How do I become root on a remote server until I am disconnected from that server? [closed]

Question

So far I have this:

sshpass -p "password" ssh -q [email protected] " [ "$(whoami)" != "root" ] && exec sudo -- "$0" "$@" ; whoami ; [run some commands as root]"

I keeps giving me username as answer from whoami. I want to be root as soon as I am connected to the server (but I can only connect to it with username). How can I be root throughout the connection to the server?

Clarification:

I want to access a remote server. It is mandatory that I connect as "username" and then switch to root to run and copy files that only root is able to do. So while I am connected to that server via ssh, I want to be root until my commands are over in the remote server. My problem is that I am not able to do so because I don't have the knowledge, hence I am posting it here.

Restrictions:

• can't use rsync.

• have to connect to the server as "username" and then switch to root

• this code is in a for loop so I don't want to use su because it will keep asking for a password

Answer 1

I don't think sudo is going to work they way you are hoping it will work.

If you have a command like sudo ... ; blah the initial shell is what interprets the ;. So the sudo command is issued, and after that closes, then the blah command is executed by the shell.

I would probably be tempted to change your command so you do something like this. The examples below assumes that sudo will not prompt you for a password, because you have setup NOPASSWD.

echo "commands to run on remote" | sshpass -p "password" ssh -q [email protected] "exec sudo /bin/bash"

A simple example would be to do something like echo whoami | sudo bash.

You also do something like this.

cat <<REMOTECOMMANDS | sshpass -p "password" ssh -q [email protected] "exec sudo /bin/bash"
whoami
command1
command2
command2
REMOTECOMMANDS

Answer 2

Use su.

The su (short for substitute user) command makes it possible to change a login session's owner (i.e., the user who originally created that session by logging on to the system) without the owner having to first log out of that session.
[...]
A simplified expression of the syntax of the su command is:
su [options] [commands] [-] [username]

Although, really, you should just sudo all your commands, but... su is how you do what you asked.

Answer 3

Use sudo -i for an interactive root shell.

Use sudo command or sudo -i command to run a command as root. The -i option sets up a shell and environment before running the command.