Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!mp.cs.niu.edu!rickert From: rickert@mp.cs.niu.edu (Neil Rickert) Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions Subject: Re: Who gets "root" at your site? Message-ID: <1990Oct2.133626.7573@mp.cs.niu.edu> Date: 2 Oct 90 13:36:26 GMT References: <1990Oct2.042650.15413@agate.berkeley.edu> Organization: Northern Illinois University Lines: 33 In article <1990Oct2.042650.15413@agate.berkeley.edu> et@ocf.Berkeley.EDU (Eric Thompson) writes: >#4: What do they use this access for? > >#5: Other info: do you have separate administrative passwords, or > other pseudo-root logins, and how are they implemented, etc. I created a front end command which allows those in the operator group to execute certain commands as if they were root, but without having to login as root. I named the command 'RootMode', and it sits in /operator. If executed directly it complains and exits. But if I make a hard link to it, also in /operator, with say the name 'lpc', then anyone in the operator group can execute /operator/lpc which just execs to the real /etc/lpc after first becoming root. This enables those who need root privileges for special purposes to gain them without needing to login/su as root. A syslog record is written for each access using this facility. Currently available commands by this procedure include: lpc, lpr, lprm - to deal with printer problems. dump - to make backup tapes. shutdown - to bring the system down gracefully. updatenameserver - a shell script to do a 'make' in the name server database directory, and to force a reload of the nameserver. (the above is not a complete list). -- =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= Neil W. Rickert, Computer Science Northern Illinois Univ. DeKalb, IL 60115. +1-815-753-6940