On: “I hate almost all software” — Ryan Dahl

[divtxt]

Here's an example showing how a human user does not require a local unix user of each server:

Jack starts Apache on one of the web servers:

    $ ssh jack@web4.example.com
    Password: secret123
    [_x_@web4] $ sudo /usr/bin/apachectl start # or similar
    [_x_@web4] $ logout

Now, there are 2 possible values for '_x_':

A) 'jack' - because there's a unix user 'jack' (what we have today)

B) 'sysadmin' - because there's no unix user 'jack' - only an entry in /etc/sshpasswd

B is the same as A as long as you update auditing to trace the Apache start to the jack/secret123 combo.

Sidenote: wow this thread blew up!