man > sudo_root(8)

sudo_root(8)                           System Manager's Manual                          sudo_root(8)

NAME
       sudo_root - How to run administrative commands


SYNOPSIS
       sudo command

       sudo -i


INTRODUCTION
       By default, the password for the user "root" (the system administrator) is locked. This means
       you cannot login as root or use su. Instead, the installer will set up sudo to allow the user
       that is created during install to run all administrative commands.

       This  means  that in the terminal you can use sudo for commands that require root privileges.
       All programs in the menu will use a graphical sudo to prompt for a password. When  sudo  asks
       for a password, it needs your password, this means that a root password is not needed.

       To  run  a command which requires root privileges in a terminal, simply prepend sudo in front
       of it. To get an interactive root shell, use sudo -i.


ALLOWING OTHER USERS TO RUN SUDO
       By default, only the user who installed the system is permitted to run sudo. To add more  ad‐
       ministrators,  i.  e. users who can run sudo, you have to add these users to the group 'sudo'
       by doing one of the following steps:


       * In a shell, do

           sudo adduser username sudo


       * Use the graphical "Users & Groups" program in the "System settings" menu  to  add  the  new
         user to the sudo group.


BENEFITS OF USING SUDO
       The benefits of leaving root disabled by default include the following:


       * Users do not have to remember an extra password, which they are likely to forget.

       * The installer is able to ask fewer questions.

       * It avoids the "I can do anything" interactive login by default - you will be prompted for a
         password  before  major  changes  can  happen, which should make you think about the conse‐
         quences of what you are doing.

       * Sudo adds a log entry of the command(s) run (in /var/log/auth.log).

       * Every attacker trying to brute-force their way into your box will know it  has  an  account
         named  root  and  will  try that first. What they do not know is what the usernames of your
         other users are.

       * Allows easy transfer for admin rights, in a short term or long term period, by  adding  and
         removing users from the sudo group, while not compromising the root account.

       * sudo can be set up with a much more fine-grained security policy.

       * On  systems  with  more than one administrator using sudo avoids sharing a password amongst
         them.


DOWNSIDES OF USING SUDO
       Although for desktops the benefits of using sudo are great, there are possible  issues  which
       need to be noted:


       * Redirecting  the  output  of commands run with sudo can be confusing at first. For instance
         consider

           sudo ls > /root/somefile

         will not work since it is the shell that tries to write to that file. You can use

           ls | sudo tee /root/somefile

         to get the behaviour you want.


       * In a lot of office environments the ONLY local user on a system is root.  All  other  users
         are  imported  using NSS techniques such as nss-ldap. To setup a workstation, or fix it, in
         the case of a network failure where nss-ldap is broken, root is  required.  This  tends  to
         leave the system unusable. An extra local user, or an enabled root password is needed here.


GOING BACK TO A TRADITIONAL ROOT ACCOUNT
       This is not recommended!

       To enable the root account (i.e. set a password) use:

           sudo passwd root

       Afterwards, edit the sudo configuration with sudo visudo and comment out the line

           %sudo  ALL=(ALL) ALL

       to disable sudo access to members of the sudo group.


SEE ALSO
       sudo(8), https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RootSudo


                                          February 8, 2006                              sudo_root(8)