or even forced-commands-only.

Try reading the man page for sshd_config, look specifically for the 
PermitRootLogin option.

-Dan

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-- 

--------Dan Mahoney--------
Techie,  Sysadmin,  WebGeek
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