HOW TO: Enabling root on a new server?

[Michael Williams]

First, the output of the grep is:

root:*:0:0:Charlie &:/root:/bin/csh
toor:*:0:0:Bourne-again Superuser:/root:
daemon:*:1:1:Owner of many system processes:/root:/usr/sbin/nologin


. . .that said, the Plesk Module Loader only allows for ".tgz" and  
".tbz" files and is anal about them being of a "module" format,  
whatever structure may be.  I've tried what I thought were  
appropriate modules, and it rejected them saying they were not true  
modules.

I'm going to call one more time today.  If I get no better  
assistance, I will seek out a different company.  If you all have any  
recommendations let me know.  Obviously, the best solution would be  
to have my ISP set me up with a static IP and massive amounts of  
bandwidth.  But, seeing as how that's at least a good 30 years off. . .

Regards,
Michael


On Jul 16, 2007, at 11:03 AM, Vince wrote:

> For most versions of plesk i've come across (I look after a load of
> linux servers with it installed,) if you have the plesk admin then you
> have root. Look for the modules option, then look for the add modules,
> this should let you upload a shell script which is then run as root
> (horribly insecure but thats plesk, and if you fiddle with their  
> setting
> enough you can change the css of the webapp not to display the  
> page) If
> this is the same on FreeBSD as on linux you can create a new UID 0  
> user
> if need be using pw in a shell script, or you can put a ssh public key
> in to roots authorized_keys file. I'd definitely advise you get plesk
> removed if you intend to administrate the box by hand though.
>
> 	If thats no help, when you log into the box by ssh, what is the  
> output of
> grep root /etc/passwd
> it should be something like
> root:*:0:0:Charlie &:/root:/bin/csh
> if not then they have renamed/removed root so try looking in /etc/ 
> passwd
>  for a user with uid of 0 (third field.)
> This should at least get you a username to ask their support about. If
> they have actually removed the root user your a bit stuffed and
>
> Hope some of thats some help.
>
> Vince
>
>
>
> Michael Williams wrote:
>> Tom,
>>
>> Again, Plesk just came with the server config we asked for.  We  
>> didn't
>> ask for Plesk, we *asked* for the specific hardware.  Plesk was  
>> "free".
>> *rolls eyes*
>>
>> Regards,
>> Michael
>>
>> On Jul 16, 2007, at 3:17 AM, Tom Samplonius wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> ----- "Michael Williams" <gberz3 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> No,  I don't necessarily need Plesk; although we will be selling
>>>> hosting.  It simply came with the default configuration for the
>>>> server.  My plan is to manage most everything from the Unix  
>>>> shell.  I
>>>>
>>>> just figured I might find a morsel inside Plesk somewhere for
>>>> enabling root access.  FYI, logging in as admin didn't work.  Any
>>>> other suggestions?
>>>
>>>   You are probably better off just asking the hosting company for  
>>> the
>>> password.  You need the root password, and you need to have an  
>>> account
>>> that is a member of the wheel group (use "groups" when you ssh to  
>>> see
>>> if your account is ok).
>>>
>>>   They might have flagged you as a newbie, and think you are better
>>> off inside the padded confines of Plesk.  I work at a hosting  
>>> company,
>>> and a whole bunch of our dedicated server customers are in over  
>>> their
>>> heads with their servers as it is.  Given that you asked for Plesk,
>>> and are now asking for root, they are probably has made them worried
>>> that the next call from you will be that you deleted /etc, and  your
>>> server won't boot anymore.
>>>
>>>   If you are planning to do any admin via ssh with root, you will  
>>> not
>>> want Plesk.  Plesk manages all of your software installs.  Plesk
>>> includes Plesk specific versions of Apache, PHP, and MySQL.  All
>>> patches and updates can only come from SWSoft, or the Plesk universe
>>> will crash.  And Plesk ties you to a specific FreeBSD version too.
>>> Plesk versions lag big time for FreeBSD.  But on the other hand,  
>>> it is
>>> big GUI thing, and people like it.
>>>
>>>
>>> Tom
>>
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