What root-equivalent ID cannot do?

[Yap Yen Nee]

I am using HP-UX 11i here. Just wondering what can the original unix root ID can do which cannot be done by the root-equivalent ID that we create?

[Naveej.K.A]

hi,

root userid is zero.....

All users with UID zero are root equivalent, means if you create a user with UID 0 his username is not "root" but got all capabilities of the root user...

with best wishes
naveej

[Joseph Loo]

hi,

the root UID is 0 and anyone who has the same UID will have the same privilege as root. however, under normal circumstances and due to security reasons, there should only be one user holding on to this UID.

regards.

[Bharat Katkar]

Agree with the replies above. But the thing is using UID zero for users other root is a serious security threat to the system.
I would suggets you to use SAMBUILDER instead to give subset of priviledges of root to different users.

see man sam
-r option will run the sam in sambuilder mode.

Hope that helps.
Regards,

[Jose Mosquera]

Hi,

If you have cloned root user with same UID and GID no restrictions will be applied at clone. Be careful with this practice because is a security fault.

Pls consider use a HP's certified third party software like "sudo".

You can download this software from:
http://hpux.connect.org.uk/

Rgds.

[Anupam Anshu_1]

For any user who has UID and GID values set to 0, will have all the privileges of Root. These users can do anything they want on the system.

Regards,

Anshu

[Mark Grant]

Do you mean the difference between having an EUID of 0 and having a UID of 0?

If so, generally speaking they are the same but some utilities look specifically at the UID and ignore the EUID. I don't think there are too many of them though.

If you mean two accounts having a UID of 0 but one not actually called root then the only difference would be if the non "root" user appears first in /etc/passwd and some dodgy script does something like [ $LOGNAME eq "root ] && { blah blah } because then, the non "root" account would not pass the test.

[dirk dierickx]

no difference, but i don't see any reason for creating just another 'root' user except if you want a less secure system.
there is already one root, shy would you want another, ask yourself that question first.

[Anupam Anshu_1]

Hi Dirk,

If auditing is on, then it can be found that which root user made what change. Hence there can be a use of root with different usernames when you want to trace back who modified what as a root user.

For this you need to turn on auditing (see mapage, man 4 audit).

Regards,

Anshu