topic Re: Automate switch user in Operating System - Linux

Automate switch user

ivanrc — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 10:52:19 GMT

Hi, it's possible to automate the use of "su" command??
I refer to the issue of the introduction of the password.
There is something like this:
su - username/password???

Thanks.

Re: Automate switch user

Ivan Ferreira — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:18:06 GMT

You can use "sudo" instad of su. Or maybe a combination of both, for example:

sudo su - user -c "command"

You need to configure the sudoers file with the visudo command.

Check for information about sudo in google.

Cheers.

Re: Automate switch user

Matti_Kurkela — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:26:45 GMT

Combining su and sudo means you're first transitioning to root, and then to target user. The logs will reflect that. Sometimes, seeing a message about JoeUser becoming root can cause undue agitation in security auditors.

If you have a relatively modern version of sudo, the effect of:

sudo su - -c

can be exactly replicated with:

sudo -u -i

It will also consolidate all the essential information into one log line: JoeUser becomes for the purpose of running the .

Of course, to use "sudo -i" effectively, your sudoers file must be written to say what you really mean: instead of

JoeUser ALL=(root) su -

you should write:

JoeUser ALL=() ALL

If you need to allow JoeUser to execute a particular command automatically, without prompting a password, you might write:

JoeUser ALL=() NOPASSWD:

(OK, I admit: this is my pet peeve. But I see "sudo su - ..." as a nothing more than a bad habit, encouraged by sloppy sudoers rule writing practices.)

MK

Re: Automate switch user

ivanrc — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 05:05:05 GMT

THX.