Telnet as Root

[WaindyBoy]

Is it possible to Telnet as root, I need to able to stop and start appache and various other services, but I am unable to do this is as normal user.

Probably blatanly simple, but not cracked it yet, any help would be great.

Cheers
Nick


nickwaind@hotmail.com :)

[Muzzafarath]

Well, you could always telnet in as a normal user and then use su to get root access. I think this is much more secure. Simply run su and then type in the root password and voila ;)

[WaindyBoy]

Thanks very much, that did the trick
:D

[ph34r]

Yes, you can set up telnet to allow access by root, but that would be a Very Bad Thing. Instead, you should disable telnet and setup ssh, and then ssh in as a user, then su to root from that user. Telnet is insecure, ssh is *much* better.

[Strike]

ph34r knows what he's talking about. I've sworn off telnet for life unless I have to use it. Sending unencrypted data like that out over a network is dangerous. I only use ssh now. And ssh is so nice, it does automatic X forwarding for you so that if you are ssh'ing into another box from a Linux box running an X session, you can run X-based apps on your remote machine and have them display at the machine you are sitting at. I've actually pulled off forwarding an X session via ssh with this setup:

in San Antonio, TX - my Debian "unstable" release box, running OpenSSH.
in Houston, TX - me at a Win98SE box (not mine), running X-Win32 and TeraTerm Pro (w/ the SSH patch)

Sure, the apps were slow as hell, but I was connected securely and had automatic X stuff. It was hella cool, and encrypted from every end.