qadrsc

Table of contents

• Definition
• Details
• Preparation
• Usage
• Contact

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Definition

Simple script to securely copy files from the local to a remote system as root even though SSH root login is not permitted.

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Details

Usually, logging into a remote system using the root account via SSH is disabled on servers for security reasons. Instead, there is a separate user account to use for that purpose, e.g. johndoe.

Now, if you use that user in combination via rsync or scp, you can't copy files in the remote /root or /etc directory, due to the fact, that johndoe does not have the permission to write to those locations.

You could copy the files to /tmp, however, you would have to change the owner on the remote system to have a consistent file ownership.

This script allows to securely copy files to system directories on a remote system (like scp) with root as owner no matter which user is being used on the local system.

As the name implies, it is a quick-and-dirty solution.

Feel free to modify!

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Preparation

Before you can use the script, you have to prepare the remote system.

1. Create a user which you want to use for the remote interaction, e.g. johndoe.

   # useradd johndoe
   

2. Set a password for the new user.

   # passwd johndoe
   

3. Run visudo and add the following line at the end of the file:

   johndoe     ALL=(ALL)   NOPASSWD: ALL

4. Save the changes and exit. Then switch to the local system.

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Usage

The command-line arguments have been revised in version 1.1.0 of the project. From now on, you can use the typical rsync or scp syntax for the destination path.

Notice that when using asterisks (*) in the source path, the whole path must either be enclosed with single (') or double (") quotes. Otherwise an argument error will occur (too many arguments).

You can also find the following examples inside the USAGE file.

Examples with remote destinations

Absolute source path

So, let's assume you have the server with the IP address 192.168.2.1 which does not permit logging in via SSH as root, but with the user johndoe.

Now, you want to copy the local file /etc/foobar.conf to the /etc directory of the server. You can do that as follows:

$ ./qadrsc.sh /etc/foobar.conf johndoe@192.168.2.1:/etc

In the next step you want to copy the contents of /tmp/stuff to /root on the remote system. Simply use the following command:

$ ./qadrsc.sh '/tmp/stuff/*' johndoe@192.168.2.1:/root

You can also copy the entire directory:

$ ./qadrsc.sh /tmp/stuff johndoe@192.168.2.1:/root

Relative source path

Using a relative path also works. In the following example the the directory /tmp/stuff will be copied to the remote server into the /root directory (assuming that qadrsc.sh script is located in /opt/qadrsc).

$ cd /tmp
$ /opt/qadrsc/qadrsc.sh ./stuff johndoe@192.168.2.1:/root

Example with a remote source

Since version 1.2.0 you can also use a remote path as source, for example:

$ ./qadrsc.sh johndoe@192.168.2.1:/etc/foobar.conf /tmp

Bash alias

In order to simplify and speed up the use of the script, you can add a Bash alias to /etc/bashrc (system wide) or ~/.bashrc (for the current user). For example:

alias qadrsc='/opt/qadrsc/qadrsc.sh'

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Contact

Any suggestions, questions, bugs to report or feedback to give?

You can contact me by sending an email to dev@urbanware.org or by opening a GitHub issue (which I would prefer if you have a GitHub account).

Further information can be found inside the CONTACT file.

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