About

SUDO Controls is a light-weight SUDO fragments/rules distribution & management framework which:

• uses a desired state model: SUDO Controls pushes fragments from a master server onto client host and applies them according to the central configuration.

• uses SSH as transport mechanism: SUDO Controls connects to client hosts through the secure path of SSH.

• performs operations with least privileges: copy/distribute operations are performed with a low-privileged account. Only the actual snippet updates requires super-user privileges.

• supports a Master→Slave→Client model so that information can be propagated within more complex LAN set-ups.

• uses a two-stage approach to activate SUDO fragments: copy (or distribute) and apply. Fragments are first copied into a temporary location on each client hosts - the holding directory - and not applied automatically. Applying or activating fragments on a client host is a separate operation which can be triggered either locally or remotely (from the SUDO master)

• allows the use of (nested) groups in the master configuration: users, fragments and hosts can be grouped in the SUDO master configuration files to allow a simplified configuration. Nesting of groups is allowed up to 5 levels deep.

• allows the use of (nested) groups in the specification of the push targets. Either via the --targets command-line parameter or via the targets configuration file.

• can discover SSH host public keys to (re)create known_hosts file(s) for a large amount of hosts

• requires no client agent component and is stateless: SUDO Controls performs operations by pushing fragments or commands to client hosts. Update processes on the client hosts will only be started on-demand. If the SUDO master is - for whatever reason - unavailable then active fragments on a client host remain in place.

• is easy to configure and maintain (command-line based): the configuration is stored in a limited number of flat files and be easily updated. A very rudimentary syntax checking facility is also available to check the consistency of the most important (master) configuration files.

Downloads

Download the software from following GitHub repository: https://github.com/patvdv/sudo_controls

Topics

Following topics provide more detail on the set-up and usage of SUDO Controls:

• Description:
  • Requirements & components
  • Master configuration files
  • Management scripts
  • Client configuration files
• Set up:
  • Setting up an SUDO master
  • Configuring a client host
• Usage:
  • Updating a client host
  • Master → slave operations
  • Discovering SSH host keys
  • Troubleshooting tips
  • Best practices
  • FAQ
• Changelog:
  • The most interesting changes/fixes can be found in the Posts
  • Full changelog can be found on Github.