Category Archives: Linux

By default, new user accounts do not have access to use sudo command on a CentOS system. You have to manually add the users or their user group to the ‘/etc/sudoers file’. I do this as follows:

1. nano -w /etc/sudoers
2. Scroll down to the section ## Allow root to run any commands anywhere
3. Below the root entry line I enter: blogchampion ALL=(ALL) ALL
4. Save

User ‘blogchampion’ now has access to use the sudo command.

You can also add all users within a particular user group to have sudo permissions. I do this as follows:

1. nano -w /etc/sudoers
2. Scroll down to the section ## Allows people in group wheel to run all commands
   
3. Below the %wheel entry line I enter: %bloguser ALL=(ALL) ALL

Now all users belonging to the bloguser user group have access to use the sudo command.

You probably also want to force users to use the root password when using sudo. See the post How to make CentOS ask for the root password with sudo for instructions.

When you add a user to the ‘/etc/sudoers’ file, by default that account will be prompted for their user account password when using sudo. But it is far better to force the use of the separate root password for these requests. You can accomplish quite simply by adding a rule to the /etc/sudoers file.

1. nano – w /etc/sudoers
2. Scroll down to the section “# Defaults specification” and below that line enter: Defaults    rootpw
3. Save the file.

Now when a user account tries to use the sudo command, they will be prompted for the root password.