disable user login

ust · 04-01-2004, 04:22 AM

our users use telnet to access our linux system , how to temporaily disable user login and only accept system administrator to telnet to the system ? thx

trickykid · 04-01-2004, 07:11 AM

man pages are so ineffective aren't they.... I manned usermod and found this:

Code:

-L     Lock  a user's password.   -   This puts a '!' in front of the encrypted password, effectively disabling the pass-word.  You can't use this option with -p or -U.

-U     Unlock a user's password.   -  This removes the '!' in front of the  encrypted  password.   You  can't  use  this option with -p or -L.

or you can probably use this option as well:

Code:

-e expire_date   -  The date on which the user account will be disabled.  The date is specified in the format YYYY-MM-DD.

And why are you using telnet, its old, outdated, unencrypted and so on.. use ssh, its safer and good security practice. And I would especially disable root access thru telnet, bad idea. Anyone could grab that password with ease and easily exploit your server.

rnturn · 04-01-2004, 12:06 PM

Quote:

... how to temporaily disable user login and only accept system administrator to telnet to the system ?

Check into the man page for "login" and see if that'll do the trick. If you create the file "/etc/nologin", i.e.,

Code:

cat > /etc/nologin

Sorry but the system is undergoing maintenance at this time.

Try back later.

-- 
The Management
^D

users attempting to login will be presented with that message and not be allowed to login.

Hope this helps...