Making a Second Root User

Follow these steps to create a second root user:

1. Create a user.
2. Manually edit the user ID field and group ID field in the /etc/passwd file.
3. Change the user ID to ID 0.

   russ:!:206:1::/u/russ:/bin/ksh 

   russ:!:0:0::/u/russ:/bin/ksh 

This creates a user (in this case, russ) with identical permissions to root.

Special users that have root authority but can only execute one command may also be created. For instance, to create a user that can only reboot the system, create a regular user called shutdown and modify the /etc/passwd command to change the user and group ID to 0. For example, in AIX 3.2:

   shutdown:!:0:0::/u/shutdown:/bin/ksh 

Change the initial program from /bin/ksh to /etc/shutdown -Fr:

   shutdown:!:0:0::/u/shutdown:/etc/shutdown -Fr 

For AIX 4, the /etc/passwd entry for the user called shutdown should be:

   shutdown:!:0:0::/u/shutdown:/usr/sbin/shutdown -Fr 

Now when user shutdown logs in, the system will shut down and reboot.

[ Doc Ref: 90605188514728     Publish Date: Jul. 06, 2000     4FAX Ref: 2265 ]