SSH as root but execute command as another user.

[scfc1976]

I am trying to automate a process of copying files from a CD over a network from a host to a remote terminal.

Due to the security setup we have I need to SSH as root.
However the commands to run a script need the environment of a different user in order to run correctly.

I have tried the following but this just wants to run the command locally before carrying out the SSH.

my code:-

ssh workstationA "su -c <./MY_SCRIPT> bob"

Any ideas?

Thanks scfc1976

 

[AnotherAlan]

Try this;

ssh -n workstationA "su - <user>; </path/to/script/>"

 

[scfc1976]

Tried that but had error: unexpected end of file.

However tried a variation on it and got the result I was after.

ssh -n workstationA "su - bob; /path/to/script"

Thanks for the help.

scfc1976

 

[AnotherAlan]

Not entirely sure what your variation is, as it looks exactly the same as I typed.
However, glad it worked.

 

[scfc1976]

I probably to the syntax too literally.

However further study has found that bob didn't become the user to run the script and the ownership of the output belongs to root.

I may try to add a script on workstationA that will su - bob and then run the script from within that script. It probably isn't the most efficient way of doing this but I can't see any other way around it.

thanks again.

 

[PHV]

What about this ?
ssh -n workstationA "su - bob -c /path/to/script"

Hope This Helps, PH.
FAQ219-2884
FAQ181-2886

 

[scfc1976]

PHV.

I had tried that but was not getting bobs variables to run the commands.

Thanks anyway.

 

[AnotherAlan]

Try exporting the variables in the profile of bob.

Then PHV's suggestion should work.

Example;

$ cat .profile
THISVAR="I am bob"
export THISVAR

$ cat bobscript
#!/bin/ksh
echo "This is Bob"
echo $LOGNAME
echo $THISVAR

root> ssh -n workstationA "su - bob -c bobscript"
This is Bob
bob
I am bob

Hope this helps

 

[scfc1976]

I managed to find an old scripts hidden in our archive and found the following:-

su - bob -c "/path/to/script"

That has done the trick.

Thanks to both of you for your input.

 

[PHV]

Isn't precisely what I've suggested ????

 

[scfc1976]

The only difference that I can tell is the positioning of the quotation marks.

We both previously had placed the quotes prior to the su command.

eg ssh -n workstationA "su - bob -c /path/to/script"

The one I have now is:-

ssh -n workstationA su - bob -c "/path/to/script"

A subtle difference I know but did make a big difference.
Hope that clears the confusion up.

 

[scfc1976]

Further to my last post I have an updated version which works well and every time. The last one seemed tempremental. Anyway here goes:-

ssh -C workstationA 'su - bob -c "/path/to/script"'

Hope it helps someone else!!

 

[TrojanWarBlade]

Is there any reason you haven't considered using "rsync"?


Trojan.

 

[scfc1976]

Trojan.

It was considered, however during initial trials "bob's" variables were not passed to workstationA and the script wouldn't run. We kept getting an exit value of 1 : (syntax or usage error).

I should have mentioned that in my first post.

Thanks for the thought though.

scfc