RE: DBAs running root.sh
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2014 12:27:48 -0500
Message-ID: <CC45762506E4C84A8612307613CDCB25130D386EEB_at_EX7T2-SV08.TDBFG.COM>
For us it’s option 1 where the SA runs it on our behalf. We have tried to get sudo but that was not allowed to us for root.sh though it is for some of the RAC tools (like srvctl) on some of our environments. Like Chris mentioned sudo can be configured to run only that one file but in our environment there is a lengthy security process to follow to allow this that we stopped trying.
Rui Amaral
Tower Lead, Database
From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org [mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Chris Taylor
Sent: Monday, February 03, 2014 12:15 PM
To: hacketta_57_at_me.com
Cc: oracle-l digest users
Subject: Re: DBAs running root.sh
sudo is setup to limit what you can run - so even if you have sudo access and you modify the root.sh script, you can still _only_ run what you have sudo access to do. So, as long as your sudo setup is correct, there is nothing you can do in the root.sh script that can cause damage. Another way to look at it - if you have sudo access and there is something damaging you can do, you can do it without modifying the root.sh script. The dependency here is that sudo is setup correctly.
Chris
On Mon, Feb 3, 2014 at 11:08 AM, Austin Hackett <hacketta_57_at_me.com<mailto:hacketta_57_at_me.com>> wrote: Hi List
If you work in a security conscious environment, I'd be keen to hear how your site handles the root.sh script.
To give you some background:
In my environment, DBAs are currently given direct root access to allow them to run root.sh. However, the SA Team would like to tighten this up. If giving the DBAs direct root access isn't acceptable (not even temporarily) then two options spring to my mind:
- SA team run root.sh on behalf of the DBAs. Geography and logistics in my organisation are such that having an SA walk over to the DBAs desk is a realistic option. Our SAs aren't keen on this approach
- Give DBAs the ability to run root.sh as the root user via sudo. This, of course, means that DBAs can run anything they like by editing root.sh, so doesn't really help. Understandably our SAs don't like this approach
I am being asked to look into keeping Oracle software version specific root.sh scripts in a root-owned location (we are Linux only, so no multi-platform concerns). This would allow for secure sudo privileges. We'd need these for RDBMS, Grid Infrastructure, and Client.
However, I've explained the scripts are dynamically generated by runInstaller and have the Oracle Home path hard-coded into them. We'd need a root-owned root.sh for every distinct ORACLE_HOME path we create (some hosts have multiple homes, so there's dbhome_1, dbhome_2 etc.). Maybe there are other considerations that I'm unaware of - I don't really like to second guess what else is going on in the "closed box" of the OUI that could be host dependent.
To my mind, taking this non-standard approach is more risky than having someone run the script on our behalf, even if it risks introducing delays into the build process.
How is this handled in your organisation? Have you ever been asked to have a centralised set of root.sh scripts under root control for this reason? Have you made it work?
If anyone has some time to share their experiences, it would be much appreciated.
Regards
Austin
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Received on Mon Feb 03 2014 - 18:27:48 CET