Help Needed: Cant login to root

[Matt]

Our man on the server recently quit his job and this sudden action has meant we are left with a message forum to run and very little experience at managing servers. So, maybe you guys could give us some hints and tips.

Here is what the serverbeach support had to say: :)
The passwords have been reset and I can login on the console. Also, I had to stop the iptables server to allow ssh to work. You might want to fix them and start the service again.

However, the server won't let us login via ssh remotely. It prompts us for passwords but says that they are invalid. Is there something you configured to prevent remote login? It's not a big deal if you can log in. Just curious.


Arghh...having worked with ssh_config to much recently, there's no per Host configurable option in sshd_config. You may allow/disallow Users/Groups, so you need to use iptables to setup your firewall to allow ssh only from the hosts you want. Or and use ListenAddress, check 'man sshd' for more info.

Now, we are in desparate need to have access to the root. Any help/advice would be much appreciated. :)

Cheers.

[knightfoo]

You should not connect to your server and log in directly as root. You first need to SSH to your server and log in using your primary user account. Once you are logged in, issue the following command:

$ su -
Password:
#

After you enter the root password there, you will be logged in as root.

-knighitfoo

[Matt]

Well, we cant even do that.. I have typed in the username and password but it gives access denied error.


Thanks.

[knightfoo]

Looks like your former admin did a lot :) He firewalled everyone out and disabled our maintenance account. If you could, please submit a support ticket to have someone reset the passwords from console.

-knightfoo

[Matt]

OK, thanks for your help. I'll give it a try. :)

[Matt]

I'm sorry to be a pain in the b-hind and I assure you I would not be doing this if I wasn't at my wits end about all of this. Naturally, our service from Serverbeach has been very good and I have absolutely no worries about remaining a customer with yourselves, but as you can see, I need a little help :)

Thanks for your help in my thread. I must come across as a complete fool, but our old Admin guy just up'd and left us without a word of warning and now we're up the creek without so much as a boat, let alone paddles!!! Now, I'm not technically minded, but I have a friend, who is and I will be bringing him onto the team in a short while to help out with the problems, but before that, I need some assistance with trouble tickets.

Please be patient with me, as this is quite new for me. :)

Whereabouts in MyServerBeach do I submit a trouble ticket?

I clicked on REQUEST SUPPORT and it says I have 3 Support Tickets available. I assume that's what you mean? Now under what service category would you say the resetting of the passwords from Console comes under? I don't want to waste my support tickets.


Thank you


Matt

[knightfoo]

You can use "Initial Installation Problem", since this will not cost you a trouble ticket.

-knightfoo

[Matt]

Ok, thanks.

I had a reply from the support team the other day and they gave me a new set of passwords. I tried the pass over and over again but unfortunately, still get the 'access denied' error. :(