Computer Systems Lab
Connecting & Supporting the Computer Sciences Department
Privileged Linux Access (sudo or ksu)

Privileged Linux Access (sudo or ksu)

See also the Privileged Access Policy for information regarding appropriate use of privileged access.

Privileged access on an Ubuntu computer

The sponsor of a workstation must first request privileged access for an account on that computer using the “Grant Privileged Access to a Computer” webform .

After review by the CSL staff, the user will then be able to use sudo on the computer to run authorized commands, using their regular CS password.

Privileged access on a CentOS computer

The sponsor of a workstation must first request privileged access for an account on that computer using the “Grant Privileged Access to a Computer” webform . This change takes effect overnight.

If the user has not previously had privileged access to a CentOS computer, they will be notified by the CSL to set a password for their /root Kerberos instance for use with the ksu command.

Using ksu

After the root access change has taken effect and a user has a <username>/root instance and password, use the ksu command when root privileges are required. The command will ask for the <username>/root password and then change the user into root.

Changing the <username>/root password

By default, the temporary password put on username/root is a long random string of characters. To change it, use the passwd command while specifying the <username>/root you are changing - user bucky would type passwd bucky/root.