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I need to have an untrusted admin to make some work on my production machine. I don't want to give him the root password and I would like to oversee everything he does.

Is there a way to connect from my PC to my server, and then share the connection with him, so he can work as a root without having knowing the root password?

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Share a screen and su from that screen ? – ouranos Dec 15 '11 at 2:10

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You can give him sudo access, then share a screen session and/or run script prior to have him do anything. From he can become root without having to know your root password and you can watch him perform his work AND all his activity is logged.

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There are tons of tools for this. WebEx, GoToMeeting, Office Live Meeting, etc.

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If he's talking ssh, those probably aren't options. – Jeff Ferland Dec 15 '11 at 2:31
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Unless Mascarpone logs in first and then share his session. Then those may be good options. Of course, that is assuming the hired admin is running a supported OS for those solutions. – Rilindo Dec 15 '11 at 2:33
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@JeffFerland why can't he open an ssh session from his workstation to the server and then share it via one of those technologies? He'll be able to monitor everything and take control back whenever he wants. – MDMarra Dec 15 '11 at 11:03

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