On 19/11/2018 02:46, Alan Taylor wrote:
Thanks Mike,
I was slowly coming to that conclusion !
What would be best practice regarding a password for that account
(i.e. system account such as backuppc that needs ssh access but no
shell access).
If I create the user with bash as the shell, I seem to have a few options:
1) don’t set a password (i.e. no reference to password in the adduer
command). The man page says this results in the password being
“disabled”. What does this actually mean for security ?
2) use —disabled-password (same as 1 above ?)
3) the —disabled-password option appears to be only available on
debian. Redhat derivatives only offer useradd which does not have this
switch ?
Which would be the most secure, while still allowing ssh access ?
Don't get too hung up on it all.
If the account needs login access then give it. Create or use an account
with a shell of your choice and a secure password. You don't need to
remember the password, as you are using keys, so it can be ridiculously
secure. A standard user cant do much harm if you don't give it any more
privileges than it needs.
--
Mike Howard